Tonight's planned post (HA! Like I have a plan) had to be put aside thanks to YouTube taking frickin' for-ev-er to upload a video. Now it's late and nearing bedtime. As penance, here's an elephant video.
Taken October 23, 2016 at Tarangire National Park, Tanzania.
Posting has slowed down due to a lack of reliable Wifi. New post over at A Rambling Nerd about a day trip to Ngongongare and hiking in Lushoto.
On a whim, I headed to Pemba Island which has turned out to be a fantastic decision and I wish I could stay a little bit longer.
It's late here but if I get ambitious, I might get my Pangani and Tanga scheduled while I have relatively decent Wifi. If I do, I won't be cross-posting.
Which reminds me, safari post is up. Pretty animal pictures!
I have another blog over there queued to be posted on Wednesday. I don't know if I'll be able to crosspost at that time (and I can't do it before that blog is up), but you'll want to check it out because it's safari photos.
It's Thanksgiving in Canada. I didn't get my turkey, but I got a beer on a patio while I wore a t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops. That would never happen back home so... I'm kind of okay with it.
Besides, I got Frida's amazing fried chicken. I feel like it was a fair trade.
I am sitting at the Sea-Tac airport just killing time on my way to Kili. I wrote a little post over on the travel blog, and you can see it by clicking here.
Long story short, I successfully got on my first plane. If boredom doesn't get me, I'm sitting pretty to make my connection in Seattle.
You know that moment where you look at your 'to-do' list and the time you have to do it in and all you can think is
I leave in just under two weeks and I feel like I have done nothing to prepare myself. On the upside, I'm a list maker and already wrote my packing list in July. I made it that early so I could start looking for clothing items I needed, but I'm so grateful for it now because my mind has been all over the place lately. If I tried to write a list right now, I'm sure I'd end up in Tanzania without the essentials and with lots of unnecessary items. (As an aside, I met a girl when I was backpacking in Europe who brought 8 pairs of shoes with her. EIGHT! Whenever I feel like I'm being ridiculous with my packing items, I remember her and laugh. FYI, you don't need knee boots in case you go to the club when you're travelling. You just don't.)
Part of the fun brain times comes from getting some documents submitted for work. There's a lot of media around a project we're working on so every i dotted, every t crossed, and then reviewed 8 separate times. The good news: they were done on time and now I have a week of work to do in two weeks. The bad news: I was so forgetful during the last two weeks of the document writing that I may have missed my friend's wedding.
I wish I was joking about that last sentence. When I went to add the wedding to my calendar, I didn't have the invite on hand and put it on the following weekend which was on my mind because it was the anniversary of another friend's wedding and one of the work documents. *sigh*
But it hasn't been all doom and gloom and missed weddings.
I spent part of the long weekend with Noah and Rachel. He was able to come home for the weekend, so he looked after the niblet while Rachel and I did yard work. He's doing... better? Let's put it this way, he's not worse. At any rate, it was wonderful to spend some time with both of them and to feel like I was being helpful.
I mentioned I was going to see Rodriguez in a recent post. Just to follow up, it was a wonderful concert. I'd say he's legally blind given how he moved around the stage, and he definitely was showing his age, but I would have gladly paid more than I did to attend. It was just him on stage and it felt like sitting in the backyard with 1400 friends while one of them played the guitar. He played his hits and some covers, people shouted songs from the audience, he chatted away like he was having a conversation with all of us. Most importantly, he played my favourite song.
I'm blogging my Tanzania trip over here: A Rambling Nerd It wasn't my intention to start a separate blog from travel but I have a few coworkers and friends-of-friends who want to follow along. While I have no problem defending anything I wrote on this page, I like that it's my little corner of the Internets which is only read by a handful of people - almost all of whom I know in real life - and I can swear in a post if I want to. (I give myself five posts before I probably swear on the other blog as well.) I will post links to my posts over here, so you don't have to follow it as well. I just wanted to make you aware of why there won't be any proper posts on here for Tanzania.
Down time in Stone City, Zanzibar thanks to the rain.
(My haircut in this picture: I got frustrated having long hair while I was there
and cut it myself... with my Swiss Army Knife scissors and no mirror.)
I am done with training sessions at the gym until I'm back from my trip. I have too many things to do between now and departure to not be getting home until 7:00 pm at night. On the downside, I really enjoy my sessions with Larissa, and I'm going to miss chatting with her three times a week. I'm really going to miss my Portuguese lessons ;)
I discovered that my coworker is going to Kenya to visit his family and our time in East Africa is overlapping by 10 days. We are going to be a half-day's drive away from each other but because of his family commitments when he's there - he gets to see his baby girl for the first time (!!!) - he can't come south, and because of my commitments when I first arrive, I can't go north. Ack! We should have planned this better! We joked that we'd set a time to climb the tallest buildings in our respective cities and wave at each other.
The coworker in question is actually (South) Sudanese but his family fled Sudan (now South Sudan) when he was young, and he spent his teen years in a refugee camp in northern Kenya. His family has since been able to relocate permanently to Kenya while he was accepted to a Canadian study program. His wife and new daughter (again !!!!) are still in Kenya. I bring this up because, while the Syrian refugee crisis is very serious, refugees exist in pretty much every corner of the globe. As of 2015, there are roughly 15.5 million refugees in camps. There are also 37.5 million Internally Displaced People (IDP - people forced into refugee camps within the borders of their own country) Currently, out of the 10 largest refugee camps in the world, seven of them are in Africa. If you want to support efforts with refugees, please consider an organisation like the United Nations High Commission for Refugees where your donation goes to helping refugees all across the globe.
Remember when I ended up in the ER because of my teeth? Initial check said two root canals and a crown immediately, and two more crowns in the next 18 to 24 months. The initial check was wrong. I ended up with three root canals and two crowns immediately, with one more crown in 18 to 24 months. It all went off as smoothly as that much work can and I was feeling much better about my teeth situation as I prepared to head of to Tanzania.
Until tonight.
While writing this blog post, a small piece of dinner was stuck between my teeth and driving me nuts so I decided to floss them. My reward? I popped out one of the crowns they put in back in July.
I should have gone the route of my Uncle Matt who had all his teeth pulled at the age of 36. Dentures are less hassle, right?
Ugh. If you need me, I'll be in the corner softly weeping.
I have so many things to talk about and catch you up on. Random nonsensical post?
On my Endgame in Ireland post, Carolyn pointed out there was another Irish documentary on Netflix called “The Irish Pub” which is a look at the (mostly) rural pubs in Ireland. Carolyn will be happy to know that I watched the documentary and I’ve been in two of the pubs they featured. It does suffer a wee bit from rose-coloured glasses, but it was still enjoyable. Sadly, pub culture is dying out in rural Ireland thanks in part to a zero-tolerance drinking and driving policy. Still, if you find yourself in Ireland, make sure you plan a night in a smaller community (preferably off the tourist trail) and park yourself in the local pub. You will not regret it.
Nine-year-old me in front of a pub in Kilkenny.
I've blanked it out but that's our family name above the door!
Learning that the Star Trek cast love Dubsmash was one of the highlights of my past week.
Star Trek was my gateway nerd so this brings me so much joy on multiple levels.
Any weight-loss progress I was making has well and truly stalled. You could even say it’s backed up a bit, although, thankfully, not all the way back to the starting line. There are no excuses to give and now claims of “I don’t know why.” I know exactly why and it’s my fault. I haven’t been paying attention when it comes to what I’ve been eating since about mid-June. Funny how two months of eat-all-the-things can muck up weight loss. Shocking!
My gym attendance has been consistent and I have noticed that my cardio endurance has continued to increase so that’s a tick in the win column. As for the eating, I’ve been paying closer attention the past week and plan to continue with it until I leave, but it’s a low priority at the moment so if I find myself getting home at 7:30 pm with no leftovers or food prepared in the fridge, I’m not going to beat myself up about ordering takeout.
Nine-year-old me took this picture! Just kidding. Monaghan Town in 2011.
My uncle was all proud that they finally had a stop light. A STOP LIGHT! Just one.
I love you, Monaghan. Never change. Well, maybe one more stop light.
The Royal Family is coming to BC and the Yukon for the last week of September which has a lot of people excited. I’m best described as apathetic about the monarchy. If I was to wake up tomorrow to the news that they had been removed from Canada’s Head of State status, I wouldn’t shed a tear. On the other hand, getting rid of them doesn’t save us money as we’d then have to invest in the creation of a political entity to replace our current system of Governor General and Lieutenant Governors.
A lot of their time will be spent in Victoria because we have Government House. Government House is more commonly known as the home of BC’s Lieutenant Governor, but it is also the residence of the Royal Family when they’re in BC.
To help Cely you imagine their visit, they will sit at this table to eat their meals.
To be honest, I love visiting Government House... I'm just indifferent to the Royals.
Hopefully, that won't hurt my chances to land the Lieutenant Governor gig. ;)
It’s also 5 blocks from my house.
Not going to lie, I’m happy I won’t be here for all the added people milling about when I try to go for an evening walk.
Friday night, I am going to a Rodriguez concert. If you haven't seen "Searching for Sugar Man" then that name probably means nothing to you, but if you have seen "Searching for Sugar Man"... I'M GOING TO A RODRIGUEZ CONCERT!!
Finally, the one month countdown to Tanzania has begun! To celebrate, my two favourite Tanzanian musicians. The first video is X Plastaz, a hip-hop group from Arusha. The second is Z.Anto, who was big in the BongaFlava scene when I was there.
Two months today, I'll be landing in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania.
During our monthly departmental lunch, my coworkers started asking questions today about what it's like to live in Tanzania. Where will I live? What will I eat? It was fun to relive stories of my last time there and when we returned to the office, I sorted through a few photos of my house in Tanzania.
That's the driveway, front yard, and edge of the house. Behind the house is another small yard and then Arusha National Park. In the mornings, I will watch the sunrise over Kilimanjaro as I drink my coffee. In the evenings, I will watch the sunset behind Mt. Meru as I enjoy a glass of wine.
If you're Canadian or "Canadian-adjacent" (are super-cool enough to have Canadian friends) then you already know this, but Gord Downie has terminal brain cancer. This news came just over a month after Spirit of the West held their final concert and officially disbanded due to the health of two members. My life's soundtrack is at least 50% these two bands. So far, 2016 has pretty much sucked on the celebrity front.
Granted, none of these people are dead yet but teenage-me is pretty devastated knowing what's coming down the pipeline.
*sigh*
Other that wonderful news which was a total Downie to read (feel free to groan and tell me how horrible that pun was), things have been going well. I started this week with a root canal because that's how every Monday should start. I am one more appointment away from being done with Phase One of the Great Teeth Fix. Phase Two is 18-24 months away so that's something to look forward to. </sarcasm>
I have also started counting the days until my trip. I take great satisfaction is writing a smaller number each day in my planner. (In this case, planner is a fancy word for the list I make of work tasks each morning.) It's a nice little pick-me-up to add to my large cup of coffee.
After much humming and hawing, and debating of prices, my brother has booked his ticket as well. He'll be joining me for the last part of the trip - also known as the fun part - to go on safari, abandon each other for a few days, and then head to Zanzibar. I'm excited to get to show him around "my" Tanzania.
My coworkers from 2007. I can't believe I get to see them again soon!
Gym has been steady and regular, and I've had a few people comment that I'm looking thinner. Not going to lie, I enjoy those comments.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to lay in my bed and listen to my favourite Hip song on repeat.
Hard to believe we're already a week into 2015. I welcomed in the year
by making boozy hot chocolate and watching way too many episodes of Merlin.
I've watched parts of the series but hadn't seen it from beginning to end. I'm
making up for that now! This was all brought on when I watched Series 2 of the
Fall while recovering from Christmas, and saw that this guy had gone from this
to this
Why, hello! Older looks good on him. His name is Colin Morgan and he's
from Armagh, so if you want to know what my Irish family sounds like then
listen to an interview with him.
It's normal this time of year for one to set out some goals for the
coming year but I thought before I did that, I'd review last year's
resolutions/goals/what-ever-term-you-prefer.
1. Go to kickboxing/bootcamp at least
11 times a month
Prior to the craziness of work in the Fall, I actually did really well on this
one. There were two months where I didn't make the goal due to illness or
injury but there were very few nights were I didn't go by choice. So I'm calling
this one not a total fail.
River Tam is my kickboxing inspiration
2. Run two 10Ks
Not even close on this one. Fail.
3. Start the process of becoming
certified in Instructional Design
Work craziness prevented this one from being completed, so while it's a
fail, it also means that I've done all the prep work for figuring out what
courses I want to do this year.
4. Improve my German
I meant to sit down and figure out what my goal would be for judging
improvement on this goal... but I never did. Still, I'm a lot more confident in
my use of German now than I was at this time last year so I'm calling this one
a win.
To recap, a visual representation of my 2014 resolutions:
What does that mean for 2015?
Go to kickboxing/bootcamp at least 11
times a month is still on the table for this year. Except it will have a small little
asterisk beside it because if I get into my desired course, then I'll have to
re-evaluate this goal as I will probably just cut back to only kickboxing.
The preceding paragraph probably makes it clear that Start the process of becoming certified in
Instructional Design is also still on the table.
This also doubles as a representation of me at 3D movies
Running is off the table as far as actual goals go. And German? I still
fully intend to keep up with it, however, I have a new language goal for 2015. Bring my Swahili back to a conversational
level. This goal is a direct result of the fact that the groundwork has
already begun for a return to Tanzania in late 2016.
Go back and
read that last sentence to make sure you actually go it. I'll wait.
Returning to Tanzania is something I've wanted to do since pretty much
the day I got back. I've received a verbal okay from work to amass all my
vacation and vacation carry-over for a prolonged visit. I've been walking
around my apartment randomly spouting off Swahili words ever since.
I'll see you soon-ish, Mt. Meru!
Still, I have 2015 to get through before that happens. I'm looking
forward to what this year can bring.
You know when you wake up from a dream and you're so convinced it's real that you're confused about waking up in your own bedroom? You try to align where you just were in your mind with the reality of life? And you hope to fall back to sleep so you can continue the dream? Except it's a work day and apparently they get angry when you don't show up? I know, so selfish of our employers, eh?
Wednesday morning, I thought I woke up here:
That far bed? For four months, that was my bed in Tanzania. When I awoke on a cold and foggy Wednesday morning to realise that my dream about being back there had been nothing but a dream, my heart ached a little.
Adding to the realism of my dream was the fact that it was about going back to Tanzania to visit. I saw my friends in their new jobs, I brought gifts of items I knew they loved but were hard to come by in Tanzania, and we caught up on our lives over nyama choma at our favourite restaurant. It was so real.
I spent the remainder of the day missing Tanzania.
I missed bartering for food in the markets.
Lushoto Market (Not my 'normal' market. I don't have any pictures of Tengeru Market.)
I missed my coworkers.
Grace, Hadija, Rachael, me, Mama Musa (Fatima) Just a few of my awesome coworkers!
I missed holidays that looked like this:
Morning coffee in Nungwi
Or this:
Elephants in Tarangiri NP
I missed seeing Mt. Meru every morning.
Sunset on Mt. Meru You can keep Kilimanjaro, this is the mountain I long for.
*sigh*
I will be forever grateful that I got to live in Tanzania and that I live in an age where I am able to keep in contact with many of my friends from there through the magic of the internets and social media, but why can't I live in the era of Star Trek where I could just beam over there for some nyama choma and a Tusker beer while I dust off my rusty Swahili and we catch up on the going on in all our lives?
Do you have a place that you miss? What do you miss the most?
