i've had a lot of quarter life crises in joburg. blame it on the aggressive cement topped with electric fences and other people who have a job and more purpose. its led to frantic job applications that feel like stabs in the dark and don't pan out.
a few weeks back in zambia a friend forwarded on yet another call for applications, but this time for an organization called students offering support based out of waterloo (www.studentsofferingsupport.ca). basically, the organization runs exam-prep classes at campuses around canada and the fee charged is put towards building school projects around south and central america.
they were looking for a director of international outreach to help run their building projects in the field and help co-ordinate volunteers and university chapters around canada, and then some more. they've been wickedly successful with the exam prep courses and are now pulling in more money than they know what to do with so... they need help spending it. i read this job description on a public computer thinking man, that would be cool but i haven't got anything to apply. then, walking home i realized i'd been lugging my damn laptop around and that i had a few hours to go back to the internet cafe and try my luck against 130+ other candidates.
after an intense interview process that i was more anxious and excited about than i think even i knew, i found out earlier this week that i got the job! i haven't been far from cloud nine since. i continue to find myself breaking out into random uncontrollable smiles despite being very much lost somewhere in joburg suburbs (stamps are a VERY difficult thing to locate and have now accounted for almost 5 hours of lost walking... although maybe thats the result of a poor but overly confident sense of direction on my part).
so. now i re-group, again, and make new plans for a very long time given how the past year has gone. i'm still going to ghana because i've invested so much money in a hellish process. i'll be there until the middle of july with the new volunteers before i fly all the way back to south africa only to turn around to fly all the way up to senegal and then, across and HOME for the 19th of july! go figure. home for 2ish weeks to get sorted with SOS in waterloo and then, south america for 3ish months!
i'm obviously pretty stoked about south america. never been before and am really keen to take spanish beyond random descriptions of pirates and teddy bears (thank you stu and SPAN010 for those helpful skills). i'll be going around with some of SOS's volunteer outreach trips and figuring out how they work for a few weeks and then, when they all go back home, i stay on conducting needs assessments and figuring out where schools can be built and maintained! i'm the first person to really take on this role so think there is a lot that i could do with it. greg seems keen to trust me and my judgement, so i suppose this will be a very good test of what i think i know.
in the job interview, i was asked if this was my dream job. it kind of is. i was anticipating YEARS of bitch work filing papers for interesting organizations before i could actually move onto a job that i was excited about! nice change of plans.
now, for the most long-term plan ever. for the next YEAR i'll be based in waterloo working with SOS. there will likely be return trips to south/central america throughout the year but, much to my mom's delight, it looks like KW will once again be my home base. i think i've had enough time away to actually get excited about going back to friends and family. i certainly needed 4 years of uni and a year of traveling to get to this point but, this all feels right.
and, this by no means spells the end of ETFL. it wasn't ever a project i seriously thought about pursuing as a full time career. i don't think my model really works for that. it will continue to be a project - that i need help with - and being based in kitchener will make that much easier... so there we go. a year(+) of my life planned.
i don't think i've ever said go figure as much as i have this week. partly from this job, partly because i'm currently watching michaels new cleaning lady, nelly, iron cotton tshirts and socks. she is nothing if not thorough. she'd have a field day in my room of crumpled cotton things that have been "packed" in anticipation of ghana for 2 weeks now.
"had it been another day, i might have looked the other way, and i´d have never been aware..."
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
a click for $10 000
so, dan safayeni just nominated me as someone who 'makes canada great' in MS Office's competition. we BADLY need you to 'like us' (the little liberia story) on this link:
http://www.makecanadagreat.ca/Gallery-All.aspx
with enough votes, we get entered to win $10 000, which would be huge for us. a few weeks ago we passed our $20 000 fundraised mark. this prize would take care of a year's worth of work. with one click. from you. sooooo. go here:
http://www.makecanadagreat.ca/Gallery-All.aspx
click that you like me. little liberia: lindsay's initiative. GO DO IT NOW!
we only have one day to get as many votes as possible. closes the night of tuesday june 22.
get going. hurry up. quit wasting time reading my blog. i'm really not that interesting when up against $10 000.
http://www.makecanadagreat.ca/Gallery-All.aspx
with enough votes, we get entered to win $10 000, which would be huge for us. a few weeks ago we passed our $20 000 fundraised mark. this prize would take care of a year's worth of work. with one click. from you. sooooo. go here:
http://www.makecanadagreat.ca/Gallery-All.aspx
click that you like me. little liberia: lindsay's initiative. GO DO IT NOW!
we only have one day to get as many votes as possible. closes the night of tuesday june 22.
get going. hurry up. quit wasting time reading my blog. i'm really not that interesting when up against $10 000.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
whyyyyyyyyy ghana, whyyyy?
i'm currently sitting in joburg as close to the heater as possible while avoiding burns, flipping around two coins i have on a piece of string from egypt. the first of these coins went on when i got to egypt a few months ago. the second went on 3 weeks later when i finally got myself sorted to leave egypt for ghana. i am wondering what two symbolic things i'll make for my south africa version of this blessed debacle. the rand doesn't come with coins with holes so, i'll have to keep my eyes open for something else.
i was hoping to be on my way to the airport on the flashy gautrain right about now but, that would be a silly idea. instead, i'm wrapping my head around being here until next saturday. hooray? and, joburg during world cup isn't nearly as friendly to exploring as egypt was so, its not looking like a particularly exciting or inspiring week.
i threw myself a pretty solid pity party this morning... complaining about spending more money, about waiting more time, about being stuck in the suburbs with a tourist-infested mall as my main place to explore, about the cold, and just about anything else i could dream up. i began flipping through facebook looking at what friends and family were doing, wishing that i could be home with them and wondering why i seem to make things so freakin difficult for myself.
my mope-fest was interrupted by a nocturnal friend who was hanging around facebook chat as well. i couldn't be more happy for his nocturnal tendencies because it helped put my incredibly lucky life, which i have nothing to honestly complain about, into perspective.
so, revising my pity party... i have to spend more money that i don't feel i have, but really do and can make back when i come home. i have to spend more time in a country that the world is watching, and feeling the excitement (albeit damped excitement after bafana's last game) of a country that pulls together for one sport. not only that, but i'm stuck in an area of the country where most people dream of living. exploring opportunities may be limited today but, i've also just come back from a huge exploration of southern africa so maybe a boring week is in order. and, while i'm not with friends and family at home, there are some here... and those at home have been around to talk with online and listen to me complain about nothing worthwhile. i suppose i'm lucky afterall.
making me feel more guilty was talking with this nocturnal friend about what i wanted to see happen back in the camp, and how i could possibly go around helping friends who recently asked me why god put them on this earth if it was only to suffer. that kind of question, asked by kids younger than me, is something worth complaining about. another week in parkhurst is not.
what ultimately frustrates me about these visa complications is that not only are they avoidable with a bit of thought and planning (a lesson i have still not fully learned). further, the the money i have to spend on stupid technicalities and bureaucratic hoops could be so much more effectively used in the camp... i think... although, in past trips giving away money has acted as a quick solution to get people to stop talking about what was wrong. maybe a total lack of money on my part will force me to get even more creative with solutions that are possibly more lasting then, here is $20. $20 isn't creative, it doesn't address the problem and it arguably helps me (and the incredible sense of guilt i feel while i sit in my house having 3 meals a day) more than it helps the recipient.
oh also. its world refugee day tomorrow and i wish so badly i was spending it with refugees rather than in a nice suburb of joburg making superficial nods to the plight of refugees worldwide.
annnnd this now concludes the end of my pity party and the beginning of a week devoted to internet research on how to make - for lack of a better saying - the world a better place. tall order for 7 days eh?
so, liberians that read this... see you NEXT saturday. sorry for the false hope. friends/family that read this... thanks for listening to me mope and making me feel missed. ETFL supporters that read this... give me your ideas for how to make this world a better place and work that i could be doing this week (no pressure).
oh and, new blog feature: sign up for ETFL's newsletter (look top right of the blog) if you're not on the list already!
annnnnnnd, go.
i was hoping to be on my way to the airport on the flashy gautrain right about now but, that would be a silly idea. instead, i'm wrapping my head around being here until next saturday. hooray? and, joburg during world cup isn't nearly as friendly to exploring as egypt was so, its not looking like a particularly exciting or inspiring week.
i threw myself a pretty solid pity party this morning... complaining about spending more money, about waiting more time, about being stuck in the suburbs with a tourist-infested mall as my main place to explore, about the cold, and just about anything else i could dream up. i began flipping through facebook looking at what friends and family were doing, wishing that i could be home with them and wondering why i seem to make things so freakin difficult for myself.
my mope-fest was interrupted by a nocturnal friend who was hanging around facebook chat as well. i couldn't be more happy for his nocturnal tendencies because it helped put my incredibly lucky life, which i have nothing to honestly complain about, into perspective.
so, revising my pity party... i have to spend more money that i don't feel i have, but really do and can make back when i come home. i have to spend more time in a country that the world is watching, and feeling the excitement (albeit damped excitement after bafana's last game) of a country that pulls together for one sport. not only that, but i'm stuck in an area of the country where most people dream of living. exploring opportunities may be limited today but, i've also just come back from a huge exploration of southern africa so maybe a boring week is in order. and, while i'm not with friends and family at home, there are some here... and those at home have been around to talk with online and listen to me complain about nothing worthwhile. i suppose i'm lucky afterall.
making me feel more guilty was talking with this nocturnal friend about what i wanted to see happen back in the camp, and how i could possibly go around helping friends who recently asked me why god put them on this earth if it was only to suffer. that kind of question, asked by kids younger than me, is something worth complaining about. another week in parkhurst is not.
what ultimately frustrates me about these visa complications is that not only are they avoidable with a bit of thought and planning (a lesson i have still not fully learned). further, the the money i have to spend on stupid technicalities and bureaucratic hoops could be so much more effectively used in the camp... i think... although, in past trips giving away money has acted as a quick solution to get people to stop talking about what was wrong. maybe a total lack of money on my part will force me to get even more creative with solutions that are possibly more lasting then, here is $20. $20 isn't creative, it doesn't address the problem and it arguably helps me (and the incredible sense of guilt i feel while i sit in my house having 3 meals a day) more than it helps the recipient.
oh also. its world refugee day tomorrow and i wish so badly i was spending it with refugees rather than in a nice suburb of joburg making superficial nods to the plight of refugees worldwide.
annnnd this now concludes the end of my pity party and the beginning of a week devoted to internet research on how to make - for lack of a better saying - the world a better place. tall order for 7 days eh?
so, liberians that read this... see you NEXT saturday. sorry for the false hope. friends/family that read this... thanks for listening to me mope and making me feel missed. ETFL supporters that read this... give me your ideas for how to make this world a better place and work that i could be doing this week (no pressure).
oh and, new blog feature: sign up for ETFL's newsletter (look top right of the blog) if you're not on the list already!
annnnnnnd, go.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
sanity restored
seems a bunch of people were questioning my sanity after that last post... to say nothing of what my mom thought. hindsight yeah, not the best thought out plan but it made for excellent stories, a good tan and a whole lot of character. that being said, after more overnight busses and trains than i thought i could do, i'm back in joburg listening to an obnoxious amount of vuvuzelas signaling world cup kick off.
hitching slowed down considerably after namibia. sore backs, sore feet and long distances cramped that style which was probably for the best. instead, we began opting for the worlds slowest trains. somehow, it took us almost 12 hours to travel less than 400km from the coast to windhoek. then later, 15 hours to travel about 400km from victoria falls to bulawayo, zimbabwe. luckily, its super cheap, is a nights accommodation and is certainly an adventure. zim train was definitely a highlight, largely because we prepared ourselves with pizza and beer after days of eating stupid nutrific bars (something you'd normally soak in milk to avoid drying out your mouth and to give it flavour... without it, i imagine it is what hamsters eat).
zimbabwe, despite being freakishly cold at night when you're not prepared for winter in a tent, was somewhere i'd been hoping to visit since doing an aggressive amount of research on it a few years back. obviously i'd love to spend more time there to really get a feel for the place but that wasn't this trip.
instead, i got a chance to see a few of the major towns, as well as these really cool ruins that show pre-colonial development of an african society... shame the portuguese came in and crushed that all. i actually had no idea these ruins even existed (south of masvingo) and they ended up being a really nice note to finish the trip on. of course, so was the 100 trillion dollar bill that we picked up while listening to the guy describe how the bank across the street used to light it all on fire for lack of a better idea. with the USD/rand around, these bills are now being sold to tourists for more than they were ever worth (which still, isn't much). for now, it feels a bit like a ghost town from the 60s full of more whites than i ever imagined, bits of hope, no peanut butter but loads of imported fruit (including avocados, that i'd long been without in SA!).
i feel like that was sort of a weird description of zimbabwe but, it really is a strange place.
anyway. exhausted, i'm now catching up on real life in joburg. real coffee, hot showers, warm clothes and warm food aside, ETFL's to do list has grown over the past month and i'm keen to get moving on it. the traveling has been nice but i couldn't be more excited to sit down today with unlimited internet and get things sorted before another whirlwind takes off...
hitching slowed down considerably after namibia. sore backs, sore feet and long distances cramped that style which was probably for the best. instead, we began opting for the worlds slowest trains. somehow, it took us almost 12 hours to travel less than 400km from the coast to windhoek. then later, 15 hours to travel about 400km from victoria falls to bulawayo, zimbabwe. luckily, its super cheap, is a nights accommodation and is certainly an adventure. zim train was definitely a highlight, largely because we prepared ourselves with pizza and beer after days of eating stupid nutrific bars (something you'd normally soak in milk to avoid drying out your mouth and to give it flavour... without it, i imagine it is what hamsters eat).
zimbabwe, despite being freakishly cold at night when you're not prepared for winter in a tent, was somewhere i'd been hoping to visit since doing an aggressive amount of research on it a few years back. obviously i'd love to spend more time there to really get a feel for the place but that wasn't this trip.
instead, i got a chance to see a few of the major towns, as well as these really cool ruins that show pre-colonial development of an african society... shame the portuguese came in and crushed that all. i actually had no idea these ruins even existed (south of masvingo) and they ended up being a really nice note to finish the trip on. of course, so was the 100 trillion dollar bill that we picked up while listening to the guy describe how the bank across the street used to light it all on fire for lack of a better idea. with the USD/rand around, these bills are now being sold to tourists for more than they were ever worth (which still, isn't much). for now, it feels a bit like a ghost town from the 60s full of more whites than i ever imagined, bits of hope, no peanut butter but loads of imported fruit (including avocados, that i'd long been without in SA!).
i feel like that was sort of a weird description of zimbabwe but, it really is a strange place.
anyway. exhausted, i'm now catching up on real life in joburg. real coffee, hot showers, warm clothes and warm food aside, ETFL's to do list has grown over the past month and i'm keen to get moving on it. the traveling has been nice but i couldn't be more excited to sit down today with unlimited internet and get things sorted before another whirlwind takes off...
Thursday, June 3, 2010
flipflop hitch hiking
change of plans. rather than kicking around zambia - which turns out, id on't like nearly as much as i thought i would - i'm in namibia. i've been hitch hiking from north to south, which turns out, is not easy. botswana hitching was way easier than we thought, and it probably built up too much confidence in our ability to get around. however, thanks to pickup trucks and tour busses, we're alive and out of one of the 'most remote places in africa'.
what i love about hitching is the giant highs and lows you get... and they probably best sum up what we've been up to.
high: you can drive close to the kalahari if you beg someone to let you sit on the top of their truck for 2 hours while he drives to the gate.
low: without your own car, and the money to back it up, you can't actually get into the kalahari.
high: a kenyan that lives in botswana who drives to the DRC via zambia every 2 weeks and picks us up from (another) gas station and not only doesn't want money for petrol but buys us lunch!
low: 15 hour minibus rides (overnight) through northern namibia that stop at every gas station en route and play the same 5 songs over and over again.
high: being picked up at 530 am from a gas station in a northern namibian town that nobody ever goes to, and being driven exactly where you want to go.
low: finding out that the guy who picks you up is a bad singer who loves singing and honking at small birds on the road that are kilometers away.
high: the kaokoveld. one of the most remote places in africa...
low: realizing 100 km into the kaokoveld that nobody drives there, that you have no water, and that your cracker diet really dries up your waterless mouth.
bigger low: realizing that you're not 2km away from the nearest town, but 50km. and that there is no water for the next 50 km and you have 3 gulps each.
bigger low: thinking that while you're sleeping on a bed of rocks on the side of a road, that the car that drove by has stopped and is planning to rob you blind.
high: realizing, after you burried your valuables under rocks away from your tent, that the car drove away and never came back.
low: waking up with the sorest body in the world and a gigantic hill to hike up in front of you... and with no water. and food that only dries your mouth further. and flipflops on your feet that make sure you feel every rock you step on.
bigger high: having a german tour bus pass you and give you 6 bottles of water.
biggest high of my week: hearing the reverse sounds of the german bus as it decides that it will rescue you from the kaokoveld afterall and drive you really far... saving your life.
low: saying goodbye to the german tour bus and being left in a very unforgiving desert.
low: making horrible instant coffee in a water bottle on the side of the road to lift spirits and curb hunger, while realizing that you hate the game 20 questions.
high: being picked up by a colorado school trip from the middle of the desert after every other tourist drives by pretending they can't see you.
bigger high: hurtling down desert roads on the top of a 4x4 as some of hte most incredible landscapes pass you by.
even bigger high: after selling your sister for a horse to luckyboy in uis, namibia (sorry poops-), the school group invites you to tag along with them to camp at some really cool mountain, and feeds you a meal that isn't pb on strange bread,
low: getting really fucking lost at night in those mountains as you try to navigate home from the town's local bar.
low: the smell of probably millions of seals that are not very cute.
low: a weird desert town that is supposed to be more german than germany but feels more like a ghost town with funny architecture and a permanent seal smell.
high: making spaghetti in the ghost town and having a full stomach after a week and a half of really terrible food and being hungry.
its been a really strange week. it gets stranger as i sit in this german town trying to mesh this hitch hiking life with my actual life and put this all together. feels a bit confusing, and just plain weird. tonight we get back on the move across botswana to finally get to zimbabwe (the original point of this whole trip). then south africa. then GHAANNNAA!!!!
what i love about hitching is the giant highs and lows you get... and they probably best sum up what we've been up to.
high: you can drive close to the kalahari if you beg someone to let you sit on the top of their truck for 2 hours while he drives to the gate.
low: without your own car, and the money to back it up, you can't actually get into the kalahari.
high: a kenyan that lives in botswana who drives to the DRC via zambia every 2 weeks and picks us up from (another) gas station and not only doesn't want money for petrol but buys us lunch!
low: 15 hour minibus rides (overnight) through northern namibia that stop at every gas station en route and play the same 5 songs over and over again.
high: being picked up at 530 am from a gas station in a northern namibian town that nobody ever goes to, and being driven exactly where you want to go.
low: finding out that the guy who picks you up is a bad singer who loves singing and honking at small birds on the road that are kilometers away.
high: the kaokoveld. one of the most remote places in africa...
low: realizing 100 km into the kaokoveld that nobody drives there, that you have no water, and that your cracker diet really dries up your waterless mouth.
bigger low: realizing that you're not 2km away from the nearest town, but 50km. and that there is no water for the next 50 km and you have 3 gulps each.
bigger low: thinking that while you're sleeping on a bed of rocks on the side of a road, that the car that drove by has stopped and is planning to rob you blind.
high: realizing, after you burried your valuables under rocks away from your tent, that the car drove away and never came back.
low: waking up with the sorest body in the world and a gigantic hill to hike up in front of you... and with no water. and food that only dries your mouth further. and flipflops on your feet that make sure you feel every rock you step on.
bigger high: having a german tour bus pass you and give you 6 bottles of water.
biggest high of my week: hearing the reverse sounds of the german bus as it decides that it will rescue you from the kaokoveld afterall and drive you really far... saving your life.
low: saying goodbye to the german tour bus and being left in a very unforgiving desert.
low: making horrible instant coffee in a water bottle on the side of the road to lift spirits and curb hunger, while realizing that you hate the game 20 questions.
high: being picked up by a colorado school trip from the middle of the desert after every other tourist drives by pretending they can't see you.
bigger high: hurtling down desert roads on the top of a 4x4 as some of hte most incredible landscapes pass you by.
even bigger high: after selling your sister for a horse to luckyboy in uis, namibia (sorry poops-), the school group invites you to tag along with them to camp at some really cool mountain, and feeds you a meal that isn't pb on strange bread,
low: getting really fucking lost at night in those mountains as you try to navigate home from the town's local bar.
low: the smell of probably millions of seals that are not very cute.
low: a weird desert town that is supposed to be more german than germany but feels more like a ghost town with funny architecture and a permanent seal smell.
high: making spaghetti in the ghost town and having a full stomach after a week and a half of really terrible food and being hungry.
its been a really strange week. it gets stranger as i sit in this german town trying to mesh this hitch hiking life with my actual life and put this all together. feels a bit confusing, and just plain weird. tonight we get back on the move across botswana to finally get to zimbabwe (the original point of this whole trip). then south africa. then GHAANNNAA!!!!
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