Africa
This morning I skyped with Michael Dibble, who helped me figure out details regarding my trip to Japan. This evening I went to dinner with Virginia, Alli, and Louise - the ladies with whom I'm traveling to Africa next summer.
On the front porch of Eddie's Cantina, off a small alley in Tien Mu, Taipei, the four of us sat in the warm and humid breeze drinking margaritas and mapping out a trip to Tanzania. It was a most memorable evening.
We have 2 options:
Option #1: Virginia and I would stay on our own for two weeks in the northern part of the country, traveling around Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti, then meet Alli and Louise in Zanzibar for a week.
Option #2: Virginia and I spend 5 days around Kilimanjaro, then meet Alli and Louise in Kigoma, on the far west of the country near Burundi and the Congo, to see chimpanzees. Then we'd take a boat down Lake Tanganyika to Katavi Plains National Park, which has the highest variety and population of animals of all the safari parks in Tanzania - though it's very remote. Then we'd fly to Selous Game Reserve which is on the eastern side of the country. Selous is on a river and is best know for hippos and crocs and other river animals. It is apparently beautiful and relaxing. Finally, we'd fly to Zanzibar for a week of diving.
Option #2 sounds much more exciting, doesn't it? That's because it's the more expensive option, of course. Either way, however, Virginia and I have made a pact - we're climbing Kilimanjaro!
Louise, who taught in Tanzania, said something that has made quite an impression on me: "You teach in Asia for your mind; you teach in Africa for your heart." I wonder where I'll teach next...
Swahili saying: "Haraka haraka haina baraka: Great haste has no blessing." This sounds exactly like the place where I should be.
And now, off to more Japan planning. I am so endlessly grateful for my life. I wouldn't change one single thing about it. Not one.
On the front porch of Eddie's Cantina, off a small alley in Tien Mu, Taipei, the four of us sat in the warm and humid breeze drinking margaritas and mapping out a trip to Tanzania. It was a most memorable evening.
We have 2 options:
Option #1: Virginia and I would stay on our own for two weeks in the northern part of the country, traveling around Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti, then meet Alli and Louise in Zanzibar for a week.
Option #2: Virginia and I spend 5 days around Kilimanjaro, then meet Alli and Louise in Kigoma, on the far west of the country near Burundi and the Congo, to see chimpanzees. Then we'd take a boat down Lake Tanganyika to Katavi Plains National Park, which has the highest variety and population of animals of all the safari parks in Tanzania - though it's very remote. Then we'd fly to Selous Game Reserve which is on the eastern side of the country. Selous is on a river and is best know for hippos and crocs and other river animals. It is apparently beautiful and relaxing. Finally, we'd fly to Zanzibar for a week of diving.
Option #2 sounds much more exciting, doesn't it? That's because it's the more expensive option, of course. Either way, however, Virginia and I have made a pact - we're climbing Kilimanjaro!
Louise, who taught in Tanzania, said something that has made quite an impression on me: "You teach in Asia for your mind; you teach in Africa for your heart." I wonder where I'll teach next...
Swahili saying: "Haraka haraka haina baraka: Great haste has no blessing." This sounds exactly like the place where I should be.
And now, off to more Japan planning. I am so endlessly grateful for my life. I wouldn't change one single thing about it. Not one.
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