Hansel's First Safari: South Luangwa

Hello to all back home. Again it has been a while since my last post, but you all knew I was inconsistent with this.

So life in Lusaka continues. Not much has happened of extreme noteworthiness. I saw my first Bollywood movie- Anjaana Anjaani, which is awesome and everyone should see it. Its kind of the Romantic Comedy of the year in Bollywood about 2 strangers who meet trying to commit suicide (I know I know, but I swear its all done very comically, its kind of absurdly screwed up slapstick comedy) and instead make a list of stuff they want to do before they die which leads to a road trip from new york to vegas (the whole thing is based in the States) and funny stuff along the way. The songs in it are hysterical also.

The real event has been my trip two weekends ago to South Luangwa National Park up North. Eight other friends and I hopped into my car (Hansel) and my buddy Ronnel's car (Optimus- yes, named after the transformer, don't ask) and drove nine hours to Wildlife Camp just on the other side of the Luangwa River from the park.



Optimus and Hansel

The drive required us waking at 4 AM and leaving Lusaka at 5 to drive the 5 hours to Chipata where we turned off the main highway onto the road to South Luangwa. This was probably the worst road I've driven on in Zambia so far and we had to slow to a crawl at some points. The dirt road was meant to be turned into a tarred highway soon but instead had been left to the rains which destroyed it and made it a MISERABLE drive that I'm sure will translate into a nice hefty mechanics fee.

However, after 3 hours on the dirt road we made it to South Luangwa and to our campsite at Wildlife Camp. Wildlife is set up right on the bank of the Luangwa river (pretty low and empty in the dry season) and is split into a chalet site for visitors wishing to stay indoors and sleep in beds and a campsite for everyone else. The campsite was in a prime location for looking out over the river, which, since it was dry season, was perfect for seeing animals come to drink at one of the few water sources around. For future safari reference: ALWAYS try to go during the dry season- around september/ october because animals congregate at all the watering holes and are much easier to find.

The Campsite was very nice and had a pool and a bar where we could escape the heat, which was absurd and at easily 100 F everyday, and watch animals on the river bank. Our best animal sightings in all honesty were viewed from the bar. the game drives honestly didn't compare to what our view of the river gave us.

Sunset at Camp


Pool


Warthog Bar


From the bar we managed to see around 13-15 giraffes cross the river
Giraffes


and the day before that we saw 15 elephant do the same!
Elephants


On the first day most of us slept in to recover from our nine hour drive the previous day. Of course, "slept in" in Luangwa means we made it to 6:30 before everyone was woken up by the heat. 2 of our group went on an early morning game drive at 6 am while the rest of the group relaxed in and by the pool. Meanwhile I went fishing with Chris and Claire, 2 friends of mine from lusaka. Chis' family owns one of the premier hunting camps in Zambia and grew up basically on Safari. As such he served as our de facto guide for all the times when no official guide was around. We walked along the river bank for a while until we found a spot near, but not too near, a large pod of hippos in the river and fished for about 2-3 hours without much success. It was great though to take time sitting on the almost dried up river bank to appreciate the harsh beauty of Luangwa. It still baffles me that trees grew and animals lived in the climate there which was both unbearably hot and desperately dry.

Chris and Claire Fishing


Hippo on the River Bank


After lunch and some cool down time by the pool we went on our first game drive into the park. It was a night drive and the group got a chance to relax by the river for sundowners (not far from a group of resting lions!) before carrying on with our drive.

South Luangwa Entry Sign


Group Picture at the river



We did see a lot of animals and some very cool scenes in the park as well. We got right up next to a baby elephant and very close to a group of giraffes. we even saw some WARTHOG.

Giraffe


Hog again


Hog


Reaching Elephant


The next morning we went on walking safaris through the park. The plus side of this was that we got to get out of the car and walk around, the minus side was that it was a walking classroom where instead of walking you would walk for 5 minutes and stop and talk about the nearest dung pile for 15 minutes. it was cool to actually learn about the animals and the environment, i just would have liked to have done that while doing as much walking as i could.

We returned from our morning walk and went to town to pick up some meat for dinner. Hippo meat. We went to this organization which both hunts and prepares hippo meat and hippo skins for leather and apparently whips. It was fascinating to watch the South African owner (who looked like a hippo himself to be honest) describe his job hunting these MASSIVE animals. The meat as it turned out was delicious and similar in a lot of ways to cow meat. it was more tender, but other than that I couldnt really tell the difference.

The next day we jumped back in our cars and drove back to Lusaka. I would like to say that we made it back unscathed, but Hansel the car suffered two terrible injuries along the way. The first one was really only terrible for us. Around 4-5 hours out of Lusaka, the Air Conditioning died. it was pushing 100 F outside. once we felt the air die we call kind of looked around in the car with oh God please no looks on our faces. We were forced to just open our windows and accept how sweaty we would all be upon our arrival. Then about 100 K out of Lusaka, poor Hansel's back right tire blew. I mean really BLEW by the way. The tire exploded from the heat. After changing tires we finally made it back to Lusaka, exhausted and sweaty.

It was a great trip, and honestly I've never seen as much wildlife as I saw in Luangwa. It being the dry season meant that anytime we were around a water hole, animals were EVERYWHERE. and none of them were scared of the vehicles so we could drive right up to them without them running away.

The group was also a ton of fun and it was nice to get out of Lusaka for an adventure.

Anyway, hope everyone's doing well at home. I'll try to have something worth posting for everyone again soon!

O

Away to Mumbai

OK Get ready guys cuz this is a long one.

So, like I said, for the past week I’ve been in India helping my girlfriend and three friends shoot a documentary on their interests in India (primarily Bollywood and Sustainable architecture).. They are there for another 2 weeks, but I spent the first week in Mumbai (or Bombay depending on who you talk to) with them.

Their blog, if anyone would like to check it out is: http://threeindias.wordpress.com/

I only have a couple pictures in here btw, because the girls' pictures are much better (they were photo minors). check out their blog to see some of them (I also promise there will be more than just the one that is up right now- internet is down and i cant load more than one. Welcome back to Zambia Oliver)


India, and especially Mumbai (Mumbai/Bombay, whatever), is literally insane, and astonishingly overpowering. I’ve never seen so many people. Or so many people crowded together almost wall to wall. And Mumbai is no small city. But the sheer size of its population is enough to make your head reel and any city seem insanely congested. The noise, the pungent smell and the obscene humidity contribute to the overpowering feel of the city.

The city is a contradiction in numerous ways. The hustle and bustle of the city, the traffic, and the never ending honking of the horns hide the spiritual core of so many of the people in the city. There is a spirit of calm and serenity in much of the population that is easy to miss. The biggest contradiction is the extensive amount of growth that the city has seen and the decadence of so much of it versus the immense amounts of poverty that can exist on the very sidewalks outside the buildings of international corporations and banks. The most glaring example is the 2 Billion dollar (Yes, TWO BILLION DOLLARS) house with something close to 50 floors that one oil giant has been constructing in downtown Mumbai, where much of the city’s poverty is still very visible



Two BILLION dollars


Anyway, if I try to describe all of the city and all the sides of it that I saw we will be here a very long time. So I’ll cover some of the events from my time there.

Rachel and I arrived in Mumbai at 2 PM on Tuesday September 21, 2010. We had arrived just at the end of the monsoon season (hence the humidity I think). After moving into our hotel (Le Royal Meridien Mumbai- the first thing the lady who took us to the room told us was that they hired a Grammy award winning musician to do their elevator music) we grabbed a cab and headed towards downtown Mumbai.

Only on the drive into Mumbai did we realize just how massive the city was. Our first hint was the concierge telling us it would take an hour and a half at least to reach the other girls. Our hotel was right by the international airport, and their hotel was all the way downtown. On the map it didn’t look to far, but the actual distance and the traffic made each time we went to see them an expedition. Then driving along the coast, the city literally never seemed to end. around bends on the coast the city would just keep continuing on with no sign of stopping. Even for the parts where we were moving it seemed as if we would never reach our destination just because of how long the city was. After an hour and half we reached the girls and they got started discussing the movie. Then Rachel and I got back in the cab and drove another hour and a half back to our hotel.

The second day I went on a walk to explore the city while the girls worked on the documentary. The first person I run into in the street is obviously a guy from Tanzania. Of course the first person someone like me would find is a guy from Tanzania. After tossing what little Kiswahili I remembered at him I continued on. Now, the next part I’m not really sure how it ended up happening so I won’t try to describe it, but I ended up in a Hindu/ Buddhist temple where they were cremating bodies (I know, it’s a long story that I don’t fully remember). Anyway this guy who I met on the street offered to take me there because some big ceremony was going on, obviously this guy was looking for money and I was getting swindled, but whatever, I was interested, I had nothing to do, and how many times to I get to go to a Hindu cremation ceremony right?

After talking with the head of the temple/ crematory for some time, I came to realize just how prevalent some parts of old Indian culture are today. Primarily, the Caste system. The Caste system, which separates people into strict levels of social classes, goes as far as the type of wood and the type of oil used to burn bodies. The sight of bodies burning with different types of wood was a really shocking scene to drive home just how much these century old traditions still hold sway in Indian culture today.

The rest of the day we spent walking along the boardwalk to see this big Hindu celebration that was going on called the Ganesh Chaturthi Festival where people go to the beach to watch statues of their God Ganesh sink into the ocean. It was an amazing sight to see, the whole city was in celebration and all around us were people beating drums dancing in the streets and setting off firecrackers (which I admit started to worry me considering it was also a kind of tense period in Hindu Muslim relations regarding a court decision on rights to land in Utter Pradesh that about 18 years ago led to the largest Hindu-Muslim clashes since partition). But it was a great thing to see.

On the way back to our hotel Rachel and I took the train (Driving would have taken 5-6 hours with the festival traffic), which was an experience in itself. Again so many people packed into one space. Oh and the doors were open the whole way so people were just hanging out of the train.

The next day was just as crazy as the last as the team made its way to Film City on the outskirts of Mumbai to shoot some footage of Bollywood crews and sets while hopefully getting some interviews as well. One of the girls (Laura) had set up a meeting with one of the managers of the studio but two of the girls (Carlee and Micki) and I got separated from them and instead ended up in a basement office of some Public liaison bureaucrat who started asking for names and contact info while trying to kick us off the studio grounds which was a “Secure Government Agency”. Luckily we were able to stall and contact Rachel and Laura to meet up with them and start driving around. But after seeing just one set the guy with us started asking for money and accusing the girls of being professionals instead of students and hence not allowed on the sets. After talking him down I gathered the girls and we went back to talk to the manager and instead started viewing some of the production near the set. In total we got to see a car accident scene for one TV show, a pilot episode for another TV show, and got to spend a lot of time on the set of a soap opera. The Soap was great because all the crew talked to the girls (which other TV shows were not willing to do) and invited us for lunch and chai tea.

The day was made much better by our driver Om who helped a lot with communicating with other people and letting us know what was going on in the conversations people were having in Hindi. Om is a really terrific guy who we all enjoyed spending time with. At the end of the day, he invited us all to see his Temple the next day and have lunch there. He promised it would be the best vegetarian food we’d ever have. As it was right in the neighborhood of the girls interviews that day (at BBC Worldwide) we happily accepted.

While the girls interviewed at BBC I took a long walk around Bandra, the neighborhood we were in. Bandra was farther north, closer to our hotel, and not in Downtown Mumbai. It was my favorite area of Mumbai that I saw on the trip. It was not too crowded, there were tropical trees lining the roads, and it was on the beach. I spent a long time walking down the beach, enjoying the ocean air, the feel of the water and the sights of kids playing cricket on the beach. After 3 months in a landlocked country, it was a great feeling to be back by the sea.

ALSO, quick note. Being in a landlocked country (Zambia) means you hold off on the seafood most of the time. Going from a landlocked country (Zambia) where you hold off on seafood and going to a seaside city (Mumbai) famous for good food in India means you GO TO TOWN on the seafood there. I had some of the best fish I’d ever had during my stay in Mumbai. Rachel and I went to a Indian restaurant in one of the hotels nearby where we ordered a seafood platter that ranks as one of the top 5 best meals I’ve ever had in a restaurant.

Anyway after the girls’ interview we went to Om’s temple. We had had lunch there before the interviews and Om hadn’t been kidding. The food was unbelievable. We feasted on a buffet of all vegetarian food containing no garlic or onions for religious reasons.

The temple itself was really interesting too and after seeing it we met with Om’s Guru, who was kind enough to sit down with us and describe his temple’s religion and their beliefs to us. It was actually pretty interesting, but I thought the way he presented it to us didn’t really speak to the spirituality behind the religion itself, and it was a little weird at the end when he asked us all to buy books from him (Mind you all 7 of them would have cost less than three dollars, money was not his objective, but it did feel like we were having the religion forced on us a little).

Two days later and it was already my last day. The girls spent the day figuring out their train tickets and then I went with Rachel and Micki to interview a Real Estate company executive for Rachel’s segment of the documentary. He was an incredibly nice man who took us to lunch at a well known club in Mumbai. It was great to talk to him and then have the interview outside with all sorts of new construction going on in the background to drive home the theme of Rach’s segment.

Anyway, so yea. After that we went back to the hotel, I packed my bags, said bye to the girl, and got in a cab to come back to Zambia. And 24 hours later I made it. So now I’m back here trying to get back into the swing of things. Its really weird going from new and different in Zambia to EXTREMELY new and EXTREMELY different in Mumbai. You’d think it would make coming back here kind of like coming home. I wish it had, but it did make me appreciate a lot of the things here that I take for granted and helps me to note the things about life in Lusaka that are great and worth enjoying. I’m not going to lie, it was also strange to have such a big part of life back home come here. And even weirder coming back without it.

But in the end, life is great. And I can’t help but think how amazingly fortunate I am to do and see so much in this year. I really am a lucky guy.

Anyway, hope you enjoyed the novel. I’ll leave you guys here and look forward to updating everyone on life when the next adventure occurs!!

Love to everyone at home and abroad.

Peace
O

King of the Road

OK so I really do need to get better at this blog stuff. It’s taking me sitting in the Dubai airport alone (sort of) during a 12 am- 5 am lay over to write this one at all. On that note, a quick description of the Dubai airport at 3 in the morning. Think of Vegas. Yea that’s pretty much it. Everything is still open, from the Mcdonalds and the bars to the toy stores. The place is basically a casino. Its insane. Its so huge, and everything is lit up and there are TONS of people in here. It really is a more efficient casino made to keep you awake so you can give your money away in the stores instead of gambling it.

Anyway. Since my last post there has been a lot of traveling going on. I guess that much has already been made apparent. About two weeks ago I was sent up north to Kitwe to help set up an environmental management plan for a steel foundry we have invested in up north. To get to Kitwe you fly up on a small propeller plane to Ndola, from which the drive is about 45 minutes to Kitwe. Kitwe is basically a smaller Lusaka with less to do from what I saw. I spent most of my time once I arrived at the steel foundry however.

It was really great to have a real project for work that I could sink my teeth into. What was best was actually seeing one of the investee companies. I had been reading about this steel foundry for months and had written reports on it but had no real experience to tie it to. Seeing the foundry helped me to ground so much of what I had been working on and writing about in reality, and I think will really help me in the future.

After that I had a great ten days when my girlfriend Rachel came to visit. It was the first time I’d seen her in 3 months and we got a chance to drive down to Victoria falls in Livingstone together. Oh, I bought a car by the way. A big green Toyota Prado (Basically an oldschool safari-type land cruiser). His name is Hansel (don’t ask)



Hansel

Anyway Rach and I drove Hansel down to Livingstone at the Zimbabwean border where Victoria Falls is located for the weekend. It was a great drive contrary to what people had told us. And the falls were amazing. We arrived in Livingstone 30 minutes before sunset and went over to the Royal Livingstone Hotel for Sundowners (cocktails at sundown). I’d never seen anything like the sunset I saw that night. The Royal Livingstone is the quintessential colonial hotel of Livingstone, right close to the edge of the falls on the Zambezi River. Sundowners are at an outdoor cocktail area on the river bank with viewing chairs looking straight out to the sunset, which occurs directly across the river from the hotel. I’d never seen a more perfect sunset before. The sheer range of colors was mesmerizing, and our viewing point was literally perfect. We had dinner at the Royal Livingstone before going back.



We started off our next day at the falls, which are a must see for anyone who visits Zambia or Zimbabwe.



We had heard that since it’s the dry season, water levels were low and we could literally walk across the river on the edge of the falls and decided to make a go for that. With a local guide named George, who “volunteered” to show us the path along the edge of the falls we stepping stones our way across the river to the various cliffs literally in the middle of the falls to watch them. (MOM- We are taking you on this when you come)



In this picture we are literally in the middle of the falls. During the rainy season the rocks we were sitting on would be completely submerged by the river and the falls.

There was even a natural pool that you could dive into at the edge of the falls and watch the falls from there. It was amazing. I naturally managed to pull out my vinyard vines swim shorts for the swimming portion (I promise I mention this for a reason). Anyway, after our amazing walk across vic falls, it turns out George wants $100 for the tour. After going back and forth with him on price, he pauses and tells us he’ll give us the tour for free so long as I give him the pink vinyard vines shorts! So, Laughing my butt off, I hand over my preppy pink shorts to George the Zambian Guide, and take a picture of him with them. The image of him running off with these preppy shorts was priceless.



After that, we went back to the hotel to get picked up for our next activity, a Walk with Lions. Rachel, being a cat freak, really wanted to see and pet some lions. OK, fine, says I. So we went to a lodge about ten minutes outside of Livingstone where you both walk with and pet lions for about two hours. This was great even though it was the most touristy thing I think ever. But it was a lot of fun still and it was really funny watching everyone going up to pet these extremely domesticated lions.



The next day we drove back and the real adventure began. Yeah, this blog post hasn’t even gotten started yet. But I mean, I started off saying I was in the Dubai airport, so you knew something had to be going on.

Rachel really came to visit me because she was on her way to India to shoot a documentary with 3 other friends from Georgetown for three weeks. I decided that since I had some vacation days saved up, I could tag along for the first week and help to get the girls set up and stuff.

So, one week ago I got on a plane from Lusaka and went to India.

And that’s where I’m coming from now going back to Lusaka.

Ill let this post sit for a day before posting India so as to give you readers a break (The next one is Hefty). But don’t worry, If you have any interest in reading about it I’m going to start writing that post now.

Life continues

So, again I’ve managed to put a month between my last blog and my new one. Apologies.

I feel like blogging has become something that I need to feel inspired to do, by an actual event or something in my life here. And, unfortunately, while life is fantastic here, eventful is not really the word for it.

I like to think that by now I know Lusaka pretty well, and am getting a better idea of Zambia in general. I have still not done much traveling outside of the city (but may be going up north to Kitwe in the copper belt in a couple days as I write this). I’ve gotten to know a lot of great people here and feel like I have a good group of friends here.

Had a couple of adventures even. Went camping a while back up north at a place called Nsobe, which was a really cool campsite/ game reserve that was located right on a lake. it was great for getting to know people also as about 45 people went!

I've also been astonished by the amount of links to home I've made with people here. I've so far run into 3 Georgetown grads, one of whom lives 6 blocks from my house in DC, and one Georgetown professor (Prof. Taylor)! There are a lot of people who have either lived in or are soon to live in DC as well, which has made for good opportunities for me to tell people about the best places to eat (Which consist of Jetties, Surfside, and Vaces. Nowhere else).

The city is becoming warmer by the day. Summer is on its way here and the city has kind of blossomed. Streets that were previously brown and green now have bright bursts of purple from the jacaranda trees lining the road and the walls of houses have more and more colors on them as the flowers start to bloom.

I’ve also started to appreciate the things that I really take for granted at home. Here’s a quick list of those things from home that I really miss
1) DELI MEAT- we deal with some weird mystery meat here and anything beyond cooked chicken and tuna salad is looked at with extreme suspicion
2) THE DOLLAR- not thinking of everything in relation to the exchange rate
3) CUSTOMER SERVICE- it actually does not exist here
4) CELL PHONE PLANS- it may be infinitely more expensive than what we pay for phones here (buying talk time credit) but not looking at your declining credit amount every time you call or text someone is a definite plus
5) THE RADIO- even coming from DC, the home of America’s worst radio stations, having half decent DJs and music that sometimes consists of more than 4 songs repeated is nice

At the same time however, there’s a lot about this place that I’ve come to appreciate. Mainly the people and their general disposition towards life. Zambians are known as the friendly people of Africa, and the more easygoing ones too. Talking to people here is easy and fun. Many people who start talking to you on the street simply want to talk to you and be friendly. I’ve made a fantastic friend out of a cab driver named Ali here who picked me up off the side of the road one night, gave me his phone number and took me around the whole city the next day for next to nothing. Another friend, a mechanic who, along with Ali has been helping me to find a car- a ridiculously aggravating process here, has become a great person to talk to as well.

There are also little pieces of home that have managed to find their way to Zambia. A bagel place has opened a couple blocks from us- the first bagels in Lusaka. A wine bar is opening soon. There is a fantastic, brand new Mexican place here as well, that I love as they made NEW MEXICAN and south western food, which is like a little piece of home for me. And the biggest date to look forward to right now is a NEW YORK DELI. We are praying it includes real deli meat.

Anyway, Life in Lusaka is great. Apart from a few hiccups involving pick-pockets, life here has been pretty good. This is a short blog I suppose relative to my other ones, but I hope its enough of an update for everyone. I'll try to make them more regular as time goes on.

Hope everyone is doing well back home,
Hugs and kisses
Oliver

Home in Zambia- Pictures Mainly

So this is my first real post about Zambia and it is not going to be overly long in describing the place unfortunately, but I promise that I am going to get much better about updating this blog, mainly because I have now finally moved into my new house here.

So I have been here in Lusaka for about a month now (to the day tomorrow). Its actually a great town, and I was more than pleasantly surprised arriving here at how nice it is and how friendly the people are. For the past month, I've been getting to know the city and the people. I've been living in a spare bedroom of a house with a great lady named Prisca (known in her gated community as Aunt Prisca to all the kids). Prisca has been extremely kind to me and I will always be very thankful to her for all her hospitality (which, granted cost me $500 for the month and did not include a stove).

Now I have moved into a new place with a friend of mine here name Jamie Nadeau, a great guy from Massachusetts. We, just last night moved into our new place. It is a cottage located behind a British couple named the Holmans' house in the Woodlands area of Zambia. The Holmans' have a beautiful complex with plants everywhere, mango trees, passion fruit trees, tomato plants, lemon trees, everything one could want. Our house looks out onto the pool and the back garden. Attached to it is a veranda/ outdoor bar area. There is even a grill. Close to us are 2 shopping centers, grocery stores, and cheapish restaurants. My office is 5 minutes away by car. Essentially is a great house in a perfect location. Below are some pictures of it.

















Living room



My Room- soon to be better decorated





The Holman's Dog Spot


Cool Scene on the way to work. The road I drive on to get to the office drives past the President of Zambia's residence. Here is the changing of the Presidential Guard


So that's a quick update on Zambia. Life here is great and now that we've finally settled our housing situation (which turned out to be a very rocky road- I'll tell that story later) things will hopefully start to get some normalcy here.

Hope everyone is doing well back home or wherever you guys all are
O

OK So its been a while

Sorry I've gotten so lazy with the posting. I'm sure everyone has been dying to find out what happened next and what my adventures have been like since then.

WELL NO NEED TO WORRY ANY MORE FOLKS. JOLLY OLLY IS BACK AND BLOGGING (I really hate the word blogging. it makes me feel way too hip, almost like nick). but yea fasten your seatbelts and get ready for a whole bunch of paragraphs about what has gone on in the past 2/3 weeks or so!!! WE EVEN HAVE PICTURES. sorry no pop ups.

Sooo anyway. I guess I have to start a ways back in Liberia. First, here is one of the most ridiculous scenes we saw as a family, who I am fairly certain were French… if that makes any difference (it kind of does). This family was sitting by the pool like they were back home in Europe. The scene of the family in Liberia alone by the pool was kind of strange, if nice. They really could have been on vacation in Nice. It was when the Chihuahua appeared that the scene became ridiculous. A Chihuahua? In Liberia? The dogs themselves are ridiculous looking enough, but seeing it walking around in a Post-Conflict Country was just absurd.



Anyway Ryan and I continued to do what we did best in Liberia- he saved lives by streamlining operations in the main public hospital. aaaaand I interviewed people at city hall... Either way I think it was a good experience and I learned a lot about the problems and general workings in the Monrovia city government.

It was also great being at city hall for the day when the president got over US$4.9 billion of Liberia's debt removed. Mayor Broh may know how to yell at people all day long for not doing their jobs. but she also knows how to throw a party. Upon hearing the news of the president's triumph, Mary promptly distributed green cloth for headbands, newspaper clippings of the story that said CELEBRATE over them and set up speakers outside city hall to start blasting music into the streets. For the rest of the day the employees of city hall danced outside to music and celebrated their presidents success.







Even when the UN guys came over, I presume to ask her to turn down the music, Mayor Broh simply kept dancing and singing. Below are two pictures of the party and the mayor leading it.




Work continued as usual, and as usual we both went to Tony Haaj’s for lunch that Thursday with Ryan’s boss at the hospital, Dr. Mcdonald and Aunty Jenny. Today the Lebanese Ambassador joined us at lunch and kept conversation going. After Lunch he offered me a ride back to city hall, but made sure to stop by his residence to show me his garden first, in which he took considerable pride. I have to admit, it was beautiful. He had a story for each plant and was especially keen on telling me which plants would be of huge benefit to Liberians if they would only start growing them. He had a good point on many of them. He even had a Lebanese Pine in the garden. A Christmas tree from years ago. He is pictured with his tree below.



The next night we watched Ghana’s heartbreaking defeat by Uruguay in the world cup which may have been the best football match (see, I’m catching on to non-american vocab!) I’ve ever seen. Before watching the match I took a tour of the new areas of the hospital with Ryan.

JFK Hospital



Like the rest of Liberia, the place has changed so much since three years ago. The new wards are clean and well managed. Patients have beds and even monitoring instruments by their beds. Many parts of it looked like a western hospital. The new Maternity hospital which the Japanese had built is also coming along nicely, and while there are problems, (as there always are in Liberia), it is sure to provide mothers with a level of care that has not been available to them since before the War.



Ryan's job was much more intense than mine. He always spent longer nights at the hospital and worked into the late hours with the Hospital Administrator until she left. While I was in many ways a little jealous of him, it was also great to see a fellow student from Georgetown diving into a situation like he had and really exemplifying what the type of graduate that Georgetown seeks to produce. Below Ryan is pictured with one of the new signs of the hospital.



The next day I left Liberia. Two weeks had gone by quickly. And were much better I think than they had been last time. I felt that I had walked around the city more, and excaped from the bubble of security, drivers, and nicer offices that had encompassed us last time. Its interesting also how going back after three years later can leave you with a totally different impression of a place. I suppose that also happens when a place changes as much as Liberia has in 3 years.

I left Liberia for Nairobi on July 3. The flight was relatively painless and I slept most of the way. The one part that was absolute torture was that Kenya Airways, in the spirit of the World Cup played 2 songs on repeat while we boarded and waited for take off. Waving Flag by K’naan and Waka Waka by Shakira, the two World Cup Songs. I never want to hear either of them ever again. They were on non-stop for hours while we waited to take off.

I arrived in Nairobi early the next morning and found my new host, George Theobald, who had stayed with me last summer in DC. George and his brother Toby and their pop are old family friends of ours from our time in Kenya. They live in Arusha, Tanzania. George had also brought along two friends of his, Ivan and Jack, both great guys.

We made the five hour drive from Nairobi to Arusha in George’s Land Rover, which he was kind enough to remind me he had flipped a year or so earlier. The road was on and off Chinese-built highway and then dirt road. As we drove close to Mt. Meru, which Arusha is located at the foot of, the landscape got greener. Arusha was a beautiful lush town at the foot of the mountain. And the Theobalds’ house was unbelievable.



It looked like a Victorian mansion that had been taken out of the French countryside and dropped at the foot of Meru. First you walk into this kind of grand hall with the dome roof above your head and a beautiful chandelier hanging from it (which, btw is apparently decorated not with crystal, but with pieces of old vodka bottles- classy, but knows how to party). And then there’s a grand staircase that moves along the wall up to the balcony that circles around the second floor. Then after you come to the top of the staircase you walk out on the veranda with couches and the dining table to one of the best views you will ever see.

You have to wait until evening. Until the sun hits it just right. But as evening approaches, the sun hits Kilimanjaro head on and you can sit on the veranda and gaze at it over the tree tops as the sun sets. Its an unbelievable image that I put below.



After a great week playing tennis, being taken on torturous high altitude jogs with George-I-am-fitness-Theobald, learning (kinda) to play field hockey and having a great time at the Theobalds’, I got on a bus on June 9 and set out for Nairobi.



I spent the night in the Muthaiga club, which was kind of interesting to see again after 5 years. Just as George said they would, they checked me up and down at the front desk to make sure I wasn’t in Jeans, sneakers or in a t shirt. Its still kind of the epitome of old school Kenya high life. I flew out to Zambia the next morning.

AAANNNDDDD
Now I’m in Zambia. I have no pictures of Lusaka unfortunately but it’s a very nice city. People here are much friendlier than many of the other African cities I’ve visited and I’ve felt extremely comfortable walking around and getting to know the place. It is actually much more developed than I had expected. There are malls, fast food points (I was actually crushed recently when someone told me there was a Wendy’s here, but it turned out to be a Blimpy’s), Blockbusters (or their version of it), and movie theaters. Its really weird actually, being here, and yet planning with kids here to go see Inception on opening day, which is July 30 here. But at the same time its comforting in a weird way too.

Anyway, I’ve started work, which is interesting and am slowly getting to know the city, which is surprisingly like a small Suburb anywhere else. I’m excited for things to start moving here, I’m still kind of in the sit and wait stage at work, reading reports and background papers. But it sounds like once things get moving it will be a great experience.

Hope everyone’s doing well at home. I’ll try to be more diligent with blogging in the future so that I don’t have to write small novels each time.

Hope to talk to everyone soon.

O

Pictures from liberia #1

So I figure I should show you guys some of what we see here instead of talking the whole time. For those interested in the city I have a few pics up of the city and then of the church in Caldwell, some of the dedication of the stadium, and then some of this beach place.

A quick bit of Geography
Map of Liberia

and Monrovia below

The Northern part of the city is the downtown/ business district of Monrovia. the road that goes north across the Mesurado River is the bridge to Bushrod Island, which is really part of Monrovia too, but is more like a suburb of it. As you move down the main road that goes East, you enter capital hill, where most government buildings and such structures as the executive mansion (pictured below) are. Past that is the UN building, also pictured and across from that, next to the University of Liberia, is city hall where I work.

Further down the road is Sinkor, the Suburb where Ryan and I are staying.

SOME LANDMARKS

Here is our friendly neighborhood gas station. In the background is the UN head quarters. Sorry for the long distance shot, but they don't appreciate people taking photos up close. The UN are very strict about their no photos policy in Liberia, which is a shame considering they are one of the more fascinating groups in Liberia at the moment, with soldiers hailing from places like Pakistan, Ukraine and the Phillipines. The UN guards at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where the President works are a group of either Indian or Pakistani women, who are clearly from a special group of women security personnel or something. There is clearly a message that they have women protecting the first woman President of Africa, but regardless, these ladies are not to be screwed with. hopefully pictures of them will come, I have some on facebook I think, but will try for more.

Sniper Hill. This already grim looking building, like many other places here, has an extremely haunting story. This building on a hill overlooking the bridge to Bushrod Island was a famous nest for snipers during the war. They would target rebel soldiers and likely civilians trying to cross the bridge. Towards the end of the war there were 3 major offenses by rebel forces coming from the north towards monrovia (called World Wars I, II, and III) this bridge was the main target of forces during those offensives and before when battles were fought inside Monrovia. A lot of lives were taken by people inside the buildings pictured above. No one has renovated them and instead they stand as a constant reminder to people entering Monrovia of the city's terrifying past

The Executive Mansion

This absurdity of a building essentially was meant to honor whatever president what in power at the time and stands out amongst the other structures of monrovia and even would amongst the buildings of any western city. Even there it would stand out as an offensively decadent example of the lack of attention that Liberia's dictators gave their people and instead spent on their own luxury.

CALDWELL PARISH

Ryan and I at the caldwell parish that the fam helped to start, during mass

Odell. This is the lady that runs the childrens program at Caldwell Parish and knows every member of my family. This was my first time meeting her. She is a fantastically friendly and fiercely determined lady.

The rain in Caldwell. This rain drowned out the priests and the readers during half the mass it was incredible.

STADIUM DEDICATION

This is the new stadium that rob build. It is the 3rd largest stadium in Liberia. the day of the dedication was one of the hottest we've had in Liberia so far. Scratch that, easily the hottest. and all the teams from the regional league were standing outside waiting to great the president and then 2 teams played in the first game. I'm sure they were used to it, but I swear I would have collapsed if I had to stand out there for that long, or at least would have needed a new shirt by the time the game started.

Here are "De two white boys" at the party for rob and his stadium

"Doctor" Rob. Getting his degree or something. He was going insane during the ceremony. I've rarely seen someone more triumphant, it was fantastic. All the speakers made even more contributions to the stadium and the league. At one point someone donated tons of balls and equipment and rob just started going insane as the crowd started cheering "Ole ole ole!" It was fantastic to see him so excited about something that was going to make so many people happy.

Anyway, here is rob after getting his tribal robe and degree from the local representative. For a guy that usually dresses himself like guys in GQ this was hysterical to see.

The President was there for the dedication as well. She gave a fantastic speech that was both to the casual and funny. She brought the ceremony much more down to earth than the other speakers did

AAANNNDDD here is King Rob. Triumphant in his seat of honor

THE BEACH

Visit to the beach at some new flashy and really cold resort that I don't plan on returning to, but nevertheless provided us with entertaining images from eastern Europeans playing volleyball to Pakistanis wading in the ocean in capris and t-shirts.

One ryan callahan sizing up the waves and whether he can take them... he decided he couldn't

This was just a really interesting group of people walking down the beach way in the distance from us... I just thought it was a cool shot, and for those who know Tim Brooke, it looked like one of his paintings to me

Best shot of the day. surfers in liberia. bahahahaha

Anyway, this took over a day to upload all these guys so I'll leave it at that. But I already have more to put up and hopefully they'll come soon.

O