Soccer can save the world!!

For decades now soccer or futbol has been considered the most popular sport in the world, except in America of course…go figure. Well it has proven to me, once again, to easily live up to its reputation not only as a popular sport, but also as the easiest way to bring different people and cultures together without any political ramifications. I have played pick up soccer games next to temples in China, on the beaches of Thailand, on the steps of a 500 year old cathedral in Peru, and now with some kids on a field in Uganda in a little village I happened to be jogging through. Lynn had the great idea of bringing some balls over here to give out to kids who could really use them so I brought 4 soccer balls, a volleyball, and a basketball. My friends Matt,Helen and I ended up playing with these kids for about an hour and, of course, the ball they were using was on its last legs so I told them I would bring them a new ball the next day. I brought the ball as promised and met their two coaches David and Moses. They were all very excited and David explained that he didn’t actually know a whole lot about coaching soccer so less than a week into my stay I have become the unofficial third coach of the under 14 boys team from Nyamitanga village. The kids are amazing, full of energy and excitement even while they share uniforms and play barefoot, but play just as hard and have just as much fun as any other kid around the world. Playing a game of soccer should be required during any political round table or negotiation as there is no better method of diplomacy that exists today.

Back to Africa....

Well, after 3 amazing weeks of semi-retirement in sunny Santa Barbara, I am back in East Africa, unfortunately without my lovely wife for the first 2 weeks, but i'll get by. Before I dive into a description of our new home in Uganda, I want to comment a bit more on the whole retirement thing. First of all, I highly recommend it, but you have to do it right. Lynn and I were very adept at retirement which was constantly confirmed through the outright jealousy of our friends and family. The trick is to get your errands done in the morning (of course after first watching a couple of hours of the Tour De France) so that you can be swimming or surfing by the afternoon followed by a cocktail and then a nice dinner while perusing your netflix. We knew we had hit the apex of retirement when one Tuesday afternoon we found ourselves sitting in the cottage sipping white wine and eating fresh peaches after a great bodysurfing session at Haskells beach. I don't think we really deserved to have a three week retirement, especially after a month long honeymoon, but it presented itself nonetheless and we took full advantage of it (on second thought, Lynn did deserve 3 weeks of retirement after perservering through 3 years of residency).
So back to reality. After 23 hrs. of flights and a very bumpy 5 hr. drive, I arrived in our new home for the next 10 months, Mbarara (which is pronounced Mbarara). It was so much easier to arrive in Uganda after having been in East Africa the month before. The drive was brutal as I kept getting woken up by gigantic potholes and sometimes cows blocking the road. Halfway to Mbarara you cross over the equator where you can actually stand with each foot on one side Then you buy a coke and move on. Driving through the little towns and villages I was struck by how much they reminded me of movie sets, western movie sets in particular. A typical village consists of anywhere from a half mile to a mile of store fronts of various colors and various stages of disrepair. The road and the store fronts are always bustling with people and commerce, and cows, but there is usually nothing behind the row of stores except for miles of hill and tree filled land. The other striking aspect is that there is clearly not enough commerce to keep everyone milling around busy and so I noticed many folks just lounging around trying to stay cool in the hot sun. Although, maybe they were indulging in some early retirement as well...I don't know.
Mbarara is a medium sized city with about 100K residents. It sits at about 4500ft so the weather is very moderate considering how close to the equator we are. It is a very hilly city with some nice views when not too hazy. From my limited knowledge so far, I believe it is a trading town (I think they export some coffee and vanilla but not much) and a big stopover for folks who are headed to the beautiful national parks within hours of the city. It is a bustling city with boda boda's (scooter taxis) zipping around everywhere spewing their toxic 2-stroke oil clouds. The city seems to be a bit more on the developed side due to the presence of the University (which I will be attending) as well as the medical school and hospital that Lynn will be volunteering at. I am in a temporary cottage right now where several other expats live who are either volunteering with Lynn's organization or doing collaborating research projects with schools such as Berkeley and UCSF. I have someone looking into securing a bigger place for Lynn and I and hope to move in and get it set up before she arrives.
I spend my days navigating or shall I say circumnavigating the supposed requirements, which literally change minute to minute and person to person, for me to register for school. After stapling my picture to 100 separate forms with the same information on each, I believe I finished registering yesterday, but one never truly knows. My sleeping pattern is totally screwed up because I keep taking naps in the middle of the day...I have to quit doing that! There is a tennis and basketball court close by and some locals play soccer every evening in the field right next to me so there will be plenty to do activity wise as well as jogging the hills.
Well that's about it for now...I'm gonna go buy some fish and try to figure out how to cook it.

Cheers from Uganda,

Some wedding pictures...

After a humbling few weeks of trying to navigate all the "modern", but not so lynnie-friendly media software and websites, I'm gonna just post a link to a small set of wedding piccies.  Enjoy!  (I'm hoping that after a few weeks in Uganda, I will be better friends with my 3-year-old Mac, and will be able to do something more creative...maybe).  Lynn.

www.flickr.com/photos/29500483@N08/

The island paradise...

Jambo everyone! Thank you for all the nice comments- amazing that people are actually reading the crazy things we write! So lovely to hear from everyone...

We are now back in Nairobi after an indescribable week on the Island of Lamu in the Indian Ocean (Kenya). I actually just finished reading Danny’s entry from last week, during our first layover in Nairobi and after the Kili climb It seems like a decade ago. On our flight from the coast to Nairobi yesterday we had a cruising altitude of 18000 ft, and after take-off saw only a bed of clouds far beneath the plane... until the twin peaks of Kilimanjaro, Kibo and Mwanza, appeared to the South. It was an abrupt snap back to memories of the incredible climb, how challenging summit day was, and how long ago it all seems after Lamu. (And yes, at 18000 ft, we were cruising at an altitude below Uhuru peak).

I think the summit day was the single hardest physical thing I've ever done (yes, including marathons, ironman, half-ironman). Jules was a champ but probably walked 1000 ft higher than she should have given the nausea she started having at about 17000ft. My guess is that she got to almost 18000ft (yes- the same height as our cruising altitude!) before the dry heaving and overall feeling terrible finally convinced her that it was time to turn back. She's convinced that she took on Kili and Kili won. I, on the other hand, think she took on Kili and she won 18000 of 19300 of the battle, which represents 93% and clearly a victory for little-J. (you have to put it into numbers to convince these stat-types...) And I don't think that a tendency towards altitude sickness above 17000ft will limit her future travel plans substantially... (!).

Anywho, we were all destroyed after the summit day, which involved an ascent from 15,100ft to 19,300ft over 7km, followed by a descent down to 10,200ft over another 23km.And Jules, who did all but the top 1300ft, and 2km, had to do it all despite the nausea and illness. So...yes, we were DESTROYED! We slept one last night on the mountain then returned to the town of Moshi where a trickle of luke warm water at the hotel felt like the greatest shower of our lives, and beer never tasted so good...

But still no real rest as we were up at 5:30am the next day to catch a bus to Nairobi. We decided it was worth taking the earlier one so that we would arrive in Nairobi during daylight hours- well worth it. Beautiful bus ride around the base of Mount Meru, then across the Tanzanian/Kenyan border (complete with storybook-type African border-official drama...), and then into the city center of Nairobi. Danny had booked a hotel within spitting distance of the shuttle stop, which was a fantastic base for the 24hours that we spent in Nairobi until our flight to Lamu.

One scary aspect to our time in Nairobi last week was the discovery that the Gap Fire was within a quarter mile of our parents’ home in the Goleta foothills, and that they were evacuated for several days. The good news to report at this point seems to be that although the hillside behind their home burned in a spectacular fashion, all the homes on the hill were saved, and they have mentioned how overwhelming the kindness of friends and neighbours has been over the past week. And so, after sitting in cyber cafes in East Africa during a somewhat terrifying few days last week, it seems I should say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. To the firefighters, to the Goleta/Santa Barbara community that has been so kind to my family, and to the Independent for keeping us up-to-date from Kenya. Thank you.

And finally, the challenge of trying to describe our last week... I should start with my best friend from high school, Alice, who lived in Kenya as a young child for several years (actually the birthplace of her sister, Heather). Her parents maintain a close bond with an old group of friends from those days, as well as with the island paradise of Lamu. So...to celebrate Alice’s 30th birthday, her mother, Sally’s 60th, as well as the recent addition of Heather and Taylor’s engagement (woohoo!!!!) and Julie Nis’ 26th (wooohoooo!!!!!), Alice arranged a week-long party on Lamu. We rented 3 huge, beautiful houses, complete with staff and cooks (crab, lobster, shrimp, calamari... with EVERY lunch and dinner!), and 36 people made the trip from California, Washington, New York, England, Nairobi, Macau.... for the most indulgent week of my life! 80 degree water, white sand beaches, ancient Swahili architecture in tiny villages, a floating bar, a dhow regatta (of which we were on the winning dhow!), wind surfing, and drinking continuously for a week... I think the pictures will tell a better story than I ever could, so I will wait until next week when we will post our trip pictures (with a link from this blog-site).

As for what is next- we have returned to Nairobi for a quick layover before flying home (yes, home- crazy thought...) on Monday and Tuesday. We had a final hurrah at a fantastic, and very unique restaurant in Nairobi last night named appropriately, Carnivore. I’m not sure I have ever seen my husband enjoy a meal so much (and let’s be honest- danny enjoys his food...). We were first served with a pyramid of dipping sauces, and the “carvers” proceeded to circulate with a variety of beautifully cooked meats on stakes. Beef, lamb, sausages, chicken, pork ribs, ostrich meatballs, and even crocodile! All-you-can-eat! Yes. Danny enjoyed it.

And so, we are on our way home. So many more stories to share and pictures to show you all. It’s been a once-in-a-lifetime adventure- but we can’t wait for the next one!

Luv, Lynn

Pole Pole!!!

We will never forget this, oh so very important, Swahili word for the rest of our lives. Pole Pole (pronounced polay polay) means SLOWLY in Swahili. It was this reminder spoken by the guides, the porters, and even the cooks at least a hundred times a day that got 7 of the 8 of us to the top of the highest mountain in Africa…19350ft! Julie unfortunately succumbed to altitude sickness at about 4:30am at approximately 18000ft on Summit day. She, nonetheless, had an incredible experience on Kilimanjaro as did the rest of us. For those of you who are not aware, Kili is the tallest free-standing mountain in the world so the sight of it from the town of Moshi where we started is truly awe inspiring. Of course Moshi is overcast most of the day so we did not actually get a glimpse of the entire mountain until after we had climbed all the way to the top and come back down.

The 8 climbers I speak of included myself, Lynn, Julie, Julie and Todd (a couple of Lynn’s friends from CA.), two girls we met in Moshi, Angela and Dipps, and a Japanese guy named Ochi, all three of whom now live and work in Dubai. Together we set out with one guide, three assistant guides, one cook, and 15 porters to go higher than any of the eight of us had ever gone. The climb begins at 6000ft. The entire first day is spent hiking up through a gorgeous rain forest that barely lets the sun shine through in some parts. Right from the beginning the guides stress “Pole Pole” and at first it seems crazy that we are going to walk and climb 76km over 7 days at a pace of one step every two seconds, but it truly saved us all from our massive egos and allowed us to go on day after day without too much negative effect from the mountain.

The other tactic that helped, which was different from Corry’s climb 5 yrs ago, was that we spent two extra days on the mt. where we would climb up to say 14000ft. and then back down to 12000 to spend the night so by the time we made it to summit base camp at 15000ft. we were pretty well acclimated. Nothing, however, really prepares you for summit day which is 6hrs of gruelling, freezing, dark, pole pole (at this point we are taking one step every 3 or 4 seconds) up to the summit beginning at 1am. You actually reach Stella point first where that amazing sunrise photo was taken and which almost cost me some fingers to frostbite. From there the summit is another 45min of half conscious, foot dragging over ice and rock all the while passing people who are already heading back down who look so mangled, you wonder what the hell we are all doing at the top of this bloody mountain. It's definitely worth it though.

You only stay up top long enough to take some pictures with forced smiles before a 3.5hr descent back down to base camp where we were able to recover a bit from the first 10hr hike before continuing on another 3.5hrs of toe jamming, knee hammering descent down to about 10200ft where we spent our final night. We almost ran down the rest of the mountain on the final day, picked up our summit certificates and proceeded to the hotel for the greatest showers of all time. We were very fortunate to have an amazing guide, Jacob (the grandfather of the mt.), who is actually a bit famous as he was the guide for the crew that filmed the IMAX movie Kilimanjaro. However, the true heroes of the mt. are the porters who carried all of our crap up the mt., always had the tents set up, hiked extra km’s everyday for our water, served us our meals, and did it all with smiles and friendly, positive attitudes. All in all an unforgettable experience and now we are off to Lamu for some well deserved R&R on a beautiful beach.

84 Cups of Tea

Hello everyone! Sorry for the delay between blog entries. I actually spent an hour describing the second half of our trip to Scotland including pictures and all (!) but the hostel computer decided that after hitting “post blog-entry”, I actually meant “delete blog entry irretrievably”. And so, alas, I write this next entry from Tanzania…

To sum it up, the second half of the Scotland trip was filled with family visits, and trying not to spread what we will now label “the California-summer-death-upper-respiratory virus” that has spread from Lynn, to Julie, to Danny, further. We left Edinburgh after renting a car and headed up to Dundee, where we did 4 relative visits in 2 days (read as- 84 cups of tea between us in 2 days). After the final cup of tea, we drove across the River Tay to St. Andrews which is famous for two things- golf and the university where Mary and Roger met (thus an entire town which can be blamed for creating Lynn, Clare and Julie). Danny chilled at the Museum of Golf, and then we walked around the cathedral and castle before having a very good fish supper (fish and chips), irn bru and an early bed.

Our last day in Scotland was spent driving through to Glasgow via Stirling, the home of Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument. After checking out the Wallace Monument, including the stunning views over Old Stirling Bridge where the English army were defeated by a clever tactical move led by William Wallace in the 1290’s (a common theme in any Scottish history- “here is the site where we fought/killed/made-fun-of/embarrassed the English”- but always fun to hear about, nonetheless…).

So, we said goodbye to Scotland on Wednesday morning and arrived at Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania 12 hours later. A classic introduction to Africa began with our inability to find our ride to Moshi amongst the 50 or so touts, taxi-drivers and legitimate drivers at the arrival hall in the airport. Kudos to Danny for finding a little sign, held by a little guy reading “Todd, pax 2”, which we clearly should have recognized as being for us…

And so, we are here. In Africa. In a crazy little cybercafé with slow internet. Weather is nice. Overcast. Not too hot. The climb up Kili begins tomorrow and seems to be looming over us both psychologically, and literally (it’s 19000ft height is impressive from our current position at it’s base). My friends Juli and Todd join us this evening, and then we are off tomorrow morning. So, no blogging for the next week- but will be in touch again on the flip side. Hope you are all well. Lynn

Drinking tour of Scotland

Hey everyone, we made it to our first destination, Scotland, yesterday and wasted no time getting around the capital of Edinburgh. Lynn booked us in the coolest hostel literally directly below Edinburgh Castle which you see in several pictures below. After touring the castle, we checked out the Royal mile and then ended up at a Scottish Ale Festival where we had 120 beers to choose from. From there we headed over to a bar to watch the Turkey/Croatia Euro 2008 soccer match where very drunk scottish folks were buying us beers to celebrate our marriage...good times. This morning I wandered around while the girls slept off their jet lag and then we met up with Lynn's Uncle and his family and did a short hike which let us look down on the entire city. We finished our visit with them over a beer at the oldest pub in Scotland opened in 1360. Very similar to Joe's, but 600 years older! We're having fun but not sure the drinking is preparing us properly for Kilimanjaro...oh well.