Pictures from Finland

So, I thought the site could use a new look...and I was inspired by Kristi's new Fall motif.

here are some of my pics from my latest trip to Finland. This time I was there for 5 days and and again spent the time at the home of Jukka and Saara. Saara was in portugal this time around though, so Jukka played host. and he did a great job, although he repeatedly stated, 'i'm not a cook". We had some fun times including mushroom-picking in the forest with his daughter and son-in-law and biking to church, biking around the lake and biking to meet up with Kyle (who somehow arranged for me to stay there the first time around even though none of us had ever met - Praise God). In all, we biked about 35 km on Sunday and I must say that old Finnish man put me to shame. I was beat!

Jukka, at the start of our mushroom-hunting adventure




Mushrooms - Close up


Mushrooms - What they look like when you're trying to find them!


Cold!


Lunch break


The Scenery




My yeild






Jukka - "I'm not a cook"


I discovered that men are pretty much the same all over the world - they like their grills. This is Jukka's grill. And I must say, would put most American men's grills to shame. I wish I had a better picture of it, but let's just say that it's made out of brick, tile, and CONCRETE and it took 3 men to lift the sides into place...and it is freaking HUGE. So, the "non-cook" and i grilled sausages over the open flame.

Central railway Station - Helsinki, Finland


Center City

Things I have learned since moving to Russia:

* If you don’t walk FAST, you’ll get run over.

* NEVER cross the street unless the cross walk light is signaling “GO”, because again, you get run over.

* If you can’t understand Russian, people yell as if that will make you understand.

* Getting on the Metro at rush hour requires you to give up all personal space. You will have strangers pressing in on you from all sides and if you don’t push your way in (or out), you won’t get in (or out).

* Russians love to give flowers. No matter when it is, or where you are, you will inevitably see several people carrying large bouquets of flowers.

*If you are white, 95% of all people on the street and Metro will ignore you and act as if they don’t see you. If you are with someone who is black, 95% of all the people will stare at you.

* Sushi is easy to find. Mexican food is not.

* Count yourself lucky if you see the sun once per week for a few seconds.

* There is a coffeehouse on every block, and in most cases, more than one.

* At 9:00am it is DARK. And it about to get darker…(we turn the clocks back next week!)

* Plastic bags from the grocery stores are not free, so take you own bags to pack your groceries in.

* It's amazing how much you can understand by intuition and context.

Conquered

This week I used the metro by myself for the first time…
Success!
Believe me, it’s not quite so easy a task. People rushing past, crowding into already over-crowded metro cars, a labyrinth of tunnels deep, deep under ground (the deepest in the world, actually…many actually run UNDERNEATH the rivers), and of course, everything is in Russian…

On the way DOWN....



Two of the stations:

Plosched Vostania



Mayakovskya




Some more pics from around "my island" - Petrogradskya...







The path to the Hostel



The Hostel



our balcony is in the second row from the bottom, the 4th from the left.

In other news....

Lisa Jackson bought Sam a desk! In some email I wrote her I had mentioned that Sam was having a hard time with studying because his desk that he had used in his old room was not sturdy enough to survive the trip from upstairs to our new room – due to being held together by lots of screws and just barely hanging on. And because we couldn’t afford to get a desk, he was trying to study at our little table or with his books on the bed and he was really struggling because he needs that structured study area. And she wrote back and told us she wanted to get us a desk. We ended up finding one on sale for $999Rubles – and even with having to pay to have it delivered, it ended up being very reasonable. it’s a very nice desk too. I have seen God provide already in ways I have never seen before. Mostly I think because I never opened myself up to being so subject to NEEDING Him to provide. I’ve often had a back-up plan. Now, there IS no back-up plan. God will provide, or we won’t make it. We have a really strict budget set up for our year. And all the purchases we had to make this first month necessities like a bed, stuff to clean the place, dishes and utensils, and all the things that go along with getting set up for the year of living here just were not well, in the budget. And we ended up spending just over $500 I think. And then there was this week about 2 weeks ago – it was the week Lisa told us she was sending $ for the desk – that week we learned that I had recived $95 (the money from selling my couch and tv). Also, a check for the mattress I sold in Ohio - $300. and also came a check for the old trunk. I had written apex about the money still left in my overage account and they put that in my account – along with some money that came in from 2 supporters who were still sending money in for me. we learned of all this in one week, different days…and at the end of the week I started thinking about all the different mentions of money coming in we had heard of and I started writing them down and I totaled them up. $679!!! God covered our set-up expenses and then some, in one week. I was humbled and realized how blessed I am to be in a position where I have to trust Him this way, because otherwise, I might have missed it.

I bought a winter coat, hat, and scarf in Finland. I think I look very Finnish now. (better to look Finnish in Russia than to look American, though I think.) It’s a black wool coat with a hood, sort of like a pea coat, but not exactly. I’m sure you’ll probably see me in it a lot in the future as it gets colder and colder. I still need to find boots soon. No snow yet, but lots of cold rain. I just need to find warm, practical boots…which could be harder than you’d think here in Russia. It seems to me that the standard footwear for Russian women is leather boots up to the knee with stiletto heels. Not exactly what I have in mind. There is an outdoor market on the weekends just a few metro stops away and there’s quite a lot to go through, and tons of boots, so I hope to find something there.

Sam’s desk: (thanks, Lisa!!)



Me, in my new coat:

Finland and Back

Ok, I’m still alive. The internet connection at the hostel has been pretty much non-existent. Its been down so much that its almost not even worth making the trip upstairs to try to get online at all because every time I do, it just is disappointing.

So….I went to Finland. And now I’m back. Finland was nice. The people were friendly and all very helpful and it is just a very different feeling than in St. Petersburg. Finland feels more like any of the other European cities I’ve been in, and so it was a nice breath of fresh air.

check out my pics at http://www.flickr.com/photos/amandafabiano

About a week or so before I was to leave for Helsinki, I got an email asking if I needed a place to stay in Finland, because Jimmy D has relatives there and there might be a way of finding me a place to stay with someone. I hadn’t booked a hostel yet or anything so I said sure, go for it. Well, jimmy D wrote me and said that there was a Cedarville graduate who was leaving that same week for Helsinki as a missionary with Greater Europe Mission. He got me in touch with this guy, Kyle, who was going to arrange a place for me. So, it was about 5 days before I was to leave and I finally connected with Kyle through email and he said that he had just arrived and he was still figuring things out but that if I could trust him, he was pretty sure he could line up something for me by the time I arrived. I decided to trust him, (more so trust that God would use Kyle to find me a place in time). So I was leaving on Tuesday, and by Sunday I still hadn’t heard anything from him, and I had not been able to get online, he didn’t even have my arrival info or anything, just that I was coming on Tuesday. So, finally on Monday afternoon I was able to get online and I saw an email from him that said that his pastor (at the church in Finland) had a couple that I could stay with in Esboo (a town just outside of Helsinki). That was all the info I got. No contact info, nothing. So, I still decided that I was trusting God. So that afternoon, I met with a lady who is working on getting me a cultural visa, and as I was coming home from that meeting, I got a text message from Kyle, giving me the names and phone number of the people I was to stay with. I finally got in touch with them via text message late Monday night. I was to meet them at the train station and they told me the name of which station to come to, and what color car they would be driving. And I left for Finland the next morning. So I arrived at the airport, and asked how I could get to the train station. From the airport, I took a bus to the central railway station. And then from there I caught a train to the station they had told me about. I had just enough airtime on my phone left to send a message to Saara, (the wife of this couple) that I was on the train and arriving soon. (because I was roaming, the text messages cost A LOT and used up my time really fast). So I arrived at the station and had no idea where to go from there. I didn’t see the car yet and there was a big mall type place at this station, so I wasn’t sure if I was to meet them inside or outside or what. I had no more airtime and I just kind of walked around for a while thinking and praying about what to do next. I found a cell phone store and decided that maybe I could see if I could add airtime to my phone there (not sure because my server is in a different country if they have the same or not), and as I was waiting, I got a message from Saara saying that she was outside at the platform. PRAISE GOD. Saara and Jukka are probably a few years older than my parents. They have 3 adult daughters. I am the same age as their middle daughter. Sam kept telling me, “Remember there are Finnish people, so they’re going to be cold, not all warm and welcoming, ok?” But they have been wonderful. They have been so accommodation and hospitable. They have a huge, beautiful house in the woods. I had my own room, we ate dinner together, they told me how to get the embassy and which busses to use, Saara looked at my wedding pictures and showed me pics of their youngest daughter’s wedding (she got married this summer also) and Jukka even let me use his cell phone to call Sam to tell him I made it here safely, since I was out of airtime. Jukka (the husband) went out of town yesterday for a seminar overnight a few hours away, so last night I was introduced to the Finnish tradition of Sauna. Apparently its pretty common in Finland to have a sauna in your house, as Jukka and Saara do. The other night they were telling me all about the tradition and how it began and they asked if I had been in sauna and I said, “well, a couple times in nice hotels” and Jukka was like, “a couple times in your life??” =) ha. Yes. So he said, “Well, now its settled, tomorrow night you and Saara will have Sauna.” They have a wood-burning sauna, and so it takes an hour to heat up. After dinner Saara started the fire and then an hour later we began. Lets just say, it was very…European. Ha. It was seriously hotter than any sauna I have been in in America. It was over 80degrees Celsius….which in case you are Celsius to Fahrenheit illiterate as I mostly am…is over 200 degrees Fahrenheit. When I breathed in (which was hard to do in such heat) it felt like my nose and lips were burning. I’m also very sick right now (Sam gave me a terrible cold…ah, the joys of marriage right?) so the breathing thing I think was even more difficult. But the sweating was probably good, get all the bad toxins out….hopefully. Jukka says that when he has been sick and gone into the sauna it usually makes a decision….either he starts to get better or it gets worse, I don’t exactly know which decision has been made for me, but I started antibiotics today, so perhaps the sauna didn’t really do any wonders, and if it did, maybe I’ll never know if it was the sauna….or just the meds!

Eye-key-ah

Yes, we went to IKEA. We moved into our room and the bed that was in there was….GROSS. And the springs in the mattress were so old that they groaned and creaked so loud every time one moved that it would wake TWO up! So we got a bed. Actually, we found a couch/bed/futon-like thing that is actually quite comfortable. We did really well, finding pretty much everything we got on sale, the bed included. We also got plates and bowls, mugs, kitchen knives, a frying pan, utensils, spatula, peeler, and bedding. I had never been to IKEA in the States, so I have nothing to compare it to, but I can say one thing, the place is HUGE. To get to the complex that IKEA is in, we go 5 metro stops away from the school, go out from the metro station, cross the street and catch the free bus to MEGA, which is about a 5-10 minute ride to where the mall complex where IKEA is. The mall is very western and, as Sam remarked the other day, “If you lived near there, you’d never even know you’re in Russia…well, until people starting talking and you didn’t understand anything.” It is a nice mall; complete with a food court with an indoor ice-skating rink, McDonalds, Subway, and a huge store called Azhan (which isn’t spelled that way at all, but I don’t have a Russian-alphabet keyboard), so that’s how you pronounce it. It looks very new, and Sam and I just discovered it because I wanted to check it out and see what the prices were like, and we now refer to it as “Russian Wal-Mart”. It was awesome. We also went to the market this weekend. It was enormous. Street after street of vendors and shops. We went to find material so I can make curtains for our room. Prior to this we did the ghetto thing and taped newspaper over the windows, so I’m very happy to actually have curtains.



I’m still feeling a little like a prisoner because, even though I could go out if I wanted, I’m not very confident because I don’t know any Russian and even though I could probably find my way around ok, say, getting groceries on my own or something, I don’t know what I would do if I ran into a situation buying something at a shop or something. Although after a few more days of being trapped inside I may just develop the confidence and brave it anyway, just to get out. I have at least figured out that when you go through a till at a store, they ask #1 if you have a card for that store, #2 if you are buying a plastic bag, #3 if you have the exact change or close to it. And Russians aren’t much for small talk, so if a clerk did say something to me, chances are it would be one of these things and I could fake my way through it.

On a random note: We have been able to watch a little of the Rugby World Cup. I like rugby. Its so much more interesting to watch than American football. But its not exactly widely televised in the USA. So, for those of you that get those obscure ESPN channels, I highly recommend it.

RUSSIA – the story continues…

The first 3 days we stayed in Deepthi’s room (friend of Sam’s who hadn’t returned to school yet). When she came back, we spent 3 nights in Sam’s old room (his roommate stayed in someone else’s room for those nights) because we hadn’t worked out things for our room yet. Finally we ended up giving the commandant of the hostel $100USD so she won’t bother us about me staying here for now, because technically unless you are registered at the school I guess you’re not allowed to stay in the hostel, although there are a number of people with significant others, families, etc, who live here…and although we are trying and trying to go about things the honest way, and go through all the right channels, it seems that people just want bribes in order to do their jobs, and/or help out another human being.

We moved into our own room on the third floor. It was nasty dirty. We spent the better part of 3 days cleaning. We basically bleached it from top to bottom. (and that’s not to mention the bathroom). Sam went in full force there…gloves, mask, everything. It was impressive. I didn’t take “before” shots, but you’ll probably be thankful for that, because it was really gross, and you probably wouldn’t want to look at that. The “after” is quite nice though, (you can surmise then, if I feel the “after” is quite nice, how the “before” must have been). I feel like we have some semblance of “home” with a somewhat live able bathroom. (the ones on the 6th floor, and 7th floor, where we stayed before moving in our room were unbelievably hideous.) Think of the ickiest gas station bathroom smell you have ever smelled and multiply. The one here is non-smelly and I am ever grateful. Up till 2 days ago we thought we had our very own stall to ourselves, but then the Indian guy next door told us that he had been using the middle one. See, the way they do the bathrooms here is that there are 3 stalls. And 3 rooms on each side. 6 total. When we moved in the two side stalls both had locks – signifying that people from other rooms had chosen that one and split up keys accordingly. The middle was NASTY. No seat. Brownish black gook staining the bowl….GROSS, and it was Unlocked. That and the decrepit-lookingness signaled to us that more than likely no one was actually using this one. The guy who lived in our room before said that we could ask to get a key for one of the other stalls with the other rooms, or we could fix up the middle one since it seemed no one was using it. We chose the latter. So once it was all nice and clean and fixed up, we put on our own lock and it was just ours. Yay! That is, until this guy comes and says he had been using the middle one. Seriously? ICK. So we gave him a key and now we have to share with him. Sam put a lot of work into that though, so if this guy isn’t clean, we’re changing the lock!

Sam started classes today. We don’t have internet in our room yet, but we can usually just go up to the 6th floor to Sam’s old room and use the net there – his roommate from last year, Faisal, is still staying there and has told us we can just keep his key and come and go as we want.

People here go to sleep really late and wake up late. Which is perfectly fine for me usually, but has been hard to get adjusted to, since for so long I have been trying to get out of that habit and recently finally succeeded, only to have to switch again! Things are still in limbo, still working on visa stuff, still putting our room together. We have this huge couch and two big chairs that came with the room that are fine and all, but they are really BIG and taking up way too much space and I can’t wait to get rid of them. We know someone who wants the couch, but we can’t really afford to buy new stuff for sitting on, so we have to keep at least the chairs for now I guess. Once we get rid of those things we can finally put the room the way I really would like to have it, and we can fit a desk in for Sam, which with the couch plus two chairs would be very difficult. So hopefully we can move out the hefty thing soon. Until then we’re kind of halfway there. It’s ok though. Starting to finally look like a home, rather than a dorm room. For which I am thankful.

Today I made tortillas and we had faijitas for dinner. It was an all afternoon process – walking back and forth from our room to the kitchen. Actually, when I first went to the kitchen today there was a bird inside. Yes, and that’s actually not too uncommon. People leave lots of trash in the kitchen and then leave the windows wide open, so birds just fly in and hang out. Yes. Thankfully there was only one bird, ( I walked past a kitchen on another floor a few days ago that had 3 birds in it!) and thankfully when he saw me he made a quick effort to get out, and after only a few attempts of running into the ceiling and window, he made it. I was glad to not have to cook with a bird eyeing me.

I’ve been learning the Metro. I’m getting the hang of it, although at the beginning I thought I’d never get it. Its all in Russian, so it’s not exactly tourist-friendly. But once you ride it enough, you figure it out. And you learn how many stops to go and which line to get on. No one talks or smiles, people crowd as many as possible into metro cars and busses, and EVERYBODY STARES AT US.

I like Sam’s friends from the hostel. We have been going to his fellowship group which meets here at the hostel in Deepthi’s room. (Sam lived below her last year). the hostel is like a labyrinth of hodge-podge cultures. Indians, Arabs, Chinese, Vietnamese, Africans. Very….interesting. Oh, here’s one for the “pro” list, Lisa Jackson: all the Indian food I get to eat, from real Indians….Mmmm. =) We had Chapatti and vegetables the other night. And before that we had a night where a bunch of people brought different things and it was really good. There was something that the Indians called “cutlet” that was very tasty.

It’s fall weather here now. No changing leaves yet. But I am looking forward to getting to experience that this year! It is getting cold though. I am going to need to buy a coat soon. I don’t have one. Hopefully I can find a warm one that isn’t too expensive. In a week I have to leave to go to Helsinki to apply for another tourist visa. God totally provided a place for me to stay there! I am so happy and we are so thankful that we get to save like $100 that we would have had to spend on lodging. Jimmy D hooked me up with contact info for this Cedarville guy who just left to become a missionary in Helsinki with Greater Europe Mission. And he said he can hook me up with a place to stay. Very exciting. Especially since I will have to go there a total of 3 times by the time this is all over. Sigh. So maybe I can stay there a few times if it is ok with them. We’ll see how it works out. I’ll just be glad when all this moving about is over with. It’s very unsettling. I love to travel. But this is so much more WORK than travel. And it’s costly, which sucks. But, hopefully I can get everything arranged quickly for my second tourist visa and can relax a little to enjoy Helsinki a bit while I’m there. I’ll have the camera, so look forward to Finland pics. I'm having issues with uploading all the pics i want right now, so you'll have to look forward to more. Here are a few for now:

RabbiPod

JFK Airport

Welcome to Russia


Groceries

Thank God for pictures on products!

RUSSIA

ok, so there's 7 indians, 5 Africans and 1 American in a 12'x20' room at midnight...sounds like the beginning to a joke, huh? no, just dinner last night. sam's friend, Deepthi, invited us to come for dinner last night (apparently dinner is typically VERY late in the hostel). the food was great, prepared by a number of the people there. i am SO looking forward to having some cooking lessons with the Indians! This is also a fun little bit of knowledge: yesterday i was on Faisal's computer (Sam's roomate from last year, from Jordan) and his computer is all in Arabic, and then i open blogger and it automatically opens in Russian. so i was working in two languages, neither of which i understand! but thanks to the unviersal position of stuff in Windows XP, i could figure it out. (except that on an arabic computer, everything is backward from what i'm used to). fun.

THIS JUST IN:
Faisal just called to say that they talked to the Commendant of the hostel and she says she will give permission for me to stay here and put it on the books. THANK YOU, GOD! Tomorrow we get to move in to our own room! so this weekend will be filled with cleaning and moving and organizing and finally getting a space to ourselves...and FINALLY unpacking! I love travel, but living out of suitcases, and having to dig through them anytime you want to find something gets old very fast. only one more hurtle to go - my invitation letter for a longer term visa. thanks to so many of you who have been praying through this with us!

Sorry to those of you from Dayton who are jealous right now...but tonight a group of us are going to IKEA. I've kind of been held prisioner inside until we got the permissions we needed, so I'm really excited about getting to leave the Hostel!

Pictures later. I'm out.

NIGHT.MARE.

WEDNESDAY:

1 delayed flight + 1 taxi ride from Harrisburg to Philly = 2 missing passports

1 found wallet + 1 additional taxi ride + $200 = 1 returned wallet and 2 found passports, but too late to board

2 rescheduled flights for 1 Angolan and 1 American = intended arrival in Germany 7 hours too late for transit visa

1 expired transit visa + $110 and 1 Howard Johnson = 1 night in Philadelphia

THURSDAY:

1 hotel shuttle to airport + 1 train ride to center city Philly = arrival at Honorary German Consul

2 sessions with German lady at the Philly Consul + 1 phone call to German Consulate in NY + 1 phone call to Lufthansa = 1 taxi to 30th Street Station + $210 = train to Penn Station, New York City, New York

1 taxi to German Consulate, NY + 2 sessions with German Consulate + 2 passport photos, 10 blocks walked, 1 call to Germany and $98 = promises to issue visa and Fed Ex 1 Angolan passport to Lititz, PA after receiving flight confirmation from Lufthansa

15 blocks walked back to train station during rush hour = photos at Madison Square Garden, The United Nations, and glimpses of Chrysler Building

1 train ride back to Philadelphia + 1 taxi ride to Center City, 1 train ride back to Airport, 1 hotel shuttle back to Howard Johnson = union of 2 family members who completed 1 drive to Phildelphia to pick up 1 Angolan, 1 American and 6 peices of luggage from Hotel

1 Hour and 30 minute car ride = arrival in Lititz, 2 showers and 1 night of very deep sleep

FRIDAY:

6 calls to Lufthansa + 3 cups of coffee + 7 calls to NY German Consulate + 2 calls to Philly Honorary German Consul + 2 calls to travel agent + 1 call to JFK = 2 waivers for paper tickets, 2 flight confirmation numbers for flights from JFK to Munich to St. Petersburg + 1 Fed Ex Tracking Number

i hate math.

I DO...

Lake Michigan Camping Weekend - South Haven, MI

The Journey to Zambia

Our story begins with a long drive from Namutoni at the edge of Etosha National Park to Katima Mullilo, at the north western border of Namibia’s Caprivi Strip. After about 10 hours of driving, the sun had just set and it was 5:55pm. We arrived at the Namibia/Zambia border crossing….it was closed. We inquired to some people at the petrol station who claimed the border closed at 6:00pm. To which we proclaimed…it’s not 6:00 yet! And they gave us a line about the border operating on the South African time zone – winter time – interesting and completely untrue. Regardless, this left us stuck in Namibia one more night and with no place lined up for accommodation for the night. Praise the Lord that I had picked up a “Where to Stay” guidebook when I was perusing the tourist shop at the airport waiting for Amber and Josh’s flight to arrive. We thumbed through and found three options for places to stay in Katima. I called the least expensive option – the Caprivi River Lodge. It turned out to be only 5 minutes drive from where we were. We found it and arrived with all our stuff in tow asking for a place to stay the night. The one camping spot they had to offer was filled and the other option given to us was a bit to steep for our pocket – N$320 per 2 people. But as we stepped aside and discussed what to do, and the manager stepped in and offered us a better deal. (I love Africa). So the 4 of us ended up staying the night in a small cabin with three beds and shared ablutions, in a very luxurious setting right beside the river for N$340. We had coffee out on the porch and played Skipbo all the while keeping our eyes open for crocodiles and hippos. But we had Josh to karate chop anything that might sneak up on us – including logs jumping off the fire pit – so we could rest easy. After two night’s of sleeping on the ground in sleeping bags, the comfy beds in our little cabin provided a great night’s rest. The next morning I awoke early and went to the riverside to enjoy the early morning sun. The birds were cackling and the trees were filled with monkeys swinging from tree to tree.









After a quick breakfast from the cooler we had packed, we were off to the border again. The small wooden shack at the border crossing had a small line up of people by the door, so we joined in and picked up departure forms, filled them out and rejoined the line to get our departure stamps. We jumped back in the car thinking, “that was easy!” and started it up to head across. We were quickly stopped by an officer who asked for our car’s registration paper. After a year and a half in Namibia this was the first time anyone had asked for this paper. In Namibia all the registration information is on the windscreen of the car and therefore the paper is pretty unnecessary. “But”, said the officer, they needed the paper, which of course we did not have. His first suggestion was that we go back home and get it! I explained that this was not an option, seeing as it was 10+ hours’ drive to Okahandja where the paper was. “So…what, then? If we don’t have this paper, we’re just stuck here?” I asked. The reply: “Yes.” I asked if it would be possible to fax the paper, and he agreed that this would work and after talking to two different people I was able to ascertain the fax number. Then I prayed Buddy would answer his phone, as he was the one with the registration paper holding our roadtrip fate. Buddy did answer his phone and thankfully was able to find the paper and fax it to us, after about a hour of waiting at the border, the fax arrived and we were finally allowed to get out of the country. Freedom! A 30-second drive in no man’s land brought us to the Zambian border crossing, complete with a line of even more shady-looking wood shacks that served as the immigration office, and various border-crossing official offices. A taxi driver to pity on us and pointed us to the right place, because nothing was labeled clearly or posted. We found ourselves in the immigration office and filled out the same information we had just written to depart Namibia, now for our entrance into Zambia. $100 per US citizen for a visa!! And of course Maveja got off easy - able to get in for free because she’s a Namibian citizen. I filled out numerous ledgers and forms in order to be allowed to drive in Zambia, paid carbon tax, insurance and something else, (who-knows-what) and finally after about an hour there we were allowed into Zambia. Finally back in the car, we decided we had better floor it and get out of there quick before they thought of something else for which they could take more of our money. Two hour’s drive from there we reached our destination - Livingstone. We checked ourselves into Fawlty Towers Backpacker’s Lodge and got settled. Some lunch at a vegetarian café across the street filled out bellies and then we headed down the road to the Falls to get our bearings. We decided it was too late in the day to make it worth it to check out the Falls on the first day and even though we were all itching to see them, we paced ourselves and decided to wait till the next day when we could spend a good chunk of time. Back at our lodging we decided to post ourselves in the queue for the one computer (advertised as “internet café” in their brochures) so we could check our email. Nearly 2 or more hours later (only 2 very inconsiderate users in this time mind you!) we finally had the chance to connect to the outside world.

Amber’s victory…Finally online!



The lounge/bar at Fawlty Towers



The next day…..THE FALLS!


YOU WILL GET WET

We packed a lunch and guarded our food from the greedy monkeys, and stuck around to watch the sun set over the falls.

Dinner that night was at Funky Monkey Pizza Bistro. Yum.



We decided to book an activity, something we could all do together. We had perused lists of available activities several times before heading into the booking office and we had not come to a consensus on anything we all wanted to do. We considered doing different activities – everybody doing their own thing – but we saw a pamphlet with a picture of Livingstone Island, and became intrigued. After hearing a little about the Livingstone Island tour we decided we would sign up for the breakfast tour. Livingstone Island is situated in the middle of the Zambezi River right at the edge of the falls. The tour would consist of a sort jet boat ride out to the island a tour of the island and learning more about the falls and Livingstone and then breakfast on the island. Even though none of us had originally given it a second though, something urged us all that this was the thing for us. The next morning we arrived at the Royal Livingstone Hotel sundeck for our pickup.

We arrived at the island, got out of the boat and were greeted with a welcome drink made from maize and milk with a hint of chocolate and a fruity taste. Our guides explained that since Livingstone Island is a world heritage site no permanent structures are allowed to be built, so everything set up there is semi-permanet. We arrived at a beautifully set table with a tented roof with the edge of the falls in full view. Our guides explained that we should take off our shoes, roll up our pant legs and don rainjackets for the rest of the exploration. We started out and very quickly we found our feet on very cold slippery rocks and mushy, muddy ground walking straight to the edge of the falls! I literally stood at the top of Victoria Falls, leaned over the edge and saw the bottom. I stepped on slippery rocks with the knee-deep water of the Zambezi pressing past my legs as I crossed from one place to another.

This is me peering over the edge. No handrails. No harness. No barriers. Just a guy holding my hand.



Absolutely beautiful. The most exhilarating thing I have ever done in my life.





And did I mention it was wet?!? Check out Josh’s “Falls Face”. It’s our new favorite. This shot describes our experience at the edge.



After the adventure came the luxury. We made our way back to the table and were seated while the guides washed our feet with wonderfully warm water and we sat down to steaming hot coffee and tea. Breakfast was served – eggs benedict, fresh baked muffins and biscuits. Don't miss Maveja eyeing Josh's food...hilarious!



All that flowing water over the falls does tend to make one have to pee, so what would a trip to Livingstone Island be without a trip to the “Loo With A Veiw”…



The Loo



The Veiw from the Loo



Nothing like peeing and saying hello to Zimbabwe!

After that kind of morning, the adrenaline was flowing and we decided that no matter what we might try to do that afternoon it would pale in comparison to what we experienced at Livingstone Island, so we decided to go check in early at Maramba River Lodge – our splurge accommodation of the trip – and spend the rest of the day chilaxing by the pool reading and playing Skipbo on the deck by the river.

Maramba River Lodge





Our Safari Tents



After dinner we enjoyed some coffee on the deck while watching a huge hippo eat a portion of his 45 kilos-per-day of grass.
(Just couldn’t seem to stop singing the jingle for Hungry Hungry Hippos.)

The next morning it was time to head back. A L-O-N-G 12-hour drive found us back home in Okahandja and crashing quickly into our beds.

more to come later....

Visitors in Africa

The second week of Josh and Amber’s visit was roadtrip time. We drove to Etosha National Park and spent two days viewing the most amazing plethora of wild animals. Because the season was so dry this year with very little rain, it forced all the animals to flock to the waterholes. It was unbelieveable! The first night we stayed at Okekeujo inside the park. We set up camp, made a fire and warmed up tortellini soup we made ahead of time…and S’mores over the hot coals. Then it was off to the waterhole that is situated at the edge of the lodge area. As soon as we arrived there were 3 elephants drinking, several hyenas, giraffes, two rhinos and a male and female lion. We kept waiting for the lions to do something, but they were really lazy!


The next day more of the same, great viewing – animals everywhere! We saw two more lions chilling at a waterhole, a huge lot of elephants (probably 20 or more) and of course plenty of giraffes, zebras, ostrich, oryx, springbok, steenbok, and kudu. We also had a car breakdown – just overheating – but it did force us to illegally get out of the car to figure out what was going on. We checked things over while amber stood as lookout for ferocious lions, even though by now we had already seen that the lions were probably too lazy to go after us anyway. We stayed at Halali the second night, also camping, and the jackals were pacing around outside our tent and knocking over the rubbish bins. But during the night Josh decided to ROAR in his sleep, presumeably to frighten them away…I don’t know if the jackals were freaked out, but it certainly worked on Maveja and I, who both woke up to it.

Day 3 of Etosha was an early morning headed out of the park. We planned to just drive out that day – no game viewing – just to get on the road, but along the way a car coming the opposite direction told us there were more lions at the next waterhole just up ahead, so we decided to check it out. We arrived and parked and were the only car there. The lions (there were 3) saw us pull up and a male and female got up from their napping spots and started heading straight for us. it was amazing. They literally were 5 feet from the car…





And of course, Josh decides to roll down the window!



See the next post for the continuing story of our African roadtrip….

More

By the way, to veiw more pictures of my last two weeks in Namibia (as well as Amber and Josh's visit there) got to www.onthestairs.blogspot.com and check out amber's blog.

Back to Life

A long-lost hello from me here in the blogosphere…yes, I am still alive. So much has happened in the last month that it will be hard to catch up on everything, but I will a least give it a good shot.

For starters, my dear friends Amber and Josh Johnson spent a wonderful two weeks with me experiencing the place I have called home for the last year and half now. I enjoyed sharing Okahandja and the ministries with them, and introducing them to the people I have come to love, and whom they had only known in writing until crossing the big ocean and landing on Namibian shores. They joined me at the OSS bible study, Bible study with Nelda and Maveja, and they went along with Pete to experience the Care & Compassion ministry. We also took a few day trips, including Swakopmund for duneboarding and Okapuka to watch the lion feeding. Both were a great time. Maveja joined us to complete our foursome and so we had a blast.