europe envy

okay, I only have about 25 minutes, but I must blog about Amsterdam before the adventure of Africa sets in and all this seems insignificant.

Firstly, Europe is flipping expensive. Even if you transfered the amounts directly into Canadian dollars without timesing it by 2.2 it would be expensive. The timesing it by 2.2 just makes everything about a billion times worse.

But hey, how often are you in Europe?

Outta There
So upon my leaving my parents gave me a direct order and a piece of advice. The direct order was to not leave the airport at any point during my 7 and a half our lay over in Amsterdam. There advice was to talk to the person next to me. Well this morning upon waking up i decided to have a little chat with the scagally stranger who didn't bother to shave who had slept on my shoulder most of the night. He, along with others around, told me it would be a shame if i didn't go out and explore. So i guess i took my parents advice, and ignored their direct order. oops, sorry.

Okay, but you don't understand... Amsterdam was awesome! I've officially been to Europe. It is a great begining to the adventure.

For the sake of time I will do some of this stuff into more point form:

01. Amsterdam runs on Wind Energy (cool eh Yalda), which is something Vancouver should do. It was very very cool to see... actually (and I could be wrong) but it seemed like some of the airport cars ran on some form of wind energy too.

02. I have now walked past my next flight and I will be one of two white people on board. OKay, not that i didn't know this would happen, but still weird and extremly exciting to feel the trueness of being an ethnic minority!

03. Everybody in Amsterdam smokes. Smokes pot. All of them. People smoke up next to police officers... there are about one billion "coffeeshops" which are really "seedshops." It gives the entire city a sort of chilled out feeling. It's really weird seeing people lighting joints in front of some of the most beautiful architecture I've ever seen.

04. THis is the first time I've been somewhere where I don't honestly know what's going on because I don't speek or read Dutch.

05. Upon walking around Kreig (the guy from the plane) and I happened to stumble upon the Red Light District. For those of you who don't know what that is; it is a protected district in Amsterdam for prostitutes. So, leagal prostitiution. For those of you who know what it is but it pains you to talk about it because you are so strongly opinioned, skip this next paragraph. Alright, firstly, you have no idea it is the Red Light District, because it comes out of nowhere. Seriously, beautiful architecture, churches! right near by! It is crazy sudden. Secondly, I knew about the concept, but did not know exactly how the street was set up. Well here it is: women are kept behind doors in rooms. The door is made of glass and you can see in. All the women "display" themselves and I guess you can decide who you want. There are all sorts of women. The women come in diverse forms of ethnicity, size and age. Quite a variety. There were obvioulsy "pimps" walking around talking to the women and collection money. Now I am still processing, but it seemed like a really good thing to be protecting these women! Mind you, I walked in the area in broad daylight, so I don't know the complete dangers... I don't know what it would be like to go at night, but I'm sure it's much more terrifying and intense.

06. There are thousands and thousands of bikes... EVERYWHERE. Seriously, it is just over the top. Outside the train station (we took the train into Amsterdam Central, about 15 mins) there was this walk-way which twisted back and forth for three levels. Well, it was just covered in bikes of all sorts. Rusty, new, public... People don't lock up their bikes, people do, people have mopeds and scooters. It was great

07. I didn't go into any of the buildings really, but exploring was fun. There was some beautiful stuff to be seen. I've been told about a zoo and some museums. Hopefully my next trip over will be more planned and I will be able to see some of that stuff.

Conclusion
Now, the moral of the story is that I am back in the airport and rested. This airport "Schipol" has these lounge areas where you can sleep. It was seriously glorious. It was just undercribably stupendous. Now I am writing this and about to get on my 10 hour flight to Nairobi. bleh... it takes way to long to get to Africa. But that's okay, because the people watching is seriously the best its ever been.

Moral number 2: I love Europe, it seems just fantastic and I hope to come back one day. There are clearly some great things to be seen and I can't tell you how happy I am that i left the airport, great as it may be. Plus this way I have now officially been to Amsterdam! woot!

the camera is empty

PLUG!
Thursday, March 1st is Mouat's Night of a Thousand Dinners. It's a dinner supporting landmine awareness. All proceeds go to the Canadian Landmine Foundation. If you are in Abbotsford on the 1st you should buy a ticket! Only 17$ at the school. You get a fantastic dinner, donate to a great cause and learn something too. Enjoy.

Rewind Please
So I’m going to Africa tomorrow. It is absolutely insane.
Up until last night all I could think about was how excited I was for the Oscar's (which were fantastic but also a bit disappointing since I hadn't seen the Departed, and Ellen was less funny then I thought she would be). Then, this morning, I woke up, and the first thing that came to mind (as is the case many mornings) was "Africa." Only, this morning it had a very different significance. It was no longer, "Africa, I just finished a book on Africa" or "Africa, what a lovely dream I had about Africa." No, it was "Africa, holy crap, I’m going to Africa... like tomorrow... like 36 hours... like one more night." wow.

I have to talk about the packing situation. And how on earth will I talk about packing without mentioning my mother. Seriously, this woman is amazing. haha, I feel like a pirate, but don't worry, I don't get a tattoo of "Mom" in a heart on my arm. My mother has done more for me in the past few week then most people do in a lifetime. She has been ceaselessly dedicated to my trip, and I would not even be close to being prepared without her. She has bought so much, made lists, written down phone numbers, labeled, photo copied, reminded, done, perfected and basically caused everything that needed to happen, happen. On top of my Mom I’ve had my Godmother. Frick, I’m lucky. Thanks Pat and Mom!

But, essentially, it's still a stress of a situation. You can bring two bags (each 50lbs) under the plane and one carry on (22lbs) onto the plane. Sounds like soooo much doesn't it? Yeah, think again. I have this humongous bag for donations, and my backpack for clothing and personal needs. Turns out I packed the big bag perfectly and it came out to about 72 lbs. oops.
I had to put a whole bunch of donations into my clothing backpack, take out some books (sorry Yalda) and put some paper in my carry on bag. It was all very stressful. I love packing, but that was just over the top. I don't want more then two bags, and furthermore want to leave one for when I come back. It was so stressful withering down all my stuff. BUT I’m HAPPY to announce that bag #1 is 49 lbs, bag #2 is 48 lbs and my carry on will be a bit of a stretch but I’ll just stuff a whole bunch of stuff in my pockets and pretend I’m cold and wear my jacket. What is most exciting is that, for the exception of some books donated by Yalda and a glue container, everything will be going over. Yay! Thank you to everyone who donated; it'll be awesome possums.

Other then that, I can say I've been fairly chilled for the past few days, except for going to school. Every time I go in it seems I am just reminded of all the scholarship, university things I have to apply to, and I’ve pretty much gone in everyday. Mrs. Merrick has just started laughing at me when I come in and she’s a councilor too. It's just really hard to put up with that pressure and know there isn't anything I can do about scholarships that come out while I’m gone, but let's face it; there are bigger and better things to be done in the world. Right?

Oh and I just have to mention. People have asked me what I'm going to miss the most. I've thought about it a lot and realized that I'm going to miss ice the most. I'm pretty much up to 3-4 trays a day. It's pretty addictive. Some say eating ice is a sign of sexual frustration. Others say iron deficiency. Well, I suppose I am iron deficient…See, there is no healthy ice in Africa because who knows where the water is from. So basically, my addiction will be very upset with me, but my teeth will be happy.

Lucky Chances
One lucky thought of the day is that my camp application came in today. I filled out everything (pretty much signed and wrote my address for like an hour) but now it's done and in the mail. That is really, really good because otherwise I would be sans contract. This year I'll be going (thanks to some hard work and wonderful bosses) in the spring session starting on June 1st. That will be so wonderful. I'm pretty stoked to be back with all the camp people. We're a cult you know, it's pretty great.
Oh! Plus, filling out that application reminded me to bring my staff booklet and games booklet from counsellor training years and volunteering last year with a whole bunch of games and songs! It'll be so cool to get some Ugandan kids singing good old camp songs and playing camp games!

I guess that's all for now. I actually really need to get onto this scholarship thing I haven’t done, but that should be done. It's quite strange to be doing something so down to earth the night before I leave...

"Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living." --- Miriam Beard

The Transforming Dream

Well. Here it is. Africa dans l'avenir.

I suppose the beginning is a good place to start;

The Start
So about a year and a half ago I was told to watch this movie. Now normally I'm not one to be so influenced or inspired by Hollywood. Not that Hollywood can't inspire, because it does, just not me. I watched Hotel Rwanda. If you haven’t watched it, go rent it after this. Hotel Rwanda is a movie portraying the murderous genocide of Rwanda in April 1994. This genocide killed around 800,000 in only 100 days. An unforgivable failure by the United Nations. One of the most powerful scenes of Hotel Rwanda is when all the white people leave. After watching that movie over 75 times I still ball until it hurts at that scene.
Since watching Hotel Rwanda I have read countless books and expanded my knowledge. Never have I been so inspired but also disgusted by the failure of humanity. This failure has sparked a divine passion inside of me. Constantly I am imagining, dreaming, learning, questioning, and indulging in Africa. Now, I am going.

Why? What? Where? When?
Although I do my best to be patient and understanding, I am currently very impatient. Impatient and frustrated. Maybe the better word is bored. I'm really really bored. I graded early (that in itself was an adventure and a half) and am now free from High School. I searched feverishly for a program to volunteer with. Not an easy task my friend. BUT this Vancouver Sun article came up and was brought to my attention TWICE (thank you Penny and Ms. Bowater). The program is called "Global Volunteer Network" (website: http://www.volunteer.org.nz/). This brought me to apply (after a slight breakdown). Now I am going to Uganda to work in a program called The Real Uganda (website: http://www.therealuganda.com/). This program is run by a woman (who sounds super fantastic) who went to Uganda and found a bunch of Non-Government Organizations (NGO's) in Uganda and united them. She gets volunteers and money then distributes them amongst the different NGO's. I'll be working for one such NGO called MUMYO (website: http://www.mumyo.org/). Although I don't really understand what I'll be doing I think the idea is that I'll be working in a very grassroots town called Naggalama in Mukono district (close to Kampala, Uganda's capital). My volunteer tasks will include teaching and helping to run a youth program with a bit of community teaching about HIV/AIDS and women empowerment and so such. It is very exciting. In fact I'm pretty sure I have cried multiple times with divine excitement for the three months I'll be spending under the African sun. This has all brought me to where I am now; Ticket bought, arms poked (along with my unforgettably supportive papa), travel supplies mounted together, books read, dreams dreamt. All that is left are a few proper goodbyes.
*on a side note: this week is going to be epic. Not only because of all my disgusting amounts of work for universities and scholarships (which of course must be done early) but also because I only really live at home for one more week. When I get back its grad and then I’m off to the island for work. Then university. These goodbyes’s feel like they are goodbye's forever. Friendships, although they are not coming to an end, feel as though they are taking a drastic turn. Memories of unimaginable proportion will be formed in my absence, and that is hard.*

The Idea
Perhaps this whole thing hasn't completely hit me. In truth, I’m not sad to leave home; I'm excited, and scared and completely prepared to be completely unprepared. It is an exhilarating feeling. It has made me lock my keys in my car two times in the past week.

Basically this blog is to tell my stories and share the good news (or bad news). I'm also treating it as a bit of a Journal so bear with me as I indulge in pouring out my soul. I plan on updating it about once a week. To get to a computer I have to go to the main volunteer house in Mukono and that might not always happen. Please feel free to e-mail me your thoughts, worries or anecdotes at any time! I'll share my life you share yours. I'll try and respond as quickly as possible. As per sending things; not suggested. It takes about 4-6 weeks to get to me. But if you want a postcard give me your address and I’ll do my best.

I suppose the "outer goal" of this blog is to share with my friends and family all the stories about my adventures in Uganda. Perhaps it is to give a common outlet for people to be assured I am in good health and happy. However, I really hope that in reading this blog you will learn a thing or two. I mean Knowlege equals Power, doesn't it? Here and there I'm sure I will go into long rants with information irrelevant to my day to day experiences. But, there are so many lessons to be learned and I really hope that you too will learn something by living vicariously through me. No. I hope that you will be inspired to change the world! I hope that you will take this knowledge and get the ball rolling on big changes! But, perhaps that will be too much to ask. Or maybe it will take a University level English class or two before my words are that powerful!

The "Could Not Do Withouts"
Finally, a great teacher of mine has taught me to never do anything without saying thank you. I think she over thanks people, but then again, does over thanking truly exist? Thank you everyone. If you are reading this you are an inspiration to me and also a support I could not do without. This adventure never would have happened without people telling me to go for it and my parents supporting me every step of the way (although on the inside I know they are wishing they could electric fence me to the house). Thank you to teachers who have taught and inspired in me the knowledge I have. Those who have dropped off donations and wishes of good luck. Friends who have listened to countless stories without complaint, sometimes not even interrupting for a cute boy walking in the foreground. Thank you so much for pretending to care as much as I do. I feel like this is an Oscar speech and the music is playing; but again thank you to you all.

The End
That's it for now folks. Stay posted for more stories and adventures; you will be apart of the adventure also!

"Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all" --- Alex Lowe