Well, I made it back from Kenya, bags and all! It was nice to get back and have some time to spend with Steve and get ready for the short work week. And, VERY nice to only have three days of work before the weekend. There has been a principal change at work that has proven to be a bit of a challenge, nothing that I won't be able to manage, but certainly far from easy or fun. I also had my last soccer tournament, the girls had a lot of fun, played well and ended with a penalty shoot out and won their last game. The weather was freezing, but blue skies, so it was nice. Steph's team won the whole tournament, so that was fun!
The weather, I can't believe how nice it is. It is absolutely freezing cold, but bright blue skies and not a drop of rain. I love it! I went on a great long bike ride and also some beautiful runs, the color of the leaves are gorgeous. I'm gearing up for Ironman training to start again. I signed up for the one in Zurich in July and also a half in St. Polten in May as a training race. Steve was just in England and bought me a few training books, I'm getting excited as a read them. I also signed up for a swim class, it was quite amusing actually. Registration for January classes started on November 7th, so I got to work, logged on and tried to sign up. The website was all in German so I was trying to read the directions, register for the class, website, loging, etc. and as you're doing it you can see the spots in the classes literraly disappearing. So, under each class there are these little icons that represent a spot in the class and as a person registers the little icon disappears. It took me so long to figure out how to register that I ended up with a class that meets at 8:00 - 9:00 on Thursday nights, terrible! That is my bedtime! I was laughing so hard though and in such a panic. I'm on the waitlist for a 7:00 class on Tuesday or Thursday, I hope I get in... whatever. Not like there is too much to do in the winter anyways.
Steph and I had a really fun Sunday. I got up and went on a great run to Schonbrunn Palace, Starbucks with Steve, baked Christmas Cookies with Steph and relaxed at home, went to the Rathaus Christmas market, out to a movie and dinner with Steve and then watched the x-factor. I really didn't want the weekend to end!
I went to this store, Metro, last night,it's similar to a Costco, and went a bit crazy. I bought so many things that I should have bought years ago, things like four/sugar/rice containers, vases, I don't even really know what else, just random stuff for the house. I also bought Steve some new dishes, we have been eating Chicken Salads out of takeout Vapiano dishes for about 4 months...
I'm considering applying for a different job, maybe Hong Kong, Brazil, who knows. I am pretty happy here though, why make a change!
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Kenya - living in African Time
One thing I am not is calm and patient. I figure I have to be at my job; in fact, people actually think I am an easy going, calm, take it as it comes type of person. Whatever. As usual, I arrive to the airport and end up on a different flight, arrive quite a bit later than I was supposed to, and somehow managed to miss every meal with the weird flight times. Fortunately my Mom and cousin were prepared. They stayed awake and I inhaled their leftover dinner. The conference was actually really, really interesting, I have been writing up all kinds of different things that I want to do when I get back to work. The first couple of days were spent at the conference all day and then dinner and relaxing at the hotel with my Mom and cousin. It was SO relaxing and nice! I feel so fortunate that we were all able to meet in Kenya. My sister came after she finished her volunteer work and we crammed all four of us into a room and the next day we had to say goodbye to Nicole and off we went on our safari!
It was a long bumpy ride to Masai Mara, but very interesting. We stopped at a lookout point and gift shop, took some pictures and then were on our way. We arrived to our beautiful tented camp in time to have some lunch, rest a bit and then go on an afternoon game drive. It was amazing! We saw tons of animals, zebra, giraffes, elephants, buffalos, gazelles, impalas, wildebeest, antelope, cheetahs and I’m sure some other things too. It was also just beautiful to see the vast amount of open space, the sunset, the hills in the distance, well, just everything. It was amazingly beautiful! We came back to the lodge, showered and changed and it was time for yet another great meal, buffet style. I’m not sure what it is about buffet meals, but I always feel like I just need to eat and eat. And, since the food was so good, it was great fun! I mean, you need three different types of dessert very night in addition to the dark chocolate chunks and almond slivers.
The next day we were up early for a game drive, I was happy I had brought my Dog River traveler’s mug, thanks Lindsey…, and we once again saw tons of animals. Amazing. We barely made it back in time for breakfast, which was once again, a huge delicious buffet, and just like at home; I had an egg white omelet, yogurt and granola, peanut butter and jelly toast, coffee, water and a little fruit. Right, just like at home. Between the morning and afternoon game drive we lounged around the pool and worked on our tan, we did take a little break to eat some lunch of course. The afternoon game drive was amazing. Raphael, our driver, all of a sudden seemed like he was on a mission! At one point I asked what an animal was and he dismissed me pretty quick and gunned it, he was taking us somewhere and we were in a hurry, but had NO idea where we were going. Then, out of nowhere, all of a sudden we were surrounded by more animals than I can ever remember seeing. Every direction you looked were zebras, gazelles, and wildebeest, just everything. It was amazing! He did stop so we could take a few pictures, but then, we were off again. To where you ask? We had no idea, but suddenly we got to where we were doing and he let us get out of the car, seems a bit risky, and it was an area where there were hippos, they were so cute! And it was nice to see water too. We got out and took a few pictures and then we got back in the car for the drive back to the tented camp. On the way back we saw an amazing rainbow and a sunset you could hardly believe. Pictures really don’t do it justice, but, don’t worry, we tried. I think Kristin must have taken a thousand pictures.
The next morning we did an early morning game drive and then drove to Lake Nakuru. When we arrived to Lake Nakuru we had some lunch and then went out for an afternoon game drive. We saw many animals again, but we were really out looking for Flamingos, we didn’t see any, but did see tons of beautiful pelicans. We also saw Black and White Rhinos that were really cute. And some warthogs that were adorable when they ran with their little tails sticking straight up. We had a really nice dinner and then went to sleep, had to be up early for another game drive before we were off to the airport and then Mombasa. The morning game drive was great, we saw lions up in a tree, I had to laugh when Raphael was driving around and parking a little bit out from under the tree, he said, we have to be careful, those lions aren’t that good in the trees, not like the cheetahs. And, when we questioned him a bit further about what he meant, he said, well, you don’t want to park under the tree because the lions could just slip and end up in the van with you. Right. We don’t want that to happen. We also found some flamingos and pelicans that morning. Raphael was saying how few there were and that it had changed so much, which, even in my experience from being there 13 years ago, it had, there were definitely less flamingos, but… there were still a ton of pelicans and a fair number of flamingos. To me, it was still amazing. We also went up to a really amazing view point where you could see the whole lake. It was gorgeous! After that we were off to Mombasa! But, we did stop at a gift shop, where I used Kristin’s technique of bartering and ended up with a fair sized canvas painting that I think will look nice in my living area above my shelf unit, well, I hope it will anyways. We arrived to the Nairobi airport and were off to Mombasa.
Mombasa was meant to be our relaxing beach time, which it was. But, I was EXTREMELY disappointed with the quality of our room. It really bugged me, it was actually dirty, not just not fancy, but dirty. Yuck. Like, brown water coming out of the hot water faucets and chunks of dirt, and walls that were in desperate need of paint, bugs in the light fixtures, just well, not nice. The rest of the resort was beautiful, the pool was great, good water temperature, the service was wonderful, the people super friendly, I had a great pedicure, but, oh how the rooms were awful! By the end I was just SO irritated about it that I asked to fill out a customer card and wrote exactly what I thought. Mom and I were sitting in this lounge area waiting for our airport pick up and the assistant manager came and found me because she wanted to talk to me about what I wrote. I felt a bit bad, but really, the room was awful.
Ok, enough complaining about that. We had such a nice and relaxing time. We spent all day every day by the pool on the same three chairs. There was a little flag you could raise and they would come over, we had drinks one day and lunch another. I would just sit in the pool on the steps reading my book for hours. I did manage to go to the gym most days and one day I had an amazing pedicure. My mom asked if I was worried about being cut in Africa, well, I hadn’t thought about it at all till she mentioned it, but, I went anyways and there were no major injuries to report. Meal time was similar to what a cruise ship meal time would be like. In the evenings they had a live band and it was pretty nice. Mom and I went out on a dhow cruise for dinner one night, it was really great. We sat with a couple that were traveling from Australia, they were really nice and celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. The weather was perfect and the food was delicious. I opted for the prawns, but one of the options was lobster and I have NEVER seen such a huge portion of lobster served, then after the main course was served, they came around asking if anyone wanted to try the lobster and were just handing it out. There was this live band on board singing most of the time too. Of course their CD was for sale… I chose not to buy it. We made it back to the hotel by 11:00, which is very late for us! The next morning, today, was our last morning. We spent the day by the pool, ordered a leisurely poolside lunch and then had to shower and head to the airport. We are just about to board our plane to Amsterdam, it’s an overnight flight, and I hope I can sleep! My connecting flight in Amsterdam is about an hour and fifteen minutes, I am pretty much counting on missing the connection, doesn’t seem possible. And, even if I do make it, I can’t imagine my bags will, but since when do they ever make it to where I go…
I already miss my Mom and she is still sitting next to me at the gate. Too bad Vienna and Portland aren’t closer! I loved my time in Kenya and can’t wait to come back…!
It was a long bumpy ride to Masai Mara, but very interesting. We stopped at a lookout point and gift shop, took some pictures and then were on our way. We arrived to our beautiful tented camp in time to have some lunch, rest a bit and then go on an afternoon game drive. It was amazing! We saw tons of animals, zebra, giraffes, elephants, buffalos, gazelles, impalas, wildebeest, antelope, cheetahs and I’m sure some other things too. It was also just beautiful to see the vast amount of open space, the sunset, the hills in the distance, well, just everything. It was amazingly beautiful! We came back to the lodge, showered and changed and it was time for yet another great meal, buffet style. I’m not sure what it is about buffet meals, but I always feel like I just need to eat and eat. And, since the food was so good, it was great fun! I mean, you need three different types of dessert very night in addition to the dark chocolate chunks and almond slivers.
The next day we were up early for a game drive, I was happy I had brought my Dog River traveler’s mug, thanks Lindsey…, and we once again saw tons of animals. Amazing. We barely made it back in time for breakfast, which was once again, a huge delicious buffet, and just like at home; I had an egg white omelet, yogurt and granola, peanut butter and jelly toast, coffee, water and a little fruit. Right, just like at home. Between the morning and afternoon game drive we lounged around the pool and worked on our tan, we did take a little break to eat some lunch of course. The afternoon game drive was amazing. Raphael, our driver, all of a sudden seemed like he was on a mission! At one point I asked what an animal was and he dismissed me pretty quick and gunned it, he was taking us somewhere and we were in a hurry, but had NO idea where we were going. Then, out of nowhere, all of a sudden we were surrounded by more animals than I can ever remember seeing. Every direction you looked were zebras, gazelles, and wildebeest, just everything. It was amazing! He did stop so we could take a few pictures, but then, we were off again. To where you ask? We had no idea, but suddenly we got to where we were doing and he let us get out of the car, seems a bit risky, and it was an area where there were hippos, they were so cute! And it was nice to see water too. We got out and took a few pictures and then we got back in the car for the drive back to the tented camp. On the way back we saw an amazing rainbow and a sunset you could hardly believe. Pictures really don’t do it justice, but, don’t worry, we tried. I think Kristin must have taken a thousand pictures.
The next morning we did an early morning game drive and then drove to Lake Nakuru. When we arrived to Lake Nakuru we had some lunch and then went out for an afternoon game drive. We saw many animals again, but we were really out looking for Flamingos, we didn’t see any, but did see tons of beautiful pelicans. We also saw Black and White Rhinos that were really cute. And some warthogs that were adorable when they ran with their little tails sticking straight up. We had a really nice dinner and then went to sleep, had to be up early for another game drive before we were off to the airport and then Mombasa. The morning game drive was great, we saw lions up in a tree, I had to laugh when Raphael was driving around and parking a little bit out from under the tree, he said, we have to be careful, those lions aren’t that good in the trees, not like the cheetahs. And, when we questioned him a bit further about what he meant, he said, well, you don’t want to park under the tree because the lions could just slip and end up in the van with you. Right. We don’t want that to happen. We also found some flamingos and pelicans that morning. Raphael was saying how few there were and that it had changed so much, which, even in my experience from being there 13 years ago, it had, there were definitely less flamingos, but… there were still a ton of pelicans and a fair number of flamingos. To me, it was still amazing. We also went up to a really amazing view point where you could see the whole lake. It was gorgeous! After that we were off to Mombasa! But, we did stop at a gift shop, where I used Kristin’s technique of bartering and ended up with a fair sized canvas painting that I think will look nice in my living area above my shelf unit, well, I hope it will anyways. We arrived to the Nairobi airport and were off to Mombasa.
Mombasa was meant to be our relaxing beach time, which it was. But, I was EXTREMELY disappointed with the quality of our room. It really bugged me, it was actually dirty, not just not fancy, but dirty. Yuck. Like, brown water coming out of the hot water faucets and chunks of dirt, and walls that were in desperate need of paint, bugs in the light fixtures, just well, not nice. The rest of the resort was beautiful, the pool was great, good water temperature, the service was wonderful, the people super friendly, I had a great pedicure, but, oh how the rooms were awful! By the end I was just SO irritated about it that I asked to fill out a customer card and wrote exactly what I thought. Mom and I were sitting in this lounge area waiting for our airport pick up and the assistant manager came and found me because she wanted to talk to me about what I wrote. I felt a bit bad, but really, the room was awful.
Ok, enough complaining about that. We had such a nice and relaxing time. We spent all day every day by the pool on the same three chairs. There was a little flag you could raise and they would come over, we had drinks one day and lunch another. I would just sit in the pool on the steps reading my book for hours. I did manage to go to the gym most days and one day I had an amazing pedicure. My mom asked if I was worried about being cut in Africa, well, I hadn’t thought about it at all till she mentioned it, but, I went anyways and there were no major injuries to report. Meal time was similar to what a cruise ship meal time would be like. In the evenings they had a live band and it was pretty nice. Mom and I went out on a dhow cruise for dinner one night, it was really great. We sat with a couple that were traveling from Australia, they were really nice and celebrating their 25th wedding anniversary. The weather was perfect and the food was delicious. I opted for the prawns, but one of the options was lobster and I have NEVER seen such a huge portion of lobster served, then after the main course was served, they came around asking if anyone wanted to try the lobster and were just handing it out. There was this live band on board singing most of the time too. Of course their CD was for sale… I chose not to buy it. We made it back to the hotel by 11:00, which is very late for us! The next morning, today, was our last morning. We spent the day by the pool, ordered a leisurely poolside lunch and then had to shower and head to the airport. We are just about to board our plane to Amsterdam, it’s an overnight flight, and I hope I can sleep! My connecting flight in Amsterdam is about an hour and fifteen minutes, I am pretty much counting on missing the connection, doesn’t seem possible. And, even if I do make it, I can’t imagine my bags will, but since when do they ever make it to where I go…
I already miss my Mom and she is still sitting next to me at the gate. Too bad Vienna and Portland aren’t closer! I loved my time in Kenya and can’t wait to come back…!
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