Snapshots of Africa

Hello from... Columbus, Ohio?? Hmm, interesting change of pace from the last seven weeks of updates, but it feels good to be home after ten stamps and two new visas in my Passport and thousands and thousands of miles of traveling.

As promised, here are a few more photos from my trip as well as a link to viewing the album I put up on Facebook. If you don't have an account there and would still like to see the pictures, send me an e-mail at hoenig.5@osu.edu and I would love to e-mail you the website for non-Facebook users.

In addition, here's a link to a video I took of the church choir in Bohalahala: click here.

There he is!!!


Waving to us...?


Antelope


Buffalo


Four camels on a boat... too bad I couldn't find any on the beach to ride (yay for tourist traps!)


Just in case you need some meat, here's a butcher I might (not?) recommend in Geita. Click on the picture to enlarge and check out that excellent selection of meat.


This was "my" beach in Diani Beach, Kenya. I always entered here by the dead coral and walked along the shore til I got to all white sand. Beautiful!


Kids in Mgussu... very disappointed when they realized my camera was film and that they couldn't see their picture after I took it!


And last but not least, here I am with Frank, Bettina, and Nadine during our wonderful weekend hanging out in Bremen : )


Well, I guess I'll wrap up and say that I am so incredibly grateful for the opportunity I had to go on this journey, for the people I met, and for the things I was able to see and do - it was definitely an adventure I'll never forget! And just for you, Mr. Bernhard, one of the things I learned is that no matter how far you go or how alone you think you are, God always provides, and there is always something to be thankful for. Always.

To everyone who read these updates, I hope you enjoyed hearing about my adventures as much as I did writing it all : ) Thanks for coming along for the ride and following along with me as I traveled!

Almost Home

Hey all, just a quick update to let you know that after a wonderful weekend in Bremen and a two last days spent in Cologne and Bonn, I am packing my bags once more and am heading home after seven weeks of traveling. After a "mere" 34 hours after taking off from Germany (due to cheaper flights having bad connections), I'll land in Columbus, Ohio and get back to speaking English... and start writing my thesis!

I'm planning to update one more time after I get my film developed so that I can post a few pictures... especially the ones from my unofficial safari in Kenya, so stay tuned and check back in a week or so if you're interested in seeing the elephant that I thought was going to trample our car ; )

Til then, thanks for reading!!! I'm looking forward to seeing many of you in the near future and hope you enjoyed the stories, pictures, and little pieces of Africa that have appeared over the past seven weeks!

Double-Exchange

After spending four days in Bonn and having fun surprising teachers, friends, and former co-workers from my internship with my unannounced visit, I hopped on a train yesterday and headed north on a four-hour ride to Bremen. I'm currently updating this from the living room of my exchange student sister (hi Laura!) and am really enjoying getting to know her family... and relatives... and friends ; )

Last night when I arrived we had a "small" dinner party of fifteen people eating Raclette, which consists of putting vegetables and meats, pineapple, and eggs with special cheese on top into a little pan which you toast in a mini oven that's on the table. It's really good and fun to make... sortof like a fondue concept because you cook at the table.



I'm looking forward to us hopefully being able to chat with my family later on today via Skype with the daughters swapped. It's funny to think that Laura sleeps in my bedroom at my parents' house and that I'm now sleeping in hers (thanks!) : )

In addition to meeting lots of new people, I got to see a familiar face as well, because my friend Nadine, who was an exchange student at my high school five years ago, also came down from Hamburg for the weekend. It's such a blessing to be able to visit so many people in such a short amount of time, even if that does mean traveling here and there the entire time I'm in Germany.

Tomorrow I will head back South to Cologne and Bonn and fly out on Tuesday. Still don't know where I will be staying in London on Tuesday night, but if nothing else works out, there are always benches in the airport. We'll see I guess!

Well, I'm heading out to bike over to a bakery and pick up some freshly-baked Brötchen (like rolls - only way better) for breakfast... my very favorite thing to eat in Germany. Better enjoy them while I can! Mmmmmmmm : )

Not that I'm complaining, but...

... did I really have to leave the warmth behind when I boarded my plane headed for Europe? At least it's still well above freezing here, although I don't think I am coming home to Ohio until someone fixes the arctic weather you all are having over there!

I'm grateful for the sunshine here at the moment, though, and am in general extremely, totally, really, really, excited to be here in Germany : ) I'm currently living in Bonn with a wonderful family that I spent a lot of time with while I was here studying last year, and it is wonderful to be able to visit with them again.

In just a few minutes I'm going to head out to go walk along the Rhine and then meet a friend for lunch in the city center. Yay for being back!

Somehow it's a little strange to not be in Africa anymore though. I mean... I stared at a faucet for a good minute or so debating whether or not it was possible that safe drinking water could come out of it in the airport in London. I stared at the dinner table last night at a complete loss because I had no idea which of the three meats, three cheeses, two butters, and six of seven spreads I should put on my bread. Such a huge selection of choices just doesn't exist in Africa, and I literally didn't know what to do with it all. And then the clothes that people wore in the airport and on the street - so bland! Where are all the bright mismatched patterns I've grown so accustomed to? And how come I can't use any of my Swahili phrases that I picked up?

Well anyway, those are just a few of the things going through my mind since I've landed.

And now before I head into the city, here are a few pictures from my last days in Africa : )

Three African ladies: me with 25 braids (told you it looked scary!), Hanna with three, and Marina with five



The family I stayed with in Nairobi... post-braids : )

Goodbye bush life; Hello city!

Can I just say that I am incredibly thankful to be writing this post on the other end of my bus trip? I left Geita on Friday on a bus, this time well-prepared for the cold nighttime mountain air with a fleece shirt, coat, scarf, and hat. You all at home are probably laughing at me needing that in Africa… but I was definitely glad to have had that all along!

I saw zebras as we passed the Serengeti and stared up at the most beautiful and bright display of stars I have ever seen while we drove through the night. Other events during the fifteen-hour trip included discovering during a rain storm that my window had a rather large leak in it, after which a small container of aloe vera I had with me broke and spilled on my jeans. Yay for being wet and stick and stuck in a bus!

The woman I sat next to also added to the fun when she brought a whole fried Lake Victoria tilapia wrapped in newspaper back onto the bus for a mid-afternoon snack. I cringed at the thought of her eating a smelly fish on the already hot and smelly, cramped bus… but when I heard the words, “Karibu! Karibu sana!” I realized that I was wrong; WE, not she, would be eating the salty, oily fish with our hands directly after a bathroom break (I had hand sanitizer at least). Mmm! Although I do have to say that the fish actually turned out to taste good. Ah, the fun of meeting people and eating local food ; )

Hmm, in other news I decided that it might be fun to get my hair braided before I left Tanzania, so three hours later I had twenty-five mini braids in the front half of my hair. It was a sortof painful experience that I don’t plan on needing to repeat anytime soon, but I figured it would be an adventure to try it at least once. I will post a picture when I get to Germany and have faster Internet, but suffice it to say that I scared myself every time I looked in the mirror afterwards… especially when I took all the braids out and had a giant fro!

Here in Nairobi I have been loving spending a few days with the same family I stayed with on my way out to Tanzania two weeks ago. It cracks me up the way they all converse with each other – half English and half German, sometimes to the extent that both languages are used in one sentence. It doesn’t really matter since we are all fluent in both, but sometimes I don’t know which language to begin talking in!

Even at church today there was a funny language mix-up… the church is made up of people from countries from all over the world, and as the pastor got up to speak and greeted everyone in Kiswahili and then German, he forgot to switch to English and so began his sermon in the wrong language until someone said, “Falsche Sprache!” (wrong language) and he corrected himself and started again : )

Anyway, it’s about time for me to start thinking about how to best jam everything into my suitcase and prepare to go. I have just a few hours left in Africa before I leave the continent and head to Europe again for a week, and although I have mixed emotions about going, I’m really, really excited to be heading to Germany next.

Kwa heri, Tschüss, and Goodbye til my next update from Germany!