Dum spiro, spero

Helllllo from the Great North

2010-06-11T17:13:00.000-07:00

Over a year and no entry. Reprehensible!

I just read over my post from Thailand and realized that goddammit this is a good thing to do and I need to get my act together and get back on the ball. I had forgotten so many of those quirky little stories until my mind was refreshed by well, me.

So another summer in Alaska passed on the Kilkenny...much of the same-same with one glaring exception: another chick on the boat! Two different women (wayyy tougher than I) joined the crew at different points to be scallopers. It was really interesting and I definitely enjoyed indulging in a few estrogen-fueled chats. Both Amanda and Anna were super wonderful and they worked very hard. Honestly, it's not like we had time to sit around and discuss Sex in the City or anything. But it really did change the dynamic on the boat.

The BIG difference is that I brought the car up with me last year. Yep, I can proudly say that I successfully drove to Alaska. And back! I went up the Al-Can, couchsurfing my way through British Columbia. The best hot tip I got from a couple I stayed with in Dawson Creek was to hit Liard Hotsprings, which is where I spent Solstice. For the journey home, my bestie Johnnie flew up and met me in Homer right before my last trip out on the boat. He got to fly into a village and go fishing with a buddy he met at the local dive bar, Kharacters. When I got back in early August, we started our drive south. We made our first stop at Matanuska Glacier which was gorgeous...you can actually walk out on the ice and putz around. Treacherous, thrilling, and tremendous! We camped in Tok, AK before going international and it was one of the coldest nights I've ever spent outdoors. In BC, we spent time in Whitehorse and Lilloet before having the most disgusting pizza ever in Williams Lake. Isn't there a saying about sex and pizza? That they can never be truly bad? Well that saying is wrong. I don't know what the hell is wrong with Canadians but they sure know how to muck up food. For example:
-BUTTER on sandwiches (along with mayo, mustard, etc)
-GRAVY and CHEESE on french fries...oh it sounds fancy: poutin. I say, French for "gross".
And I have never witnessed more A & W hamburger joints in one place at one time so I just had to look it up...Canada is the 11th fattest country in the world in 2010. Being that in 2007 they were #35, my money is on them jumping into the top 3 by 2015.

John left me in Seattle since he had to fly home to get back for work. I opted to take the longer scenic route along the Oregon coast and I'm really glad I did. It was one of the most scenic drives I've ever done.

Ok so Fall 2009 I was back on the drift gillnet fishery in Southern California. Again, same old same old. I even ended up on the Mary Vincent again with my old buddies. On Halloween we anchored up off Pismo Beach to wait out a storm and were going stir crazy staring at the beautiful beach from the harbor. So close, yet so far away! We decided to go for it and called for a water taxi to come pick us up from the boat. The wrinkle was that the last run was in 2 hours. Not enough time to futz around for us. Our other friend Michael drove up from Morro Bay and picked us up. We had lunch and then secured plans for our return trip back to the vessel...at the local Big 5 Sporting Goods. Yep, that's right, John rowed us back in an inflatable raft. At sundown. Amid signs warning you to swim at your own risk due to all the documented shark attacks. It was quite an adventure.

I decided not to go abroad this spring. Instead it was finally time for this gal's Great American Road Trip. I thought I would get to see a lot more than I actually did, but it was still great and I some good quality time with friends and family. I'm gone off the grid in respect to Facebook (gratefully so) and that's where all my pictures are...if I ever transfer them to Picasa web I'll put a link in. Not that anyone is reading this except me HA!

I won't elaborate much except run down a quick-n-dirty list of all my stops. Ok, maybe highlights and unforgettables too....

Prescott AZ
Scottsdale AZ
Bisbee AZ
Las Cruces, NM
Big Bend National Park, TX *****VERRRRRRRRRRRRRY cool. Had lotsa fun here.
Kerrville, TX
Ft. Worth, TX
Kerrville, TX
San Antonio, TX
Kerrville, TX
Ft. Worth, TX (and I actually WASN'T sick of Texas yet!)
Memphis, TN
Fall Creek Falls State Park, TN
Smoky Mt. National Park, TN
Asheville, NC
Raleigh, NC
Washington, DC
Bridgeport, CT
Akron, OH
St. John, IN- went in to Chicago the next day. Have to go back, really liked it.
Council Bluffs, IA
Denver, CO
Moab, UT -- went in to Arches and Canyonlands NP and stayed at the hostel at night. Pretty good hiking and scenery...but wasn't as great as Big Bend!
Las Vegas, NV
Claremont, CA
Angeles Lakes, CA - yearly retreat w/ Mom
Claremont, CA
Fullerton, CA and finalllly wait for it, wait for it, wait for it....
LONG BEACH, CA which is what I was calling "home" for the last 2 years.

So, 7 1/2 weeks, approx 3500 miles, tons of highway and byway viewing, and a whole bunch of postcards later I made it. And felt very rushed.
It WILL happen again...right 'lil Corolla???!

Ten days ago, I drove up to Prince Rupert, BC and caught the ferry across the Gulf of Alaska. It was a great experience. I camped out on the deck along with the other budget travelers which was perfectly fine. The weather was amazing and there were hourly sightings of whales. It was by far the best way I have ever traveled. The ferry made stops in Ketchikan, Juneau, and Yakutat which are all towns in Southeast Alaska only accessible by plane or boat. Honestly these places didn't strike me as beautiful or spectacular as all the cruise ship buildup makes it seem...I'd rather look at Homer/Kodiak/Talkeetna type scenery myself : )

Now I'm killing a bit of time before scallop season begins on July 1st. The boat has changed owners so this year I'll be based out of Kodiak although from what I hear we will be making periodic trips to Homer (yay). Since I've got all this time on my hands along with a very reliable mode of transport, I'm going to finally get up to Fairbanks and spend Solstice up there sightseeing, running a midnight 10k, and hitting the Chena Hot Springs Resort. On the way back down, the plan is to camp couple nights in Denali National Park. Hopefully the weather behaves. Then, before hopping on the ferry to Kodiak island, I'll spend a couple days in Homer seeing all my End of the Road buddies.

I really can't complain about a single thing in my life.
It is just that good.

Playing catch-up

2009-04-17T10:45:00.000-07:00

Oh the resistance! I've been avoiding writing because I know I'll have to stretch my memory over the past 6+ weeks of fabulosity (what a quality problem). I've heard through the grapevine that my posts have been missed however...Thanks for the ego boost Aunt Phyllis!

So the last time I wrote I was in KL. Hmmm. My return to the orphanage in Chiang Rai was uneventful save the drama-fest I found when I arrived. I won't go in to details, but I'll just say that we had some "interesting" volunteers who thankfully were asked to leave within the first week I came back. I also came back to a fairly empty house because school was out and most of the kids went back to their villages to visit for the holiday. Only those who had no safe relative to stay with remained at the center (about 13).

We tried to make their vacation as fun as we could, planning morning and afternoon activities for them. One of the highlights was elephant polo. Yes that's right, polo played with pachyderms. It was a tournament held at a really ritzy resort up in the Golden Triangle region of Thailand. The players were all ex-pats, and the entire culture was pretty "high-society". However, it was still Thai mahouts that actually drove the elephants...the white guys just concentrated on trying to hit the ball with their mallet. I have a video of it but I'm not sure how to post it. There's tons of pictures though. The kids had fun for awhile, but I think the highlight was seeing the elephant blessing ceremony before everything started and then feeding them fruit. My own personal favorite part of the day was seeing the super deluxe portapotties. That term doesn't even do these things justice. It was like, a portable luxury suite that had bathroom facilities. I had to take a few pictures. It was that cool.

I also came back at peak smoke season in Northern Thailand, when farmers burn off the land and crops from last year's season before planting again. The air quality was absolutelyABYSMAL. I have never seen such pollution first-hand. Coming from the pristine island oases in Malaysia to the smoggy humid city of Chiang Rai was a bit of a let-down. Along with the increasing temperature, things got pretty uncomfortable. Strangely enough, the monsoons started in March. Local buzz was that the pollution was so bad that it had actually affected the weather. Thankfully, the storms cleared out the air for the most part. The storms themselves were fantastic...like Arizona monsoons but more, well... authentic! Thunder, crazy lightening, high winds, the whole bit. TORRENTIAL downpours. Then, in about an hour, it just clears up and goes away. Of course, along with the rain came the mosquitoes. Thankfully, Northern Thailand is not an area where malaria is endemic, but the little suckers are still really annoying. Thankfully, homes are infested with barking geckos to keep the population of bugs down. Probably for that reason, house geckos are considered very lucky, and you can even divine your fortune from the number and timing of the barks! Every night before I went to sleep, I had a nighttime ritual of picking all the ants off me and clearing out the mosquito net as I listened to the reptilian symphony of lizards and frogs. LOUD frogs and lizards (I was very thankful for my earplugs) I sort of do NOT miss this part of my experience.

Along with the fun stuff for the kids every day, we also got cracking on a few big projects around the center. Thanks to the encouragement of a few awesome volunteers with experience in the Peace Corps and AmeriCorps, we were able to get organized and get motivated. I helped dig holes and put fence posts in for a fence around the garden. There are pictures. It was an intense and satisfying experience for all of us. We felt like badasses. We also began preparations for a straw mushroom patch which will allow the center to grow and harvest it's own mushrooms. Since bamboo is the building material of choice, we used that to make the posts and poles needed for the frame. It sounds easier than it was. Using machetes and hacksaws, we were trying to cut standard lengths and split the trunks down the middle. It was so hard, and we looked so pathetic doing it that the kids came over to help us out. They schooled us. Big time. Nok, who is 10 years old, was literally doing laps around me. She got in there with the saw, put some elbow grease into it, and made me feel like a total pansy. The boys were in a league of their own...they have been using tools and making things out of bamboo since they were toddlers, so they were naturals.

I had 3 church experiences in Thailand. Once I went to the oldest Christian church in Chiang Rai by myself, but The service was all in Thai but they were very friendly and put a lady next to me who attempted to translate the sermon. Next, we took Nabee our house mummy to her church, an evangelical Calvary Chapel born-again variety. Kate grabbed me halfway through that service to let me know that Nok and Somchai had gone feral (Australian for apeshit) in the street. It all ended well a day later with apology notes and such but for about 20 minutes I hated children more than the IRS. Finally, the best experience was on Palm Sunday when Angela #2 found a Catholic church for me, Nabee, and her to attend. It happened to be my last day in Thailand, so that made it special as well. We didn't understand what was going on (mass was in Thai), but we got to take home these cool palm-frond things which was neat. There were people there that had obviously come in from the villages, piling out of the back of pickup trucks. One lady was all decked out in her traditional Akha dress. That was cool.

Oh I wanted to mention baby-politeness! A wei is the little bow with your hands clasped under your chin that Thai's do to eachother to show respect. The rules and status arrangements are quite complex, and all the cultural sensitivity stuff I read said to not even go there if you don't know what you're doing. You can really look stupid or totally offend people if you just go around bowing indiscriminately. Anyways, this must be one of the absolute first things parents teach their children, because I saw 2 separate babies (before speaking age) do it as they were getting their bottles or toys or whatever. It was adorable.

I left Thailand having made more wonderful friends and with a suitcase and brain packed to the brim of incredible sights, sounds, and tastes. However, it was definitely time to come home. I had an 8 hour layover in Seoul and tried to make a day of it, but the airport is quite far away from the city. It took me almost 2 hours to get in to a touristy shopping district, where I cruised for knicknacks, ate sticky icecream, and watched these guys make this stuff called "Dragon's Beard". They were great salesmen, they had their whole pitch down and it was quite a show to watch them make 64,000 strand confections on the street. I had to buy a box of the stuff (honey and cornstarch threads wrapped around candy nuts). They don't taste as interesting as I had hoped, but the memory is worth it. Seoul was fairly standard from what I saw, other than there were just TONS of MEN everywhere, hardly any women (maybe I was in a business district or something?). They just stood around smoking all over the place.

So I'm back, and enjoying Southern California weather, my civic duty as a juror, and getting back into my meeting schedule. If I can think of other stuff I'll add it...I know I'm leaving out tons but there's just a limit to how much information my brain is capable of holding on to. The older I get the more painfully aware of this I am...
Love to you all,
Angie

2 boats, one taxi, 2 trains, 3 buses, and 2 light rails later...

2009-03-07T18:24:00.000-08:00

I made it Kuala Lumpur and am here in my posh hotel (http://www.citrushotelkl.com/) catching up on emails and hoping to get a workout in.

I got here early this morning off the overnight train from Taneh Merah, a small town in the North East Malaysian state of Kelantan. It was pretty uneventful in and of itself, except in the overwhelming number of abandoned cats. Not only were they everywhere, they were the mangiest, ugliest, scrawniest, most decrepit and diseased animals I've ever seen. Truly it was a miracle they were still alive. I even took pity and fed a couple (a testament to the state they were in...y'all know I'm not a cat person). I didn't see a single dog though...maybe they're on the menu here as well?

Malaysia impressed me right off the bat. I crossed over the border on my way down from Bangkok last week along with a very nice family from Barcelona, and the 4 of us were the only Westerners in sight- a welcome change from touristy and crowded Thailand. Another instant perk: the toilet in immigration had RUNNING WATER TO THE TANK. Revolutionary. I don't know why Thailand hasn't figured out this convenience, as all of the toilets have running water NEXT to them.

I made it to the Perhentian Islands as it began to rain. The speedboat hit a bit of rough weather and my fellow passengers seemed slightly nervous. I couldn't help but feel a little smug...I mean, it was nothing compared to the Bering Sea...
My first night on the island was sublime, even with the light rain. I had a lovely dinner and watched the sun set over the ocean. Ahhh I missed the smell of salt water! The island was much more crowded than I anticipated; tourist season hadn't officially started yet but both places I planned on staying were out of rooms for the night. I ended up staying in the dorm at Senja Bay which was absolutely AWESOME and when (yes I said WHEN) I go back, I will definately be staying there:
http://senjabay.com/
It poured cats and dogs all night, and I lost the war with the mosquitoes and woke up with my right eye swollen shut. Ergh. Anyhow, nothing that a little Alavert and caffeine didn't clear up. The weather was iffy all morning, so I took a short hike to the other side of the island, and area called Long Beach (ha so close to home yet SO far away). It was nowhere near as nice as "my" side of the island. The sun ended up coming out and I had a fantastic day of sunbathing and swimming (too fantastic...totally underestimated the tropical sun and got a burn right off the bat).
I was able to get a single room (with a mosquito net thank god) for the remainder of my stay. It was tucked way up on the hill...it reminded me of Swiss Family Robinson...getting to it required taking 5 or 6 flights of rickety wooden stairs up through the jungle, amid HUGE monitor lizards and squawking birds. IT WAS SO FRICKING COOL.
Day 2 was also gorgeous, and those nasty rumours circulating amongst tourists about the rain lasting for 2 weeks was put to bed. I took advantage of the weather to go on a snorkeling trip with a fantastic guide named Matt and 7 other tourists. It was FANTASTIC. We saw sharks, cucumbers, corals, a turtle...it was simply gorgeous. The only minus was falling off the boat (sooo embarassing) and dunking my camera in the South China Sea : ( No pictures for awhile...I'm going to try a distilled water rinse and see if I can salvage it.
Day 3 I was simply fried- a sunburn of epic proportions. Seriously guys, this is a record for me. I literally could do nothing else but lay in bed all day and read, taking Ibuprofin every 3 hours. Anyhow, it was relaxing and still beautiful to look out over the crystal blue cove at the reef over my frenzied bursts of reading "Sophie's Choice" (I know, it wasn't exactly carefree island fodder but it was quite good).
So here I am, back in the city swing of things. I could have stayed for a month. I'm going to go back with Johnny next year and get SCUBA certified there, and backpack through Malaysia. I like it that much. The vibe is so different than Thailand, probably due to the Muslim influence which I am enjoying for the simple fact that I am SICK and TIRED of ground pork (the only meat Thai's seem to put in their food). But also Malay culture is beautiful and intricate and I've received such a warm and genuine welcome. I also enjoyed the lack of hardcore partying; alcohol is quite expensive in Muslim countries and sort of looked down upon. The substitute was milkshakes...they were everywhere on the island (made with the ever-ubiquitous condensed milk, not ice cream).

Before I sign off, I had some random notes about Thailand written down:

The mannequins here are downright creepy. They don't have those neutral, vacant expressions our mannequins have. They look like clowns on acid with these huge garish smiles and gaping mouths. It's so weird.
Asians are so obsessed with lightening their skin that it's nearly impossible to find any toiletry item that doesn't have skin bleach in it (even deoderant!). What's so ironic is that the same companies producing all this crap here are the ones that back home are convincing Westerners to buy their fake-tanning products...
The hot item at the orphanage is the Rubic Cube. Yah, I thought it went out in 1990 too but the kids are dying for them, going so far as to make their own with markers and blocks!
I woke up one morning to a dead dog in the classroom. It was our pet girl puppy Gaia. It was quite traumatic. We think maybe she was poisoned, and her brother Thor got quite sick and sulked off and died too.
The Thai calendar is based on a Buddhist one that adds 543 years. So this year is 2552. It's a bit confusing when trying to buy tickets online...
Retail irony of the day: A chain store called "Freshmart" that only sells frozen processed foods
Thais are obsessed with fried chicken. So were Kenyans. Juan and I have surmised that fried chicken is a culinary equivalent of the olive branch around the world. So when in doubt, bring KFC!
Monks in Thailand: smoke cigarettes, have tattoos, wear sunglasses, listen to Ipods, and may even make a pass at you. Yes, this happened to me.
Speaking of preconceived notions about Buddhism...the absolute disregard for the "life-taking" precept and lack of vegetarianism is really pretty startling. There's a way to justify it that I read in my Thai culture-shock book, but I won't go into it here. It's just a little unsettling though.
Being a transvestite and/or homosexual in Thai culture is A-OK and it's really fun to see the Thai khakoeys (literally, "lady boys") all dressed up in drag just for a ride on public transportation or whatever.

Okay all, check ya later...I'm back up to Thailand tomorrow morning for my final month in South East Asia. Later-

Malaysia and beyond!

2009-02-15T21:51:00.000-08:00

So there are some benefits to poor planning...because Thailand/Myanmar visas are only issued for 15 days, I had to come up with a way to get a 30 day visa since I extended my time here. Perfect excuse for an island trip!

http://wikitravel.org/en/Perhentian_Islands

I'll be headed to Perhentian Kecil after my convention in Bangkok next weekend. First, I'll take the train to the border (which I have to walk across) and then a bus to the small jetty town of Kuala Besut. From there, it's a highspeed ferry boat to the island where I will be "limited to scuba diving, snorkeling, sea-kayaking and sunbathing" according to Wikitravel. Perfect.
It would be a great opportunity to get SCUBA certified, as it's some of the best diving in the world, but I'll have to see how my funding situation is by that point. Staying an extra 6 weeks has definitely tightened up the old budget....
After 3 or 4 days on the island, I'll head by train to Kuala Lumpur to take a flight back to Chiang Mai. This is the famous "Jungle Railway" train that takes you straight through some incredible rainforest. Unfortunately it seems that the daytime trains aren't running right now, so I'll have to catch the scenery at night from my sleeper car.

Things at the center have calmed down considerably now that Caty returned a few days ago. It's nice to be relieved of the pressure of running the show and just settle into administrative tasks.
The kids will be ending school in the next few weeks, so we'll have plenty of opportunity to play around with the ones who stay here in Chiang Rai. The remaining ones are allowed to return home to their villages because it has been determined they have safe places and people to stay with.

The weather is heating up here, and along with the change in temperature comes all kinds of weird and wonderful critters. There are smushed frogs all over the road because they're out en force now, and at night the sky echoes with the chirping from cicadas. There are of course, the ever-present barking geckos all over our volunteer dorm, but hopefully they will help keep the mosquito population down.

Day to day life is just such a treat here. I'm totally "scooter-literate" now, and really enjoy the freedom of zooming around town with the wind in my hair. Always wearing a helmet of course. I FINALLY don't have the sudden and subconcious urge to veer right when I'm startled (Thailand is a left-hand side drive country) which is nice. Especially for any passengers I have on the back ; )

After a few weeks of solidly neglecting my physical fitness, I'm back on track with running and doing a bit of weights. I found out that I'm definately going back to Homer to work on the Kilkenny, and I need my muscles for all those scallops! I'm still planning on driving up to Alaska in June, so when I get back "home" to CA, I've got a lot of catch-up to do. I'm crossing my toes that an income tax refund is a possiblility...

Much love to everyone, I'm really being a toad about taking pictures. As in, I'm not doing it at all. But I'll try, I'll really try.

Angela

2009-02-08T02:32:00.000-08:00

I've got a few new pics up on Picasa web but the majority of the good ones were taken by other volunteers, so I'll upload those in a bit:

http://picasaweb.google.com/passionflower24/Thailand#

Laura left home for Australia last night : ( but we got a nice day of sightseeing in before she left. We went to The White Temple...a weird but wonderful place. Here's an interesting article by the artist who designed it:
http://www.tourismchiangrai.com/e-ctmc/index.php?option=rongkhun
My pictures don't really do it too much justice; the work is so intricate and detailed, and there are little bits of mirror stuck in the plaster so the whole thing glitters like crazy. Although it was a touch morbid on the outside (hands and bones representing Hell), the inside was even weirder because the paintings incorporated all these random bits of pop culture into a giant Buddhist spiritual painting...like characters from Star Wars and Keanu Reaves.
After the temple, we hit the world famous Chiang Rai clock tower, which magically lights up and plays music every evening. It's pretty tacky but also spectacular in it's own right.

Earlier in the morning, I took the scooter up to the Myanmar (formerly known as Burma) border to renew my visa. I overstayed by a day and they didn't give me any leeway for being 8 hours late dammit! The fine was about 15$ USD so it's not like it broke the bank but it was rather annoying. I wasn't paying attention with all the stuff going on around here, and Thailand has recently gotten even stricter on their tourist visa limitations. Overland stays are now only 15 days, so if I do end up extending my trip substantially, I'll probably need to make a trip to Malaysia to apply for a 60 day one at the embassy. Again, something that could have been avoided with a bit of forethought but hey YOU LIVE YOU LEARN.

The trip was quite nice, about 60 kms north of Chiang Rai through some really lovely country. I did not take pictures or even look around much because I was very focused on not crashing but on the way back I did get a few ooohs and ahhhs in.

Tomorrow is a big day at the hospital, as we take another 12 kids for their basic medical checkups. It is turning out to be a bit (more) complicated than I had previously planned, as our truck completely DIED on us over the weekend. We are completely without group transportation, and will have to rely on tuk-tuks and songtaews to do our market runs and any group activities. The center has 3 motorbikes which the older kids can use for school, but that means us volunteers are walking/biking into town during the day. Anyhow, we have a wonderful new volunteer named Kate who is working on Community Outreach to try and obtain a corporate sponsor for a new vehicle.

Time is just flying by...I can't believe it's been a month! Projects begin and somehow the time just disappears...I sometimes don't feel like I've accomplished anything, but other days I have an amazing feeling of just being in the right place at the right time. Last night was a giggle-filled laugh-fest with the kids just messing around and being kids-playing the guitar with funny sunglasses, putting way too much talcum powder on their faces, making me pizza out of green clay.

Hasta la pasta (we might splurge on Italian food tonight)-

Don't feed the Humans!

2009-01-31T00:29:00.000-08:00

Argh first case of food poisoning abroad...not so fun. I had an "authentic" experience puking and pooping my guts out in a Lahu village a couple nights ago. I can't be sure what did it, but I was the only one in the group that got sick, and all I really did differently was sample the sugarcane we were feeding our elephant earlier in the day (what?!!).

Prior to the whole clutching-my-stomach-in-agony thing, the trek experience itself was really awesome. We went with a friend of Amanda's named Kit who has a travel business here in Chiang Rai. The day started off with a boat ride up the river to an elephant camp, where we took a little ride through the village. It was bumpy and not so comfortable; the coolest part was touching their trunks and feeding them. I couldn't help but feel sorry for them...having to lug silly falangs around so we could get a photo op. They didn't seem very happy. We had lunch in the elephant camp, and then headed out on foot from there. I don't think any of us (me, Laura, or the three Italian dudes who completed the party) were prepared for the intensity of the hike. It was really beautiful, but pretty steep in parts, and our guide Win was not one to go at a leisurely pace. We got to an Appa village first, and didn't have much time to do anything. I could go into the cultural intimacies of all the tribes here, but I just don't feel like I absorbed all that much (I'll report back once I hit the Hilltribe Museum here in Chiang Rai). We got to the village around 5 or 6 and all had showers (awesome!!!! I was literally, SOAKED in sweat, head to toes) and chilled out on the deck of our bamboo bungalow. The bungalow was built above ground to prevent flooding in the rainy season, and it was so clean and comfy and cozy that Laura and I prompty set about making plans to build one of our own. Win cooked us dinner and passed around a water bottle full of homemade moonshine. We luckily enough showed up on the first night of New Year's celebrations in the village, so everyone was in the mood to party. In the middle of the communal eating area, a tribute was set up with a pig's head and some other food items around it. The dancing centered around this, and was accompanied by drums, chimes, and cheap tinny sounding Thai pop music from speakers a few meters away. It was pretty neat, but us Westerners FAR outnumbered the villagers, so it felt a bit contrived. The foundation working in the village was called the Mirror Foundation, and they had set everything up on solar cell batteries which was pretty neat. In return, I think there was an arrangement that all us whiteys could come and gawk at will...oh well it was still very cool.

The PLAN for the next day was a hike to a waterfall and hot springs. In REALITY I gratefully accepted a jeep ride back to Chiang Rai with Kit and slept the rest of the day. Thankfully Laura was able to report back to me on all the adventures I missed out on, and provide pictures for my viewing pleasure. She also returned with well-wishes from the Italians, which I thought was very sweet.

Exciting stuff is happening every day at the center. Laura is working on an aquaculture project, whereby the swimming pool is slowly being converted into a Tilapia pond. This is a totally exciting advance in IHF's goal of sustainable development, and interesting for me as it brings me back to my days at the Salton Sea (Tilapia are like, the cockroaches of freshwater fish...totally indestructable). Two other volunteers, Adam and Eleanor, have been diligent about finishing a chicken coop so that we can keep chooks here at the center and harvest eggs. Atticus and Dan have been working really hard on the garden, getting it ready for planting this week. BEFORE THEY LEAVE. Everyone's leaving all at once! Of course we'll have new volunteers, but it's sorta sad to see the band break up. We've got a pretty fabulous dynamic going on right now.

The weather is really heating up; it seems like it turned overnight from fairly chilly to downright HOT. But, I don't think it's anywhere near as hot as it will be in a month or so. I keep playing with the idea of extending my trip (again) but we'll see how I hold out with the heat as I am a notorious whiner when the temp exceeds 80 F or so : )

Ahh yes and I finally have a story about dirty cops in a foreign land...Juan and I were riding scooters back from the Internet cafe one night (I'm a total 2 wheel whiz now, and it only took one minor crash) and we got stopped at a checkpoint up the road from a nearby festival. The cops REEKED of booze themselves, and wouldn't stop hassling us for our drivers licenses, which we kept telling them we didn't have on us. They had the gumption to actually start opening our backpacks and rooting around! It was completely cavalier and pissed me off to no end but I realized I probably wasn't in the position to have a full-on hissy fit in the middle of a dark road in a country where I didn't speak the language and was breaking the law. We promised them we'd return with our passports and licenses, and then sped off and never looked back. So there!

I'm trying my best to find time to get pictures up, but the days are so so so full right now. Juan is off to Bangkok tomorrow to do a television interview promoting IHF (yay!), and I've been left in charge. Watch out! I'm having quite a bit of fun getting to know the kids better though. We've embarked on getting them all checked out at the local hospital, so each week I'll be trucking a few more of them down there for a fun-filled Saturday doing things kids love like getting their blood drawn, hanging out in waiting rooms for hours, and being told they can't run, yell, or hit eachother. I'm holding on to my popularity by a thread, people.

Being immersed in an indiginous culture that is so TOTALLY different than my own is really bringing up a lot of personal moral and ethical dilemnas, which I won't get into on a public website. Needless to say, every day brings new experiences that smash all my beloved Western paradigms to pieces.

But overall, I love it. I'm trying to figure out how to move here. Yah, it's really that great!

It's Go Time

2009-01-12T23:43:00.000-08:00

So poking around youtube, I found a cool little vignette about Carol and her work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhFpqpYED8c

Check it out and once your interest is sufficiently piqued, hit the IHF website!

http://www.ihfonline.org/

A lot of exciting stuff is happening here in Thailand. Caty and Amanda, (co-director and Director of the center, respectively) have been called off to the Kenya center. They leave Monday evening, leaving all us remaining volunteers to take their places. Juan is going to act as Director, and the rumor is that I'm co-director but I'd rather not think of it that way as the responsibility freaks me out a bit. There are many volunteers here, and many more on the way...we'll be fine!

I've extended my trip one week so that I can go to a convention in Bangkok at the end of February, and I'm playing with staying even longer. It depends how this next month goes, I guess.

I'm trying like mad to think of what to say...days have just been mixing together, it's hard to believe I've been up in Chiang Rai over a week. It's amazing how safe it is here; apparently that's a side-effect of the Buddhist influence. I got abysmally lost on bicycle a few nights ago, and not once did I ever feel weird or at risk or anything. No one locks up anything here- houses, bikes, backpacks...it's just a given that no one steals which is quite amazing given the (relatively) low standard of living.

The food is absolutely fantastic, and even our meals at the center are prepared with tons of fresh herbs and spices. Mali and Nabee, the house mummies, have apparently toned down the chilis quite a bit for us falongs (white people), but there's still a fair amount of kick. We go to the market twice a week to buy groceries for the center, and it's been a really fun and interesting experience. They eat pretty much everything here...frogs, crickets, turtles, catfish, chicken legs, snails, jellied pig blood...you name it and I'm sure it's in some Thai dish somewhere. We go to this little neighborhood market almost daily and pick up lunch for around 40 cents, and I'm trying to expand my comfort zone to try new things (but the papaya salad is tried and true and just SO GOOD).

My projects over the next month will probably shift slightly from administrative stuff to more hands-on logistical projects, so I'm trying to plow through the rest of the website editing as well as making a volunteer manual and medical & dental logs for the children. Later this week, we'll bring them all in for medical checkups and vaccinations.

Until next time,
A

Pictures, kids, and itchiness

2009-01-11T03:35:00.000-08:00

I'm at the center in Chiang Rai, and really really loving it. The kids aren't quite as cuddly as the Pokot children, but that's okay. I think they'll warm up in time as we learn their names and such.
I've got a few pictures up and posted:

http://picasaweb.google.com/passionflower24/Thailand

When I arrived in Chiang Rai I was picked up by Juan at the bus station. It was great to see him again, and a little strange...a year later, a different continent...a lot to catch up on. I went with the director of the center, Amanda to pick up some of the children from school but many had the day off for a National Holiday (they have a National Holiday for Children. Children's Day!). Back at the center, I was shown around and met the other volunteers. There's so many of us here right now...besides Amanda and the co-director Caty, theres Juan from the UK, Eleanor from France, Adam from Australia, Dennis-Michael from the US, and Laura & Phil from Australia. The center itself is beautiful and quite modern. There's several working toilets and showers (one is even western and there's even hot water). It's very comfortable. We're located in a quiet sorta bucolic setting on the outskirts of town, there's a lot of countryside and stray dogs and such. I was stoked that it was safe enough to go on a run, and I got to see a lot of the city which is MUCH larger than I had expected-62,000 people according to Wiki!
http://wikitravel.org/en/Chiang_Rai

My first night in I was super excited to try the Thai cuisine but for dinner, Caty treated 4 of the birthday kids to KFC (as in Kentucky Fried Chicken) and a toy at the supermarket. Surprisingly, even KFC inThailand was pretty good...I got tuna salad. Still not impressed enough to purchase a KFC handbag or anything (I saw one for sale at the market-unbeleivable!).

Saturday was actually Children's Day, and tons of festivities were taking place. We took the children down to Chiang Rai beach where there was a celebration complete with games, food, and music. The kids made out like bandits with tons of free food and I tried my favorite dish thus far-papaya salad. It's made with unripe papaya strips, chilis, dried shrimp, roasted peanuts, and lime juice & vinegar. It's sublime.

Sunday was super-relaxed. There were a few house meetings where we were introduced to the kids via a translator. The children are all from the hilltribes of Northern Thailand, mostly Lahu and Akha. They speak their tribal language mostly, and Amanda and Caty have just gotten a teacher to give them Thai lessons daily after they come home from school. These groups endure a lot of prejeduce and discrimination from Thai's, and aren't even treated as full citizens. They aren't even given passports, so they can never leave their tribal province. Carol (founder of International Humanity Foundation) established this center as a preventative measure against human trafficking and sexual slavery; the fate of many unwanted hilltribe children. Once again, I feel quite affirmed that IHF is truly doing work with the most marginalized and poverty-stricken populations. Here's links to more info:
http://www.thaifreedomhouse.org/hill_tribes.php
http://www.hrsolidarity.net/mainfile.php/2004vol14no06/2384/

The task I've been given is comprehensive review and edit of the website text. Not very romantic, I know, but I'm actually very happy that I can be doing something useful that utilizes my skills. Other projects are ongoing painting and cleaning at the center, and various miscellaneous administrative tasks involving sponsorship and fundraising. I know it sounds weird to travel halfway around the world just to sit at a computer much of the day, but it's some of the most important and neccesary work to be done.

As for me, I'm doing great despite being covered in mosquito bites (well not covered but they're especially itchy. Especially the ones on the bottom of my feet and forehead.) The food is awesome and cheap and plentiful, I'm in good company, and it's not humid. I have absolutely no complaints...life is extremely extremely good :)

Far East and Loving It

2009-01-08T17:55:00.000-08:00

Here I am in Chiang Mai, Thailand...pecking away at an internet cafe halfway around the world. I wish I had pics to upload for y'all but I am still in wary-tourist mode and self-concious about it. They'll come, I promise.

My trip to Bangkok was smooth and uneventful, aside from some jet-lagged-induced resentment at the DAMN RUSSIANS that were drunk and loud and pushy in Seoul. Room for spiritual growth on my part I suppose : ). I got to my hotel around 2 am, and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the room for how cheap it was:
http://www.thongtaresort.com/

The next morning, I took a cab into central Bangkok and dropped my stuff off at the main train station. The information desk lady TOTALLY tourist-trapped me into buying a ticket for the overnight bus to Chiang Mai, versus the train. And she was soooooo polite when she explained that I would be more comfortable since I wasn't Asian (pantomiming big thighs at the same time). Anyways, I decided not to fret since she guaranteed me I'd have a great night's rest. I rationalized that the cost was worth it (about 30$ US) and it wasn't going to be the "QueasyCoach" experience I had from Nakuru to Bungoma in Kenya. NO bus ride on the planet could equal that one.

I took the Bangkok metro subway to a neighborhood called Sukumvit and attended a great meeting there. Everything is so clean and orderly and easy here! I met some great people (fellow travellers mostly), had a good lunch and did some shopping before I headed to another meeting in another area.

I spoke at length with a journalist about the political situation, and surprise surprise we weren't getting the whole picture from MSM. The group that caused all the problems at the airport and such weren't rallying for the little guys at all (even though they claimed to be a people's party); there's all sorts of complicated political alliances class elitism going on. But the bottom line is that everyone has been sated for the moment and the country is safe for the time being.

SOOO the bus. The first sign that my serenity was compromised: 1) Not a window seat but a MIRROR seat. Who wants to spend 9 hours looking at oneself while you're passing through an exotic and interesting countryside?? But it gets better...
2) The bus was full of.....RUSSIANS
3) Cockroaches were swarming in the tray table
4) My OCD plans to change into my pj's in the "toilet" and brush my teeth were foiled AND THIS WAS THE LAST STRAW-
5) Apparently there was not enough room for luggage underneath so it was all piled in the isle. My brain was swirling with fiery death scenes and being trapped in a bus dying. With Russians.

Okay enough negative Nancying...they pulled into another bus station and re-arranged the luggage. I got out and brushed my teeth and changed in the worlds funkiest outhouse, so I was a bit more calm. I decided I needed a real attitude change and got one when I pulled my meditation card for the night out...and the character defect of the day is: "I COME FIRST". Oh shit.

I actually calmed down and got a good nights' rest after all. About 6 this morning we pulled into Chiang Mai and I went on a pretty long walk that was really uninteresting (cuz I mostly stuck to highways and main roads not to get lost). Now I'm onto another bus for 3 hours to Chiang Rai and I'm VERY VERY excited to reunite with Juan who has been at the center for a few weeks now.

Ciao!

Back on land and Eastward ho

2008-12-18T13:04:00.000-08:00

Alas, the drift gillnet season has come to an end for me this year. Some boats may still fish after the holiday, but the market price is terrible. Luckily for me, I wrapped up on a wonderful boat with a great captain (who rescued birds and blow-dried them so they could safely fly away) and crew (who I played Scrabble with ad naseum). To celebrate, I made swordfish cheesecake (sans fish extract of any type):

FYI, this isn't the final version...a major edit was required prior to me bringing it out. I didn't feel like a successful "observer" when I realized I had put 2 dorsal fins on a fish that only has one. There's an astute biologist for ya. Anyhow, I corrected it in time and saved face with the guys. Oh and I also must qualify, this cheesecake came out of the box and no baking was required...I don't do Betty Crocker on the high seas : )

The last week on the boat was amazing. The weather was great, and it was such a blessing to admire the historically full (http://living.oneindia.in/insync/2008/brightest-full-moon-2008-121208.html) moon out on the quiet and serene waters. I didn't know it at the time but I couldn't help but think I was witnessing something spectacular and awesome and beautiful. I just thought I hadn't been taking the time to notice before.

Along with the beautiful silver light, the full moon brings all sorts of interesting beasties up and out in the ocean. During our last haul, I saw worms and some other sort of "thingy" swarming in the water that was clear and leaf-shaped with a big pink dot at one end. By the time I had a bucket together to try and capture some, the sun had started to rise : ( This brought me back to my research days at the Salton Sea, when I would drive out on full moon nights to capture swarming nerieid worms to take back to the lab at school. Good times.

Yah, I DO think they're kinda cute

Thanksgiving came and went and I had a lovely time connecting with my extended family in Claremont, CA. Almost everyone flew out from Texas which was pretty neat. Hopefully the family doesn't mind being blogged on:

I especially had a good time connecting with my grandparents. And look how cute we all are:

Travel plans to Thailand are still on. I leave January 6th after a whirlwind tour of the parent's homes in AZ and TX (this is a surprise for my grandma so anyone reading...hush hush!). Juan, who I met in Kenya last year has already arrived and says the political situation is totally calmed down. I'll reunite with him and Laura at the IHF center in Chiang Rai, Thailand:

http://www.ihfonline.org/locations/thailand.php

It sounds like I'll have fairly regular internet access, so I'll try to keep the blog updated as much as I can. Love to all!

"Swordfish like Obama"

2008-11-06T21:09:00.000-08:00

I'm back observing...this time it's in sunny Southern California, which is a real perk. The down side is that this fishery is a lot smaller and confidentiality is an issue so I had to sign a waiver stating I wouldn't bring a personal camera on-board with me. I may be able to finagle (?) this a little later on, but so far I don't have recent pictures. Hopefully my illustrious narratives will suffice : )

I have been on 2 boats so far, each of which were quite nice. I'm working on drift gillnetters targeting swordfish. Each evening, they put a huge vertical mesh net in the water thats over a mile long. Early in the morning, the net is retrieved and the fish are pulled on board. In addition to swordfish, we catch blue, mako, and thresher sharks, ocean sunfish, albacore, and occasionally (and definately not intentionally) marine mammals. My last trip consisted of 9 fishing days and there was one dolphin in the net. My duties required me to dissect it and collect certain specimens for the scientists at the National Marine Fisheries Service Science Center in La Jolla-goodies like the adrenal glands, gonads, the stomach, a biopsy/blubber sample, and the entire head. It wasn't as difficult as I feared it might be; we had good weather that day which really helped of course. Although it is rather strange to root around in the guts of an animal that's still warm (you don't get this experience with fish)...

Speaking of being elbow-deep in blood and guts, I've decided that I'm ready to tackle the idea of learning to hunt and fish (this is coming from a gal that a year ago was vegan). The deckhand of the last boat and I fished for squid at night which was a lot of fun and gave me a real sense of sufficency in a weird way. I wonder if this is what outdoorsman get so worked up about. It felt good to know I could accquire my own food, and take responsibility for purposefully ending another creature's life. Now the calamari steaks are in the freezer, and I'm just waiting for my roomie Laurie to whip up a fabulous dish with it!

As I just alluded to, I have yet again moved out of my ex-boyfriend/business partner/co-dependant lifemate/best buddy Johnnie's house in Huntington Beach. I'm living with my good friend Laurie at her home in Long Beach, along with a gal named Nuala (a standard poodle). I love Long Beach, which is far more cosmopolitan and sophisticated than Orange County, and Laurie has a wonderful beautiful home that is full of love and peace. So far, SO good!

My next big plans are for a trip to the Thailand IHF center in January. I've already got the ticket, but haven't firmed up the itenerary. I'll definately keep you all posted.

Much love, and hopefully more soon!

"Home" safe & sound

2008-08-30T20:15:00.000-07:00

I'm wrapping up my requisite "acclimation" week on the couch in my pj's as I adjust to my terribly hard Southern California lifestyle. I arrived home Monday evening, and have watched more television since then that I have in the entire year.

I have a lot to ponder as I resume my normal routines. At Costco yesterday I wandered by the fresh (?) seafood display...halibut at $7.99/lb! Unreal! Cheaper than right off the boat! Who are these people??? The scallops looked sad and slimy and discolored. I couldn't help but wonder where they came from and how long they traveled to get to our tables.

Today I finally succumbed to a semi-normal level of self-grooming and got my first manicure and pedicure in 3 months. Heavenly. It's nice to be rough and ready and tough and all, but what girl doesn't like pretty hands and feet? Besides, I've got a busy couple weeks of pool parties and beach time.

Me, hard at work

My last week on the boat was excellent, although unfortunately for the guys, a big storm came up and the fishing got pretty bad. We anchored up in a bay, where I took this adorable picture of them all working on the dredge:

We stayed there overnight because the weather forcast predicted winds of 70 mph. Not so nice. It was pretty nasty, but more than anything just sorta boring. We did a lot of sleeping, and I eventually got a game of Scrabble out of Malcolm and Jeff (I lost miserably). It was a full moon, and I remembered the last harvest moon that Tom pointed out on the boat exactly a month before. As we pulled out of the bay 24 hours later, there was some brief discussion over the radio as to whether we should trade some scallops for salmon with a small seiner boat a few hundred yards away. I thought that was pretty cool; trading on the high seas just like the old days.

I ended up seeing the neatest thing on my last haul. What is it? Well I don't really know. Some sort of nudibranch which are the coolest little guys. I was just thrilled.

Jeff sorts the world's crappiest haul

I put a few more pictures up on the website, and also some short videos. They're pretty basic, just me saying the same thing over and over ("It's my last day on the Kilkenny. *sigh*") and showing you my little reading nook in the fos'c'le as well as my knee, boot, book, etc. I admit, I'm not the most exciting filmmaker.

I've been accepted as an observer for the California/Oregon drift gillnet fishery targeting swordfish. The training starts on the 22nd, and I'll be based out of Long Beach. There's more shoreside work required of me, but I will be on boats out of local ports ranging from San Diego to Northern Cal. I think it will be cool to live close to home where I can hopefully pick up some contract work so that I can start saving up for Thailand! God willing, I want to try and spend Christmas there with the kids and have a reunion with my good friends Juan and Laura that I met in Kenya. We'll see...

Gonna be famous!

2008-08-12T19:02:00.000-07:00

Malcolm took this picture of Jim holding an absolutely humongous scallop:

I thought it was a great shot, so I sent it off to National Fishermen (http://www.nationalfisherman.com/index.asp) and asked them if they would use it for their monthly "Crew Shot" feature. I also asked if they'd be interested in a short article about Alaskan scallopers and they said yes! Anyone out there who would be willing to help me edit a preliminary draft is my hero-email me!!!! I'm freakin out man!

Running out of titles but still loving life on the Kilkenny

2008-08-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

I'm staying on the boat this time instead of schlepping all my stuff back and forth to the hostel...I'm really missing the highspeed right about now...Check out the usual link for even more fantastic pictures, it takes TOO DAMN LONG to upload them here but scroll down and check out the ones I was able to put in. They're pretty cute.

Contrary to my entry below (I didn't want to change content to protect my journalistic integrity ha), it looks like I get one more trip on the Kilkenny. Fishing this last trip was good enough to do it all over again; hopefully we'll get the same lovely weather but the forecast looks more like typical Gulf of Alaska winds and seas. Oh well. I'm just glad I get some more time in with this crew, all of whom I'm really growing to like. And just really enjoying my time reading, curled up on the bow of the boat in the sunshine. I finished the Kite Runner this week, BLECH not what I expected but still an ok read I guess (I'm right at the beginning here which is wht I look happy).

Random notes I made:
-I don't really like to eat scallops, which is ironic cuz they look exactly like my favorite food of all time, giagantic marshmallows.
-There was the most aesthetically pleasing balance of cotton-candy colors during the sunset the other night. The blue and pink/purple crests on the waves matched in perfect proportion the colors in the sky. Of course, I SHOULD have taken a picture to show you what I'm talking about...
-Caught the CUTEST durn snailfish in a tow. Should have taken a picture.
-I went to a really cool little film festival in Homer right before I left last trip. A short (or series of them, rather) definately worth checking out:
http://thepatternstrilogy.com/

8/6/08
As we near the end of what may be our final trip, I feel like I haven't documented all the extraordinary experiences I've had here on the Kilkenny. Nearly every tow has brought up an new and wonderful creature for me to ooh and ahh over...

"OOOH"

"AHHH"

Today we got a very large octopus on deck...I poked at him for a bit before tossing him back in the sea. It was cool to hear his suckers attach and reattach to the deck as he squirmed his way around.
The sheer magnitude of our catch overwhelms me when I stop to think about it...the amount of biomass out there in the ocean continually reminds me of what a big big world this is, and that I am only a small part. It helps me to alleviate fear I have about issues of LACK, that there won't be ENOUGH...enough gas, enough food, enough time...God's world is huge and there is plenty for all. The ocean is a constant reminder of abundance.
Today started off rather gloomy, and I didn't want much to do with observing at all. It was super hard for me to drag myself away from the bench in the galley where I had glued my feet to the stove (our only source of heat). After being on deck for a few minutes however, the SUN came out and life was good again. I really took for granted all the nice weather on our first few trips. All day yesterday was dreary and cold with a slight drizzle. Today was a definate improvement, but still damp as we were encased in fog all day. It was an interesting sensation, to have the sun shining on my face but besurrounded in mist...very ethereal. There was hardly any visibility because of the fog, so it felt like we were on a ghost ship, with nothing but the searoiling around us, the only thing in the universe. So romantic!
I'm reading an EXCELLENT book about fishing in Alaska, highly recommended for anyone who wants a taste of what it's like. It's a novel, but the fictionalchapters are interspersed with factual essays about various aspects of Alaskan history and fishing information. It's really well written. It's called "Highliners" and it's by William B. McCloskey, Jr:
http://www.amazon.com/Highliners-Classic-Commercial-Fishermen-Alaska/dp/1585740284/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1218421033&sr=1-1
I hear there's a sequel which I'm very excited to find. I also read a book on the boat called "Trawler" by a Scottish dude named Redmond O'Hanlon which was a funny if not somewhat exaggerated (and very British) read about life on a commmercial fishing vessel: http://www.amazon.com/Trawler-Redmond-OHanlon/dp/1400042755
This wholeworld is just so fascinating. I also got a book at the Homer bookstore about women who commercially fish in Alaska. Unbelievable! I am just so curiousand awestruck by people who live this lifestyle. It truly has to be the most difficult, exciting, dangerous, thrilling, satisfying, dirty, uncomfortable,amazing way to make a living. I am absolutely in love with life and feel so so blessed to be experiencing this with my eyes open.
My typical day is to wake up about 7 or 8 (I get to set my own schedule with this sampling protocol-NICE) and eat some oatmeal while I finish up mypaperwork from the day before. The crew bounds out of bed around 4 or 5 to start working-on empty stomachs. They are so tough. Not I. I sample my first haul around 9, and then come in and have a hot breakfast with everyone at 10. I have to sample a total of 5 hauls per day, and the boat does on average about 10; one every 1.5 hours or so. Now that I have the routine down, it seems extremely easy and I often have a lot of time in between sets toread or stare at the sea. I love all the solitude and time I have to just think and talk to myself; I've yet to had a day where I've been truly lonely.The district we're fishing in now has a sandy bottom, so there's no mud to deal with which is a really nice improvement and makes for a lot less clean-uptime. As far as the actual sampling, it's really basic. I wait until the crew has sorted through the pile of scallops that the dredge has brought up,and then collect the leftover scallops. Here's some shots Malcolm took of me hard at work:These are then sorted into broken and unbroken baskets, weighed, counted, and measured. I also collect any crab bycatch and measure, sex, and age them as well. Once per day I do a haul composition where I weigh everything that comes up on deck. I talked to Fish & Game about counting starfish though since there can be up to 600 lbs/haul and I was breaking my ass trying to weigh them all. Yikes. This haul compis a lot of work, but also really neat, almost every one has been different. The diversity of animals here is just staggering. And hardly any dead fish,yay! I take a lunch break around 3, and try to get a jump on paperwork. We eat dinner around 9, and I clean up the dishes and the galley before my showerless cleanup routine (which involves baby wipes and cornstarch in my hair). I usually go to bed at 10 or 11. I'm so spoiled; the crew doesn't make it in until at least midnight, a lot of times later. They try and get 4 hours of sleep at night, and then go down for 2 hour naps during the day. These guys really are heads and tails above the rest, really truly genuinely nice men. All of them are married and totally respectful and cool and interesting.There are only 3 deckhands, the captain, and myself this trip, so it's a nice tight little team. I'm off to finish up my book and hit the hay.

Vacation!

2008-07-30T17:36:00.000-07:00

After a fairly successful week scalloping, the guys have decided that they wanted to spend some time with their families. So I've got 3 days in Homer with absolutely no agenda!

I put a few more pictures up on the same link above. Note this especially cute one Captain Malcolm took of me and my Chionecterian friend:

There are a bunch of pics of our deckhand Ryan who left to go back to Maine last night. I decided to be the designated picture-taker (I AM my mother's daughter...) and document his summer experience for him.

So this was the record for no bathing...9 days! It wasn't THAT bad since we moved out of the district with all the mud but by the end of the trip I was starting to get a bit itchy. Literally. And my craving for attention and affection was this time directed at the crabs...yes I know they don't LOOK cuddly or cute but they sort of have the same reaction a dog does when you blow in it's nose so that's kind of fun.
On this trip I saw whales nearly every day, but of course I thought that would be a boring picture so I didn't take any. One morning, Nick (a member of the crew) told me to come out on deck and see the Pacific Dolphins frolicking around the boat. It was a HUGE pod, must have been 30-50 of them in the water. Those of you who know me well know that I generally snub my nose at elitist animals such as marine mammals but even grumpy old me was moved by the sheer number of these guys. They were just laughing and playing all over the place, it reminded me of looking at a schoolyard at recess.

I still love the boat and the crew more than ever and am a bit sad that this will be our last trip most likely. After that, I might try and do a short contract on Kodiak island before heading back down to sunny southern CA, where I think I've got another observing job in the swordfish gill-seine fishery that starts at the end of September. Hopefully since that's closer to home I can pick up some more contract work and start saving money like mad. I am bound and determined to make it to Thailand (SOMEHOW, by jove!) to meet up with my friends Laura and Juan and see another IHF center. Part of me just wants to buy lottery tickets but I know there's a plan for me somewhere if it's meant to be.

Scallop queen (and so modest!)

2008-07-21T14:07:00.000-07:00

I've got some down-time in Kodiak so here's some pics I was able to post:

http://picasaweb.google.com/passionflower24/Kilkenny

Fishing has been great. The first week we started out in an area closer to Homer called the Shelikof strait. That Sunday, we came back and sold scallops directly to the public off the boat. It was so cool; very grass-roots and authentic and neat to witness a resource being harvested, processed, and then sold direct to the consumer. There's something very fulfilling about seeing the process.
The Shelikof area closed due to crab bycatch (based on numbers I and other observers were collecting) so we had to move further out this last week, closer to Kodiak. Selling scallops here hasn't been quite as successful, but it was really nice to get a break and a shower and visit with other observers at the bunkhouse. We're headed out tonight to fish and will be back in Homer next weekend.
Au revior!

Homer-bound

2008-07-03T20:54:00.000-07:00

Well, tomorrow is the day I head off to Homer, AK. I'll spend a couple nights at a local hostel http://www.homerhostel.com/ before boarding my boat on Sunday and heading off to the Shelikof strait to dredge for scallops. Wahoo!

Yesterday I spent all day at the Alaska Native Heritage Center, which was really really cool:

http://www.alaskanative.net/

I first showed up and caught some of the young people demonstrating traditional native games. They were non-team strength based exercises. Here, they're trying to kick a target with one foot while holding their other foot. It was pretty amazing.

Me by a Tlingit totem pole

A scaled-down Tlingit lodge house

As usual, I had a grand old time at the museum. I could spend another day there as I didn't get a chance to see everything.

I made it! Again! But no cute pic of me with a certificate this time....

2008-06-27T16:12:00.001-07:00

After a long and harrowing week of being tossed around by my employer I'm right back where I started. On the Kilkenny, out of Homer, starting fishing on the 6th. Whew!
The test went well, so now I just have to prove my skills as a Shellfish Observer to Alaska Department of Fish & Game so that I can get fully certified. They require a couple trips before granting full certification (which also comes with a nifty patch) which means that technically I'm still a trainee. I'm hoping I'll get enough experience over the summer to earn this so that I don't have to do the training course again.
I'm trying to decide how best to spend my remaining time in Anchorage over the coming week. It's cooled down, but still beautiful hiking weather. The problem is just getting around...rental cars in tourist season are hard to come by and really pricey. July 4th is supposed to be really fun in Homer, so hopefully I can find accomodations down there for a few days before my trip.
Life is good, I'm having a great time networking with other observers and friends I've made in Anchorage.
This job is so cool. Here's what "training" consists of:

Hiking in Girdwood, AK

2008-06-16T23:17:00.000-07:00

Saturday, a few fellow observers and I headed out for the town of Girdwood, which is about 30 miles south of Anchorage to do some hiking. Girdwood is known for being an interesting mix between ski snobbery and funky old hippies...this is where the world-class ski resort Alyeska is located. Look, there's actually pictures of me! As you can see, it's gorgeous. I didn't take pictures of all the greenery, but it was like being in Jurassic park. In fact, we gathered the tender shoots of ferns (called "fiddleheads") with grandiose plans to fry them up for dinner. Instead, we opted for pizza and beer at the local pub : )

Fellow hikers and observers Laura, Andy, and Natura

Me and Laura get in the hand-tram

Away we go!

Back we come!

Today was the first day of training and while the material was interesting as usual, I'm a bit nervous about what I've gotten myself into this time. I saw actual pictures of the boat I'll be on. IT'S MINIATURE. The bunks are around the table! There's only one room that quadruples as a stateroom, galley, kitchen, and washroom (no toilet, just sink)! No faucets, just HAND PUMPS. Aaah! I've emailed another observer to ask her more about her experience on the Kilkenny because she really had positive things to say. I hope I can have as good of an attitude as last time.

I also went and saw a very moving documentary this evening called "At the Death House Door". http://www.ifc.com/atthedeathhousedoor. I found out about it at the Quaker meeting on Sunday-it was hosted by the group Alaskans Against the Death Penalty. I'd recommend it to anyone but it's definately not a "feel-gooder".

Back in the land of the midnight sun

2008-06-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

After a short 6 week respite in sunny Southern California, I'm back up in Anchorage to train for another stint as an observer. Leaving home was harder this time, but now that I'm here I'm getting pretty excited. There's a great group of prior observers in the apartment and I'm having a lot of fun catching up on everyone's war stories. It's also cool to see the Anchorage that was hiding under the thick layer of snow and ice that I remember from February. The weather is beautiful, and I went on a hike at 10 pm yesterday which was fabulous! So far my sleeping hasn't been affected by the light, but it's certainly harder to make myself go to bed with so much fun stuff to do and broad daylight to enjoy it in.

Most of you know that this time I'll be working in the scallop fishery, which is managed by Alaska Department of Fish and Game. I start training on Monday here in Anchorage, and will probably leave for Homer, AK around the 30th so I can catch the start of the season on July 1st. That's if I pass my certification class of course : ). I'll be working on a smallish wooden boat called the Kilkenny, and it sounds like I'll have at least one day a week on land. From what I hear scallop observing is a lot harder than groundfish for a few different reasons. The scallops are collected by dredging the bottom, and a lot of teeny tiny invertebrates come up with the catch. It's my job to sort and ID these little guys, which can be pretty time consuming. But I'm very excited since all of my prior research and schooling has been with marine invertebrates. I personally think they are much cuter than fish or whales, both of which get way too much credit.
The other reason it's supposed to be harder is the physical aspect of the job. The sampling protocol is a bit more vigorous, and baskets are heavier. I'm looking forward to being superbuff by the time my contract is up.

I plan on doing A LOT more hiking, so I'll make sure to take pictures of the amazing views. No other big plans as of yet...I'm thinking of heading up to Fairbanks next weekend to float the Chena river. Yah it gets hot enough to get in the water!

The Endeavor is en route to Dutch Harbor to start fishing for Greenland Turbot. I talked to my buddy Marq on Wednesday and man am I gonna miss those guys. I know I'll keep meeting wonderful people wherever I go, but I still have such a hard time saying goodbye and moving on. And thinking that a new observer will come along and steal their hearts and they'll forget all about me...OHHH snap, the truth comes out!

And VERY exciting news from Kenya today. The children competed in a music festival and won in 2 categories, "sacred" and "folk". This is an amazing achievement. They have now qualified to move on to the next level of competition to be held in Kericho. If this speaks to anyone's heart, Carol and IHF is trying to raise money to get them new costumes and also get a recording of them up on the web. I'll keep you posted, it's so worth it, these kids can sing! I'm getting goosebumps remembering their voices.

Love to all,
Angela

Sleepy in Seattle

2008-04-26T21:03:00.000-07:00

I'm writing at the Saltwater bunkhouse in Seattle. I've got the apartment to myself which is nice...all the other observers in town are out painting the town red so to speak. We're in the University District of town, which is nice because there's a lot of cool stuff within walking or bus distance. I still haven't branched out to the outlying areas like I wanted to, but I did see Pike Place market and a bit of downtown. Otherwise, I've sorta stuck to the neighborhood on my runs and adventures.
The parks and greenery here are beautiful. Everything is in bloom, and there are tulips and gorgeous flowers everywhere. I spent some time at a place called the Arboretum a few days ago and had a lovely walk through 200 acres of trees, shrubs, and flowers. Last night and today I attended a seminar on creativity put on by the Guild for Jungian Psychology at the Quaker meeting house, which was very cool. I'm planning on returning to Meeting tomorrow there as well (I went to last week's service too).
I started my debriefing yesterday and it went MUCH better than my little head predicted. I have an understanding debriefer who's familiar with my particular boat and it's challenges. She's also working extra hard to get me out of here quickly which is really cool. Maybe government employees don't QUITE deserve their rep...hopefully I'll finish up by Tuesday so I can get home and meet up with my mom for our Unitarian Universalist Women's retreat this weekend in the Angeles National Forest.
My plans for another contract are to return to Anchorage in June to train for the scallop fishery. There's a spot on a really cool boat that fishes out of Homer, AK, and it sounds like a neat experience. Scallops are managed at a state level, so I would be dealing with Alaska Department of Fish and Game instead of the National Marine Fisheries Service. This in and of itself is appealing!

Beaurocratic woes and link to pics

2008-04-19T14:18:00.000-07:00

4/11/08 Right now we’re en route to new fishing grounds Southeast of an area called Yakatat. Fishing has been really good in the Gulf, and we’re just a couple days away from starting our steam back to Seattle. I’m really happy I get to go with the boat and crew down to the shipyard. We might take the Inside Passage which is supposed to be really scenic and interesting. A stop on Kodiak island came and went; I think we were only there for 4 hours or so. Barely enough time for me to go by the bunkhouse, say hi to some old friends from my training class, and then go to the National Marine Fisheries Service field station for a mid-cruise debriefing. I was sorta bummed I didn’t get anymore time to explore or go on a run, but if I decide to come back there’s a pretty high probablility I’ll spend some time there if I do another contract. We picked up a new captain in Kodiak. We also changed out some crew in Dutch Harbor, so the vibe on this trip is a little different. Still great, but I guess some of the novelty is gone. Today the weather is kinda rough so that’s affecting my mood too…I just want to get some aerobic exercise so bad! I ran around the bow of the boat a week ago and up steps and tried to jumprope but it really wasn’t that great.

4/12/2008 Today we pulled up our sister ship’s gear accidentally. They attached a pair of nunchucks theto the line. It was frickin hilarious...I thought they actually got dragged up from the bottom but apparently this is a common prank on longliners. It illicited stories of past items planted by the crew who set the gear so that the rollerman finds nice surprises when he's hauling it. Ha ha.

4/14/08 Steaming back to Seattle. I can’t believe that I did my last haul. I’m ready for land but already nostalgic for boat life already. Whatta journey.

4/19/08 Damn I knew this job was too good to be true. Things finally got unpleasant yesterday when I reported to the National Marine Fisheries Services for the first time. G-men! Hallways! Miscellaneous forms to file! Our government is crazy complicated and now I'm a pawn in the whole thing. Apparently things are backed up 2 WEEKS...I am debating how insubordinant I want to be since I already have a plane ticket home for next Saturday AND I JUST FOUND OUT I'M NOT GETTING PAID TO WAIT AROUND. Inconcievable!
My little head could barely handle the culture shock...imagine, early in the morning I'm on my boat, steaming into Puget Sound ahead of a lone killer whale. Me and Captain Jim are shooting the shit in the wheelhouse as the sun comes over the Seattle skyline. There are only 10 other people in my little self-contained universe. A few hours later, I'm desperately trying to navigate the maze of the NOAA complex, running from cubicle to cubicle in a massive government compound. When I finally find someone, I got all flummoxed and discombobulated trying to explain things about my data, like I had to learn to communicate in governmentese or something. It was uber-frustrating.
Today was a little better...I did some much-needed self care (a run, a meeting and a massage) so I feel slightly more positive. I'm still not really feeling Seattle though. Yeah, it's true, the weather is really sucky.
Pictures are up, follow this link:
http://picasaweb.google.com/passionflower24/ClipperEndeavor

Land again!

2008-03-29T22:33:00.000-07:00

March 18th, 2008 10:30 pm
Somewhere in the Bering Sea…

I’m writing this at the galley table on my vessel, the Clipper Endeavor.

I am having a fabulous time.

I never want to leave this boat.

Just kidding, it’s not ALL peaches and rose petals, but I really feel grateful and lucked out with an awesome crew and captain. I heard a bunch of horror stories when I got my assignment about prior observers’ experiences on this boat so I was really expecting the worst. But I came in with a positive attitude and tried to be as respectful as possible and gosh darnit it pays off to play Pollyanna sometimes!

The work was really hard and overwhelming at first. This paragraph from the Occupational Health Assessment that I had to have signed by a physician sums up the overall experience quite well:

“Observers gather biological data onboard commercial fishing vessels which operate in the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. Routine medical care is non-existent; emergency medical care is only available in extreme situations and may be days away. Observers spend many hours at a time in cold or wet weather in heavy seas. Meals are unscheduled. Good vision and hearing are a must for the safety of an observer. They may work long, odd hours seven days a week, and rarely sleep uninterrupted for 8 hours. Sampling requires lifting heavy baskets of fish (80 to 100 pounds) several times a day, usually from awkward positions. Motion sickness can be a real problem as it can cause dehydration and require medications. Life onboard a fishing vessel involves exposure to constant shipboard noise (engines, machinery, and gears) and vibrations and can be quite lonely and stressful.”

Check, check, check and definitely check on the “awkward positions” caveat. Thankfully I slapped on the seasickness patch about an hour before we left Dutch Harbor on the 5th. I’m really glad we did because it was a rough 3 day steam out to the fishing grounds, and I spent most of it in bed anyways. I dry-heaved once but other than that, did remarkably well and now I’m super comfortable and used to my sea legs.

Fishing has been slow, but this fishery is notorious for that so it’s nothing out of the ordinary. It’s sort of cool for me to see all the bycatch; we’re fishing quite deep (on average ½ mile down) so there’s some pretty weird fish coming up. I also got my first glimpse of killer whales about a week ago, which is bittersweet because they totally decimate our catch. Fishermen hate them. For the most part, my day consists of getting up, putting on dayglo rain gear that smell like fish guts, and tallying the animals on the line for set periods. Then I collect certain subsets of particular species and weigh them. Sometimes I get to measure them and cut their heads open too, which is freaky because sablefish keep moving after you chop their heads off. Then I’m in there rooting around in their brain cavity for these little bones called otoliths and I’m touching nerves and their eyes are jerking around and their fins are moving. Eek. I’m pretty desensitized to the death and destruction by now, and am happy to report that I’m completely over my dead fish phobia. Although I don’t think I’d be happy to find a saran-wrapped giant grenadier in my sleeping bag (which our cook Mark claims would be the TRUE test to see if I’m really over it).

It’s not unbearably cold or miserable, but I do get frozen when I have to sit and count and not move around. I guess I missed the icing over of the boat by a few weeks; the temperature is really quite bearable especially when I’m moving around and hucking big fish overboard. Be careful what you ask for from the universe- my only request for a boat was for some sort of exercise machine…I think I mentioned a Stairmaster specifically. Well, I got the only boat out there that you have to climb up stairs to dump stuff over the side. And so I do that 85 gazillion times a day. : )

03/24/08

I feel like such a weenie making this sound hard…what I do is a piece of cake compared to the crew…oh man I have never seen men work so hard. It’s simply amazing. And they tell me this is nothing; that during the Pacific Cod season it’s 5 times as many fish and they’re moving 3 times faster on ½ as much sleep. I really can’t believe the human body is capable of the stuff that these guys do physically. Well, and mentally too. They’re all such great guys, so sweet and helpful and cheerful. Sure, the fact that I’m the only living, breathing female in sight for hundreds of miles helps but they’re truly good people and I feel extremely blessed and well taken care of.

Yesterday was Easter. It was a really good day fishing, the best yet by far. However there was a report of 4 deaths on a ship that had gone down the night before. I still don’t know the details but the Alaska Ranger was a trawler processor for the Fishing Company of Alaska, and everyone made it off except the Captain, the Engineer, the 1st Mate, and a crewmember. It was a pretty sobering to think about and really shook me up for a bit.

Today was gorgeous and I had several “whoa” moments on deck. The sun was setting and pouring through the clouds like on a Jesus poster and there was an island in the background and the sea was perfectly calm and the seabirds were squawking and it was just really peaceful and beautiful. We finished up fishing in the Aleutian Islands so now we’re onto the Gulf of Alaska. I’m really happy that I get to stay on this boat for another trip.

3/29/08 I’m at a stopover in Dutch Harbor for the night before we go on the Gulf of Alaska trip tomorrow, so I can post…life is good, will report more in a month : )

Alaska from the air

2008-02-28T22:11:00.000-08:00

We got the most awesome opportunity to go up in a single engine Cessna last Sunday. A girl I live with knows a pilot who works for an arial photography company, and he was cool enough to take 3 of us girls up in his plane. We flew to Talkeetna for pizza, and then came back:

Chugach Mountains outside of Anchorage

Katie and Danielle

Our pilot Nick

View from Danielle's window

Denali (Mt. McKinley)

Welcome to beautiful Talkeetna, AK!

The main drag in Talkeetna

My bird's eye view of the cockpit

Downtown anchorage from above

Anchorage & the bay

Nick did a couple of nosedives so we could feel 0 g's...all the crap and crud floated out of the crevices in the plane and floated around. It was pretty wild. He also gave us a chance to fly the plane. It was amazing.

I got my assignment today. Next Wednesday I'll head out to Dutch Harbor, AK to board the Clipper Endeavor. It's 124 feet and has about 10 crew members. We'll be longlining for sablefish (also known as black cod) out in the far west Bering Sea. It will be a pretty long cruise; up to 50 days but every 2 weeks we'll head back into port to offload.

Hey I'm on Facebook now, which is much easier to use as far as posting pictures, so if anyone else is look me up!

Peace out,
A

I rock

2008-02-24T09:00:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official, I made it. I am now qualified to count, sort, sex, identify, and dissect dead fish. I even got nifty little card and a certificate:

We are deep in the midst of Fur Rondy here in Anchorage. The city brought in a ton of snow and dumped it down the middle of our street for the dog teams. It was pretty neat. I didn't see the big race start, but when I was walkinghome today, I caught these guys racing around a track in a nearby park:

I also thought this was funny; check out baby strollers Alaskan style:

Today was a clear, beautiful day. I tried to capture the mountains but it really isn't the same:

I had a chance to head up to Palmer with a new friend today. It was an amazing and gorgeous drive. I'd love to get a rental car and do some travelling before I ship out, which will be sometime next week hopefully. I also want to get a day or two of snowboarding in.

I got an email from Pauline, and it sounds like things are relatively calm and she's doing well. Her and her husband have taken in an orphaned 10 year old boy whose parents were killed in the clashes. She's so awesome.

I'm roasting up here

2008-02-19T21:48:00.000-08:00

Anchorage is experiencing quite a heat wave right now; the past few days have all been in the high '30's which is positively stifling:

http://www.weather.com/outlook/homeandgarden/home/local/USAK0012?from=recentsearch

Melting snow all day = tons of ice at night, so for those of us living the pedestrian lifestyle, it's quite challenging. And slicker than dog snot!

Speaking of our furry friends, the big news around here these days is "Fur Rondy" (short for Fur Rendezvous) , a week-long extravaganza that originally coincided with the time that the miners and trappers came to town with their winter's yield. The World Championship Sled Dog Race debuted in 1946 and has become the cornerstone event of the Festival bringing teams of sled dogs and mushers to Anchorage from across Alaska and all over the world. Other events include the Rondy Carnival, the Grand Parade, the uniquely Alaskan Original Men's Snowshoe Softball and the Grand Prix Auto Race. Oh and also snow-carving contest that my very own teacher, Mike Vechter will be entering on behalf of the University of Alaska Observer Training Center! Predictably, there will be fish and crabs involved...if you want the whole low-down, here's the link: http://www.furrondy.net/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

So I passed my fish ID exam today which means I'm one step closer to getting on a boat. This afternoon we all headed over to the UAA pool to do some survival training. Here's some pics of me in my immersion suit (aka, Gumby suit) after we did all the chain formations and life raft drills. It was pretty fun, but I can imagine that doing it under Bering Sea conditions is probably not so enjoyable.

Here's a generic shot of my street...I'm waiting for a clear day to take pictures of the mountains which are really beautiful, but it is usually dark by the time I'm out walking around. Although the days are getting lighter and lighter now.

Home sweet home: yah I KNOW it looks big on the outside, but there's 6 units, each of which have about 6 or 7 people in them. We are thinning out though; we've lost 2 observers so far. One didn't make the midterm, and the other just wanted to go home.

I've been really busy with homework and miscellany but after I (God-willing) pass the final on Thursday, things should really slow down and I'll be able to get out and see the surrounding areas more. I really want to get a day of riding in at the local ski hill, and visit the local native heritage museum. And enjoy not going to school 40 hours a week.

3 Degrees and holding!

2008-02-08T13:29:00.000-08:00

Well I'm here and I love it! Apparently this past week has been a real cold snap, even by Alaskan standards (well....Anchorage at least) but I've yet to be truly uncomfortable. I've been doing A LOT of walking which keeps me pretty darn warm. It's been a nice way to get out and about but I also really miss my car. The public bus system here is not so great, but I've still used it a couple times. I use any excuse I can to get out of the house since it's a bit crowded. There are 7 0f us observers in training in a small 2 bedroom, 1 bathroom apartment. *Sigh*. Thankfully, there aren't any truly difficult personalities and we all seem to get along pretty well. But there's a definate lack of privacy and quiet time that I miss. Of course, this is fabulous training for what we'll encounter on vessels; maybe they do this to us on purpose???
The Groundfish Observer training program has been really really cool. I'm totally digging being in school again. My wheels have been turning as to what this may lead to in the future for me career-wise...several of the teachers here and NOAA government officials were former Observers. I'm really getting interested in the fisheries management aspect; it's absolutely fascinating. Alaska has not only the largest fishery in the world, but one the healthiest and most well-managed as well. This is largely in part to the real-time data that's collected by Observers. The amount of data collected is staggering, and it's really cool to see how it's actually used to make major conservation and economic decisions.
I'll try and get some pictures up of Anchorage soon; it's really not all that interesting but hopefully we'll get out this weekend and get a chance to see the Northern Lights up in a smaller town like Wasilla or something. I'm going to wait until next weekend to try and go snowboarding, since fresh snow is forecasted and it's also going to "warm up" to the late 20's.
Most of my free time is spent on homework and going to the gym. Class is from 8-5 every week day so we really don't have much time to mess around. Everything sure takes longer without a car...I'm feeling like a true Southern California gal as I realize how much I depend on my wheels and how much they contribute to my sense of independence and freedom. I mean, the walking is nice and all to a point, but it's so slow! I got things to do and places to be! Not to mention that for some reason, the City of Anchorage doesn't seem concerned with plowing their sidewalks or salting the roads...there's just perm-a-ice everywhere. This doesn't mean people adjust their driving styles accordingly, so I also don't feel real safe walking along the road sometimes. And I have to kinda hobble along so I don't slip and fall.
I got an email from Jeff Ouma who has a lot of hope for the negotiations with Kofi Annan in Kenya. Otherwise, I'm pretty out of the loop. I'm planning on calling Pauline soon and will report back with any news.
Love to all from the Great White North,
Angela

Aurora Borealis Bound

2008-02-02T18:36:00.000-08:00

I write this as I'm sitting in the Phoenix airport, waiting to catch my connecting flight to Anchorage, Alaska. I've accepted a position as a marine fisheries observer. Basically I'll be gathering biological data onboard commercial fishing boats operating off the coast, identifying fish species, collecting and recording data on sex & lengths, monitoring regulatory compliance, and documenting location and amount of each species caught. This information is used by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to manage the commercial fisheries in the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. After 3 weeks of training in Anchorage, I'll be deployed out of ports along the Gulf of Alaska and the Bering Sea. Most of the work is based in Dutch Harbor, Kodiak, King Cove, and Akutan. Whoa!

The news from Kenya over the past week has been bad. The town of Nakuru was the epicenter of the latest violence, and the neighborhood that the IHF orphanage is in has been completely leveled. Our house mummy Pauline had her house burnt down, and had to flee Nakuru with her family. They hid in a school for a few nights, but are now renting a house in an outlying area in a Kikuyu community where they are safe. The children were moved back to Pokot, where things are calmer but also DRY and hot. This means extremely limited access to food and water, which sets the children up for malnutrition and sickness again. The tribal politics out in this area are also extremely tense and complicated, things I cannot even begin to understand or describe are in jeopardy of undermining the children's health and well-being. I'm so glad Carol is on her way back out to be with the kids. My fellow volunteer Laura is leaving Tanzania next week to go back home to Australia, and Sam and Cassidy have already gone back themselves. That just leaves Juan, and he is volunteering at an orphanage in Usa River. Hopefully he'll be able to join Carol in Pokot soon.

The need to sponsor our kids in Kenya is beyond urgent now. Any financial assistance is greatly needed of course but what is REALLY important is that we get these children sponsors so that we can use any additional money to augment food supplies and rebuild the IHF center. I've personally committed to the "guardianship" of 4 kids that have no sponsor, so if you are interested in doing something wonderful, contact me and I'll tell you all about them! Since I know them, I can even tell you about their personality and show you some of my pictures. One in particular is Patricia, who is one of our older girls. She and her sister Chemariach have been with Carol for a long time, and are some of the most trusted and responsible "children" there. They are also the leaders of song, calling out the verses and then having the younger children echo back to them. Patricia is very beautiful, always smiling and wanting to give me a hug. This picture is of her on Christmas eve. She stayed up ALL night with Pauline cooking so that we could enjoy a feast in the morning!

A new site that may provide the best information

2008-01-14T19:02:00.000-08:00

My mom let me know about a new site online to help track what's really going on in Kenya these days:

Instead of trying to put this all in my own words, I just ripped this off from the web designer's blog:
"So what’s Ushahidi.com about… (for those who don’t know Kiswahili, ushahidi is the Swahili word for witness). The website was mainly set up to document incidents of violence, looting etc. during the crisis (and soon to follow - information about ways to help on a micro-level). The website is still very much a work in progress and will be updated as we go along.
We believe that the number of deaths being reported by the government, police, and media is grossly underreported. We also don’t think we have a true picture of what is really going on - reports that all have us have heard from family and friends in affected areas suggests that things are much worse than what we have heard in the media.
We also (in my idealist world) hope that we can begin to put names and faces to the people who have lost their lives in this mess.
What’s the point of all this you might ask? Well, Kenyans have demonstrated their capacity for selective amnesia time and time again. When this crisis comes to an end, we don’t want what happened to be swept under the rug in the name of “moving forward” - for us to truly move forward, the truth of what happened needs to be told - Ushahidi ( www.ushahidi.com) is our small way of contributing to that.
We will be relying primarily on input from guys on the ground (NGOs, individuals, journalists), so please circulate this widely to your networks and help us witness."

Today I am thankful for capitalism

2008-01-13T20:55:00.000-08:00

The swap meet and Farmer's Market booths were a success; today IHF raised a total of $602 to send to the emergency Kenya relief fund. Pretty cool!

I spoke with Jeff after wiring over some money (given to me by the people I met the Khisa/Ouma family through; a member of the OC Friends meeting who was a missionary in Africa in the '60's and his good friend). He was hoping to return home to Bungoma today since all the buses were filled yesterday. He wants to get home before the mass rallies are planned to start in synchrony all over the country. He thinks that supplies will be hard to come by and transportation crippled again for the week once they begin.

I haven't seen anything new in the news, except for a rising death toll. Official reports are now at close to 700, but it's highly probable that this is a gross underestimate.

I want to call Pauline tomorrow to see how the kids are and if Carol has made it to Nakuru yet. I've been thinking quite a bit about the kids today since I spent so long talking about them. I miss them so much and hope they have some degree of normalcy now since school should be starting tomorrow.

Update

2008-01-09T14:16:00.000-08:00

Hmm last post was a little negative, but there's still not any GREAT news to report. I've been trying to stay on top of the negotiations underway with Kibaki, Raila, the AU, and the Ghanian president Kufuor. Unfortunately it still looks like no one is really making headway.

I spoke with Jeff Ouma 2 nights ago, and his news was quite grim. I can hear the defeat and depression in his voice. He remains stuck in Nairobi, and does not think travel home is possible at this juncture. As an example he told me about his friend who left Kitale on the 28th, and just arrived yesterday. It took 10,000 KSh and several bribes to make it to Nairobi. This friend is also suffering from shock, and looking for counseling because of all the rotting bodies and horrific sights he saw on his journey.

Jeff says that the government is covering up the amount of casualties, which are much higher than our news reports of around 600. He said that although the curfew has been lifted, he and others are still concerned about the gagging of the media and lack of freedom to assemble. It is his feeling that postponing the opposition rallies is not allowing the people to voice their opinions, and adding to the time bomb. The Kikuyus are acting quite "arrogant" as he put it, running around and beating their chests in a victory dance. He also said that after this, no one would ever trust Kikuyus again.

The most dangerous faction at this point is the Pokot/Kalenjin alliance, who are armed and according to Jeff, perpetrating most of the violence against Kikuyus. This is all in retribution for the land that was taken back in the 60's during the Kenyatta regime; land that they intend to reclaim from the Kikuyus. I am concerned about this because the town of Nakuru is an area Jeff says they are planning to take by force. I am worried for my friend Pauline and her family, and I sent Carol a message with the above information. Although the children are Pokot, the surrounding neighborhood is heavily Kikuyu and there has already been much unrest and rioting.

Jeff was optimistic about the Ghanian president's meetings and continues to pray for justice. It is just heartbreaking to hear the pain in his voice though because I saw firsthand how optimistic he was for this election. In fact, we talked about politics quite a bit during my visit.

The gentlemen that I met throught the Quaker Friends' Meeting are putting a donation together to wire to Jeff, as he is unable to make any money from speaking engagements right now. As for IHF, I am collecting recyclables for an emergency fund and also going to San Diego this week for a swap meet.

Peace peace PEACE out,
Angela

Worry

2008-01-03T12:09:00.001-08:00

I'm just sitting here pushing refresh on my email over and over...I was able to talk to Juan and Laura briefly. All the volunteers have gone to Tanzania to wait out the storm. Total chaos has descended; Juan says everyone is carrying knives and machetes, and it's just insane how badly everything has gone to pieces in just 5 days.
The kids are okay, but sad. The volunteers are worried that they will feel like they've been abandoned. Carol is hopefully on her way to Kenya right now so that they won't be so alone. Pauline is in a very fragile state as her uncle was one of the Kikuyu's killed, and her husband David has been injured in the raids. Thankfully they should have enough money to tide them over with food and Juan has also gotten the local police involved in security.
In Bungoma, Liz and her family are still indoors, trying to be patient and pray for peace. Jeff is still stuck in Nairobi. They have no electricity and fresh foods are becoming increasingly hard to find. She sounds very positive and happy and asked about my family (of course) but I imagine the atmosphere is very strained.
I wish I could do something. I wish I was there instead of here just feeling useless and worried.

Please pray for Kenya

2008-01-02T09:17:00.000-08:00

You may have heard all the news reports of the violence in Kenya; immediately following the announcement of Kibaki as the winner of the elections chaos broke out.
The vote was unfair as many Kenyans had feared. It was known from the start that the margin between Kibaki and the opposition leader Raila Odinga was extrememely tight and unfortunately that has been used to the incumbent's advantage. The electoral commission admits that they aren't sure that Kibaki is the winner. It's heartbreaking because the democratic process is so highly valued among Kenyans, and there was such an aura of hope surrounding this election...that it could be the first fair and free election in their indpendant history. I feel so empathetic as an American who's vote didn't count in 2000. What a frustrating, enraging, unjust way to be treated. It's understandable that people are mad enough to be violent, after being placated by their supposedly democratic government.
The scariest part of this whole mess is the ethnic element. Kenya is an eclectic mix of tribes, with over 40 represented within the country's borders. The majority tribe, Kikuyu, are mainly centered around Nairobi and Nakuru. Kibaki is a Kikuyu. Western Kenya is home to the second-largest tribe, the Luo of which Raila Odinga is a member. The election "results" have caused genocide-like violence of Kikuyu's vs. Luos.
My friends in Bungoma are safe, but separated. Jeff (who is a Luo) has been stuck in Nairobi since the 26th as it is very very unsafe to travel. Liz's extended family are all still there from the holidays so I'm glad she isn't alone but everyone still has to stay indoors.
The orphanage is okay as well, although it sounds like a pretty scary place to be right now. Here's an excerpt from an email from Juan yesterday:

"none of us have come in to town for a few days which is why I'm only just going through my emails. In all honesty the situation hasn't been good. There has been looting and fires all around. Two nights ago the riots reached Githima, a huge crowd of men protecting the village clashed with those coming to loot. The riots moved to right outside our gate, some trespassed but were chased out. We have all been sleeping in the same building for the last three nights, up in the new girl's dorm. That way we find it easier to control the situation at night. The watchmen are doing great. Last night things were much quieter as the police and army moved in. We have been hearing gunfire every night though we trust they come from police dispersing crowds. We have emptied all rooms of valuable belongings and hiden them in the roofs. At night the children go into the room early and we put movies on until they fall asleep. The young ones are nearly oblivious, the older ones much more distressed. Today they have gone out to play and the atmosphere seems much better. I have phoned Gideon to ask for extra guards, he says they are all taken from around the area. I phoned the police officer I knew and he said that they cannot spare another one since they are so in demand, in any case a lot have left town. We stopped the local soldiers on their patrol yesterday. I explained to them what we were and the situation over the last few nights and they are fully behind protecting us. Also the whole village is intent on protecting us. They have been doing amazing, men stay up all night watching and looking for signs of trouble. I don't know if things are going to get better or worse, impossible to tell. The news broadcasting has been highly controlled and thus very few real news are reaching us, apart form internet. Talked to Clarrison in Pokot, he suggested we go there but I said the roads will be too dangerous, moreover there will be less food. The general concensus is that food here in Nakuru is running out too, already prices near us are 3 times what they were a few days ago. I have also phoned the assistant to the DCO, he highly reccomends staying put. Frankly, if the soldiers and police patrol like they did last night then so do I. Work wise, everything has stood still, David doens't come in to work as he is with crowds protecting the village, Papa and other farmer can't come into town because of road blocks. Mary can't finish making the uniforms for same reason. We wonder how it is going to happen if and when school starts next week."

I feel so useless and disconnected and far away. I have written to the American and Kenyan embassies and Barack Obama to try and pressure them to have a 3rd party intervene but I'm sure on the whole this is not that effective. I wish I was there with everyone.

Home and playing catch-up...and pictures now!!!

2007-12-29T14:52:00.000-08:00

I've made it back, safe and sound, nostalgic but grateful. I'm uploading all my pics to the computer and I'll paste links in each blog entry to the right album. It's much easier than putting the actual pictures in. If you go back through all the old entries there are links to the right places, or you can just go look at everything all at once here: http://picasaweb.google.com/passionflower24

I had some old notes and reports so I'll just paste them in.

Cell phones in Kenya are a BIG deal. They almost convey your worth as a person, and people like to buy accessories and flash them around so that everyone knows what type they have. Some of the clothing even has little appique cell phones! You can buy fake flip phones on the street so that it looks like you have a prestigious phone! This even trickled down to the kids, as they loved to draw pictures of cell phones, and write NOKIA on their sponsor letters. I even found my little Akileng carrying around a hand-made cell phone. He had taken a block of wood and colored little squares and numbers on it. He even had listed names on the screen of other kids; his address book of people to call! Kukat is another very gifted boy who makes these fabulous cars out of the trash in the rubbish bin. The wheels are tops of jars and tubs, and the body is fashioned out of wire and other objects.

12/14/07 Last night I taught Noryu, Chepkopus, and a few other girls how to play "Thumb Wars". We sat on the porch after dinner and I taught them the count-off and how to play. THey thought it was great. There was a lot of giggling as I feigned weakness and let them all win against me a couple of times. Then I started trying to win...these chicks are strong! Soon they were beating me with their eyes closed. I set up a tournament structure, and the littlest one ended up beating us all! I encouraged them to teach the other kids, since it's good for counting and also just a lot of fun.
12/15/07 I noticed 2 kids today asking me to go to the hospital, which I find quite odd considering that usually equals a painful injection. I finally figured it out as little Akileng looked at me with hopeful eyes and said "hospital?" that the word had probably spread about our post-clinic treats. I just feel so bad when they get the shots, what can I say, I'm a total softie. So I'm glad that the soda or biscuits or fruit we get on our walk home are making them feel better! 12/16/07 It's really amazing how much the little ones respect and listen to the older children. Today, a few older ones headed off to church and the whole orphanage wanted to follow them. It reminded me of how much influence the older kids have. We rely on them so often to help translate and guide the little ones; it would be downright impossible to maintain any semblance of order without their help. Sometimes I forget that they're kids too because they are so responsible and mature and wise. They are so selfless and helpful and often put their own needs aside to help out the younger kids. They don't abuse their position of power either, which I find amazing because I've never really seen teenagers act this way before.
12/17/07-12/20/07 Trip to Bungoma!
12/21/07 I was welcomed home by the children today one by one. It was so cute; they all came up and greeted me and hugged me. The staff all did as well, and everyone said they didn't want me to leave again which was pretty painful considering I only have 5 more days here in Kenya. I don't want to leave either.
12/22/07 It never hurts to get in good with the cook. Our local kitchen Mummy Pauline has been hooking me up and showing me the love lately. We have a mutually beneficial relationship where I bring her biscuits (cookies) and treats when I go into town, and she saves me my favorite dishes like githeri and green grams. Lately, she's even been trying to push extra servings of meat and chipatis on me which is kinda funny being that I am by far the "healthiest" person here. The kids think it's hilarious how fat I am, and love to come up and put their fingers around my arms and say "big" and poke and prod at me. It's amazing how much they eat and still stay so slender, which may be worms but I think has a lot to do with genetics also. Some of the kids who are only 1/2 Pokot are markedly thicker and heavier but most all of the kids are so so slight, which sort of makes them all look like beautiful little adults, especially the girls who all look wise beyond their years (but are just as goofy and silly as little kids should be).
12/23/07 The election campaigns are in full swing here. One of the major contenders, Raila Odinga, has appealed to the poor and working class segment of Kenyans, and the Pokots seem to really be on board with him (his tribe is Luo). Since our orphanage is in the slums of Nakuru in an area called Githima, there is also support for him here even though Nakuru is mostly a "Kibaki zone" (this is the incumbent running for re-election). Today a big orange truck came down our road spouting out the usual slogans and rallying support. All the kids flocked to the fence and started shouting "Raila, Raila!". It was fun to see them get so excited about politics because I had no idea they were so informed. But since the rest of the country is in such an uproar, it was great that they got to participate too. Today was finally the day we had all the class lists together and the children assembled to take pictures for the web. Laura had drawn up a lovely sign on our new chalkboard, and Festus was helping get all the kids into class groups for pictures. However, they had all come from the preschool where Cassidy was leading them in sponsor-letters. This meant they all had access to the new markers I brought for Christmas. Everyone had some sort of decoration on their face; pictures and makeup and all kinds of pseudo-black eyes. Some of the kids, bless their hearts, looked like mini drag queens. It was quite hilarious, but not the picture we thought should go on the web. So we gave them an hour or so in masquerade, then everyone washed up and went in for their photos.
12/25/07 All the volunteers worked into the night to make sure we had stuffed all the needed stockings for the kids. Laura made a wonderful Santa Claus, and definately wins the award for holiday cheer! We cleaned up the new preschool room, hung balloons and decorations, and strung the 83 fat little stockings across the room. On Christmas morning, we had a special breakfast of hot chocolate and rice pudding, and fretted about keeping the party room a surprise. Well, we had absolutely no cause for concern because the kids didn't suspect a thing. When it was finally TIME, we first brought the sick kids and blind Kamama in. It was so sweet, because they were so shocked that they had no idea what was going on. We had to lead them to the stocking with their name on it and convince them it was all for them. They very mindfully poked through it, and as soon as they really believed what was happening, started to smile and giggle. It was beautiful to see children actually appreciate and enjoy the wonderment of a Christmas morning instead of tearing through expensive presents like maniacs on a mission (this has been my own experience in the states). Because they didn't expect anything, they were truly surprised and happy and it was heartwarming to see them so happy.

My time in Johannesburg, South Africa was amazing. I was met at the airport by Sunny Boy, perfectly according to plans. He was there with a friend of his, a native of Soweto. They were ready to party, and took me to a local pub called a shebeen. The music was PUMPING. People were dancing; the whole atmosphere was electric. It was totally impossible to have a conversation. We ate a delicious snace of traditional barbequed meat called braai. The first bite instantly converted me (via a culinary religious experience) back to a bonified carnivore. I'm not kidding. The stuff was simply that divine.

Lolo's guest house was amazing, and I'd recommend it wholeheartedly. I slept on a beautiful bed with CLEAN SHEETS. Then I woke up and had a shower with warm and continuous running water (first time in a month). Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, I went into the dining room and found a beautiful breakfast waiting for me...it was all there, down to the hot dog (???) and fresh guava juice. I felt like a princess.
At 10:00 Sunny and I left the house and began our tour of Soweto. Sunny was a very informative guide who was actually trained at University to give tours. I learned so much that I can't possible remember it all, but here's a few factoids:

-Soweto is the largest township in Africa, yes the whole continent, with approximately 4.5 million residents. It's hard to get an accurate number because the last census in 2001 included it in the city of Johannesburg. Also there's tons of illegal immigrants and "informal settlements" that throw the numbers off. It's comprised of 34 different suburbs.
-Soweto has just ONE hospital for the entire township; can you imagine how huge it is for all those people? It takes up blocks and blocks, and is the largest hospital in the ENTIRE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.
-We visited an "informal settlement" and I was given a quick tour by a local resident named Eric. It was pretty neat, but also a bit upsetting when Eric started laughing about how drunk his 1 1/2 yr old son was (and I don't think he was joking). I even got to go inside one of the homes, which are all constructed out of materials like corrogated tin and cardboard. The homes have no electricity or running water; the entire neighborhood shares a communal taps. An amazing fact is that South Africa is one of only 12 countries in the world that has 100% safe drinking water, straight from the tap. There are parts of these areas where residents pirate electricity from light poles on the main roads. Sunny showed me where they hack the leads off and prop them up with makeshift poles made of twigs and stuff. He said they hook the supply wire up at night, using hundreds of feet of wire, and then disconnect them during daylight hours to avoid detection. The government finally installed pit latrines in this settlement this past April. Up until that point, residents were sharing chemical toilets that were only cleaned once weekly.
-We visited a large Catholic church which has been nicknamed "The Soweto Parlaiment" because during the 1976 uprisings, this is where students convened to hold secret rallies to protest Afrikaans being taught in the schools. The police were informed via spies though, and busted into the chapel with rubber bullets and tear gas. You can still see evidence of the chaos as it has been purposefully left to remind people of the struggle. There are bullet holes in the ceiling and still a broken altar and statue of Jesus that was toppled in the raid.
-Another huge Jozi tourist attraction is "The Only Street in the World Where 2 Nobel Peace Prize Winners Have Lived". I actually went inside the former home of Nelson Mandela, which has been converted into a small museum. It was very emotional, and I got the chills several times realizing that I was in such a sacred space. Down the street is the current home of Desmond Tutu, who spends a lot of time in Capetown but still maintains his residence in Soweto. Also in the same neighborhood is the home of Winnie Mandela. She has been divorced from Nelson for a few years and he lives with his new wife in downtown Johannesburg.
-The Apartheid Museum. Whoa. No words for this one. Check it out here: http://www.apartheidmuseum.org/. Probably the best cultural museum I've ever been to. It was very powerful and well done and I cried quite a bit. I was only got through about 1/3 of it really well in the 2 1/2 hours I was there since it was so huge and full of alot of information.

I feel somewhat trite trying to describe how incredible this trip was. Words really cannot do it justice. I am so hesitant to do a "wrap up"; it's like I don't want to defile it by reducing this amazing experience to a journal entry in a travelogue. BUT for the sake of posterity...

I'm scared to go back to my busy life. I don't want to get wrapped up in details like tax evasion, vacuuming the carpet, and spin class. I want to remember the deeper sense of purpose and mindfulness I've felt over this past month with the children and other volunteers. In one sense I feel relieved to have found a calling, and I'm happy that I didn't sweat the small (or big) stuff to the point wehre it distracted me from the good stuff. On the other hand, I'm anxious about HOW exactly to make this calling manifest in my life. I want to get a job, make a lot of money, and travel to IHF centers for years on end. But I'm also scared to get caught back up in the rat-race. I need to remember that God is totally in control. Up until this point I have been shown my path and been kept safe, so it only makes sense to keep the faith and the Universe will continue to provide direction on what my next step will be.

I met so many great people and I want to help them all so much, I just get worried about money. Poor Carol must feel like this all the time. I'll have to be very clear with how much I aid I can offer to the Ouma/Khisa family and remember that they have means to provide form themselves whereas the children literally don't have anything.

One of the coolest things was getting a chance to know the other volunteers, who were all from different countries so it was a cultural learning experience in it's own right. I feel very close to Laura in particular and am SO grateful to have had her there. Juan was also a really awesome guy. We've made a semi-serious pact to meet up at the Thailand IHF center next Christmas since that's where he'll be volunteering. I am praying that this reuinion will be a reality!

I want to learn Kiswahili. I love chipati but I was OVERJOYED to get my raw vegetarian meal on the first flight. I met my Christmas dinner before I ate it this year ( a goat donated by IHF Kenyan lawyer, Juma). I am SO my mother's daughter (diagnosing, overmedicating, hypochondriacking, caretaking, kid-loving, comfort-giving). I enjoy being clean more than I ever realized.

Bungoma and Back!

2007-12-22T06:24:00.000-08:00

Oh so much to catch up on and so little time...

Right now we're all smack dab in the middle of Christmas preparations for the kids. A few people donated funds so that we could shop for them all, get them stockings, and throw a little party (complete with a goat slaughter/roast. Wow.). I'm so excited, more so than I have been about Christmas for years!

No luck on extending my trip; I tried everything I could but I've finally resolved myself to return to CA and my "real life". However, now I'm motivated to get a real job, earn some real money, and plan a trip of significant length for next year.

I haven't really mentioned the elections, but there's an overwhelming sense of excitement and anticipation throughout the whole country...the actual voting takes place on the 27th so I'll JUST miss it. Politics are like sports here, with everyone rooting for their favorite candidate by wearing a certain color, and dancing in the street, and it's all anyone is talking about. I got a great low-down on the current administration (Kibaki) from Jeff Ouma, husband of my friend Liz Khisa whom I stayed with in Bungoma. There's a radical progressive candidate named Raila Odinga whom all the folks I know are rallying for. He wants to re-write the constitution and clear out all corruption from the top.

I took a bumpy, long ride to Bungoma last Monday to stay with my friend Liz and her family. I took a bus that should have been called QueasyCoach instead of EasyCoach...I thought I was just being a weenie until the girl in front of me puked. I have never ever ever been on a road this rough. My insides felt like jello by the time we made our first pit-stop in Eldoret, where I got the most delicious mango I've ever tasted in my life. The road in Kenya is notoriously bad (another reason citizens are mad at the incumbent), and I think this stretch is one of the worst. At one point we were stopped for an hour at a standstill. When it was all said and done, it took nearly 8 hours to travel 119.1 miles. Abysmal! But I was given such a warm reception by Liz at the station that I didn't even mind. We hopped on the back of bora-bora's which are the local form of bike transportation here, and I got to drink in the cool evening breeze on the ride to her house. Bungoma is hot! And humid, and has more mesquitoes. We arrived at her home and were met by her husband Jeff and oldest son Dan. The littlest ones, Abby and Meshack, were already sleeping. I got to play santa and hand out all the things I had brought from home, which was great fun.

The next day I found out how difficult it is to be a housewife in Kenya! I offered to help with the chores; oh my goodness what a job! We washed clothes BY HAND, did dishes IN A SINK, and mopped the floor WITH A TOWEL. It was exhausting! I actually took a nap after all that. We had a mellow night and just chatted and discussed what we would do the next day.
We went to town on Tuesday and bought groceries and more antihistimines for me (my allergies are still in mega-high gear). We had a special dinner, my favorite which are these tortilla-like things called chipati. Yum.
On Wednesday, we planned a trip to the city of Kisumu. The matatu ride there was super-interesting and totally shady. They tried to cheat us out of an entire fare, and we saw how they must have bribed the police at the checkpoints because we were literally overflowing with people which is technically illegal. Other vehicles were pulled over and they were forcing people to de-board, but not us...we only had 20 people in a 14 passenger van, no big deal!
Kisumu was not as friendly as Nakuru...I was the only westerner I saw except for at the museum so I don't think it's as tourist-oriented. The first cab driver ripped us off, and Liz started to realize that being seen with me is sort of a liability. We took a boat around Lake Victoria (just the shore) with the remote possiblity of sighting a hippo, but our tour guides told us it was probably too late and they were snoozing at the bottom of the lake. Dan had a lot of fun taking pictures of all the birds though.
Dan and Liz met up with her sister-in-law who lives in Kisumu. They went shopping and visited Jeff's dad while I hit the museum, which was really cool. We headed back after a long day totally exhausted.
Thursday Liz took me to the rural Western Kenya town of Wubuye. It was beautiful. We climbed a huge rock and looked at a 360 view of all the farms and villages. Then we went down and spent some time with more of her extended family, who live at the base.

Quickie culture shocks:
1. In Kenya it is not considered rude to pick your nose in public or during a conversation
2. The first floor here is what we consider the second floor in the US; all numbers are shifted down one digit. This led me to a wild elevator ride looking for an internet cafe I was sure was 4 flights of stairs up. But on the 3rd floor. Hmm.

I've got to run because it's almost dark and I still have to get to the supermarket. Tomorrow us volunteers are getting OUR chance to see Lake Nakuru on a private safari.

Ciao,
A

Back at last!

2007-12-13T03:22:00.002-08:00

Well, long time no write...I wasn't able to get to town cuz I felt yukky and was so busy at the center. Here's my daily reports though to keep y'all up to date:

12/8/07: Early this morning I woke up and got a bunch of stuff done which was really satisfying. I was still sitting in bed when I heard a familiar little chirp...Kiptoo had come in to wake us up. He jumped in my lap and we cuddled for a bit as I finished up my writing. He was so curious as to what I was doing, so we exchanged words back and forth in English, Kiswahili, and Pokot for things like "sun", "look", and "pen". He is such a little cuddle bug! I was giving him kisses and telling him how much I loved him when all of the sudden he looked me in the eyes and said very clearly, "I love you!". I was so touched I almost teared up. But he was off and moving and more interested in my headlamp almost immediately : )

12/9/07: My co-volunteer/Center Director Juan is a great guy for many reasons, but I didn't know chicken-wrangling was one of his many talents.Last night we discovered a chicken in the girl's toilet and he and I ushered it out onto the porch. Well, more accurately he scooped it up in a bucket and tossed it out. This chicken was not ready to stay out for the night though and fluttered into the other girls dorm where all the children were gathered for movie night. What a ruckus! The children found it thoroughly entertaining to watch Juan chase this chicken around the dark room. They were hooting and hollering and carrying on like they were at the rodeo. Finally Juan got a hold of the bird and took it outside and everyone cheered and resumed watching the video. It was one of the funniest things I ever witnessed (and I think the kids thought so too).

12/9/07: I went to the clinic with a child for the first time today, and by chance, it happened to be my sponsee Lomurion. He is a sweet, delightful, considerate boy. I think due to the language barrier, up until this point he had been very shy with me. We had a bit of a wait in the lobby, so I pulled out my headphones and decided to give him a listen to some of the music I had on my MP3 player. Wow did that kid come alive! He was hopping and bopping all the way into the exam room, and didn't even flinch when he received an injection. Lomurion has the most beautiful smile and it was very inspirational to see this kid beaming ear to ear, even though he didn't feel very well. When we returned home, he found me several times throughout the evening and did a bit of sign-language asking for the headphones again. It was really neat to finally be able to communicate with him on a universal level through music.

12/10/07: Today we accompanied Elijah and others to the ACK (Anglican Church of Kenya). We thought the service would be in English, but it was in Kiswahili. There was some singing, but for the most part, mostly preaching. Quite honestly it was one of the most formal and stiff services I have ever attended, much different from the singing and dancing and clapping that goes on in many of the churches here. The service was 2 hours long, and by the end, I was pinching myself to stay awake. I was so embarrassed! Our kids were putting me to shame. Even though I know for a fact that a few of them don't know much Kiswahili, they sat there like perfect angels through the entire service. No fidgeting, or talking, or sleeping...I couldn't believe how well-behaved they were (even compared to the other kids in church). After the service, the visiting pastor came up and introduced himself since we were new faces in the crowd. I was so proud to tell him we "belonged" to all the IHF kids. I feel so much pride and joy when people in the community recognize me as part of the IHF center, because it really is an honor to be associated with these little people who are so full of life and vigor.

12/11/07: Today I was sick in bed most of the day, and only ventured out for more tissue and to use the restroom. Here I was, down for the count with bad allergies and asthma and I was simply FLOORED. I know kids running around with typhoid and malaria who haven't complained once about not feeling well! The pain tolerance of these children is really amazing. Even when getting painful IM penicillin injections, they don't flinch. I was very touched by how concerned the staff and kids were. Countless people came up to me with such a genuine look of worry on their face, asking if I was okay. Everytime I coughed, someone was quick to offer a "pole, pole". I felt very loved and nursed back to health and inspired to be strong, brave, and positive when I don't feel well. And my role models are 1/4 of my age!

Last night we watched Ken (Pauline's son) put on a one man show...he was simultaneously stuffing ugali in his mouth and falling asleep. We were cracking up watching it, and everytime we laughed, his eyes would pop open and he'd give us this sleepy smile and grab another huge handful of food. Then, in about 30 seconds, his eyes would start to flutter and he'd start swaying and almost hit the floor (chewing the whole time). It was simply unbelievable. Ken is a notorious little ham, I think he'd make a great actor. He's always keeping us volunteers and the other children thouroughly entertained. He and his siblings Steve and Mary, have blended in with all the kids and so staff, kids, and volunteers are all just one big happy family.

12/12/07: Oh my gosh, where to start with today...since it was a public holiday (Kenya Independance day) we took the kids to Lake Nakuru National Game Park. When we told them the news after breakfast, they started jumping up and down and yelling, they were SOO excited.
We loaded them up onto 3 matatus and headed for the carpark to catch the bus into the preserve. We had 3 hours to kill there while waiting for a bus large enough for our group, so we all camped out in the railroad station. It was so much fun, just like camp. We packed a lunch and we ate there in our "teams": we split all the kids up into 3 groups so we could keep track of them easily. I headed up the "Tigers", Cassidy and Sam had the "Elephants" and Juan rounded out the bunch with the "Buffaloes".
Finally after some soccer games and a bunch of playing, the bus arrived and we piled on. There was misunderstanding about pricing, so all us volunteers didn't go on the tour, but I gave Elijah my camera to take pictures for me. 3 hours later we heard a bus full of angelic voices...the kids were back and they were singing! They were so happy to tell us about the rhinos, zebra, gazelles, and even a lioness that they saw on their safari. Once again I was SO proud to be a part of these beautiful little people's lives.

As for NOW, I feel good today and I'm trying my best to extend my trip....I don't want to come home (but still love and miss you very much my darling Johnnie : )). Hopefully more in the next few days!
Love,
A

Now I'm happy I have a mullet

2007-12-05T23:30:00.000-08:00

I took my first "shower" yesterday since the YMCA in Nairobi and I must admit, it would have been really difficult with all that hair I was so discombobulated about chopping off. Basically, I just filled a 3-4 gallon tub with water (some of it warm from an electric tea kettle) and stood in the non-functional bathtub in the girls dorm and doused myself cup-by-cup. Those of you that know me well will find this pretty interesting: I've decided I really really really like western showers.

We had another really big scare yesterday. The child I sponsor, Lomurion, started having difficulty breathing and was unable to talk...it almost looked like he was having seizures. The older kids called me over (I'm sort of the pseudo-nurse here) and as soon as I saw him I knew he was in bad shape and I started screaming at them to "Get Mummy (Carol) right away, hurry hurry" And she came running down and the Pokot chief happened to be visiting so the 2 of them hauled him out of bed and out into the road. Since we don't have our own transport, we were relying on a passing matatu to stop...it was very tense, 2 men carrying this kid up the road who's basically choking to death and Carol running up and down the street trying to find a taxi...I just heard her say over and over, "I don't want to lose another one, I can't lose another of my kids". Finally they got a matatu to stop and all piled in. They were gone for several hours at the public hospital, where they wanted to keep him overnight in the same bed with kids who were vomiting all over the place. Carol refused and brought him back home, still unable to get a diagnosis or treatment because they lost the labs twice. Early this morning she took him to the private hospital so hopefully he is getting better care now. It was so so so scary to realize how life and death every single second is here...when Chief Isaac came yesterday he also brought 15 more kids, most of whom are in terrible shape and will also fall ill soon. Plans are in the works to hire a nurse full time who would live at the center and I am working on the emergency contingency plan so that this type of situation doesn't happen again.

On a happier note, we've started classes for the primary and secondary kids at the center since they are on holiday from school. It's been so fun to help teach these kids who really really want to learn. All 5 of us current volunteers are also busy with trying to develop a community outreach program so that we can get people in town more involved with the kids. It's all about networking...for example I had a talk with our preschool teacher about how we wanted to take the kids on an outing to Lake Nakuru. Her husband has friends who work at the park and are going to help us arrange for everyone to go down on a public holiday for free admission!

We had to move the volunteer dorm down to another building last night because of all the new kids. Kenya is extremely fundamentalist Christian, and we've already had rumors in town swirling around about how males and females sleep in the same building. The dorm we're in now has no electricity or plumbing but hopefully we'll get that sorted out in the next week. It's like camping. With killer mesquitos. I got bitten for the first time last night because my net was all askew, but I've been taking my malarial prophylactics quite faithfully so I should be fine. I also woke up with my right eye swollen shut and I have no idea what that's about cuz it doesn't itch or hurt or tear up or anything. Being that I have that going on as well as the start of a cold (which ALL the kids have) I think I'll try to stay in bed as much as possible today. My asthma is in high gear here with all the dust and smoke from cooking and trash burning.

More later,
Angela

Still no pics

2007-12-02T06:22:00.000-08:00

I can't upload at this internet cafe, but I'll put them on a fellow volunteer's laptop and have him email them to me. The truth is I've been having way too much fun to take pictures anyways. I need to take more but I hate whipping out a camera and looking like a spectator. But I'll get over it cuz this is stuff I never want to forget.

We didn't get to go to Pokot after all. We were all really bummed, especially Carol who really wanted us to experience it. We'll do another trip around Christmas, but it won't be on a famine feed day so we won't meet the remote families that live way way out in the bush. The reason we couldn't be there is that we didn't have transportation, which is a MAJOR problem for the center. They own a van, but it's totalled because it got swept away in a flood earlier this year. We were ready to pay the exorbitant fee to have someone drive us out to the site, but we still relied on a matatu to bring us past Lake Barringo. Well, matatus don't run on Sundays. We found this out at the 11th hour.

The kids watched The Jungle Book last night and were absolutely hypnotized. It was adorable to hear them hoot and holler and chatter away in Pokot. Their joy is just infectious!!! Considering the hell they have been through it's amazing they are so happy. Carol brought me to a little girl named Caroline that had fallen asleep despite all the excitement. She was one of the newest arrivals from far out in East Pokot. She is severely underweight, malnourished, and had chronic diarrhea and malaise. Carol told me straight out that this kid might not make it and she had seen several like her in the past year die just like this. Heavy duty stuff. So she gave me strict instructions not to let her eat too much at once (this was making her sick) and to get her to a private hospital ASAP in the morning.

This morning we cooked breakfast for the kids and staff. Well, that's actually a misnomer because no one in their right mind would trust 5 westerners cooking on an outdoor open flame for 80 people. So we buttered and jammed bread and passed it out with a Chai tea that the Pokot mummies had prepared. Even though the mummies knew about Caroline, I saw her with 3 pieces of bread and a full cup of tea. I ran over and (gently) wrenched the remaining piece away and told an older kid to let her know I'd give it back in a few hours. In 10 minutes she came into our dorm looking really really rough. She was in a lot of pain and started crying and was all listless and it was heart-wrenching and I just kept remembering Carol saying she could die any minute. And there was no money to take her to the hospital! All we needed was the equivalent of $10.00 US, and it wasn't available. Finally we scraped it together and she was off to the doctor. I did get her to smile finally by making a couple calls to the states, my friend Jillian told her hello and she loved it.

Me and another volunteer went to our cook Pauline's church this morning. The whole thing was in Kikiyu (a tribal dialect) but the dancing and singing was great. Then she invited us back for a special dish at her home that was really delicious; potatoes and chipati (a flat bread) and beef stew of sorts.

We returned to the orphanage and lo and behold we had a new kid...Caroline! She was back from the doctor and literally, a different kid. She was smiling and laughing and running oh my gosh it is amazing. Apparently she just got a vitamin and worming treatment, along with antibiotics and perked right up. Yay! I will definately get you before and after pictures so you can see the transformation. She's not up yet, but you can check out some of the kids and their stories here: http://ihfonline.org/DisplayOrphans.php . Scroll to the bottom, then select the Nakuru "Orphanage or Education Center" from the dropdown bar (If I mention them I'll try and spell their names right!).

Now I'm off to the store to pick up some stuff (like shoes for Ruben and meds for Patrick) and then I'll head back to the center. Hopefully I'll be able write fairly often since the phone thing is patchy at best.

p.s. I am in love. His name is Kiptoo and he's 5.

I am now officially intercontinental

2007-12-01T00:29:00.000-08:00

I'm HERE! I'm at an Internet cafe in Nakuru, Kenya typing away, kicking myself for not bringing my camera with me to upload pictures but hey, more to come later.

The trip over was fabulous. Swiss Air is the best airline ever...not only because they give you chocolate or super-good vegetarian food...but they're nice and tri-lingual and DIDN'T GIVE ME ONE HASSLE about all the overweight cargo I was bringing. They didn't even charge me the standard excess baggage fee! I was so thankful to land in Nairobi and see everything in one piece (thanks again Mom).

Zurich was fairly uneventful but I had a great time riding the buses and trains around (this was my first time in Europe). I poked around at the grocery store and found all kinds of weird stuff...more on this later. The hotel I was at was great and I was the only one there. The chilly weather was great for walking and I did as much as I could so that I would get tired enough to sleep. http://picasaweb.google.com/passionflower24/IAmNowOfficiallyIntercontinental

James and Charles were the 2 Pokots that met me at the airport in Kenya. They are both students at a Christian university in Nairobi and volunteer for IHF. They arranged a cab and after wrestling all 3 of us plus driver plus 2 humongous boxes into a Toyota Corolla we were off to the YMCA for the night. There, we met up with Clarrisson who is Director of the Nakuru IHF center. We walked into town for dinner since the restaurant was closed at the hostel and I got to see downtown Nairobi at night. It was fairly late so most of the bustle died down, but there were still several people out and about. We tried 3 different places to eat, but for various reasons, they weren't what we were looking for. I was happy cuz it meant more exploring time. Finally they guys settled on a chicken and chips place. I went for it and ate the fried chicken and potatoes that they ordered from me cuz hey when in Rome...it was actually really good. http://picasaweb.google.com/passionflower24/Nairobi

The next morning we all had breakfast and then bid adieu to Charles and James. Clarrisson and I grabbed a cab and headed for the matatu depot. Matatus are the primary mode of transport here; they're usually Toyota or Nissan passenger vans that are like multi-people taxis. After some waiting around and haggling, we decided that all my stuff would definitely not fit in one. So plan #2 was a bus ride on a larger, tourist-style vehicle. Clarrisson got another taxi and we went to the bus depot. After unloading again, we found out there were no available seats to Nakuru. Hmm. Plan #3 was with a different matatu company which charged us for 2 extra seats to accommodate our parcels. Thankfully, Clarrisson found a man with a hand-cart to help us bring them down to that boarding area. So, around noon, we were finally on our way!

The road was paved and fast for the most part, except sections where construction was being performed. It was quite bumpy and dusty but that really didn't slow our driver down or prevent him from passing on hills, curves, shoulders, etc. Quite an adventure. The countryside was really beautiful, as it had rained the night before. Everything looks like it does in the movies! At one point, I closed my eyes for a few minutes and Clarrisson tapped me on the shoulder. Baboons and baby baboons right on the side of the road! He said they regularly waited there for scraps thrown from passing autos.

After a refreshment stop we pulled into the center. All the kids crowded around me (they are 70-something in number now!!!) and each one made a point of giving me a hug and looking me in the eyes and greeting me. It was really cool. Carol and the other 4 volunteers were all out doing errands and Clarrisson had to head back to town, so it was just me and the staff and the kids all afternoon. Two of the older boys, Patrick and Newton, gave me a tour of the grounds. It's a really cool piece of property that Carol acquired from former President Moi. There are 4 buildings and 15 acres with plans to plant and grow crops for the center as well as the monthly famine feeds that are carried out in East Pokot. Right now, massive improvements are being made to the property including installing running water and bathrooms, new beds, and a complete kitchen renovation. It's pretty extraordinary.

I'm just trying to catch up and learn every one's names and personalities...the other volunteers have a 1 week head-start on me. The other snag is that hardly any of the kids speak English. They are fluent in their native Pokot tongue and also know Swahili, but until they go to school they are not introduced to English. They are just the most adorable, loving, sweet kids ever. It's really touching to see how they all take care of each other. When a young one starts crying, everyone crowds around him to try and console him.

The plan is to go to East Pokot tomorrow for the famine feed. This is a monthly project IHF carries out in the remote villages of the Pokot people. These areas are extremely arid and they have very little to eat. Food is loaded up in Nakuru and dropped at specific rendevoux points for tribal leaders to distribute among families to supplement whatever they may be able to grow. Tomorrow's journey will be a really special look into this culture which not many people know much about. Carol has really grown close to these people and knows so many of their customs and traditions, I'm really excited to experience it with her there.

Kwaherini (goodbye) for now!

Ms.Culture Maven

2007-11-24T15:54:00.000-08:00

So I bought a cheap portable DVD player for the trip and a bunch of movies second-hand. I've assumed that certain entertainment favorites of my own are totally needed. Here's a sample population:

-The Princess Bride (bringing the book as well)

-The Jungle Book

-Whale Rider

-Star Wars Episodes 5, 6, & 7

-Muppets from Space

-The Secret of NIMH

I found myself in the typical Angela-esque state of hyperanalysis concerning what types of American pop culture Kenyans would be interested in....and/or what would be appropriate for orphans or people that aren't used to a culture based on consumerism and luxury spending. I didn't want them to feel badly about seeing all white, affluent people living great (fake) lives so I tried to stick to animal-based or multi-cultural themes. I had the same concerns when picking out books...would my childhood favorites be relevant to these kids? Would they understand stories with American racial overtones (like Maniac McGee, Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry, and Sounder)? Could kids raised in the bush with no electricity or water appreciate camping out in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (one of my faves, The Secret Files of Ms. Basil E. Frankweiler)? Eventually I decided that I'd have to try and pick things that have such universal themes that they transcend all these differences:

-The Phantom Tollbooth

-A Wrinkle in Time

-Strega Nona (who can't relate to wanting a neverending pasta pot??)

-Spot Goes to School (for the littlest ones)

-Doctor Doolittle

-Island of the Blue Dolphins

I'm also bringing a copy of Roots but I'll probably check with Carol before giving that one over. I'm not sure what the perception of American slavery or African Americans is there, but I found it to be an immensly powerful book.

Below are some pictures of my Mad Science kids at Starview Elementary in Midway City, CA. I told them I wanted to send their greetings over to the kids in Nakuru, and I'd bring back pics for them next semester.

Closer and closer!

2007-11-19T07:43:00.000-08:00

My mom is coming in tonight and I couldn't be more excited. I think we'll go to Tijuana on Wednesday (hopefully holiday traffic won't be super bad early in the morning) and shop for all the prescription medication I'm going to bring over to the kids. I'm still not sure if we're going to drive across the border or walk...each have their pros and cons. Basically I'm going to bring all the prescription pill bottles I have, a letter from IHF, and my plane ticket. As I understand it, as long as you declare all the medication you're bringing across is for "personal use" there won't be a problem. Again, crossed fingers would be appreciated : )
The flute project is a bust so far. Making them turned out to be far more difficult and time-consuming than either Johnny or I had patience for. Of course, there's still one more week and I'm hoping we can at least bring a few over.
I've also put together an itinerary. Note that all times are local...Kenya is PST + 14 hours:

11/27/07: 7:35 pm depart from LAX on Swiss Air flight #41

11/28/07: 4:00 pm arrive in Zurich, Switzerland. Will spend night at Kafischnaps
(http://www.kafischnaps.ch/zimm.php)

11/29/07: 9:45 am depart from Zurich on Swiss Air flight #292

11/29/07: 7:15 pm arrive in Nairobi, Kenya. Will be met at airport by IHF staff, and will
Spend night at Nairobi YMCA (http://pages.intnet.mu/servas/Nairobi.htm).

11/30/07: Will make journey to IHF center in Nakuru, Kenya. Mailing address is P.O.
Box 3137 Nakuru Kenya-NBO. Director of the center is James Tikonin:
jamestikonin@yahoo.com; phone: +254-722750309. IHF director is Carol
Sasaki, who can be reached on her blackberry pretty much 24/7 at
carolmsasaki@gmail.com.

12/17/07: Making trip to Bungoma, Kenya to stay with Elizabeth and Jeff Ouma.
Mailing address is Box 67508 00200 Nairobi, Kenya. Her mobile number is
+254-734886676.

12/24/07: Returning to IHF orphanage to spend Christmas with the children

12/26/07: 3:55 pm departing from Nairobi on South African Airlines flight #183.

12/26/07: 7:15 pm arrive in Johannesburg, South Africa. Will be met at airport by Sunny
Boy (011-27-72-524-7015), son of Mrs. Lolo Mabitsela. Will stay evening at
Lolo’s Guest House: 1320 Diepkloof
Ext Diepkloof Phase 3
Soweto, 1800
Johannesburg, South Africa
011-27-11-985-9183, lolosbb@mweb. co.za

12/27/07: 6:15 pm depart Johannesburg, South Africa on South African Airlines flight #207

12/28/07: 6:07 am arrive IAD, Washington DC, USA

12/28/07: 9:30 am depart IAD, Washington DC on United flight #205
11:58 am arrive LAX, Los Angeles, CA

Okay, hopefully more later this week as things start to come together!

Preparing...

2007-11-05T18:58:00.000-08:00

I'm getting so nervous. And excited. Every day I vow to work on my packing list but it never quite happens...I'll probably just do it how I know best...power out the last few days before I leave. Thankfully I'll have my mom here to help. Since she's more fastidious than I, things should actually make it overseas in one piece : )
Ah forgive me. This is my first foray into the world of blogging. I should probably start at the beginning:
I'm going to Africa!
I've worked with a wonderful volunteer organization for the past year called International Humanity Foundation. Check out the website at http://www.ihfonline.org/. They do fabulous work all over the world for the poorest of the poor children in Thailand, Bali, Indonesia, and Kenya. I'll be travelling to Nakuru, Kenya on the 27th to work with the IHF children. There's an orphanage and school for 48 kids from the East Pokot region of Kenya. They've recently been relocated to the Nakuru area which is sort of good news for me because that means I'll have constant electricity and internet/telephone access. The climate is also more temperate; the permanent IHF center in East Pokot experiences temperatures in excess of 115 degrees. Eey yey yey.
Right now I'm gathering donations to bring over. So far I've got 2 iMac computers and plans to bring 50 PVC flutes. I just finished a Native American flute class at the community center and got an (overly optimistic???) idea to bring these to the kids. Cross your fingers that LAX security buys this explanation...it will look like I'm bringing 50 pipe bombs on an international flight. My next plan is to hit up some yard sales and ask for their leftovers; Carol (the founder of IHF) has specifically asked for CD players and cell phones for the kids. I also want to bring clothing, toys, and school supplies. If anyone has any resources or supplies contact me and let me know!

2007-11-03T11:50:00.000-07:00