March 1, 2012: “Quit making a bloody mess!”
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
February 29, 2012: Today was supposed to be one of those fun, once in every 4 years, posts. Me jumping to celebrate Leap Day or something. But then, the whiteout happened.
White-knuckling it from Storm Lake to Omaha, 30-40mph crosswinds. Trying not to get blown in front of oncoming semis that appear 7 feet before my car. Delayed flights, cancelled flights, you name it. At least I had an awesome rental car. Good times.
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Monday, February 27, 2012
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Friday, February 24, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Friday, February 17, 2012
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
February 15, 2012: Travel day! Hopped on a United 767-300 back to Washington DC, had the row to myself which was nice. Watched 2 movies and read 2 books. Then a puddle hopper to IND and HOME to my girls. :) Good to be back! What a fun trip.
Monday, February 13, 2012
February 14, 2012: Happy Valentine’s Day! Today is the 365th consecutive day of photos on whereisbradjward.com! I made it!!!!
In Zurich, Switzerland today. Started my morning by heading up to Uetliberg, the highest point in Zurich, to get my Valentine’s photo for Jen. Very, very cloudy and cold day.
After Uetliberg, I boarded a 90 minute ride on Lake Zurich down to Rappersvil. It was a nice ride, fun to see some more of Zurich. Once there, I saw the famous swans in front of Schwanen Hotel, but the restaurant was closed for lunch by the time I got there. So, the next best thing… McDonalds. My rule is that I can eat @ McD’s internationally if I try something I couldn’t get at home. So lunch was the NY Crispy. It was good, but the beef was nowhere near as good as home :)
After Rappersvil, I hopped a train back to Zurich and strolled the Bahnhoffstrass for a few hours… because it’s fun to look at things you can’t afford. :) Swiss watches everywhere. There were 4 H&M’s within 3 blocks of each other, so I did buy a few things there for the girls :) And I stopped in the Apple Store to charge my phone.
After a long day of sightseeing, I jumped a train back out to my hotel and started repacking for the trip home. HOME. Tomorrow. Can’t wait.
February 13, 2012: Today I met up with Shana to see all the work that Jump For Joel is doing in Gathiga, Kenya. Seeing the progress that’s been made and hearing about the plans for the future was very exciting!
We started the day at Gathiga Children’s Home, and it was fun to see so many projects that friends have come to work on! I also got to meet Jeremy and Jordan’s sponsored child, a very sweet kid. We then went to the school, and were surprised to learn it was Sports Day, so ALL the kids from THREE schools were playing in this gigantic lot. “Muzungu!!”, roughly translated = white people, was heard a few times as Shana and I walked in. Within seconds, we were swarmed with kids. Some just wanted to give us a high five or practice their English, others wanted to rub my arm and leg hair (again and again and again…), haha! It was fun to see so many kids out enjoying the weather and playing sports.
After saying our goodbyes in Gathiga, we went to a Masai Market for some heavy negotiating on souvenirs. A bracelet might start out at $30, but you finally work them down to $5. Fun times!
Our next stop was University of Nairobi, where we hoped to meet up with a student who’s on scholarship from Jump for Joel. We weren’t able to connect, but it was still interesting for me to walk around the university and experience it, as well as learn more about the system from Shana.
From there, it was off to Kibera, the largest slum in Nairobi. I left my camera in the car here to avoid “slumdog tourism”, which is popular here for people to hop out, snap a pic or two, and get back in and leave. We took our time, walked through the slums, chatted with a few of the business owners, bought a Sprite, and just soaked in the experience that so many live in every day. Shana had a friend join us for the walk, she actually lived in Kibera for 9 months when she first moved here! It was fun to watch her stop and talk to people she met five years ago, and they would still remember each other because of the friendship that was built.
"Replace apathy with action" is the mission of Jump for Joel. And after seeing and experiencing everything that we saw today, it’s hard to not do just that.
Sunday, February 12, 2012
February 12, 2012: For a travel geek like me, this gets its own post. I use a site called FlightMemory to track all my flight stats and data. And on this trip, I was getting excited to visit Zurich International Airport, my 100th airport. BUT, I realized on this trip that since it’s not recognized by the site, I had never input Siana Springs Airstrip! So we celebrated quickly before hopping on our flight. Siana Springs, 100th airport.
Airstrips are funny here. Grass or gravel. Sometimes a truck will take off in front of the plane to get the animals off the runway. On our 2nd stop on the way back to Nairobi, it was a guy with a stick beating the sheep and goats off the runway. But hey, we made it.
February 12, 2012: The wildlife here is amazing. But it’s important to stop for a second and talk about the people. The Maasai. They are smart, resourceful, warm and welcoming, and without them this entire area would not exist. While much of Africa was filled with tribes and cultures of hunters and gatherers, the Maasai people are herders by nature. As a result, they have protected and preserved this entire region of Kenya and northern Tanzania so that we can enjoy and experience it.
We visited a Maasai village today, and it was amazing to see these people who live on the land, and are essentially one with the land. Their houses made of cattle dung, mud and sticks. Their fences from trees that elephants have knocked down. We saw a fence gate (photo above) where the hinges were made from old shoes. But those old shoes? Made from tires.
It was a pleasure and joy to get to know our guides Nelson and Daniel more and hear about all of their various traditions and culture. I’m honestly glad that they don’t try to be more “westernized”, because we could learn a lot from them. And I did.
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