meeting dumbo

this morning, i visited the sheldrick wildlife trust, right outside of nairobi national park. hip hip hooray for tourism. will write more later, but wanted to post these photos of these cute guys!

http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/index.asp

nairobi -haven't seen much of it!

there's been a lot of conference rooms and hotel rooms on this trip to africa, and photos have been limited. here are some of the pictures i've been able to get so far...

 i've been thinking about turning into a vegetarian. i wonder why.

we were listening to a PPT presentation at a local organization--while cute kids were playing soccer.

working over dinner at the pool. at least there's beer?

windfarm in amsterdam

took these photos flying into amsterdam. i first saw the windfarm, and then saw the goal plant behind it. quite the environmental shot, if i do say so myself.

 

victoria falls

i'll be traveling to nairobi for a 2 week trip for work this weekend, and have been thinking about my first trip to africa- the trip was responsible for getting me into this international development stuff in the first place, after all. our professor (a minister) guilted many of my fellow students into attending church in livingstone on a sunday...but brea and i had other plans. we spent the entire day at victoria falls...relaxing and enjoying one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

we took so so many photos-below are some of my favorites.

sunset on the zambezi river the night before.

we stayed at nyala lodge in livingstone- it was affordable, but very nice...a good mix of camping and a hotel...with the coolest waterfall showers! http://www.africanencounters.com/nyala-lodge/

happy birthday, mr. quigs

happy birthday to the wonder dog. quigley is 14 today...and still looking as sophisticated as ever.

what a shot!

i'll admit--i did not take this photo. i've never been in a hot air balloon (not that i can remember, at least). saw this photo from tim's grandparent's safari in tanzania this summer and had to share it. their trip included a sunrise balloon ride over the sergengeti grasslands. not too shabby! love those trees. this makes me want to listen to toto.

photo credit (!!): richard and nancy higley

where's the snow?

i thought it was supposed to snow before thanksgiving in boston! still --nothing. still waiting. still deciding if i'm going to be able to ski this year without landing myself in the er.

funny enough, i took this photo last year, on november 19, 2009, from our apartment in washington--it was snowing there!

 

oh, santo domingo

i won't deny that i had some complaints when i returned from the dominican republic after a trip for work. the whole "caribbean" lifestyle and mindset doesn't really apply when you are traveling for work and not play. no, sir, i won't have a cocktail at 11 am.

however, santo domingo itself was pretty incredible, and gave me a taste of what it might be like to travel within south america. i look forward to it--someday! many tourists who travel to punta cana or la romana don't ever venture into the capital, which is full of historic buildings. we certainly sensed tension with many immigrants crossing the border into the dr from haiti--i wonder if this has changed post-earthquake.

view of the water from my hotel room

ozama castle--oldest formal military building still standing in america

alcazar de colon: diego (chris' son) columbus' house in santo domingo

downtown santo domingo...mamajuana (and tobacco) salesman.

some restaurants i'd recommend:

-el conuco: bright, fun environment, great local food, lots of dancing--a great time had by all the night we went here!
-adrian tropical: casual restaurant directly on the ocean. i think one of the decks is actually over the water. great local food (maofungo was my favorite here--yucca with vegetables).
-restaurant vesuvio: seafood/italian, a little fancier, good outdoor seating. huge lobsters!
-meson de la cava: didn't get here, but heard great things. you eat dinner inside of a cave...sounds amazing!

flat stanely in dc

flat stanley also got a tour around the district of columbia. thought i'd post these as well. just to prove that we were truly excited about the flat stanley project.

flat stanley

i first heard of the flat stanley project when my cousin asked me to take his paper friend, "flat stanley" with me to bangkok, and take pictures of him all around the city. i'd never heard of this "flat stanley" guy, but agreed to take him with me in my suitcase. turns out, its a way that school children (and adults) are becoming aware of life outside the classroom. students make their own "flat stanley" and send them to friends and relatives near and far. he eventually returns to the student with stories and pictures of his journey.

i'd heard of similar teaching methods (a classroom having a doll that goes home with a different student every evening), but never a project which involved the whole class in an effort to increase global awareness. it turned out that flat stanley actually started in 1964...and that everyone knows about him! when i was taking photos of him around bangkok, i met many tourists who were as fond of "flat stanely" as i was--some people even offered to stand in with him!

here are some of the pictures i took with flat stanley during the 12 hours i spent outside of the hotel in bangkok. they were of course sent back with stanley to my cousin's classroom for show and tell.

favorite camping trip within driving distance of d.c.

when i was in 2nd grade, i was quite obsessive about the "misty of chincoteague" books--wild ponies living on an island, getting penned and sold once a year--it was quite romantic for a 2nd grader. when tim and i were living in dc and looking for a weekend camping trip, we we found assateauge island national seashore in maryland (directly north of chincoteague). the island is free of any summer homes, and only offers campsites (on the bay side of the island as well as on the ocean side). for future reference, i'd recommend the ocean side if you can reserve it early enough...for the bugs.

the island is teaming with "wild" ponies who walk along the beach by day, and rummage through campsites looking for food at night. it's a very unique spot, and i loved camping there--during our time living in d.c., we managed to get there three times. spent the days hanging out on the beach (with tons of sunscreen of course), grilled at night, had bonfires right on the beach...it doesn't get much better than that.

http://www.nps.gov/asis/

our first campsite on assateague, on the bay side...buggy!

little walk on the wild side

there wasn't much time to be a tourist when i went to zambia (my first time in africa!) to study. our schedule was filled with visits to the university, the house of a local alumnus, local NGOs...and a lot of waiting. and waiting. and waiting. for everything! macrina and i stole away for 12 hours while we were in lusaka--for some of the only free time we had through the entire trip. we found a privately-owned, absolutely beautiful safari lodge in close proximity to lusaka, where we rode horses to get up close with the elephants, went on a game drive had the opportunity to see a wide variety of traditional and modern african art, and enjoyed quite a few glasses of pimms (very african, of course)! it's interesting that all of the land/animals were privately-held, and i'm sure i could start a debate with my environmental friends about which is better in the long-run. we didn't have the time or the money to go on a full-blown african safari, but our day trip did the trick.

the place we visited: http://www.chaminuka.com/. 

i bought a book about the owner and all he has done in africa, but sadly, still have not gotten around to reading it!

weekend in connemara

i don't know what made me think of this. maybe the trailers for the new harry potter movie coming out. during my time in ireland, i spent a weekend in connemara, which is an absolutely beautiful part of the country. i'd love to go back at some point!

for an ireland photo (and my photography skills), it doesn't get much better than this!

charley almost blew away!

breast cancer awarness month

october is breast cancer awareness month....and wonderful organizations around the world are drawing attention to breast cancer along with other important women's health issues.

i took these photos in cairo last october, when the first susan g. komen race for the cure was held at the giza pyramids. it was incredibly powerful to see so many egyptian women (and supportive men) out to race --and erase--the stigma of breast cancer in egypt.as breast cancer and other women's health issues are still taboo, breast cancer is often detected in later stages, and the event aimed to raise awareness.

the pyramids were even turned pink at night! sadly, i wasn't there to see that in person...just in the newspapers.

participants and the sphinx post-event...notice the usaid logo on the hat--the event was supported by the american people!

geography in scotland

what a nice looking geography department at the university of edinburgh--such a scholarly location. i feel like studying here would really inspire me. given the title of this blog, i thought it was only appropriate to share this photo that my good friend megan, a fellow geography fan, sent from her studies in edinburgh.

why didn't the geography programs i attended look this inviting? the geography department at colgate was in the basement (with no windows), and the geography department at university college dublin was in one of those concrete 80's buildings.

but this place? wow!

this just didn't make sense.

oh, the life of a tourist. these gentlemen were playing SCOTTISH bagpipe hymns in a ROMAN amphitheater in jerash, JORDAN. they were playing the hits--it was beautiful to listen to--but didn't seem to make sense. we heard the sounds of the muezzins calling prayer in the town next to us, yet in jerash, it was time to please the tourists with bagpipes. interesting.

when was the last time you saw the sunrise and the sunset in one day?

before a few weeks ago, the last time that i actually noticed that i was awake for both a sunrise and a sunset in the same day was in august 2004. i was driving back to the east coast from los angeles with liz, katherine, and durban, and i was driving through las vegas when the sun rose. we also saw the sun set before we pulled into breckenridge, colorado, where we were calling it a day, for the driving at least. for some reason, it was a truly memorable day.

at the end of september, tim and i went down to bristol, rhode island to sail with his parents for the weekend. on the first day of the trip, the boat was moving well before the sun came up--and we were anchored in the great salt pond in block island (which is surprisingly small, considering) to see the sun set. truly everyday events. but we hardly notice for the most part. i usually realize that the sun has risen when i can't see where i'm going because of the glare!

sunrise--bristol, ri

sunset--block island

a perfect day...

it's been quite a spring and summer. as the leaves are starting to change colors and it is becoming necessary to wear a heavier coat, even during the day, i've been thinking about how my summer began this year. i had been on crutches for a very snowy january and febuary, and at the beginning of march, i finally got the orders from my wonderful doctor that i was good to get walking! what a relief!

before the grass even turned fully green, some good friends planned a trip to the wineries and vineyards in northern virginia--just an hour or so from dc. we had a wonderful day sipping good wine and celebrating the beginning of spring (very early in the year, i might add). we didn't do the normal "wine tour," but chose one nice spot and spent a few hours there chatting away. it was absolutely perfect.

here's my favorite shot from the day. i still can't think of a better way to spend a saturday.

some of my favorite northern virginia wineries:

http://www.barreloak.com/ -barrel oak winery

http://www.piedmontwines.com/ -piedmont*

http://www.threefoxvineyards.com/ - three fox

a different perspective...

i will probably work in an office environment for a long time. hopefully someday, i'll get a window and permanently move out of cube land. no, i'll never be a farmer. that's for sure. i'm certainly not cut out for that line of work. even though i do love the idea of it.

but this poem, by wendell berry, which a friend of mine reminded me of a few years ago really resonates. not all of it, but some parts. i'd copy the entire poem directly here, but i'm not sure if that is allowed. although, at this point, i don't know if anyone reads my blog to turn me in!

http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC30/Berry.htm

what do you think?

a child bride in sudan

i read this story in the new republic a few days ago and it keeps coming back to mind. this story goes beyond the statistics, political-foreign-policy speak, and tells the story of one girl in sudan, who was married at 11 years old. in my job, i've been trained to try to find the "success stories" in international development...but these stories are important (and incredibly frightening at the same time) too.

http://www.tnr.com/article/world/78104/child-bride-in-sudan

it's not thanksgiving yet....

but i'm feeling very grateful for my wonderful friends and family today. and maybe this is more of a "tweet," but it's easy to forget how truly lucky we are.

sailing in cairo

i'm on a roll with all of this boat talk--i guess i'll keep it coming! i went to cairo for work last year, and the hotel we stayed in was right up my alley--directly on the nile, and pictures of fellucas at sunset on all of the promotional materials in the hotel. we even had nile views from our conference room! i was hoping to get out on the water all week. on the last day of our conference, i finally walked across the street with some co-workers, negotiated with a boat owner, and jumped on a felluca. i'm sure the negotiation was a prolonged process, at is it everywhere, but in my memory, it was quick and easy. we had no wind--none at all--but it was still a wonderful way to end a long week of work in the busy city of cairo. the owner pushed us upriver with an oar, and we floated back down. at least i got some good photos of the fellucas!

and speaking of boats...



i thought i'd share these photos of my former office on the potomac river. before this job, i could have never imagined walking across a dock everyday to get to my desk. it was just such a unique work place that it is worth sharing. just looking at these photos brings that wonderful seasick feeling right back to me!

the kitchen--or should i say galley-- and workspace..

my old desk- on the upper deck of the boat...

the view that i used to see every day---helicopters and all!