Don't Worry... I'm Still HERE!!!

I apologize for being lazy about my blog … sometimes I just can’t sit still long enough to write a good post or I'm just not in to mood.  Especially when my battery doesn't last long on my computer and I have other more ‘official’ things to do like design T-shirts or watch Glee. Now that I have my office at school (heck yes) I should be more motivated to write posts more frequently. Why? Because I will be in my office with my big desk and all!  I’ve been promised this office since the first time I visited my site during training…. 8 months later and it’s finally MINE! I’m just picturing myself in a nice swivel office chair with my cat folded in my arms and laughing about a random thought in my head that wouldn't be funny to anyone else… just giving you an image of how I will be rocking my office.

Back to the story I probably promised a few months ago. Woops…

Zanzibar (December 24^th – January 2^nd)

Where the heck is all the snow?! It’s Christmas eve and I can’t see anything white, wet, and cold sticking to the ground. The breath coming out of my mouth is undetectable and I’m wearing what? Shorts! Where the heck am I?! Oh wait… the equator. Right… about that. Recently I have been getting ghost chills knowing all my life that this time of year I should be cold. The obnoxious Christmas music (call me Grinch if you want) was not filling my spirit with joy... but the weather in Tanzania sure was!

After an epic safari with my brother on the plains of the Serengeti, we were getting ready to leave for the airport to catch a flight to Zanzibar. When we reach the tiny Arusha airport there was a dark storm rolling in and all of the planes were no bigger than an American school bus. At this point I am a tad nervous because I've never been on such a small plane before. As we have security check our bags the officer suspiciously pulls out a tampon and starts asking me what the heck it is…. imagine explaining that one to a male Tanzanian. "Women go through this thing.... its for something you will never experience as a male... don't worry about it."  Once we made it through security we only had to wait a few minutes before being escorted to our plane. At this point it was pouring so they brought us an umbrella to make me feel like a millionaire being taken to my private jet. We reach our plane and they open the cockpit door and ask one of us to get in. Mike is awesome,  paying for most of the trip, and loves planes… so of course I let my big brother have to front seat! (I make it sound like a car but don’t get the wrong impression.) I get to sit right behind the pilot close enough to cause mass chaos in the 18 passenger plane. But why would I want to do that?  The thought only crossed my mind that I could have punched the pilot in the back of the head once… good thing I’m not crazy! 5 minutes of waiting in the plane and everyone is on board so we are clear to take off. It’s still pouring out and all I can think about is when the small plane in any movie crashes…. and we weren’t even off the ground yet… but  I was too busy distracting myself by watching the pools of water collect on the runway as we literally flew past them. I’m not afraid of flying and have jumped out of a plane before but when I went skydiving the one thing that made me most nervous was the small size of the plane. At least I was connected to a parachute last time… this time I only had my ipod and I doubt that would help me glide safely back down to the ground if the plane exploded in midair, so I turned on some jams and zombied out (the verb I use while on long transport rides around Uganda meaning: I’m not paying attention to ANYTHING).

As soon as we were up in the air, the storm clouds disappeared and we were soaring over the brightest rainbow I have ever seen! It was magical to say the least… if only the clouds weren’t covering Mt. Kilimanjaro it would have been even more spectacular. The next hour and a half I tried not to bounce out of my seat with excitement and chose to watch Tanzania pass by far below. The landscape seemed so dead, dry, and boring compared to Uganda until we reached to coast.  Now I’ve never been anywhere tropical but my bedroom back home in the states is filled will palm trees, collections from beaches, and bright colors. By heading to Zanzibar I was living one of my dreams! It felt A-mazing especially after briefly glimpsing the island from above. I was nervous though… I built this idea up in my head and had no idea what it would actually be like until we landed.

When we arrived my cell phone battery was too tired to turn on… wouldn’t matter because my SIM card was no longer working… woops… haven’t even thought of that one. We have NO clue where we are going just the name of the lodge. It also doesn’t help that Mike had his better phone stolen out of his bag on the way to Tanzania. So we start asking around and nobody knows where this ‘Paradise’ lodge place is. Finally we find a private vehicle to take us. Not sure what the price was but thanks Mike! On our way I remember seeing a sign advertising for ‘Half Zoo’… now why would they name it that?! Half price? Half the animals? Half the cages are built? I suppose I will never know. When we reach the lodge in the back of my mind I’m wondering… ‘what the hell kind of place is this?’ First of all there is NOTHING around… second of all the driveway started at someone’s house and I don’t even know if this place is legit yet. The car takes us another 200 ft and BAM! White sand, hammocks,  beach bar, volleyball net, and palm trees everywhere! We get out of the car and are led through all these fun beach bum obstacles, past a flight of wooden stairs heading down to the water, and end up on a gorgeous balcony in front of our room on the second story. I get to wake up to THIS every morning for the next 3 days? I’ll take it! We probably had the nicest room… not even going to lie. Honeymoon suit? Awkward. Once we put our things down the first thing I did was climb down the stairs to touch the Indian Ocean.  Knowing that I was not going to get Shisto (parasites) from the water made it even more magnificent after being cooped up in Uganda for 6 months… not to mention touching the INDIAN OCEAN! I just wanted to splash around all afternoon and have some fun in the sun poking sea cucumbers, holding hermit crabs, and playing with spiky sea urchins. As long as I avoid stepping on a sea urchin I should be good to go. 

Do you remember the Canadians from the safari I talked about? Welp… they were there too!

At first it was awkward explaining Mike is my brother because it seemed like everyone else was a couple but after the first 10 minutes it was fine. Since we arrived on the 24^th that night they had a Christmas eve buffet … candle light dinner on the beach… super romantic. Yuck. Mike and I ended up eating dinner with Katie and Nick (the Canadians). Squid, octopus, grilled tuna, Irish potatoes, rice, beef, goat, vegetable samosas, some sauce, and of course… steamed banana! I tried even the food I didn’t know I would like and avoided the banana… like always. High tide and low tide confused the heck out of me. One minute the water would be crashing against the walls and the next hour it would be a mile out. I’ve lived by lakes all my life and the water level hardly changes.

Christmas day we all ended up swimming, playing beach volleyball, reading, lounging around, sipping fruity drinks, and petting the dogs. Such a lovely and relaxing Christmas but unfortunately it was too hot and sunny to wear my Santa hat.

The next day following Christmas we booked an early morning dolphin swim combined with a snorkeling trip for 15 bucks! The dolphin swim was not what I expected… we got on our boat… suited up in our flippers, snorkel, and mask…. Then headed off the coast for about a mile where a few other boats were waiting. As soon as the dolphins emerged it was like a race… we sped up in front of the dolphins then were told to ‘JUMP!’ At first I was a bit scared and confused. I didn’t mind the depth of the water and am a pretty good swimmer but they just want me to jump off this boat when all these other boats are racing towards us. I did it anyways. You just jump and swim as fast as you can while looking for the dolphins below. If you don’t think about the dolphin harassment aspect of the whole things it is mesmerizing watching the dolphins. You can even hear them if you listen hard enough over the sound of all the motor boats. I almost got jumped on by a crazy tourist but what else would you expect from a boat full or excited tourists who can't swim very well? Next we headed to a reef where my brother got some incredible underwater photos. When we first got in the water I noticed slight static popping noises (similar if you were pouring milk over a bowl of Rice Crispies) and I would occasionally feel a slightly uncomfortable sensation on my legs, arms, or even lip. Weird. Last time I swam in an ocean was when I was a tiny little peanut so I figured this is how it always feels while swimming in salt water. I just ignored it an enjoyed the underwater scenery. Some areas on my body I would feel a prick more than others and in different locations on the reef I would stop hearing the popping when I was underwater. So here is an experiment for you:  pour milk over a bowl full of Rice Crispies, close your eyes, pretend you are under water, and pinch yourself lightly on the arm. Done. That’s how it felt to a lesser degree.  After a while I began to realize that this shouldn’t be the norm because if it was… why would so many people enjoyed swimming in the ocean? Crazies. I went back underwater and tried looking really close in front of me so I probably looked like a fool and may have had to cross my eyes to look that close. Sure enough there were mini jellyfish scattered in the ocean around me. I tried telling everyone else but they thought I was crazy… until 10 minutes later someone else points out the tiny buggers. Honestly I didn’t care… if these zap-a-zaps (just got done reading A Clockwork Orange) were going to kill me I was already in heaven looking at a REAL coral reef instead of pictures. I would have died happy as a clam. After being micro-electrocuted a couple hundred times we got out of the ocean and headed for Crab Island which is not much bigger than a basketball court (probably the worst island to be stranded on since it shrunk to the size of a couch once the tide came in). We ate brunch on the island then journeyed back to shore where we all got extremely burnt during the ride due to the lack of shade on the small boat. Once back from the boat ride my brother and I said our goodbyes to Paradise and headed to the East part of the island to meet up with some Peace Corps volunteers from Uganda for a week….

Our picnic destination

Why yes! I am floating above a coral reef. Thanks for noticing!

This is real life. 

The deeper you dive, the bigger they get!

<><>My camera broke but my brother just sent me a flash drive with ALL of the pictures from the trip so I will get more posted on here once I receive that. Now I'll leave you to catch up on this and post another one soon soon.<><>

I also just wanted to let you know how clean my blue jeans are because I had the opportunity to wash them in a wish-wash machine! Life for me is about to get busy working at 2 camps back to back for the next two weeks but I will have time to post so no worries!