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The process of slowing down life and looking around
Farewell Africa
Four weeks after arriving in Tanzania, our volunteer experience had come to an end. But, the adventure was not over yet. One nice feature of volunteering abroad is also taking a little time off to explore the natural beauty of these countries. Tiffany and I reserved a week at the end of each of our locations for this purpose. The long travel to get there also provided with much time to stop and reflect on my entire experience in Tanzania and helped bring perspective to some of the things I learned. Click here for more...
A couple of miracles!
July 28, 2010
On our last day working in Tanzania we decided to go with our roommate Elly to her work placement, a baby orphanage called Cradle of Love. We were expecting a fun day of playing with and taking care of babies, and in addition to that we even witnessed a couple of miracles! Click here to read more...
It’s raining gazelles, hallelujah, it’s raining gazelles!
July 4, 2010
It was bound to be a good day, we just didn't know how much of an adventure it would end up being. We had been invited by our friend Francis to go see a waterfall near Mount Meru in the small town of Waarusha. We met in the morning, along with six of his other friends, whom he said he brought along since where we were going could be dangerous. We all jumped in my favorite vehicle, a Dala Dala, and eventually arrived at the base of the mountain. We began our two-hour hike through an amazing landscape of plantations, including coffee, potato, carrot, and banana fields. Click here to read more...
The Business of Charities: An ex-communicated priest turned mogul, a porridge-selling school director, and fighting volunteers
July 2, 2010
I'll be the first to admit it, leaving your job and going to help children in South America and Africa is a bit idealistic. But a large part of it was that I thought I would be able to make a small difference in a few people’s lives. I knew it wouldn't be easy living in distant and still developing nations, but on the whole I thought this would be a fun time full of good experiences. Well, of course I have had many great experiences in Peru and Tanzania, but unfortunately not everything has been quite so positive. In fact, parts have been downright frustrating and disheartening. And the last thing that I ever expected to see was that people would be taking advantage of the children I was trying to help.
Downshift Book Reviews – “Rework”
June 21, 2010
As part of my "Downshift", I've had the opportunity to read a few good books. This has been extremely nice since in the past few years of working crazy-hours I almost forget how much I enjoyed this. I must admit that my typical book is one of those business books, but on my travels I'm trying to mix it up a bit with travel books, autobiographies and even fictional stories - something I haven't read since high school! And I was thinking that since I had this blog I should share some of the books I read with all of you to let you know my thoughts on them, and perhaps it can also be a book that you enjoy....sort of like the Oprah Book Club, but a-la-Sebastien! Well, here goes my first one...a long blog post I admit, but probably a good indicator whether you would want to read the whole book. Stay tuned for my next Downshift Book Review on Benjamin Franklin's autobiography - one of the best books I've read in a long time.
Posted in: Book Reviews
Teaching in Tanzania
June 17, 2010
In my last post, I mainly talked about some of the interesting and unique aspects of the culture in Tanzania that Tiffany and I are experiencing. As far as the work we are doing here, let me first explain the overall layout of people and work placements here. There are probably close to 50 volunteers […]
Welcome to Tanzania!
June 13, 2010
It's been two weeks that we are here in Tanzania, and I write this as Tiffany and I sit down on a balcony at our house, watching the chickens run loose around the luscious green yard, and enjoying the beautiful view of far reaching hills ending in Mount Maru that soars at over 15,000 feet. It is a breathtaking view, and a place that has become one of our favorites to sit and talk, read, or continue the Spanish lessons. The time getting to this point has been filled with experiences that were both challenging, in terms of adapting to such a different lifestyle and culture than those that we have seen before, and also exciting, as we've already taught at two schools, visited the local town of Arusha and took trips to the towns of Moshi and Marangu (which sit at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro) to hike to beautiful waterfalls, and even spent the day witnessing the UN's criminal trial for the genocides in Rwanda during the 90's. Read on for more on our arrival and first few weeks in Tanzania...
Leaving Lima
June 7, 2010
It has been exactly a week since our arrival to Tanzania and oh what a week it has been! First, to update everyone on where we are in our overall adventure. Tiffany and I wrapped up our Peru experience with a five day trek from Cusco to Machu Picchu. This was an absolute treat but […]
Peeling the onion
May 11, 2010
The first week I arrived in Peru was an extremely exciting one – a foreign language, new and delicious foods, a completely different landscape (mostly desert here in Lima), and very old and distinct architecture. Exploring these new cultural aspects was a lot of fun and an amazing learning experience. But eventually, some of these cultural differences also began to take their toll on me – like rarely knowing what people were saying, the effects of those delicious foods, the sunburns from the desert, and the simple plumbing systems here (put the used toilet paper in the trash can, not in the toilet). Let's just say these aspects weren't quite as fun...
Posted in: Peru
Orchestrated Chaos: The streets of Lima
April 22, 2010
You immediately know you’re in for a ride when you first hit the streets of Lima. Buses and taxis dominate the road, and upon first glance, look as if they are all crazy. There is a constant buzz in the air from the engines and horns, and the stench of diesel is dizzying. Whether you […]
Posted in: Peru
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