Titles should be catchy. I’m too tired for that right now ;)

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my! No. Wait. That’s somebody else’s story... Lions and giraffes and zebras, oh my! Lol and elephants and monkeys and both the largest and smallest species of antelope. So yeah - it’s been an incredible day. And this is take two of this post so I suspect it’ll be much shorter. Please note - shorter in no way equals short ;). For the short version - see list of animals above. We did.

Still with me? So a lifetime ago, or maybe just this am, we met up with our driver/guide - Agustin - and after a brief check-in re still missing luggage, we were on our way!

Our way was, admittedly, quite a long and boring drive. Other than the clock tower that marks the centre of Africa, some Masai (sp?) boys who were heading out on their manhood ritual (impressively terrifying face paint), and the stunningly gorgeous purple trees that I wrote down what they were called but alas that too is gone the way of the vanished post. I slept through most of the drive to the park given that I’m on a combined combo of anti-malaria, anti-nausea, and anti-cold drugs (thanks airport cold!) — all three of which have drowsiness as a side effect. So yeah, I mostly didn’t have a chance.



We arrived at Tarangire national park and had a chance to stretch our legs before safari the first. When we got back to the vehicle, the guide had put the roof up. Literally cranked it up so we could stand easily (and in my case on a seat) and take unobstructed photos while still being covered from the sun. The am drive was cloudy so we didn’t really appreciate that till the afternoon which was all sun.

The first safari was incredible. Everywhere we looked more interesting critters were wandering about. Zebras everywhere! And with them their friends the wildebeests... I’m not quite sure what the symbiotic relationship is between them but I’m reasonably convinced after today that there must be one. Sadly I have no access to google so alas I must remain ignorant for a while... If or when I have a flash of wifi, I’m putting it to use uploading this ;)

The various guides share finds over the radio so everybody can see when something cool is happening; that’s definitely how we got to see the first lion, sunning by the tree...



The other one that was really cool was the baby elephant- followed shortly by baby everythings ;). Apparently google did well by us when I researched when to come for animals... Babies on the ground, and because it’s dry season, all the animals are hanging out near the water source. In the rainy season they scatter and apparently are very hard to see in the grass. So yeah, win :).

We eventually stopped at our next hotel - in the park - for lunch. Lunch was by the pool with some amazingly stunning birds and a neon lizard hanging out. A monkey stole one lady’s lunch nearby ;). Lol and we lost a butter lump to a sneaky bird. But all good.

The rooms are all ground floor and you go outside to get to them - as you’re in the park, animals wander freely. There were zebra and elephants our our balcony. Absolutely incredible. Chris just got sent back inside - we’re not allowed to be outside after dark; apparently the zebras are on the front lawn now :). I did promise one of the women I work with that I’d avoid getting squished by an elephant, so I will follow that rule *g*

Okay back to my story - after lunch was back out on safari! The sun came out over lunch so temps went up significantly. We saw more of all the things, but most impressive were the lions feeding on a wildebeest, even two cubs! Was... wow. The male lions here don’t have manes - too hot. Apparently the ones in the Serengeti will :). That’s in a few days. Saw many more elephants, giraffes and zebras - so many zebras. I find myself somewhat fascinated with the giraffes. There were some cape buffaloes too but we couldn’t get a good view of them. Hopefully more another day.



Amazing sunset and got to watch a whole troop (uh is that the right phrase? Google-less here...) anyways a troop of monkeys playing, incl a couple that were apparently only days old. And I’m loving the elephant families with baby and big sibling or two all still hanging with Mum.
Return to the hotel once we lost sunlight for supper and likely early bed given that both C and I woke up wide awake at about 1am this morn. This hotel has hot water from 6-8am and pm. Lol and hot was really more like vaguely warm, but I wasn’t freezing and did get to wash my hair so win. Power was a little questionable- Chris showered by the light of my flashlight.

Anyways - the day has been beyond words. Despite the number of them here, there’s no way I truly captured what I felt. I think I expected it’d be like when you go to Algonquin to see animals - you might find a few bears, a moose if you’re lucky, but mostly you drive around aimlessly or make friends with someone who knows. Well our guide both knows and has friends but far more than that is the sheer quantity of animals. And they all seem healthy and just going about being their animal selves. So incredible to experience. They have little to no fear of the vehicles so we can get super close. Only the babies and sometimes the zebras run from the safari vehicles.

Anyways - I’ve been told the other parks are even better?!?! But we luckily have one more day here before we go find out. Different parks have different animals (this one’s specialty is elephants) so we tried to plan a trip with as much variety as possible.

Not sure how I’m so tired after sitting in a vehicle all day, but I’m wiped. More tomorrow :). If the internet deigns to cooperate.

We made it! Mostly ;)

So for people following the story, our driver was, in-fact, exactly where we’d been told he’d be with our sign.  Sadly, Chris’ luggage was not.  Fail.

But before we even got to that...   Coming here we looked into what vaccines we’d need.  Our doctor, the CDC, and Google all recommended that if there’s any way to avoid the Yellow Fever vaccine we should.  It has not entirely proven but significant anecdotal side effects, and my doctor is pretty into any kind of preventative care, so for her to say she doesn’t recommend it is a pretty big flag.

Okay go home and do research.  Canada to Tanzania doesn’t need it.  Sweet.  BUT travelling through Kenya does IF you’re there more than 12h.  Even if you never leave the airport.  We were going to be there for 10.  I was going on the serious hope the flight would leave on time and/or Tanzania wouldn’t be too picky if we’d never left the airport.  Esp as we discovered they spray the airport for bugs at night.  lol.

Anyways - we got lucky and the flight left on time (albeit without C’s luggage).   We got off the flight in the tarmac and before we could even go to the visa/customs area we were stopped and asked how long we’d been there and challenged about our 10h.   Guess they take that pretty seriously.  We made it through no problem, the visa process was simple, although customs required fingerprints and two photos.  Sheesh.  But yeah - of all the things to go wrong, I’m pretty glad in this case that it was missing luggage and not a delayed flight.

So yeah - filled out the form for the luggage and then the representative from our safari company went and finished it out for us.  The trip to Arusha took about an hour, primarily due to the strictly enforced 50km/h speed limit.  I saw more speed traps in that drive than in 6 mths at home.  And yet they all had people pulled over.  An endless stream of tiny shops and tons of people - some working, some chatting, and a ton on bikes.  Our guide explained that the houses are built “by season” — as in over several years.  The buildings we were seeing with no roofs and apparently abandoned were, instead, just partially built.  I have no idea where people live during the years it takes to build their homes.  Lots of poverty with some obvious examples of extreme wealth sprinkled in.

We stopped at a tiny store so Chris could purchase a change of clothes.  Both our driver and the company rep seemed pretty convinced we’d have it in a day or two.  We shall see...

The area itself is more mountainous and cooler temps than I’d expected.  And yes, I’m well aware of Kilimanjaro, but somehow in my head I had a vision of a loan mountain thriving in an otherwise flat and dry landscape.  Yeah no.  Not so much.  Lots of hills surrounding said mountain, and current elevation is 1400m.  Netflix fail ;).  Lol it is only green in areas that put a lot of effort to making it that way however.  The desolate dry yellows and dust-swept browns I’d expected were prevalent.


- view from the plane as it rolled to our disembarkment point -

The hotel itself is tiny and takes customer service to an impressive level.  There was a miscommunication about our early checkin (although they acknowledged they knew about it, just couldn’t acccommodate) but even still they had a room for us within about 2h of our arrival, definitely ahead of regular checkin.   The rooms are interesting - a series of individual circular huts of sorts, each hit has two rooms, and the keys are skeleton style.  There’s a small balcony of sorts as well which I believe is the “smoking” area of the property.



There’s not much (read anything) to do here.  You can walk the entire resort in 10 mins w time to spare.  Basically the options are hotel lobby, pool, or room.  So after a significant nap and a cold shower (if there’s hot water as advertised, I haven’t found the trick to it yet!) we spent the rest of the day at the pool.  The road noise is significant but otherwise it’s lovely.  Suspect it will be an early night and then safari starts tomorrow!  Woohoo!  Super excited :)



Except of course we don’t actually know when or where we’re supposed to meet our guide...  hmmm ;).  Tomorrow Lauren can solve that one.

Almost there...

I’m sitting on the last of three planes - this flight is all of about an hour, and we took a bus to get to the plane ;).   No propellers but maybe one step up?   Actually the most leg room we’ve had of any flight...  Also the only flight w a screaming child.

So things I’ve learned in my travels.  First and most brilliant - the horseshoe shaped travel pillows?  You know the ones...  W the head rest behind me it pushed me uncomfortably forward.  Booo.   But then I clued in - turn it around...  lol you might look slightly ridiculous but honestly - enough hours into a flight you really stop caring.  And for me enough is pretty much as soon as I sit down ;).  Not only does this still offer the desired side support but on top of that it feels kinda like your snuggling with blankets tucked up to your chin (at least mine did w a comfy cover in it).  AND it gives a handy chin rest so when you do eventually manage to fall asleep in some incredibly cramped economy position, your chin doesn’t drop down and wake you back up.   Seriously.  All round win.

Flying over the wing sucks.  Can’t see anything but said wing.  Fail.

Serious win - the app “Lounge Buddy”.  We knew we had a 10h layover in Nairobi, so we wanted to upgrade to lounge access.  This let us do it ahead of time - but even more important, it let us know said lounge existed!  Cause I tell ya, it was an adventure finding it and no way we would’ve stumbled upon it or wandered that far randomly looking.   And the Nairobi airport is not one you want to spend any amount of time in without the lounge.  Technically we only had access for 3.5h, but we stayed all night and nobody was the least concerned.  It also had AC which the rest of the airport didn’t seem to. Win.

Air France has one of the more entertaining safety videos I’ve ever seen.  Lol so random, but to their credit - it kept our attention.

Kenya Airways slogan is “the pride of Africa” - that amused me more than it should :). Also, the murals on the windows in the airport were amazing.  Esp as I woke up to see a zebra looking at me that I didn’t know was there when I lay down in the dark ;)



I’ve been amusing myself by smiling at random people who are clearly stressed out by travelling - it’s amazing how many relax and smile back.   I’m considering this my good deed for humanity ;-P
In Nairobi I had the worst headache - undoubtedly due to a wonderful combo dehydration and lack of sleep.  Went looking for Tylenol or some variety.  Guy in the airport shop:  “Headache?  Take some from the red box”.  They sell them one bubble sheet at a time. Hmmm a little dodgy but at least the packaging was in English.  Whatever they were, they worked.  Also put me to sleep which prob helped too ;)

Plane’s taking off now - will post when I find wifi.  Our rather dubious instructions when we land involve finding the guy w our names on a sign...  hmmmm wish us luck :)


Kilimanjaro from the plane

On our way

I'm currently watching the sun rise while eating a croissant in Paris.  Yup, life is good :).  It's roughly 2am home time but somehow I'm not remotely tired.  Just as well as we have 3h to kill before out next flight.



Flight in left late but arrived early - yeah tail wind ;).  Only real down side is that moments after they served food both drinks slid off my tray and onto my lap;  then seconds later, Chris' did too!   I managed to catch the food but I was horribly soaked as was my seat.  Actually the most unpleasant experience.  And because I was wet, shortly thereafter I was freezing :(. Covered the wet seat w a plastic bag (not sure how useful that was as my pants were pretty thoroughly soaked by that point) and then buried myself in blankets and my heavy fleece *sigh*.  Not ideal, but if that's the worst thing that happens on this trip, things are good.  Fortunately wearing light summer pants which dried in a couple hours.  I don't think I've ever been so grateful to not be wearing jeans!

So I've discovered that the Spanish I've been working so hard to learn has bumped what little French I once knew right out.  I did manage the most simplistic of conversations in French, but my brain was going English-Spanish-French.   Lol brutal.  Ah well - I suppose the plus is that the Spanish is getting better ;)

The Paris airport is a fairly significant step up from Toronto's in design and comfort.  Although we were a little annoyed to have to take all our camera gear out to go through security- in TO they just opened the bag.  Ah well, at least it wasn't busy ;).  So now my phone is in a free charging locker and I'm tying this on my iPad while Chris is off hunting Pokemon - except my seat is a lounge so I may just snag a short nap in the sunlight.

Next stop: Nairobi.

New app required

Fun adventures coming - I need to be able to blog from my phone. Sooo...

Testing potential app.

Hmmm so can add a photo but apparently not a caption...   This was Chris and I at the Rock Garden a few weeks ago :)

Okay well pretty basic, but hopefully it’ll let me post stories ;). At least when we have access to wifi.

Friday Flash #71: The Magic of the Night

In the darkness of the night the trees rustled as the warm wind blew wildly.  

“Do you hear them?” I asked.

“Hear what?”

“The fey?”   

My boyfriend just rolled his eyes at me.  He had no time for magic and mystery, proud his feet were firmly planted in the cement of reality.   He couldn’t hear the whisper on the wind.   But I could – just beyond my comprehension.  I could sense it, but not quite make out the words.

Marc locked the recycle bin safely in the garage.  “You coming?”

“I think I’ll stay out a bit,” he rolled his eyes and went inside, tolerant of but not understanding my more whimsical side.

My gaze was drawn upward, captured by the brilliance of the harvest moon.  The clouds formed pictures as they passed in front of it.  I watched for a while, my imagination seeing images that weren’t really there.  A dragon. A cityscape.  A mother with her child.  

But then I realized it wasn’t my imagination, and I wasn’t seeing random images.  The coulds were forming letters as they drifted over the moon.   I squinted and furrowed my brow, struggling to see more clearly, but the letters dissipated leaving wisps of a cloud that faded from sight once they passed the beam of the moon’s light.

I closed my eyes and listened to the wind.  My hair whipped around my face, but I did nothing to contain it, enjoying the wildness of the night.  I felt my heartbeat slow; my breathing became deeper; I smiled, feeling utterly and completely relaxed.  

I opened my eyes and let them return to the moon, relaxed and soft I saw the letters form.  And in the darkness of the warm summer night, I read the message that would change my life.

And with a smile, I turned and entered the house.

Studies have shown that people who have more birthdays live longer.

Um wow.  So that was an amazing weekend J

Short version:  lawyers, house, wedding, house, birthday, house J

Long version:

Let’s see…

Thursday night we met with the lawyers to do all the paperwork re the new house, we also had our final walkthrough.   Friday we got possession of the house!  Woohoo!   The dogs love their new abode – or more accurately, their private park ;)   Ashley’s wedding was Friday afternoon, so Mum picked up the keys for us when they became available at the lawyers.  Wedding was super close to our place and was really nice – it overlooked the lake, but was high enough so the view wasn’t interrupted by beach goers *g*   Then Chris had to go to work so I took a load of boxes over to the house and started unpacking. 

So – Thursday – Lawyers and house walkthrough – Check

Friday – Ashley and Kyle’s wedding – Check.

Saturday.   Saturday started with house stuff, of course.   Moved some more boxes, packed some more stuff, and started prepping the bedrooms for painting (filling holes etc).  All good.  Then was my levelling up ceremony!  Woohoo!  Lol otherwise known as birthday party for *gasp* 40^th.  Oh my god, how did that happen?  Ugh.  Let me  refer you to the fact that I was ID’d not too many weeks ago ;)   

Birthday parties aren’t really my thing, and I was trying to remember if I’ve ever actually had one before (other than immediate family of course – that’s an always J)   But when we were kids, it was usually a friend or two over to do something (esp with a summer birthday – kids scatter in the summer), and once I was old enough it’d become not my thing *g*   But this one, mainly cause I was struggling with it, I wanted to celebrate.  My awesome husband was left to the planning and pulled it off – I was slightly overwhelmed and very honoured by the number of people who came!  Lol it was awesome.  

We had our own little room in the restaurant (our house(s!) being in shambles at the moment) so we could mingle and walk around a bit which was nice.  Lots of people from various social circles had met at the wedding, so seemed like there was some catching up going on.   She who only ever meets with her friends one or two at a time, didn’t get nearly enough socializing time with anybody, but I at least got some time to chat with everybody.  Amazing night!   And then to top it off – my Mum made me a scrapbook ranging from when I was a tiny child to now.  So cool to look through and so many memories!   Admit it made me kinda sappy.  Also, reading all the cards when I got home – very cool.   Aileen gets bonus points for the Spanish ;)  So yeah – the night passed in a blink; I was so surprised by how late it was when we finally left lol.  But it was amazing and I’m still grinning.  So thanks all J

Then Sunday, my actually birthday, started with blueberry pancakes – yum!  For the win J   Lol Em had spent the night so she didn’t have to drive all the way home after the party, and the three of us went out for breakfast.   Then was back to load up vehicles (my parents generously traded with Chris and I, so far fewer trips are required) and off to the new house to unpack and paint.  Feature walls are pretty much done, now we just need to do the neutral ones and we’ll be good to go.   Actual movers will do furniture on Friday.   I’m so excited – kinda love both the house and the yard.   Will be even better in a few years when we can do some updates, but even right now, it’s great.   And watching the dogs love the yard was even better!

And today, LIFT 4, the latest exercise program started.   Lol would’ve been a whole lot more convenient if it had waited till next week, but I’m still going to try!  It’s only four days / week instead of the six or seven most of them are, so may be more manageable.

Home is where the heart is... Even if you don't know which box you packed it in ;)

So…   We get our new house on Friday!!!   It’s also Ashley’s wedding on Friday lol.  Have been doing all the pre-move craziness, calling all the utilities and service providers, dealing with banks and lawyers, fun stuff like that.   Whether or not I managed it all?   Well – time will tell…   Actual move isn't till next Friday :(   Which is logistically good, but I Want It NOW!!! *foot stomp*  lol   I am pretty excited about the new house though J   Less excited about the new mortgage L

Duolingo released a whole ton of new topics the other day.   So for those not familiar, each topic, has 5 levels.  And each level has 3-20 mini lessons.  So that’s a TON of new content.   And once you’ve done level 1 of each, the next area is open.   So I promptly tested out of the first two checkpoints, which got me to level one of about 13(?) topics and reopened the whole tree so I can do whichever lessons I want.   All good.  Lol and I was pretty pleased to pass J

So then I discovered, that you can also test out of each level on any individual topic.  So now I’m working my way through those.   So what’s the point?  Well I figure if I test out of everything I know, I’m left with the ones I really need to work on.   AND I’ll tell ya, the low levels are pretty painful.  There’s only so many times you can translate “the cat drinks milk” before you want to throw the phone out the window.   The higher topics are complex enough that I’m still learning and won’t likely manage to test out beyond level 1 or 2.

But it is nice after much effort to see that I can pass a fair number of them with no errors and no effort.  Also nice to now be able to provide answers in the duolingo forum that helped me through the basics when I was starting J   Of course, I went and found an intermediate/advanced one and promptly got entirely lost again.  And heaven forbid anybody speak at native-speaker pace.  Even if I know every word I won’t understand any of them *sigh*  Lol but hey, baby steps right?  

#fridayflash 70: Vaalea's Story

After publishing Jezina's Story (as I still think of it and wish I'd never changed the name) I've been asked a few times for what happens next, and occasionally, for what happens before.    Well before was an easy chapter to write -- it's here if you missed it :).   However, after....   Well after was a challenge.   I've written a bunch of random chapters.  Jezina and friends heading out to the town where the dragon was supposed to leave Vaalea, only to discover (spoiler alert!) neither of them ever made it (you can't possibly be surprised by that).   But, tbh, it didn't really interest me.  We'd seen the characters and the places in her first journey.  Going back to almost the start -- well, if it didn't interest me, odds are, it wasn't going to interest you :)

But then I got to thinking, Jezina's travels were driven by prophecy, but a prophecy that was really quite simplistic.  But maybe it was simplistic because it was just the introduction to the grander one.  These things do tend to run in families :).  And it's clear any prophecy with Vaalea could not have occurred had Jezina failed in hers.   And so I introduce a start...  A page really...  Of Vaalea's story :).

Thanks again to all those who read and support my writing.  Comments keep me going!

----
Vaalea's Story:

Stories are often told of princesses being rescued from dragons; as far as I know, I’m the only princess who had ever been rescued *by* a dragon. I was so young – I didn’t really understand all that had happened, or have any understanding of all that would happen. My sister, who I’d only just met, called the dragon, Drazul, and I climbed on. I was fearless and he was amazing. He spoke to me and made me laugh. And away we went.

It took forever to get there. Days? Weeks? I don’t know. It seemed like forever, but I was a child -- a year is a lifetime then.   He told me all about the special school I was going to; a school for people like me. We landed on top of a mountain. Slowly the mist cleared to reveal a castle, whose sides shimmered as though a mirage. Drazul directed me to head inside, and I was so excited – I’m sure I bounced.

There were other kids, and for the first time I could remember, I was allowed to play with them. My roommate, Adalyn, was the same age as me, but she seemed so much older. She was calm, always organized, “well put together” my mum would’ve said, and never got into trouble with the rest of us. But somehow, we still became friends.

We played, we learned, and we grew. Every once in a while, the dragons would bring us a new student. They would wander in; some were excited, but most were terrified. And thus we learned about the outside world, where magic was at best feared and at worst hunted. And so we stayed where we were safe, and we learned, and we practiced. And over time, we became strong.

But eventually, I grew up. And as I did, I wondered. I remembered so little of my life before I’d come. Why had my mother or my sister never come to visit? Drazul flew me here, surely he could’ve flown them. And I started to think that maybe it was up to me to go find them.

My first thought was to call Drazul and ask him to take me. He’d flown me here so many years ago, and stopped by at least a couple times a year since. We’d talk and play and sometimes he’d take me flying. But he never answered my questions of home, always just said I was better here. And eventually I stopped asking. Unfortunately though, I’d never learnt to call him; Drazul came when he wanted to and left on a whim – he never stuck around for long.

I slung my backpack over one shoulder, everything I valued inside. There were no rules against leaving – we could go at any time; the only rule was that once you left, you could never return. It was an easy life at the school. One where I knew everybody and was known. I could be myself and practice my magic, and perhaps one day even teach. It was a good life. But it wasn’t the life I was destined for, and somewhere, deep inside, I knew it.

I had said my goodbyes, but purposely not told anybody exactly when I would leave. It would be hard enough without a crowd. As I slid through the door, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Looking back over my shoulder, I saw Adalyn carrying her matching bag. “You didn’t think you’d be going without me, did you?” she asked.

-----

If you've been reading my stories for a while and the school seems vaguely familiar -- a, credit to you for an awesome memory!  And b - that's because it first appeared in The Road Less Travelled.  I didn't know then that that's where Vaalea was hanging out, but it made perfect sense when I went looking for her ;)

You never learn anything by doing it right...

So I took an unplanned break from my Spanish lessons, not intentionally, just wasn't prioritizing it enough to commit to a time 24h in advance (as required by the system).   But I did keep up with the self study via duolingo, busuu, workbook, etc.   Had my first lesson today in 2.5 mths and was super pleased to discover there's been improvement :).  Woohoo!   Cause I'll tell ya, it definitely feels like I'm on a very flat or even downward sloping plateau *sigh*.  But yeah - while conversation remained slow and painful, I was able to hold up my end more accurately and switch between tenses more successfully.   So pretty pleased at that.   Although please note the qualifiers -- "more" does not equal "well" ;)

I set my phone to Spanish for self-motivation.
Turns out I know how to work my phone without reading instructions ;)

Pretty excited about the move coming up in 3 weeks now :).  We have 2.5 week overlap so will move things in pieces -- 4 weeks till the bulk of our furniture moves.  But current owner showed us all around and let us take pics and ask questions, so getting pretty excited about the whole thing.

Have also started a new exercise program -- Lift 4.  It's only in test mode at the moment, 20 min workouts instead of the 40 min ones that will be in the real program.  Real program starts July 16...  Since I'm feeling the 20 min ones, I'm quite looking forward to the results of the full adventure (note - not actually looking forward to the adventure itself, I just want the results ;).

And in unrelated news, I'm rather pleased with how my moment of craftiness worked out :)