Africa Etc.

Grosses

~ In our 5 hour layover in Amsterdam we decided to go through customs and check out the city. It was rather disgusting. There was loads of dirt and garbage everywhere and I saw a puddle of puke on the side of the road. The canal was rank and make me want to barf. (Maybe that's where the puke came from...) I saw a man with his fly down peeing in the canal. He didn't seem to care that the world could see... And prostitution is legal so we walked down multiple street with women in windows basically selling themselves. I was almost happy to get back on an airplane for an 8 hour flight. Being excited for an 8 hour flight is almost gross in itself.

~ The Food. It wasn't all bad. And I never got sick. But I just got tired of the same thing over and over and over. They serve eggs and porridge for breakfast every day. And there's usually fresh fruit. But Passion Fruit is oober bitter and I gaged every time I tried to put it to my kisser. Anyway the cook for the hike made "soup" for lunch and dinner every single day. And when I say soup I mean half the time it looked like dirty dish water. It was brown, green, or beige and had flecks of green or red and it was salty. And the meat was really chewy. Before the hike our guide came over and we were discussing the food. He assured us that all the beef would be certified for human consumption. I didn't even realize that was a question. Let's just say we had a pack of 30 king sized candy bars and none of them made it home.

~ The Maasai culture is gross. It's fascinating, but utterly gross. They don't have running water and their spring is like a mile away so they don't shower. The children are always covered in dirt. They don't care too much about covering up, especially the children. (They don't have diapers...) They make animal sacrifices and drink their blood mixed with milk. (I wonder what devout Jews must think of that...) And they have polygamy and they're very promiscuous and their kids all live in these tiny houses and they have loads of kids. When you think about it their kids must be scarred for life... cough cough.

~ It doesn't take too much explaining, but 8 days of hiking without showering is gross, hands down.

~ Last but not least, I found a tick on my head. I know on the East Coast they have lots of ticks, but I am not accustomed to them and they totally freak me out. It basically made me feel contaminated for a few days. Like I had some disease or something.

Smiles

~ The little Maasai kids made me smile. They were utterly cute and starved for attention. I would imagine with so many of them they don't get much if any alone time with their parents, who are always working, so they have to be crazy to get noticed. If you care I can show you the movie, but I'm not going to put it on here.

~ It doesn't have anything to do with Africa, but getting into the BYU Industrial Design program made me not only smile but wave my hands around in excitement. Not many things bring me to waving hands, so that was an accomplishment. Every time I remember that I don't have to be worried anymore and I made it in I have to smile. It's a lovely realization.

Ticked Off

~ It's hard to t-off Shelley, but Nigeria achieved it. We bought tickets from Nairobi, Kenya to Lagos, Nigeria without any warnings. There's a law that says you can only go Nigeria if you take the next flight out, otherwise you have to get a visa. Well, apparently they interpret that as, American's can't fly here without a Transit-Visa. It take a trip to the US Embassy and seven days to get said Transit-Visa. We had two hours. Hey, buttfaced dumbies! Us coming means we'll spend money in your country. If you make us buy a visa that give you money too. Deterring us from coming only ticks us off and dissuades us from ever wanting to go there again. That only hurts you. You're not only jerks, you are bad businessman and have somehow earned my dislike. That's a feat.

Laughs

~ The many "That's what she said"'s that occurred on our trip made me laugh. Quite loudly actually. My Father even started using them.

~ Popsicle related a story to us on the trip that made me chuckle. When he was young his family went camping at Yellowstone National Park together. There was a warning that bears were coming through camp. Pops was terrified and frantically ran to the car, hopped in, and locked the doors. Needless to say he beat his family. They banged on the windows and tried to get him to unlock the doors, but he wasn't going to risk a bear getting in. That eight year old boy had his priorities straight, he was not going to risk his life just to save his family. Apparently, for some reason, that was their last ever family camping trip....