Tanzania Bound

I’m in the process of getting ready for this summer’s big adventure.  I’ve had round two of my shots.  I’ve gotten some special clothing.  And I’ve started to assemble the minimal amount of stuff I’m taking along.

I haven’t said much about what I’ll be doing and where I’ll be going up until this point.  I’m going with four other people from my church.  There is a companion parish that we sponsor in Irindi and we like to send a group to visit every few years.  Every year, our congregation sponsors students at the Image Secondary School.  We will be visiting Image as well as Tumaini University.  A few years ago, Sunday school students raised money to buy goats for some Maasai people.  Hopefully we’ll be able to go to the Maasai preaching point and see the goats.  We’ll also see other preaching points and have fellowship with the church members.

I’m traveling with two women that teach at a local University.  They teach Nursing and Occupational Therapy.  So because of their interests we will also be visiting Ilula Health Center and some medical dispensaries in Tungamalenga and Mbuyuni.  There is also Neema Crafts in Iringa, where people with disabilities make various art and crafts.  The link is very cool.  Much better than any explanation I can give.  We will be going to the Isimila Stone Age Site as well as sampling life in Iringa.

After Iringa, we are heading to Ruaha National Park.  There are a few cool informational videos on the link.  It’s in central Tanzania.  We’re staying at Mwagusi Safari Lodge.  This will be the most upscale accommodation on the entire trip.  But if you’re going to Africa, you better do some sort of safari!

After the safari, we go back to Iringa for a night and then we’ll travel back to Dar es Saalam.  We’ll spend a night in Dar and see what there is to see there before taking a short flight to Zanzibar.

So at the end of the trip, we’re going to get a little beach time.  When I found out where we were staying in Zanzibar, I thought to myself, “Hmm… could we stay here the whole time?”  There seems to be a lot to do on that island.  We’ll be staying at a guest house near the northern tip of the island.  On their site, it lists lots of activities to do while you are there.  I want to do the Spice tour and check out Stone Town.  Checking out the sea turtles and monkeys looks cool too.  Heck!  I want to do it all.  And I’m for sure coming back with a henna tattoo.  I won’t do the real thing, but henna should be fun.

I hadn’t actually looked up many of these places online until writing this post.  I must say, it’s making me even more excited to go.

Feelin’ my Core

When do you ever really feel your core?  Lately, I’ve been feeling it a lot.  I recently took up kettlebells.  This one little piece of equipment completely kicks my ass.  As you can see, it’s 26 pounds.  There are a variety of things you can do with it.  But the beauty of it is that you don’t have to do much to see/feel a difference.

I started doing kettlebells because I was feeling like I had lost muscle strength over the last few years.  My massage therapist recommended kettlebells and there just happens to be a class every Tuesday and Thursday morning at that location.  I was only able to go to four classes in June.  But I signed up for all of July.  I have another teacher friend that is doing it.  We basically figured that if we signed up for the month we’d actually do it.

The first time I did kettlebells I was so sore that I could hardly move.  I haven’t been that sore since I hiked the Inca trail!  (~30 miles and 6000 steps over the course of 4 days).  I was so sore that I had to put my hands on the toilet seat and lower myself down. Sorry for that visual, but you have no idea how much of a workout you’re going to get.

The main thing that you do are swings.  You are in a squatting position and you hold the bell with both hands and swing it between your legs.  You stand on the upswing and tighten your butt.  On the downswing, you bend your knees and then do it all over again.  You keep doing it until you’re fatigued.  It doesn’t take long.

There’s also a lift where you start with the bell on the ground and do sort of a “clean and jerk” up to your shoulder.  After you get it into that position, you use your other hand for stability and squat down all the way.  Then as you stand you bring the bell up so your arm is extended over your head.  We do this several times.  Last week I accidentally bonked myself in the cheek on the way up.  At least it was with my hand and not the bell!  You can also do curls with it (when you hold it with both hands).

Another thing we’ve done to work our core is to be in a push up position.  Your back is parallel with the ground, so there’s a slight bend at your waist.  (It’s different from plank position in yoga.)  Pick up your right hand and bring it to your waist without shifting your weight.  Then do it with the left.  It’s amazing how much this works your core.

It’s not like we do a gazillion reps of any of this.  Just a little goes a long way.  And the beauty of it, is once you learn the different things to do, you can easily do them on your own.  Have I done that yet?  Not exactly.  I’ve done some swings at home, but that’s about it.  But I do have the knowledge.  And that’s a start.

$11.62?

I went to pick up my travel prescriptions today. I was a bit surprised to find out that my insurance would only cover 30 days of the malaria prescription. The travel nurse, prescribed 31 pills. So they filled it as two prescriptions. One for 30 days and the other for 1 day. How much did that one extra pill cost? Yep. $11.62. The calculation for 31 pills was giving me a few extra. In reality, I should need a minimum of 28. Because of the time difference, they give you more than needed.

Did I get the extra pill? Nope. It’s a good thing I’m not going on a longer trip.

Travel Attire

In Tanzania, I’m going to need to wear long skirts. Long skirts are not exactly a part of my wardrobe. So I needed to go find some. Last spring, I asked a student where the Somali girls go to get theirs. She gave me the addresses of a few shops near downtown.  I went to two places.

The first place had a few things.  The brown and the green one came from there.  They had many skirts, but I’m not exactly tall, so I had limited choices.  The second place had a very helpful person in the shop.  She was Indian.  She recommended cotton for travel and showed me some of those crinkle skirts.  I was trying to decide on which two to get.  I had made my decision, but she knew that I really liked the pink one too.  So when I came to pay, she gave me a deal and discounted the three so they were all a nice price.

The skirts are also easy to travel with.  You can basically roll them up in a funky little ball and you’re set.  You certainly don’t want to fold them.  I probably won’t take all five.  But they’re fun skirts and they didn’t cost much.

Shots

No.  Not tequila or vodka.  The other kind.

In August I’m going to Tanzania.  Today was my appointment at the travel clinic.  I knew that I’d be getting at least two shots.  Because I have traveled quite a bit, I’ve had lots of shots.  Two years ago when I went to Peru, I had the same travel nurse.

When I got the shots and information about Peru, I swear that she was trying to scare me into not going.  You could get this, and this and this… I’m sure she was just being thorough.  Since she had seen me before, today she had a different tune.  She had figured out that I was a seasoned traveler.  I still got 86 pages worth of health information about my destination, but I didn’t get the scare tactics.

Right now, my left arm hurts more than my right.  I got the vaccinations for meningitis and typhoid in my left arm and rabies in my right.  The rabies thing is kind of new.  It makes it so if you get bit, scratched (whatever), you have more time to make it to a large hospital.  Plus, it’s questionable whether the facility will have the rabies vaccine and it is very expensive.  The rabies vaccine comes in a series of three.  I get the second dose next week, along with a polio booster.  Two weeks after that, I get the 3rd round.  I also got medication for malaria and a round of antibiotics (just in case).

I know that the time is coming soon for my next adventure.  But this sure makes if feel like it’s really happening.

What day is it?

I must be relaxed because I completely forgot that it was Wednesday and I needed to put out the trash. It’s a good thing that I hardly had any, because it was already picked up by the time I rolled out of bed.

I’m to the point in the summer where I have relaxed enough and can be productive. So this morning I went for a run and then to the Farmer’s Market. This particular Farmer’s market is held in the parking lot of the facility where we hold graduation. I haven’t been back there since June 1st. This is a nice and relaxed reason to go there, in comparison.

Dating Service Stalkers

Message on my machine today:

Hi Lori.  This is Tiffany.  I’m just calling to make sure you got my invitation.  Call me at …

I listened to the number and started running through the list in my head of people that I know that are getting married or having babies.  Was I supposed to RSVP to someone about a shower?

After awhile, I picked up my phone and looked at the caller ID.  When I saw the number, the pieces fell into place.  It was the dating service.  No doubt, they’re calling because they have some wonderful client and thought I would be a perfect match.  Eye roll.

The thing that bothers me about this call is that they’re acting like they sent me some invitation when they didn’t.  If you have to lie to get someone to call you, something isn’t quite right.  We’ll see how many times they call back and what lines they feed me this time.  It’s always good for a little laugh.

Getting my Kid Fix

For the past week my sister has been in town. So I’ve been spending lots of time with my three amigos. I have a great time hanging out with my nieces and nephew. It’s amazing how much energy they have. One day, Grandpa and I took the older two to the park. On our way home, they had to run back to the house. Needlesstosay, Grandpa and I weren’t going to run. The question we had as we walked was, “What will they do when they get to the spot where we cross the street?” Here’s the answer:

It’s that time of the year!

I’ve been strawberry picking twice this week. On Wednesday I picked about 10 pounds and on Friday I picked about 11 pounds. I’ve been a little busy so I haven’t made any jam. But that is the intent of all of this strawberry picking. Last year I made some regular jam, low sugar jam and strawberry rhubarb jam. My favorite was the strawberry rhubarb. But this year, I want to do more strawberry rhubarb and try some others.

This time I washed, hulled and chopped the berries. Then I froze them all! But while I was doing this “work” I made a special treat for myself…

A Strawberry Mojito.

Escape to Relax

The end of the school year is always challenging.  The first part of vacation is kind of tricky too.  It’s hard to explain what it’s like to perform (teach) in front of a live audience every day.  It’s a different kind of stress.  When that pressure is off, you realize how tired you really are.  One way that I’ve learned to help my recovery process along is to travel.  Right now I’m spending a week with friends in the Denver area.

We wouldn’t have to do anything special and I’d still have a great time.  The whole purpose of this trip is to relax and spend time with friends.  I come to visit every year, so we don’t have to pack everything possible into my visits.  We pick a few new things each time and then do our standbys.  So what have we been doing?

I don’t pack much because we always go shopping…  My friends are the ones that taught me to golf, so we go golfing at Red Hawk Ridge.  Yesterday we went to the Denver Art Museum and to lunch at Parallel Seventeen.  Today we’re going to a play called “Girls Only” and dinner at The 9th Door.  Tomorrow we’re going to Winter Park.  I’ve only been to Winter Park in the summer time.  But it’s always fun with lots to do.  While we’re there, we’ll golf at Pole Creek and work hard at the relaxing thing.  It’s definitely a fantastic way to start off summer vacation.