Life's a Journey

Words from a Self-Confessed Nostalgist

2014-10-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

Living in a country that is so fiercely patriotic about every aspect of their way of life, it does do much to remind outsiders of how far we still have to fit in. When I’m watching dazzlingly firework displays in New York City for July 4^th celebrations, I’m not reminded of the day Americans finally declared themselves an independent country a couple centuries ago, rather I’m reminded of vibrant times in my own history of gaining independence and overcoming obstacles to stand as the country we are today. When I taste the first earth shattering bites of apple pie, I long back to the times when melktert was readily available because the kerk Tannies had decided to hold a bake sale at the local Spar for no other reason then to remind the people of this world that there is heaven on earth. And add pannekoek to that mix and I’d be a regular in church on a Sunday thanking God for this wonderful miracle.

Yet I’ve always found myself wondering if I were to go home one day would I jump right back into the swing of things, or would I sit back pondering of a time that use to be? Will I lock my door at night in fear and remember all the millions of times in another land I’d walked out the house leaving it completely open to friends and thieves alike and coming back a few days later to a fully furnished house and neighbours kind enough to water the plants? When watching our land’s heroes on the rugby field bringing us victories by the boatload, will I be reminded of the times people have tried but failed to teach me of the intricacies that are American football only to give up, hand me a beer and let me live my life in oblivion regarding this matter? When sitting amongst the people of my home, hesitant to speak for fear of how my words will be interpreted, will I long back to the days I sat in a classroom studying African American literature with a group of people so culturally diverse they heralded from almost every nook and cranny of this earth and debate with them about issues of racism and equality and know that it is my voice that matters and not my skin colour?

When we choose the life of the homeless we choose to give up roots that ground us and decide instead to find comforts and commonalities amidst the unknown. Being a South African in America is what sets me apart from the crowd. My difference is not only glaringly obvious the moment I open my mouth and speak with an accent that sounds (according to almost every American) light-years away from many people here, but for me it’s most obvious when we sit around the table at dinner time and I’m the only one who uses a knife whilst everyone makes do with just a fork. It’s obvious when I’m eating huge turkeys and roasts during Christmas time when what I’m use to is lighting up the braai on Christmas day and spending the time doing what we South Africans do best; cooking meat to perfection on an open fire. Yet despite the open differences there are many things that unite us, and in a country as diverse as America these similarities are not hard to come by. I may not find South Africans on every street, but I do find people who have travelled from countries I’m just coming to learn of, who have left families and friends behind to start life alone in the wilderness. The girl from Georgia (the country) who sat with me in a sauna describing life in her wonderful country and what things she hoped to achieve in her lifetime, didn’t make us strangers because of a language and cultural barrier but kindred spirits in this foreign land. Meeting a girl in a parking lot who happened to share the same language and continent but not the same country fastened us rather as sisters and not just casual acquaintances. Being away from all you know gives you the wonderful ability to wax nostalgic of days gone by and at the very same time to appreciate the beauty of where you’ve ended up. You become one of the elite on this planet that is truly able to experience both sides of the coin, to know what it means to live and work to create your own dreams in the land of opportunities that is America, and to understand a country in distress at the same time. Your life becomes a shining example for what people are capable of achieving and not just showcasing some Hollywood movie of insurmountable impossibilities because to someone out there you’re living, breathing proof and not a mythological creature.

I’ve lived in this country for just over 3 years now and instead of embracing the place I’m in, I’ve longed for all I’ve left behind. Yet it took meeting fellow South Africans at a braai in a foreign land to make me realize how lucky I am, and to snap me out of living in an era of wistfulness. By longing for what was I forget to appreciate what is. I got so caught up in existing just for that moment when I could finally put my feet back on to African soil that I ceased to embrace the joy of living in the land fortune had granted me the wondrous chance of beholding. When meeting those South Africans I came to see that home isn’t just the physical aspects that make up the rainbow nation of South Africa. Home is the people that share the same traditions as me, it’s talking in a voice that has people asking instead, “Do you come from the same part of the world as me?” and not, “Is that British (you could replace that with Australian if you so chose as well)?” Home is knowing that there’s always a place to go back to but in the end having the freedom to embark on exploring new frontiers and creating grand adventures in foreign places. And at the end of the day when all is said and done, home will be a place of magnificent people and glorious moments unconfined by the boundaries of land.

The Return of Shana

2014-05-13T20:18:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe it’s been over a year since I last posted anything on here. I keep meaning to write and tell of the glorious adventures I’ve been on and some interesting and quirky places I’ve seen, but then life gets in the way, things get crazily insane, and every good intention flies out the window along with my very rare thread of sanity. But I have finally resolved to stop meaning to do things and actually start doing them. I am going to become a woman of action.

Since I last wrote I’ve begun an adventure of a whole different kind, some regard it as a willing form of prison meant to inflict untold amounts of torture upon young minds. To other unknowing mortals this institution is known as college.

My life at college began during a time of great change last summer. I was finally moving away from being just an au pair and evolving into a creature that roams the halls and courtyards of a college campus. That first summer as a student was thrilling and, as all things in life should be, something that wowed my mind with enticing new facts. As a class we spent hours debating the hidden symbols in movies such as Silence of the Lambs, seeking out mirror scenes in Forest Gump and admiring the use of camera angles in age old classics like Notorious. It was during that time that I eagerly began to anticipate the start of the coming school year, of opening text books and learning even more of the grand secrets this world held about all kinds of weird and wacky things.

But a class held in the summer months during the relaxed days of warm weather, burdenless workloads, and an entire culture of fun is universally different from fall and spring sessions. And boy have I come to realize that surprising fact.

Today I have finally finished my first year as a full time American college student and it’s been one rollercoaster ride of a journey. I’ve met people that inspire me to do wondrous things with their buck loads of passion for things as simple as food, to greater realms of making changes in the lives of those less fortunate then themselves. I’ve bumped into old and young alike on this college campus that foregoes the discrimination of age and welcomes with open arms anyone with a mind open to learning and a heart willing to achieve. And then I’ve met those unusual characters that make me wonder if eccentricity should be a class group all its own. But then again they probably think the same of me.

Sitting outside in the sunshine now after what seems like a long and almost never-ending road, I’m glad I found my light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve enjoyed debating about the philosophies of Socrates and Plato with a professor sporting the coolest head of hair I’ve ever been fortunate to behold. Learning of the intricacies of the computing world put my head in a spin, but thankfully I had my psychology lessons all geared up to inform me of the exact state my mind was in, and how to go about being somewhat less crazy. I held a spot in an English class with a professor that, to say the least, was one I will never hold similar views on regarding anything and that’s okay. But thank goodness I was learning some terrific moral lessons in ethics because my attitude in that class could have been very immoral indeed.

And so as I sit here contemplating my journey I would like to share with you three of the most important lessons I’ve learnt throughout this year:

1. 1. Daily planners were created for more than just creative ways to use trees and kill the forests. It is in actual fact a very necessary tool needed to ensure your imminent success as a student. Because trying to remember the million things you need and the gazillion places you need to be cannot all be crammed within a head that is being used to store an infinite amount of new facts. And when you’ve finally decided to dust it off, doodling is an extra benefit but not the main purpose of this useful tool. Hint: try writing down the necessities of what needs to be done.

2. 2. Remember those times you thought those monsters known as adults had forced you to shut your eyes and catch a few winks, and you’d obsessively sworn they were evil aliens out to eliminate all the goodness in your life? Well I’ll let you into a secret here. These alien adults knew that in a few short years they’d be ushering you off to college and your days of sleep would be a thing of the past. Come to think of it, sleep will be something only defined in a dictionary and seldom, if ever, practiced in the regions of real life. Welcome to the world of the walking dead fellow zombie, I am pleased to be meeting your unsleepful acquaintance.

3. 3. Just because you may be living in the comforts of home with mom and dad still hovering about to take care of your every need (if you’re that lucky), college is a time when you have the very rude awakening that you’re now all grown up. Be ready to welcome in grown up responsibilities like work and paying for stuff (like wine because mommy and daddy don’t think this juice does much for the revitalizing of your brain cells, and you’re going to need it). You now have to juggle responsibilities and, I say this as tears stream down my face, forego those parties with the uber hot swimsuit models in favour of maintaining the grades that keep you in good graces with wiser folks of humanity. It’s almost like being a parent with the amount of juggling you’ll be doing thankfully minus the tiny, screaming humans that are the hardest creatures on earth to attempt pleasing for more then 2 mere minutes at a time.

And so I am closing off this chapter as a first year, full time college student and ecstatically rushing out to greet the much-anticipated return of summer. The winter was grueling, the snow frostbitingly atrocious, and the cold utterly heartbreaking. But better things await us all when the sun comes out to play and the professors take a break from the institution of torture for young minds.

Have a great week and I look forward to telling you more great tales soon.

Safe travels!

The Great Ohio

2013-04-16T11:43:00.001-07:00

Before I go to a new place I start forming all these crazy expectations in my head of what it will be like. So, when I knew I was going to Ohio the crazy expectation filled head of mine was working overtime. My expectations were of a place that would have a whole lot of open land with miles of nothingness and nowhere and a bunch of insane hill-billy types that sort of resemble those people from the Hills Have Eyes or Wrong Turn. To say that Ohio was not my top choice was fair enough, I put it down to watching too many scary movies though. And then I got there and I realized how wrongly I had judged, thank goodness for that because being hacked to pieces on an abandoned hi-way was not how I planned to spend a weekend.

Ohio is a place that offers so much more than we expect from it. We expect to be bored by a whole lot of open miles, but instead we can be amazed by the history and architectural uniqueness of the small towns that you pass through every couple of turns in the road. We expect there to be a lack of fun, yet they offer activities out of the ordinary that require you to be just that little bit more adventurous and embrace a side of you that would normally lie dormant, like biking to some town and experiencing their wondrous downtown vibe, taking a tour of the many farms in the area or just appreciating nature at its best, quiet undisturbed and perfect.

Cincinnati offers much in the way of sturdy architecture and friendly people. There are many little shops that will inspire that shopaholic within you to empty those pockets. Over the Rind in Cincinnati is one of the very interesting parts of the city as it holds a great deal of history and tells a story of just how far this place has come. Yellow Springs is the kind of town you go to see what you hope America would be like, a place where you can find friendly people willing to support a few boys selling daffodils from their mothers garden, it is a place brimming with so much soul and artsy vibes you cannot help but want to embrace your inner hippy, oh and did I mention that their funnel fries could quite possibly be the best in the world. Just thought I should mention that very important fact.

It is hard to choose exactly which place in Ohio really stood out for me. It could have been seeing the sparkling lights of Columbus while eating one of the most absurdly original burgers on the planet. It could have been seeing the beautiful farm in Xenia while feeding the ponies and petting the greedy goat. It could be seeing Serpents Mound in twilight and marveling at the grand things of human culture. Or seeing a million other places that are just as fantastic. It is hard to choose when the state of Ohio continues to leave me gaping at each corner.

There are many things that will never cease to amaze you when you take the long road down a dusty hi-way in Ohio. You could meet people who will warmly welcome you into their homes as if you were their beloved family, you could see unexpected and peculiar sights, but most of all you could be amazed when you set aside your expectations and be utterly entranced at what you find within this state that holds so much. Ohio is a place that will continue to defy your expectations and set about to prove you wrong. It will show you the best it has to offer no matter where you are looking, be that at field ready for the plowing or in a busy downtown metropolitan city. Ohio is surely a place you want to put down on your list of places to be.

Safe Travels

Irish Pride

2013-03-31T16:55:00.004-07:00

Being an Au Pair is amazing in that our Area Director’s go out of their way to find exciting things for us to do at our monthly meetings. For those of you who are not too sure what Area Directors are; this is the person in the United States who ensures that we follow the rules, have a great time and we are still living and breathing each month, kind of like a mom (except she can’t ground us when we misbehave, thank goodness for that because I would probably have spent my whole time in this country in my room without a cellphone). And the monthly meetings are the times when we see our Area Director in person. So being March what better way to spend it than at a St Patrick’s Day parade. Just a pity though we could not spend it in true Irish style with a keg or two in our hands singing about the good ‘ol days in our dear Ireland while dressed in green .

Morristown, a beautiful town in Morris County, New Jersey, was the place chosen for our monthly meeting. The weather that day was superb, the sun was shining and there was just enough of a breeze to make it bearable but not too cold. The parade started off with a group of girls dressed in colourful traditional Irish dress dancing to upbeat folksy tunes and skipping and hopping higher than should be humanly possible I thought about trying it but then thought I could come up with much better ideas, I think I will just put this down to the fact that they were young and not that I was certainly very unfit.

With the streets filling up with all sorts of people who had just discovered they all had some sort of Irish heritage, most though dating back probably a couple centuries, some wonderful Au Pair discovered a Starbucks. Now Starbucks is the very way of life for us Au Pairs, it is where we go to meet new friends, to fill our veins with coffee so strong it’s a sure bet we will not be sleeping for the next few days and it’s the place you go to gather your senses when your kids have frayed and dashed each last nerve you had. Starbucks is home. So in we go to gather our little comforts to make the most of standing outside. After all that it was back on the street to watch the parade unfolding before us.

The actual parade was a wonderful affair. Most of the people were men dressed in skirts, oh make that kilts (I never did understand the difference), walking to the beat of drums, flutes and bagpipes. Glorious red fire trucks passed our way filling up the entire street and amazing us at the sheer size of this monster machine. A mime artist walked by entertaining children in silence, and for two very amazing seconds we experienced that same silence from the children as they tried this imitation, I believe from now on I will be playing this game with my kids. There were a group of people and dogs from the Seeing Eye Dog foundation which is very famous in Morristown and then some more very famous Irish dogs. The Irish wolfhound left most of us gaping with its enormous size, it was truly a magnificent creature.

The parade was wonderful as it left us with great memories. For me it was the chance to meet some great, friends from exotic places in this world, to learn about the Irish culture in a fun and interactive way and to add to my already over flowing bank of memories of my exceptional time in the United States of America.

Safe travels!

Friends, food and Madiba

2013-03-05T16:24:00.000-08:00

Nestled snugly in a City that never ceases to stop for just a second is the most perfect reminder of home. A place that is not just a nostalgic reminder because of a name we all associate with our country, but the place bustles with the lively atmosphere of a typical South African shebeen. About 80% of the people there are all natives, so familiar accents and words that many of us hear so seldomly fly around like we are all sitting back at home catching up with old friends. You are greeted with a, “Hey China! Howzit going!” and you promptly respond with, “Lekker bru,” with no awkward glances and feeling for the first time in a very long time as if someone really gets this very unique thing we all share. It is a place for those us who long for the country we all dearly miss to have some sort of connection to, because ultimately that is what South Africa is made up of, a melting pot of amazing people and Madiba in New York City captures this so impressively.

I must admit I had my doubts about this place, recreating an atmosphere and place that completely symbolized the very way of life for every South African in a place that was so completely opposite was going to be a challenge. South Africa lives for the “just now’s” and moves on the ever unpredictable “African Time,” we seldomly stay strangers with people for very long and smiles are given away like candy. In New York City, despite how amazing this place is, you are hurried from one place to the next knowing that every second counts, and most of the time we are so busy glancing down at our feet we forget to see the people who pass by us on the street. Yet our first step into this place was like taking a giant leap out of the USA and stepping into the warm embrace of home.

Madiba was our choice of restaurant for the night because we were meeting some South African friends flying in from the UK. Familiar territory for all. As we walked through the door we were handed an original ballot sheet from the 1994 election, and they had even taken the time to mark off our vote for us. The place was jam packed with people squashing elbows in this knee and standing on that toe. The music playing in the background was a mix of up and coming South African artist, with some of the older more famous tracks in between. At our table we sat down in old style farm house chairs that were all miss matched, and sturdy looking tables that came out of our grandparents’ era.

The food was amazing! We started off with a light white wine straight from the vineyards in Stellenbosch to accompany our starter of “vetkoek” in a sauce of chutney and a hearty supply of “slap chips” drenched in vinegar. Now the hard part came, choosing from the multitude of traditional dishes which would satisfy our appetite and longing for home. At this point in the night when we have all starved ourselves the whole day for the anticipated meals ahead, the decision is a very difficult one. I settled on the tasty “bobotie” and more chutney which turned out impeccably capturing all the flavors of this very scrumptious meal. Kate, Mavis and Jen both tried the “pap en wors” with the side of chakalaka. I had a taste of the pap and have to say honestly that no one can truly make better “pap” then my wonderful “Goggo” back home, but it came a very close second. Kev and Nicole tried the very traditional oxtail, and both raved about the delicious meal.

At this point we were all stuffed to the seams, but how could I leave without trying “iets soets?” After selling off my beanie in exchange for a dom pedro I was hoping it would be worth it. It was great that Kate was paying, but it was also frigidly cold outside that door. The first sip was more than worth it and the rest of that wonderful glass was a delightful bonus.

The night turned into a great surprise. A time to reconnect with all that we left behind at home, to catch up with old friends and to be in a place where we could just have a “lekker jol.”

Safe travels!

Part Four: I'm in Miami

2013-02-08T15:20:00.004-08:00

It is a Friday night and I cannot go out because it’s snowing. So, I thought I would catch up with my blog since I have been neglecting it terribly for the last few weeks. I have done a great many exciting things since the last time I posted anything, so hang in there and if like me you have nothing to do on a Friday night, grab your mug of steamy hot chocolate, a huge bowl of chocolate ice cream and a chair and read away. Or anything chocolate for that matter. I hope I provide some sort of entertainment for you tonight.

So we ended off the road trip saga in Key West, Florida. I have one more fascinating destination to tell you about before I can close off that chapter. This blog takes place in the unbelievable city of Miami, Florida. A place where the party, literally, never stops.

Having spent a really fun, lazy day in Key West, we took a rather slow drive up to Miami. Slow because the fastest you could drive at any one time was 50 mph and that was if no cops were in the nearby vicinity. We arrived in Miami and made our way straight to our hostel, because I was a grumpy person and Kevin was almost on his deathbed. The one great thing about America is that most major cities number their streets, so when you’re navigating your way through unfamiliar territory at least you can kind of feel like you have some semblance of hope that you know what you’re doing. So the hostel was on 9^th and Something Street, this would make it easy, especially for someone like me who needs things to be made very simple. I am driving and I find the numbers and I count along in my head, just making extra careful. There I go, 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10. Something wasn’t quite right there. So I turn around and start again. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10. Not right again. They say third times the charm so one more time. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10. Somehow I just knew I should have listened during those math lessons, but well too late now. Eventually, in his near death state, Kevin wakes up, relieves me of the horrendous task of driving and manages to find the street, the 9^th one. If you’re lucky with numbers, you’re lucky with numbers.

One thing I have to say about Miami though is that hostel are certainly not for the fate of heart. If you go there expecting a place with a comfy bed, noise free, personal space and a clean bathroom, you would have better luck booking in at the $1000 a night, 5 star hotel down the road. It was my first time ever in a hostel, and to say the least it was like a huge cultural shock. Almost like packing my bags, flying way over the ocean and living in another country with no familiar face. It was almost that bad. While it is an awesome place to meet people from all over the world, I met some girls from Russia who were probably here competing for world’s tallest human, a guy from Cambodia who spoke better English then an English speaking person, and someone from Germany who wasn’t too sure what country he was from. The bathrooms were a place you entered and didn’t judge too closely anything you found that slightly resembled a foreign specie. In order to keep your sanity about you, just go in there do what needs to be done and leave. That is the only way to survive.

Miami is this place where they have the most amazing specials. Being the shop obsessed individual I am, I cannot under any circumstances pass up a bargain. It would go against everything I stand for in life. But these “amazing specials” tended to drift towards the more adult beverages. A special is a special, I was not about to let this one pass me by. So after huge cocktails and recovery sessions on the beach, it was time to make our way back to yet another hostel, this time we had our own room, to get ready for a night out on the town. Now the main building for the International Hostel is but three blocks away from where we were staying. Keep that in mind, three blocks. We go there to make our reservations for the night and then walk over to our apartment style hostel. Well, Kevin and I made it there anyway. I spent an hour getting myself ready for the night, and still managed to watch a movie and helped some poor lost traveler from Brazil, or was it Spain? I cannot remember, try find his friends who abandoned him at the airport. So three hours later and there I see Shaii and Kate walking down the street, with a huge bottle of water and rationing off a chocolate bar like their lives depended upon it. What had happened to them you may ask? They too got lost somewhere between the three blocks they had to walk from the main hostel to where we were staying. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that they walked in one continuous circle for three hours. I think after the first 10 minutes I would have been bored. But kudos to them for persevering the way they did.

Miami was really great. We didn't just spend our time on half priced cocktails and shaking our booties in clubs. We managed to see a little more than that. We saw the amazing beach, went on a boat cruise around the harbor and got to ogle celebrity houses and ended off our time with an insanely delicious meal at a very fancy restaurant. So, go to Miami all you young at heart and if you feel especially brave go try out a hostel, it will be sure to change your world.

Safe travels!

Part Three: A Life of Laze in Key West

2013-01-06T09:01:00.003-08:00

The wonderful thing about a road trip is that you are never bound to a destination or how you will travel. If a place piques your interest than staying an extra night is an option, if by morning you find that it just does not add that certain excitement you expect, then packing up and leaving is as easy as that- packing and going. So, with our New Orleans part of the journey coming to an end, choices had to be made. Where to next? How were we going to travel? Did we stay an extra night? Being Christmas morning and just about everything shut down but the trusty old Starbucks (where we all made hurried calls back home, lest we land up in mom’s bad books and had to forgo a Christmas gift for next year), the best choice was driving another 20 hours straight through to Key West, Florida. Now it all seemed very practical; no accommodation costs (we would be sleeping in the car), we could actually fit this unique destination into our travel itinerary and we had something to do for Christmas day since everything was locked tighter then my brothers secret stash of money. But thirty minutes into the drive and with another nineteen and a half to look forward to, you have to wonder what possessed you to think that driving so long would be such a brilliant idea. The car begins to feel like a moving prison cell, the radio sounds much better when it’s playing static then the endless hits radio stations keep leaving on repeat, and you much prefer the company of the four other people in the car with you when they are dead to the world rather than awake and breathing. In this case I mean when they are napping, but the thought did cross my mind a time or two.

Arriving in Key West, Florida is like driving into a place that does not quite understand that life in other parts of the world revolve around busy schedules, hurried work lives, screaming children and far off thoughts of that idyllic retirement all alone on a secluded island. Key West is that place we all dream of going to, to unwind and forget that we have a job to go back to. It’s the place where a, “I’ll see you in 5 minutes,” can mean anything from 5 hours to 5 months. You set your own pace here, or none at all for that matter. Arriving bright and early the next morning we made our way to a Laundromat to do laundry. Yes, even on vacation this heinous task will still present itself. With laundry in and taking its sweet time to run through a cycle, I spotted a bag of homemade nuts, raisins and m&m mix in the car and with my stomach and me having many life changing conversations in that car over the hours, I eagerly grabbed it before someone spotted the loot. And then what would walk across my path? A rooster. Now you should know this about me, I am a sucker for poor, starving helpless things, even when that perceived starving helplessness is in my head. So, my only option was to feed this poor thing with the only food I had available to me. My stomach was already protesting, but I was doing this for the greater good. I love m&m’s and my absolute favorite kind are the blue one’s. So seeing as I was not going to eat the other colours, I began throwing them out to the Rooster who quickly devoured his morning meal. After about 5 minutes of this and thoughts that maybe chocolate was not the best choice for a morning meal I quickly switched and gave him raisins instead, figuring a fruit a day would keep doctors away and all that. When I decided that overeating was not an indulgence this fine looking Rooster should partake in, I abruptly ended our meal together and bid him farewell. Unfortunately he did not quite get the farewell part, and instead took it as in invitation to invite his fellow chickens. Well, at least Shaii got some great pictures in between running away from chickens and throwing them food to encourage better poses for his photo’s.

With laundry all done, our next stop was food and a doctor’s office. We did not harm anyone in the process of this road trip, but the ever stoic Kevin did manage to get himself sick. Remember that unhurried pace the citizens of Key West choose to enforce in their lives? Even doctor’s offices implement this concept. So after about the second hour and no sign of Kevin emerging out the air conditioned building; Kate, Shaii and I made ourselves comfortable by rolling the windows down low, leaning our heads back and just slightly closing our eyes. Now if you were to do this anywhere else in the world you could find yourselves without a car and a couple of limbs, but considering the time it would take for people to do this and all the work it would be we figured we were more than safe in this community. What seemed like an eternity later, Kevin finally came out with a prescription for Strep Throat and a mood blacker then a starless night. And not a drop of sympathy from his fellow friends.

The rest of our time in this breathtaking place was spent lounging and drifting into bouts of much-needed sleep on the warm beach with the ocean at our toes. With the sun slowing descending against the horizon and realizing I had forgotten my camera in the car, Shaii and I made the mile long walk to fetch it. How could we come to Key West and forgo a picture of the sunset? With the camera strapped securely around me, we made the arduous trek back to the sleeping beauties on the beach, but somehow got side tracked when Shaii spotted an Iguana. This prompted me to tell him that in South Africa we have the same except with one flick of their tail they can break your legs, and then screaming that one was coming for us. It brought tears of joy to my eyes to see him get so scared and uncertain. Believe Shana or lose my legs were probably the thoughts colliding in his head. We also got to explore a fort complete with cannon balls and dingy prison cells and still made it back in the nick of time to take the most gorgeous photos of the sun slowing slipping behind the ocean.

With the sun set on this part of our stay, it was in the car and off again to a new place and a whole set of new memories to be made

Part Two: Forever Altered by New Orleans

2013-01-03T07:57:00.000-08:00

In life we have all these outrageous social classes and groups that separate us from one another. You have the ultra-conservative people who balk at the sight of some of the shenanigans the liberals undertake in, then there are the business type who work harder than they intend to play, there are the family-orientated who make changing a diaper seem like the next best thing after a grand reception with the president (well, this may depend on the president who offers you that grand reception), and then there are those wild college students who at the age of 30 are still there studying the effects that ethanol will have on the organs. In normal life we do not mix, we are required to each stay on our dividing sides of class and tolerate each other. Yet, come to New Orleans and you will see a meeting of the classes that will so baffle and intrigue you at the very same time. More specifically, set your foot amongst those walking the tar on Bourbon Street; mingle with a lady old enough to be your grandmother, talk politics with a child barely out of a high school classroom and boogie all night with someone who could quite possibly be more formal and stuffy than your father. On Bourbon Street this is the way of life.

Arriving amidst peak hour traffic after seeing the inside of a car for too long, the best and most logical thing would be to find our hotel, take a shower and sleep until waking up would actually make us happy people again. We arrived at the hotel, where I was trying very hard to keep my judgment well hidden, and found our room. Walking the corridor to our room was like standing outside the KFC in Dundee, South Africa. Being the Christmas season it kind of made you feel nostalgic for all of two seconds, and then the smell really hit and having reminders of home did not seem that important anymore. So after taking about an hour to unpack the car (none of us got the memo to pack light), we made plans to be out the door by 7pm because Kevin was going to show us how to really party. It never happened that way; it was a kind of rough estimate of what time to get up.

First rule to remember when partying: always, always have something to eat beforehand. It makes the headache the next morning only a little less as intensifying. Being in New Orleans you have to try the food no matter how absurd it may sound. If you do not it is like going to France and completely missing Paris, it is just not done. There are many options and something will satisfy your curiosity, being the adventurous people we were we decided to try a sampler of all the different kinds of food. And Shaii being a vegetarian opted for the cheese pizza (at the end of our trip he has officially tasted more cheese pizza then anyone I know). My favorite was the Gumbo, I know it had rice in it and some other stuff (sometimes it is best just to eat and not ask). So with the bellies all filled up it was time to go see Bourbon Street for the first time, and be transformed.

Now many people think Vegas is the party capital of the world, yes they may be right, but Bourbon Street in New Orleans is thee party capital that does not distinguish between people. If you decide to make a night out on the town in your fluffy pajama’s with cute white bunnies then good for you. If you have just come from a long day of exploring other parts of the city with your huge camera bulging in your front, your white socks pulled up smartly somewhere between your calf and knee and your flowery flip flops on your feet, then there is a place for you here to. The one very interesting thing about New Orleans is that alcohol is permitted on the streets, just not in the container it comes in. It is kind of like the philosophy most parents have about their teenagers, “We know terrible things are abounding in your rooms, but just close the door and we can pretend it’s not really there.” Another very important rule to remember when going out is to always carry a phone or in the worst case remember your friend’s number. I sadly did not heed my own advice here and got separated from the group somewhere between meeting a new friend, trying to scream a conversation to a stranger and dancing the night away in a smoke filled room. When deciding that Bourbon Street had come out a victor this first night, I waited to tell my friends it was time to go and could not find a single familiar face. Now the time comes when you want to rewind the hands of time, charge that phone and carry it with you. With hundreds of bars and clubs and places to be on that crowded street, finding my friends was like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack. So against everything I had ever been taught by my wonderful parents, I went home with a stranger so he could help me get a hold of my friends and find the hotel I was staying at. I was lucky that night; I never went home with an axe murderer who would later feed me to the alligators. This person helped me find my friends and hotel and even dropped me off at 4 in the morning, now that is real Southern Hospitality for you. I do, however, not recommend this to anyone.

Before you think that New Orleans was a one stop party destination, I will assure you we did see more of what this truly rare part of America had to offer. We drifted through the French Market by day somehow being bargained into buying things that just touched the corner of our eyes. We ate more food than I think humanly safe, but savored every last morsel. And after lunch we had coffee at the famous Café Du Mont, where icing sugar brought out the child within and the coffee just refined the behavior. We watched passengers embark on the last Steam Boat and were greeted by a homeless man making many exuberant sounds; Shaii seemed thoroughly delighted in communicating in this manner. We took a tram ride to nowhere and back again just because we could and enjoyed it regardless.

If it is at all possible, every person should make a stop in New Orleans at least once. To see what a meshing of the social classes and cultures is like. To see difference as something that makes you special and not what separates you. Albert Einstein once said that, “The distinctions separating social classes are false; in the last analysis they rest on force.” I think when he said this he must have been dreaming about the faraway place of Bourbon Street, New Orleans.

Part One: An Introduction

2013-01-02T12:00:00.004-08:00

I have survived the impending doom of the end of the world, and now am at this very moment am undertaking an event just as life changing. I am now on a road trip from New Jersey down to New Orleans for my Christmas vacation, with three of the most unique specimens of mankind on board our interesting ship of a car. Sides have been chosen, and re-chosen more times than the unlimited miles of quaint road between point A and B, and war has been declared. As of yet the enemy is unknown and the cause, well that is undecided too. Let me introduce you to each opposing force occupying a space much too small for each implied thought of self greatness.

First up on the list is Kate. This list is going in alphabetical order with the last person being the most likely to succeed this impeding friendly war known as the Winter Road Trip. Kate is Czech, and for most that should be information enough, but since that will not suffice for others let me elaborate. Many times I fail to quite describe just how truly unique Kate is. So I will resort to making references to fairytales. Kate is like a dainty Princess in an Ivory tower, very beautiful but very useless. The beauty charm works very well in most cases like when photos are needed and, umm I am sure there was something else too. And for Kate, the useless thing works very well in a car. In a car Kate is just like a Princess, stuck in her Ivory Tower unable to do anything relying on her minions. Oh, but she does encourage and entertain us with just how amazingly similar the Czech Republic is to America. Five minutes into our road trip I feel as if I have seen more of the Czech Republic then most of the states I have passed through on our 22 hour drive down.

Next is Kevin. The SUPER glue (because any ordinary spit and stick glue is not good enough for Kevin) that holds the constantly perceived fraying pieces together. The long road down to New Orleans has been made less boring with his one of kind renditions of classic songs, that all somehow seem to portray our less than desirable qualities. But as they say many life lessons are taught through the words of a simple song, apparently Kevin has caught on to this theory a lot quicker than most. Thus far Kevin has exhibited very human-like qualities (or alien depending on who’s glasses you use to view this scenario from), a minor number of insults and a relatively small head for awesomness. But this is just the start.

Shaii’s name just came up in my mind and all my fingers wanted to do was type away. But I will use constraint. Shaii in normal circumstances is like my much loved arch nemesis. On the road trip he has evolved into the much loved one man comedy show of an arch nemesis. Shaii has this wonderful way to make you feel very liked and insulted from just one word out of his mouth. And he has this, to me, annoying penchant to sing themes songs to my life. Although I love the feeling that I live the movie star style life with all the travelling, constantly being serenaded with Bob Marley’s Who Shot the Sheriff is not my idea of the ideal theme song for my time in life at the moment. At this moment though he has added a new song to his playlist for my life, I can still hear it echoing in my head unless of course that is his voice. I like big butts and I cannot lie….

And the last person in the car? Well that’s me.

Oh, and we did make it down to New Orleans somewhat fuzzed out on Nyquill (Shaii), having lost only about two hours of sleep out of a normal twenty four hour day (Kate), smelling a tad like a fresh patch of stink weed (Me) and much convinced of his ability to party like a sixteen year old (Kevin).

A Drive on the Wild Side: Yellowstone National Park

2012-12-11T20:49:00.001-08:00

I know I make a lot of reference to places and occasions from South Africa, but this is like my base of knowledge and so I will use it just to show that there are some brain cells floating in my head. And the great card of reference taken into account now is the “Rainbow Nations’” abundant supply of wildlife. From those pesky lions who most times refrain from wandering well-kept backyards, to those obnoxious things commonly known as Brothers, we have them all and many more. So considering this, I can almost count myself an expert on the ways of the wild. But when you enter the realms of another country, you will surely become as intelligent in this matter as our darling President Zuma and his knowledge on matters of state.

On the vast plains of Yellowstone there are many animals that wanderer about, causing many tourists to ooh and aah. Upon entering this park the bets started flying around the car. Kate was going to see Yogi Bear in his natural habitat, unfortunately she did not realise that Yogi Bear lived on her television screen, but then again we are talking about Kate. Carmen was adamant about seeing a wolf. I was all for seeing an Elk, I liked the sound of the word not the way the animal looked. And Kevin? He wanted to see a deer. Obviously living in New Jersey, where it is more common to have a deer in your backyard then a dog, had not deterred his appreciation of this fine creature.

We had not been in the vicinity of the park for more than five minutes when there sitting like a beast was a creature I had never before seen. It had the most frightening head on this very out of proportion body. So like the tourists we were and almost burning the brake pads out we came to a stop right beside this beast. Out the cameras were whipped, as we clicked away, being careful not to get too close. And while we were having this impromptu photo session cars were passing by with terrible facial expressions and holding up fingers that should have been left down, and not to mention the out of tune honking that was going on with the cars. Maybe they had just not yet seen the beast. I thought, when they see our awesome pictures they will feel deep regret for their unsatisfactory display of drama. So on we drive feeling very chuffed that we had spotted an animal so soon. Lady Luck must be taking a seat in this car. Two minutes up the road was a long line of cars parked on the side of a narrow road, with tourist spilling out of their cars aiming their very expensive foreign cameras far into the distant. So we pull in behind the last car and take our cameras out and start pointing, at what we are not quite sure of yet. And then I spot it, another one of those beast things standing so close by. I yell out excitedly to everyone that I had found it. I was going crazy. And then some kind person went on to inform these naïve souls that what I had just “found” was a Bison. By now I’m going wow, pretty neat. The name even sounds beastly. And then the next words poured out of his mouth, “They’re as common as cows here.” Now all I’m thinking is, I stopped to take a picture of a cow? What levels of tragic tourist had we dropped too that I cow would make an interesting focus for a picture?

The creature we had indeed been looking for that time was a wolf. A man with his ultra this and mega that with a super whatever camera had spotted it many miles away and so we had waited patiently to see it. When we spotted what looked like a movement in the bushes over the mountain, we determined that this was the wolf, snapped a picture of that moving bush and then headed on our way. Carmen’s wolf had not come out into the spotlight that time, but another opportunity would present itself. Driving around the park in the late hours of the night, after coming back from a rodeo, we were rushing along glad not to be travelling at 2 miles an hour. When suddenly in front of us this insane person had not come to the conclusion that he could at least up his speed to 5, so there with brakes leaving fire trails behind us we came to a sudden jolting stop. And what was there right by us, sniffing the very same air we were sniffing? A wolf. A very big and very magnificent wolf. With the full moon shining down on it, it looked utterly unreal. And if I had not turned my head to make sure Kevin was sitting in the drivers seat, I would have almost thought it was him standing there in his werewolf form. The wolf did kind of strut about like Kevin, with a theme song of “I’m sexy and I know it,” blaring in its head. So Carmen had now really seen her wolf.

The next was Yogi Bear. After trying to inform Kate that Yogi Bear was not really real and failing (everytime we came near to the truth she held this expression on her face as if we had just told her candy was not really good for you and chocolate was not a food group on its own, it was that bad!), we decided to just tell her that he was on vacation and we would see his relatives instead. This made her happy enough. So as all the times before we had spotted this ridiculously long line of cars on the side of the road and so out we jumped cameras in hand rushing to who knows where. People stopped us asking what we were going to see and we very wisely answered, “To see that animal over there,” waving our fingers in every direction. The crowd on the top of the hill was ten feet deep so we wiggled our way through curious about what exactly we would find on the other side. And there was Yogi Bears little niece ambling along the mountainside with a throng of tourist following her like the paparazzi. The very brave or not so wise (depends on how you view this) Kevin and Carmen rushed up to take close ups of the bear. They were so close that when little Yogi’s niece had a tiny sneeze they could feel her blow them away. Kate and I, knowing that our cameras contained a wonderful zoom function opted to stay very far behind. Then the unexpected happened, the bear turned around and started walking towards the people! Kate and I who were 500 000 feet behind the crowd turned tail and quickly sprinted to the opposite side of the road, while Kevin and Carmen moved closer. At that moment if something had happened I was already planning what I would write in their obituaries, “Friends who had temporarily lost use of their brain failed to regain their sanity when they made friends with a bear. They are now living with the spirits of the long departed, and I hope they never regain their sanity because I just know Kevin will be kicking himself that Shana and Kate turned out to be smarter.” They did manage to safely displace themselves from Yogi’s niece and we ended up with some really great pictures in the process.

So I got to see some really unique creatures on this vacation and see the wild side come out in my friends. To all the places I have been to so far, I really did enjoy Yellowstone. It was a place of which I knew nothing so I was like those tourist we all get annoyed of, it was a really invigorating experience to be like that. I’m already booking my next trip there; I hope I will spot some of you with your fancy gadgets popping out of cars on the side of the road when I stop by next time.

Safe travels!

A Wonder in Time: Yellowstone National Park

2012-12-09T14:58:00.002-08:00

When thinking of Yellowstone National Park all I can think of to describe what this place truly is, is out of this world. It is really like nothing else on this earth. So any descriptions made to this unique wonder will be a stand-alone, breathtaking one. I can only give but a glimpse of the awe this place will inspire in you and nothing more. To experience this place unconditionally, you need to be standing there amongst the tall grasses, swim in the contradictory rivers and watch with wonder all the animals that amble along.

With Mount Rushmore behind us, and Yellowstone National Park slowing approaching, I must admit I never knew what to expect from a place such as this. In South Africa the natural beauty of our landscape is quite riveting. Every tiny corner of the country will offer something different, and satisfy all your curiosities. Living in the craziness of New Jersey, and just a mere hour from the sleepless New York City, where a growing green patch of land is hard to come by, I did have my reserves about this park. What could really compare to the beauty of my home?

The drive in to the park was like a sudden and miraculous epiphany. Amidst the smoke of the cities and buried by the stressed out days we live, was a place that could transform and renew. In this country where politics and economics are the rule of the day, was a place where nature ruled in all her glory. Yellowstone was (almost) untouched by anything human. Forests were left to grow as they pleased, bears roamed wherever they wanted and lay down to rest in any place the need struck regardless of the passerby’s gawking stares. Rivers ran crystal clear through valleys and into a giant lake that sparkled with the diamond water drops that filled it. Wolves were not a great mystery seen only by a few, but their commanding presence in this wilderness demanded our attention and respect. It was a site that made you forget, and at the very same time remember. Gone were the memories of how over-worked you were and bone-tired you felt, and in their place were sweet memories of a childhood spent in the very wake of nature.

Yet the most bewildering aspect of this park was in the geysers that shot water at regular intervals high up into the air, the allure of the hot water springs that captured your imagination at all the colours thrown out and the goofiness of the mud pots as they bubbled away like the unappetizing concoctions of children. These are sights that will rarely be seen anywhere else. And it is a place that captures all your senses; the smell of the rotting sulphur burns your nose as you wonder if the egg salad sandwich you wanted for lunch would be the best choice, the heat from the hot springs wrap a warm blanket around you as you walk along, the sounds of the tiny explosions rivet you, and as you feel your feet pound along the hard earth you come to realise that you are living in this moment and not a dream state of artistic fascination.

John Muir, a man who because of his dedication to preserving the magnificence of all the natural exhibits in America and made it possible for me to be standing here today many years later, said, “In every walk with nature one receives far more then he seeks.” During those long walks in the heart of this park, I did find a lot more then I was looking for. I found the beauty in new friendships, the thrill of experiencing something new and the hope that we could still appreciate the untouched and untainted.

Safe travels!

P.S since this was such an amazing trip, more stories to follow about the shenanigans of four young adults and the stories that made this park real for each of us.

A Day with Murphy

2012-12-06T21:15:00.003-08:00

Murphy’s Law. This law was created to make my life that is already challenging- because of slow thought processes- a lot more difficult. I do not like this Murphy who created this useless and unnecessary law, but I live with it. And if I must say, I do come out smiling in the end or something that kind of looks like one if you squint an eye or two. Saturday was that kind of day for us. It started off with the best of intentions to be on top of my game, but because of circumstances it all fell flat.

Kevin is a great friend. He plans all these really wonderful things for us to do like shooting expeditions, camping trips and all sorts of interesting and crazy adventures that I would never even consider. So a couple of months ago Kevin found this amazing Groupon for Spiderman: Turn off the Dark, the Broadway musical. An experience of New York City will never be complete without a turn to see a play on Broadway to refine your cultural sophistication. And according to Kate, plays and such things add a few more brain cells to my brain cell deprived brain. This was definitely a must. The day approached, the excitement was intense. Our show was in the afternoon, but I had work for a couple hours in the morning. With some careful, thoughtful planning we worked out a schedule that would ensure no leeway, but we would get there in time. Now I want to say before I go on that I cannot wake anyone up. It’s a trait I do not have, and one I do not want to acquire either. And it was my job to ensure that Kevin and Kate woke up on time. That’s the first time Murphy’s Law came into play. We left the house like a little late (about half an hour), but things were still going well. Excitement had fallen a few notches by now, replaced by a couple frazzled nerves.

Now there are a couple different ways to get into New York City from New Jersey. You can take a cab and be expected to take out a small college fund to pay for this ride, the advantages are that you can disregard going to college and find another plan for your future. The trains are also another way in, but in the city that never sleeps being expected to go home at 12:30am on the last train really puts a damper on things, I swear this scheduled was created by parents to impose strict curfews on teenagers. But the best options is catching the path train that runs 24 hours a day and leaves every 10 minutes, this fitted more into our lifestyle, it did not leave us on the edge of bankruptcy or deprive us of a great time. So we arrived at Hoboken, paid an arm and two fingers for parking and walked over to the station that was… closed! Oh boy, Murphy again. Fortunately for us, there was another station very close by, unfortunately for us there was traffic and road works and terrible New Jersey drivers.

So to cut this endless tirade of examples of how Murphy seemed to be throwing these giant obstacles in our path, we made it to New York City, sprinting down ten blocks to reach the theatre and only missed one scene. Not too bad, we earned a free workout and got to experience Broadway Street at another speed.

Spiderman is an amazing play for its special effects and props. Spiderman took my breath away when he flew above my head on ropes that were too thin to hold life and limb together. The Green Goblin costume was magnificent with its bold colour and how life like it was. The props on stage were on a whole new level, displaying the scenes on a three dimensional element and actually making you feel as if you’re sitting there viewing the streets and scenes of New York City amidst the hustle and bustle. Yet, I must say that I did expect more from this highly raved about play, the acting although good was not phenomenal. I walked away somehow feeling as if I had missed something, or was still waiting for the dramatic climax. But the play was an experience I really did enjoy.

With the play done, and Kevin still being an extraordinary person, he had booked this extravagant cooking class for us. So with some time to kill we waded our way through a swamp of overly Christmas dosed tourists to see the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center. Kate, Kevin and I all managed to get lost at least once each, so counting this as too much of an invasion of personal bubble space we headed downtown to our cooking lesson. Our stomachs having a conversation amongst themselves, we arrived there eager to create our own meal and put the first morsel of food into our bellies for the day. And then Murphy peeked his nasty head in again. Our cooking class should had been more aptly defined as a preparation class, there was no cooking occurring at this location. Our bellies were now loudly declaring their displeasure at this, so managing to rebook we went for a walk to find a place to eat.

“Lasagna,” in Chelsea is the best Italian restaurant. We ordered three different meals wanting to sample a wide variety of their wares and were amazed at the mouthwatering exquisiteness of the food. The pumpkin ravioli was like taking a bite of thanksgiving, and the four cheese lasagna was just right without being too cheesy. And to round off a superb meal we had the most delicious white wine. The staff was really friendly making us feel as if we were sitting at home with a group of friends, very easy going and great atmosphere.

Our next stop was at a local pub called, “The Malting Pot.” It had just recently opened and already was packed. I was scraping shoulders with the person next to me and using the guy behind me as a leaning post. The drinks available were not the typical beverages supplied, but they allowed you to try out your adventurous side for a night. I was not that adventurous, but I really enjoyed meeting Nick and Holly there and catching up.

So in the early hours of Sunday morning deciding it was time to go home, we walked to a path train. And that terrible Murphy person made his presence known yet again. All the paths trains were closed, because of Hurricane Sandy, a few weeks had gone by and she was still making her presence known. Just our luck. So there went our college fund and the chance to a bright and knowledgeable future as we had to take a cab back to New Jersey. We did make a new friend that night though; the taxi driver was a really interesting person.

So Murphy turned out in full force that night, but we managed to stumble along and have a very memorable night with great friends and wonderful experiences and learning how to be a little more schedule orientated next time.

Safe travels!

Faces on a Mountain: Mount Rushmore

2012-11-25T15:09:00.004-08:00

My biggest dream has always been to see a mountain with larger-than life-size faces protruding so stately out of it. When I was little and this dream took much too long to accomplish, I figured I would create my own version of a mountain with faces. And who would be the model but me. There would be little me, bubbly little thing with curly hair flying wildly to make my mark on a mountain. The world just had to be made aware of awesome little me. Now many years later, I get to see the real thing.

Arriving in South Dakota way too early for the average sane person, we stop off at a local diner to have breakfast. When you’re driving for hours on end the time for proper sit down meals are distorted and you will find yourself eating dinner when you’re suppose to be having breakfast and lunch when you’re suppose to be having afternoon tea. With stomachs singing in tune to the radio blaring in the car, we made the best decision. The diner served some really delicious biscuits and gravy, my wonderful introduction to mouthwatering southern food. Next because of the ungodly hour we had arrived there, and because we had to see this mountain with faces in it in just the correct light, we did some exploring in the light town. We stepped out of the diner looked up the street and then down the street, and had seen the entire town plus some in that two minute turn of the head. Exploring of the town done, and the hour still sitting somewhere between ungodly and insane we made our way to the towns information center, where we were greeted by a lovely lady. She told us all about the town’s history, some fun things to do, and the best hiking trails. The hiking trails seemed like a really brilliant idea, but first we would practice. We were young, fit awesome people; a little incline up a dusty deserted road would pose no threat. So in the middle of nowhere, well in the middle of the parking lot, which considering our location was the middle of nowhere, we stripped down and proudly put on our exercise clothes with our sneakers that looked oddly new. We would wear them out on this vacation. Kevin, Kate, Carmen and I started off on a lovely midmorning/pre-afternoon sprint, which five minutes later turned into a jog, and two minutes after that turned into a fast walked, and thirty seconds after that deciding to give up all pretenses turned into a comfortable stroll. Although Carmen and Kate did manage to do a whole lot better and ignoring signs ran into a park without even paying. Foreigners, you cannot take them anywhere.

Concluding our run we made our way to our very inviting hotel, where we freshened up and declined the beds offer of a tiny little nap. We were too grown up for that. The hour was still not quite right to receive just that perfect amount of light on the mountain, so what else would four young adults do to occupy themselves? Well, wine tasting of course! Driving around sampling the magnificent wares of the area, we were quite inebriated with the wonders we were experiencing all at once. And so impressed by the quality of these fine wines we opted to buy a bottle of “Red Arse”, a truly-out-of this-world specimen of wine, which turned into a standing joke for the vacation.

With the lighting finally playing in our favor we made the drive up the mountain to see those faces I had long since been dreaming of. With everything becoming a reality so soon I was not quite sure I could handle it, but I had come this far, I would just have to go and see it now. The drive up was magical, with evergreen trees and colourful flowers lining the road on both sides, and neither giving any glimpse or hint of the mountain it was hiding. And finally there before us, looming larger than life was the faces of four very famous men on the side of a mountain. And my first thought? My face would have looked a whole lot prettier and amplified their handsome just a little more, but they did a good job.

Seeing Mount Rushmore for the first time, is indescribable. It is something that is so much a part of American history and the way we as foreigners view this country, that trying to put even some words to it will surely just dimmer the magnificence of this wonder. We spent some hours taking pictures, making sure the world knew we had been there, and the lighting was perfect. And finally to end off our walk among the fathers of the nation, we closed off our glorious day in a typical way. Sampling the best ice cream this world has to offer. Even months later I can still taste that ice cream so smooth and creamy, sparking bright fireworks in my mouth. And then it was off and goodbye to a place I had dreamed of for so long. It held up to its expectations.

Now before I conclude, I have been asked, well more like threatened, to tell you about the part of seeing Mount Rushmore that had made our trip worthwhile. Not for me that is. But grudgingly I will tell you since it did end off our time there very well.

Mount Rushmore has an amazing lake at the bottom. With crystal clear waters and the most superb view all around you. So being the crazy people we are we decided to go have a dip in the lake. Now if we had stopped at that, I believe our vacation would have run very smoothly without a hitch. But no, we did not stop at that. There above the lake stood this really cool cliff calling out our names and begging us to just jump. Well with Kevin in the lead I decided it would be worth a try. What could possibly be so hard about a little jump off a cliff? So I follow shakily behind him, and as we get to the top I realise I have no idea how to do this. There I am at the top wanting to climb down and forget this idiotic idea, and Kevin is busy explaining the precise details of exactly how cliff jumping is done, with the very clear command of, “Remember don’t look down! Water is as hard as rock when you hit it.” With Kevin getting lots of practice counting to ten, I finally managed to make the plunge off the cliff. The drop felt like an eternity, and I am sad to say I never heeded those very wise words. When landing in the water I had decided that I would try my own technique, and enter the lake sitting. The lake thought this was definitely very silly, and so I emerged with instantly red, blue, black and purple butt and legs. When surfacing, I called out to a very flabbergasted audience that I was in pain, and with a remark of, “Just put your head in the water and swim!”, from the ever sympathetic Kevin, I knew that no one would let me live this down. And so as I emerged and we all oohed and aahed about the damage I had done, and everyone had got their belly full of laughs, I was picturing the next ten hours of driving ahead of me. My face, and butt, twisted in pain. And that bottle of “Red Arse” wine? Well it was used in a very nifty photo op next to my equally red butt. I knew we should have left that specific bottle off our shopping list!

Safe travels!

World Famous Cody Rodeo

2012-11-18T15:27:00.006-08:00

The town of Cody, Wyoming is most famous for its world class rodeos. Cody is a magnificent town full of history and culture surrounded by some exquisite mountains, the Heart Mountain to the north and the Carter Mountain to the south. In the summer of 2012, with a group of friends I did a road trip to this town and got to witness an event every person on this planet should see at least once in their lifetime. The world famous Cody rodeo. Every night starting from June the first and ending on the night of August thirty first, people are able to watch the participants show their skills off in this acclaimed event. And on a beautiful night in August I was able to share in this.

To start off a point to consider though is that a rodeo is definitely not for the faint of heart or those deeply radical activist fighting for the rights of animals. But if for a night you are able to forget about these qualities to go and participant in and experience a deeply unique event I urge you to grab hold of it and go.

The rodeo started off with us being seated among many avid fans of this event dressed in their typical attire of cowboy hats and boots and shirts that had more tassels than a night sky had stars. I smiled at the sight of them, appreciating the quirkiness they each brought to this event. With the speakers blaring country music, I knew I had found my rightful place in this world.

The night started off with young, aspiring cowboys, and girls, trying to catch an unsuspecting calf let loose from a pen. These children raced around on their horses, swinging their ropes in wide circles with a skill I envied because I was barely able to swing a rope for a game of jump rope and here these children were many years my junior showing me how vastly inadequate I was in this area of my life. No matter as soon as I got home, I would be practicing my rope swinging skills. Many of the children had performed wonderfully, and displayed great horsemanship, wowing the crowd with their performances.

The most fun and anticipated time of the night was when the brave young cowboys climbed onto giant voracious bulls to see how long they were able to withstand the annoyance these beasts were feeling. I am sad to say that none of these cowboys were able to stay on for a significant amount of time, but the ooh’s and ouch’s from the crowd as they each landed with a thud on the ground surely spurred them on to try harder next time. With the night coming to an end all too quickly, we raced to get our pictures taken with the wildly hilarious clown presenters for the night. Their funny jokes and sense of humour kept us all entertained and informed all throughout the night.

The night was extremely successful, giving us a glimpse into the lives of people who live, breathe and eat everything country. We were able to walk away with a cultural experience that was so new and so interesting for each of us, and at the same time so much fun to learn about.

Safe travels!

A Call to Arms

2012-11-17T13:57:00.005-08:00

The power you feel when holding a gun will surpass any imagined power you may wield with another instrument. And today, despite the discomforts of this activity, I shot a gun. Or a number of them really. The one great thing about America is that there is always deals and interesting events to partake in, you just have to be willing to make the effort to search for them and then get out of your comfort zone to actually do it. Today’s very unique experience was at a shooting range in Bayonne, New Jersey.

Guns and shooting has never really been my thing. Being the equal of an extremist for the clumsy and silly brigade, there is this constant fear that this side of me will come out and I will accidently hurt someone (please note the word accidently if you have ever incurred any injuries due to my disorder). So in order for the world to be a safer place, I stay away from dangerous objects. But today, throwing caution to the wind, I picked up a gun… and no one was hurt. People all across the world can now let out a sigh of relief.

The day started off really well. Being an early session, we all had to be up at the crack of daylight to be there on time. At the buzzing of the alarms I was up and out of bed ready to get my game on. And there was Kate; with one eye closed vehemently declaring she was awake, while mumbling about having collected 4000 cans. What the collection of cans had to do with getting out of bed I have yet to figure out. Eventually we were all ready and out of the house on time. It looked as if today we would prove fate wrong about the ability of young adults to keep time, but fate has a way of always coming back to shout at you “I told you so!” With Shaii getting lost somewhere between his house and the dunkin donuts we were meeting at, we were able to start off our adventure in the customary way: late.

Eventually, after trying to make up for lost time, we made it to the shooting range. I stepped inside the doors with the booming sounds and wondered what I had gotten myself into. As the gunshots became louder I was ready to hand out indemnity forms to everyone absolving myself from any injuries they may receive due to me. We quickly signed in, were given a brief talk on gun safety, put on the safety glasses and curiously glanced at the strange ear things that we had to use. Having pity on us the instructor opted to give us who could not quite grasp the concept of squeezing the ear pieces and then putting them in, ear muffs. And then were ushered into the shooting range. There were six instructors inside, all with different guns. At the first sight of the giant shot gun I wanted to tuck my tail between my legs and bolt. The thing was huge, the bang was loud and the holes it made in the paper man beyond any size I could fully comprehend. It was frightening. But sucking it up I made my way to my first gun, a tiny little hand gun that could be compared to a mouse next to the elephant of a shot gun. The experience went well. I kept one eye opened most of the time and managed not to handle the gun inappropriately. I tried some of the others as well, the very big ones. And found that although scary in size, that when you actually get past it they were not all that bad.

Gun shooting is a very unique, and for me daredevil experience. Although I had endless amounts of fun spending the day with an amazing group of friends, I honestly believe that I will do the world justice by staying away from these dangerous objects for a while.

Safe travels!

A Time to Serve: Zarapeth, New Jersey

2012-11-11T15:27:00.001-08:00

Sai Baba, who is regarded by many Indian hindi’s and muslim devotees as a saint, once said, “No joy can equal the joy of serving others.” And this weekend I was lucky enough to have put this to the test. Sometimes we feel that serving others is an obligation, and we go out and do this with a heart half in it. Yet when you see the smiles lighting up the faces of those being served, when you experience their gratitude, and become completely embraced by all the gladness they offer, you will truly find no greater joy then this on earth.

In New Jersey in the town of Zarapheth is a church. This church strives to serve each member in their community in a way that becomes so personal that you find that each person you meet there is a friend regardless if you’ve known them for five minutes or five years. I came to know them because of the great friends I made in the USA. These friends attend school at Raritan Valley and because of their enthusiastic interaction on campus, are now both president and vice president of the business club, Enactus. Over the months both Kevin and Kate have been involved in a number of projects and I have been fortunate enough to be involved in some small way with some of these as well. This past weekend, was an experience like no other. Being able to get a hands on experience about a cause and club that has intrigued me so much these past months.

The day started off relatively warm, considering we had just come out of a hurricane that was hurriedly followed by a freezing snow storm. With preparations under way by members and volunteers of the church, when we had arrived there bright and early on Saturday morning, we lent out a hand here and there wherever we were needed, and got all our eggs in a row for the event that was to start. Before the start we were all called into a simple conference room packed full with the most loving and intriguing people around. They quickly discussed the order of events for the day, bowed heads for a moment of prayer and then lunch was served for those of us who were starving from the very long two hours between breakfast and lunch. With the lunch and friendly banter all done with, it was time for real work.

The event was a turkey drive for the upcoming holiday of thanksgiving, especially for families who could not afford to celebrate this very traditional American past time with families and friends in the way expected. With a juicy turkey, mouthwatering stuffing and all the other trimmings that go along with it. The stations where all up and running, volunteers were in place and we were ready to roll.

The Enactus-RVCC station was an inquiring survey that members of the college were handing out. One of the projects being undertaken by this club is a sustainable community garden which they are working closely with My Neighbors Ministries to get underway. A community garden is a wonderful concept, where the saying, “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day, teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime,” fully explains this endeavor. Plots of land are divided up and willing members of the community are able to come in to plant and harvest their own crops. With the garden just getting started, input from the community was a vital part at this stage. Getting the scope of what was required and what was needed from each person, learning about their very basic essentials, and meeting the people we would become closely involved with in the next few months, was what our day encompassed.

Despite the hours of handing out surveys and speaking to people about the project and founding out how they had faired after two very grueling storms, I grew to be motivated and inspired by many things that day. The simple way people looked forward to rebuild their lives regardless of the tragedies that have struck so many of them. The care and community service so many willing people offer not because it is required or needed of them, but because they truly have a burning passion to do so. And that despite the bad things that happen all around us each day, we can still count on the faith of mankind. This event was an amazing way to learn so much about an area of American that has been my home for over a year, and to give back to a place that has already given me so much.

Safe travels!

Niagara: The Magic Falls

2012-11-09T19:15:00.000-08:00

There are many places in this world that will cause you to stare open-mouthed in wonder and contemplate many inspirational paths your life may lead. Yet there are very few places that will show you this magnificence and leave an imprint on you to go out and search for those inspirations. With its crashing waters, and sheer power, Niagara Falls will forever be a place to teach you about the greatness of life, a place to humble you, and a place to motivate you to cross that line and achieve incredible things.

Niagara Falls was a trip I took because of a school obligation. Being an au pair you are required to complete some college credits, and so being as undecided as I am, doing a course where I was able to get the most sleep in during a class seemed like the best option. And it was in New York City so major bonus for shopping trips after. During our three weekend classes, we may have learnt about the history and discovery of Niagara Falls, or I may have been dreaming about all that, I never remember all that too well. After much learning, and napping, it finally came time for us to depart to the wonderful destination of Niagara Falls. As most people know Niagara Falls is shared by both the United States and Canada. But being a foreigner in America and requiring further waiting times in embassy offices for a visa, I opted to stay on the American side instead and look out enviously to the Canadian side with it its dazzling lights and freedom. There were a few others from my class you were also forced into this fate.

We arrived in Niagara on a miserably raining day at the beginning of June. At the hotel the meager passengers were unloaded before the bus sped away to the border and left us few drifters on the other side. Most of us just had thoughts of what a very long weekend this would turn out to be. But at least we had a weekend respite away from whinnying kids and the crazy adventures and life of being an au pair. My roommates were all from other countries. So it was interesting getting to know each of them. Being as there were so little of us we decided to invade each other’s space and so my group of friends grew from zero to ten in just a few minutes.

We had arrived in Niagara and so the first order of business was obviously to set out and feast our eyes upon this marvel. It was only fitting considering our purpose for being there. So with ten of us all dancing together in a delighted group we slowly made our way down to the falls all while learning some interesting tidbits from the countries we each occupied, and for some of us reminiscing about home from other fellow natives.

The first sight of the falls will be a memory that will stay with you forever. It will be a sight so amazing that it will surely take your breath away. Catching my first glimpse of these magnificent falls I stared in awe at seeing this wonder in its glory. The water was crashing down below and beating down like a violent army of drums in the river. The mist slowly rising was like the most intricate lace curtain ever woven. And the size of this wonder was too huge to contemplate. I looked out at this place thinking of how utterly insignificant I was compared to this majesty in front of me. Niagara Falls is a stunning miracle of nature that despite the many man made boats and scattering of shops and chain restaurants in the area, they do not even take an ounce away from the experience of this place. Niagara Falls stands alone bursting forth with all its splendor without twinkling lights or fine dining establishments to improve it.

The rest of our weekend was spent exploring the town of Niagara and all it had to offer. The aquarium was definitely a treat with all the interesting sea creatures on display, riding below the waterfall on the famous Maid of the Mist boat tour was a ride to remember with an experience that will forever mesmerize no matter how ancient this river ride is. With very little in the way of fine dining establishments or entertainment on the American side, our little group did manage to find an authentic Indian restaurant that offered superb food and value for our outstretched dollar.

Niagara Falls will forever be etched in my memory as a place where I learnt about the most interesting people this planet had to offer, a place where I was truly humbled, and a place where I will forever be inspired to achieve greatness because of the sheer wonder and magic of these thundering falls.

My Travels with Sandy: A Hurricane of Misfortune

2012-11-03T10:38:00.000-07:00

In life you can be very certain of two things: taxes and death. And if you live in America you can be absolutely certain of three things: taxes, death and natural disasters. When discussed in any context these lists are sure to make even the hardiest optimist cower away in fear. But courageous are those that find a means to live with and beat the odds of each of these. By filing that tax return, you no longer have the ominous burden looming over your head. By standing strong in the face of death and carrying on with life, you have overcome the tragedy. And by getting up after a natural disaster, by rebuilding and fixing all that was broken by something so devastating you have overcome the grueling effects of this unexplainable destruction.

Hurricane Sandy was a threat that hung over those that stayed on the east coast of America for many days before she even declared her presence. Preparations were being made well in advance; houses were stocking up with all the basic necessities like un-perishable food items and loads of water, cars were being filled to the brim with gas, and blankets were occupying every available space for a cold that was sure to follow. Windows were boarded up and sand bags packed tightly against outside walls for the flooding and howling winds that were to pay an expected but unwanted visit. Many people living on the coast of New Jersey and in high flood areas in New York were scurrying out of their homes because of mandatory evacuation orders from governors, senators, mayors and anybody that even held an ounce of authority. This hurricane would hit, but we would be ready for her. Or at least everybody else would be, I on the other hand was solely unprepared for a storm of this magnitude.

In South Africa, and in particular where I come from, a small town in the inlands of the province of KwaZulu Natal, hurricane is a word found in a dictionary with no real life experience attached to it for most of us. I did not know what to expect or even what would happen during this storm. And no amount of explaining from any person could quite drift all the way to my mind and make it any clearer for me. So for those of us where the teachings have to be done with practicalities, I had to live through it to completely understand what it really boiled down to. And live through it I did.

Monday morning broke with a suspenseful foreboding in the air. The wind outside my window was whipping around as if some lunatic was out there intent on destruction and menace. The sky above was a dark, coal black color, and the roads did not have a single soul or lonely driver passing by on it. Inside our house life was going on as normally as it possibly could. When you live in the same place you work, a hurricane will have little effect on you in that capacity. Thinking on it now I am thankful for the distraction work and energetic toddlers provided. Toddlers can make you forget a whole lot of things any time, most of the time I find myself in a complete fray because of this, but on this day I welcomed it with open arms. Our playroom window became our replacement television set, with the scenes outside playing like that of a horror movie. Thankfully it had no age restrictions so the boys could watch too. By late afternoon, into the early evening hours the lunatic wind was really beginning to pick up. Whipping around, bending trees over and tossing branches this way and that not even giving a thought to where they landed. And then the inevitable occurred, the power we had hoped would not go out, but we had slowly counted down the minutes until its expected demise had finally left us in pitch black darkness. Standing in my room not knowing what next, was probably the scariest moment I have ever had to experience. At that moment I would have rather confronted any devil familiar to me, than this unknown one. Yet like most often will happen, you will set aside your feelings of misfortune and carry on with what needs to be done. Blankets and torches were found and distributed to all to bring a little comfort and familiarity to the situation. With warmth and light taken care of there was nothing left but to snuggle deep down in the blankets and drift off to a restless night. The howling wind and rain were too much of a noise for any sleep to follow willingly, so on my iPod went with the sounds of Josh Groban and Daughtry drifting out. I figured that if the trees outside my wind were to come crashing down during the night, Groban and Daughtry would be singing in their harmoniously perfect voices and make everything better anyway. Together they did well to soothe the frantic worrying’s of the voices in my head.

The night had passed by and as my alarm went off to annoyingly announce that the hour for work was near, I grudgingly edged the blankets off my body. I peered out to see that my bed, actually my whole entire room, was still standing in the exact same place I had left it the night before. There were no trees lying about adding some naturalistic element of décor to my room either. Things were looking as good as could be expected. I wearily touched my toe to the floor so I could make that giant leap out of bed to turn on the light. At the switch I flipped it up and down about fifty times before finally coming to terms with the fact that no amount of flipping would give me a little light. So Tuesday dawned cold, dark and with screaming toddlers. What a way to welcome a new day in.

Tuesday was a day for assessing damages, checking to see that the neighbor next door was still living and that you had not accidently been blown away or drifted into some other county. In all those counts we were unbelievably lucky. There was no flooding to a basement that was still under construction, all our neighbors that had stuck around to weather out the storm were all still here, (with some added features like disgruntled tempers and big frowns covering their faces) and we were still in the same spot we were in the day before. Down the street enormous trees had blown over landing in people’s yards, on power lines and some on cars. Roads were blocked, traffic lights were out and a huge panic was beginning to fill the air. The radio was on the whole day giving hourly updates on the horrific destruction that happened in many places, some of them so nearby to us, it was beginning to frighten me. And in our little white house amidst all this disaster, everything was still going on as usual. The boys were still evading my polite begging of joining the 21^st century and eating with a spoon instead of with their tiny, grubby hands. I still felt as if I was taking care of escaped monkeys from a local zoo, instead of two human boys. And they still made me smile and laugh at their silly antics and wise old ways. A hurricane had hit, there was destruction and damage untold, and things were beginning to look bleak. But I had two crazy toddler boys to look after, who did not quite grasp the concept of a storm or see the importance of anything beyond what was happening in their own lives. It showed you that after something like this life went on, as much as I wanted to sit in limbo processing the devastation that had just happened in the past twenty four hours, these boys forced me to see that life needed to move forward.

Venturing out the house late Friday morning, after sitting inside for so long had played a toll on all our minds, was met with an unrealistic scene of a town that had once been the hub of social life and now stood bare and deserted. Downtown Westfield was a ghost town except for the few zombies checking through the window of the Starbucks periodically hoping for it to spring to life with the aroma of brewing coffee and freshly baked goods. But move out just a little further to the nearest gas station that actually had a little gas to offer and you would find a line a mile long of people standing with containers in every shape imaginable to fill, and just to the side was the line of cars waiting for gas. It was a sight to behold that truly amplified the severity of the situation, the line of cars was so long it carried on all the way into the next town and the wait was anywhere between two to six hours! Many houses were sitting without power and as night fell we could really feel the consequence of this. With winter fast approaching, the idea of heat in a time like this seems like a farfetched reality. We had managed to spend the week at the house, but with the cold becoming an unbearable burden, seeking out anyone with even a little power to spare was our next logical move. So on a freezing Friday night, with the greatly appreciated hospitality of friends we now know what true warmth feels like again. It is a marvel I will forever be grateful for.

Looking at the damages that had occurred right outside our house, and hearing about the destruction to places I had visited so often, I was immeasurably blessed about my circumstances. Yes I had no power, I was getting as cold as someone stranded in the North Pole in the middle of winter, the toddlers were getting way too cranky and driving me so insane I feared I had to go book my room in an asylum any minute, and I was beginning to have withdrawal symptom from a lack of Starbuck’s coffee. Our power is still off, our street is still looking like a war zone and I am still freezing. But I can proudly look forward and say I overcame this storm. Sandy struck and I got up again to carry on life like normal. Things are difficult now, sometimes even challenging, but we all have the ability to find solutions, to mend all that was broken and then to move forward after it is all done. Sandy knocked us off course a little, but we can surely find our way back onto the road.

Safe travels!

Rides and Sails along the Delaware River

2012-10-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

On a day when the clouds knitted tightly together to form a dark blanket in the sky above, four brave souls set off on the adventure that was unique and exhilarating, and for me, one I will never forget. In a car packed to the brim with all the supplies necessary for a great time, and three of the most wonderful friends I have met along my way, we set off to leave our mark on the famous Delaware River area. As the car started and the miles slowly rolled by, the time for napping had begun. With four young adults and the highly demanding lives we lead it was expected, well for three of us anyway, the driver had to keep her eyes wide open, for safety reasons and such.

With a couple of miles behind us and stomachs rumbling for food to occupy the empty void we made a stop at a local burger joint in Pennsylvania. When stomachs begin to speak to you, which mine will often do, it will do you well to give in to the demands that it requires of you. If food is what it wants, food is what it will get. The local burger joint proved to have a supply of outstandingly delicious food, which satisfied all my cravings. I must confess though that while here, I did not have the typical burger and fries but opted for something really different. The owner of this fine establishment was Polish and so some of the dishes offered on the menu where ones I had never heard of in my life. Being the daredevil that I am, notice how this is the over statement of the century, I tried the traditional Pieroggies. Kate, one of the friends who came along and who is also from the Czech Republic gave me a lesson on this spectacular food item and so sealed my choice and my lunch time meal. If you ever have the chance to try Pieroggies I suggest you run out and try them as fast as you can, this is one choice you will never regret.

Stomachs fed and satisfied we made our way to our lodgings for the night. A campsite near the river. After checking in and ensuring we were all set for our stay, we headed over to the site to make our humble abode for the night. I was ready, with sleeves rolled up and prepared for a long time of getting a tent all set up. The sky above us looked rather ominous, but with three South Africans we were sure to have a tent set up in no time. As we got to our site, there in the clearing between the trees sits a beautifully, completely erected tent. What?! What magical fairy had appeared to do all this work, not that I’m complaining, but this sure was something different. I am never first in line for setting up tents on family vacations back home, rather I will find anything, and I mean anything else to do. But far away from family and among friends, you kind of want to prove that your parents did actually teach you a thing or two about camping. Being from South Africa this is very important, when family holidays are spent along bodies of water with fishing poles and tents that seem to outdo the houses we live in, we have to know when given a huge sheet of canvas and some poles that what is required of us is a tent that will stand tall and withstand all the elements of nature. This was a little different for me, but I could get use to someone doing all my dirty work. We unloaded the packed car of bags of clothes, blankets and food to feed the entire army and some. And then set off to find the nearest grocery store. Yes we had food, but you could never have too much of it. You just never know what could happen out there in the wild; we had to be prepared for anything.

As the late afternoon approached, we made our way back to camp and a fun hour of bike riding in the local area. This was supposed to be an easy, relaxing ride, but if the only exercise you get is lifting your bum out of bed in the morning, this will prove a tad more difficult than expected. It did however strengthen my resolve to put in those gym hours I had been promising my poor body for months. The ride along the empty roads was really scenic with a small forest lining the road on either side. You could really forget that you were far away from the bustle and chaos of the big city life in a place like this. The bike ride was such a fun time of my day, where I got to see some of the local area in close proximity and meet a little turtle friend who had crawled all the way onto the road. Like all good things, the bike ride had to come to an end.

It was supper time. With hot dogs on the menu for the night I couldn’t wait to dig in. But one small problem presented itself, how were we going to warm these hot dogs up? I am all for trying new things, but cold hot dogs will definitely not be one of those. With Nadia and Kevin’s great fire making skills we quickly had a toasty fire up and running. And then came Kate’s genius idea. We all found sticks and cleaned them up as best we could to roast our hot dogs on. I must admit I acted like a real snob, preferring to buy sticks rather than find my own. I quickly got over it when the price of a stick in a shop was almost the equivalent to buying a small country in Africa, well almost. With Kate’s great idea we got closer to nature and more in tune with our ancestors of the primitive ages. All in all it was a fun experience. And we managed to get done just before the heavens opened and unleashed her heavy load of rain. When the rains subsided for a while we made our way to the communal area, we had our showers and then joined the kids for movie time. Alvin and the Chipmunks proved to engross us just as much as it did the little kids. I guess all it takes for our inner child to come out is a couple of chipmunks shaking their booty’s on a stage and singing in squeaky voices.

The next day broke clear, with the sun shining down gloriously. It seemed that our water rafting adventure would be hailed in with magnificent weather. We all got ready for the adventure in wetsuits that seemed to suck the very air out of you, which I did not understand quite so much. If I was going to drown, shouldn’t there be air in me so I could at least float a little? After getting all the dressed up in wetsuits and life jackets, we were on our way in this movie-style, yellow school buses, down to the river and the start of our rafting expedition. Most rafts required at least six people on it, so as there were only four of us we had to make friends with two other people. The lucky people who got to spend a wonderful couple of hours in the presence of three South Africans and a Czech was a mom and her college aged son from New Jersey. They proved to be really interesting companions for our ride down the river.

It started off as a truly mesmerizing ride, with the clear water below, the blue sky above and the trees surrounding us on all sides. I surely could not have imagined a more wonderful place. The ride downstream was challenging at times, what with having to figure out how exactly to use my paddle to row forward and backward. When the thinking of this got too much for my poor brain I would have to stop and rest for a while, much to the annoyance of everyone else. With many of the people doing this tour being first time novices we had many stops along the way. So with those of us who could not quite wait patiently and behave ourselves, we armed ourselves with buckets and declared war on ships of rafting victims passing by. There was a war and no one was getting out unscathed in this one. We had our last stop before lunch as we were awaiting the arrivals of the troops that had taken the time to appreciate nature rather than make a speedy trip down river. Sitting in that little raft I had a thought. I have a bunch of thoughts all the time, most often not to brilliant. Would we end up in the same spot, with our rafts, which we had begun in? I made the momentous mistake of voicing this thought out loud. With a reply of, “Rivers don’t run in circles!” I was quickly thrown overboard. Here’s a time for another confession, it took me months to figure out my comment and the reply to it, but when my aha moment came and I realized the stupidity of my ways, I vowed to become a smarter person. I am still working on this. Our lunch spot was on this great big rock on the side of the river and proved to test our steering and rafting abilities to the limit. In the end we all made it with few mishaps. Lunch was over before it had ever really begun and we were back on our rafts and on our way to finishing up our long day on the river. To my surprise we never did end up where we started off, but a great deal of things will surprise me in life. As we ended our journey on the long Delaware River we said excited farewells to this fantastic place that had granted us a day of wonderful memories and loads of fun. Back at camp we packed up our belongings, climbed into our car and made the unwanted drive back home. With such an exciting adventure coming to an end, who would ever want to think about the practicalities of work the next day?

Richard Bangs once said this about rivers, “Wild rivers are earth’s renegades, defying gravity, dancing to their own tunes, resisting the authority of humans, always chipping away and eventually always winning.” This river, the Delaware, surely had a mind all its own. We never told her how fast or slow we wanted her to go, she told us exactly what she was going to do and we could do nothing about it. But I felt that at the end of that day with a troop of wet humans emerging from the river, we had conquered a small piece of that Delaware River.

Safe travels!

Welcome to an Adventure

2012-10-28T13:49:00.000-07:00

Life has many adventures and journeys in store for us, we just have to open our eyes and be willing to experience them anyway they present themselves. Adventures do not have to occur when we take those much anticipated plane rides to exotic locations to experience new cultures or sights. Or long road trips across our home countries. These adventures and journeys will happen every day of our lives in all shapes and sizes. Like the harrowing ventures we take on a simple task like an escape to a grocery store, add kids into the mix and it becomes an astounding adventure. A walk in the park is a journey all its own with the sights and sounds that slowly creep their way through us, begging us to understand and experience them in new, fantastic ways. These small, daily getaways are just as refreshing and invigorating as those much needed vacations miles away from home.

I left home a little over a year ago to stay in a country where adventure is the top order of the day. The amazing things I have seen, the wonderful people I have met and the intriguing cultural experiences this country has to offer has made the start of my travelling journey a marvelous one. America has a lot to offer in the way of travels with its mind blowing landmarks, like the Statue of Liberty or Yellowstone National Park. And I have certainly seen my fair share of all of these. Yet I find the best times I have had to date where those unplanned trips and moments with the rare, special friends I meet along the way. Adventures are undeniably fun, but throw a couple of friends into the mix and they become outstanding memories that will last a lifetime and will certainly be treasured forever. My book of memories is starting to burst at the seams already with all the great moments I have stored up.

This blog is all about the adventures and experiences we encounter. Sometimes it will be to amazing places, but most often it will be the adventures we all share on a daily basis. From the little escapes we have in our backyard to the ones that require a well thought out plan and a terrific end destination, this will surely be a blog to inspire you to find your own adventures in life no matter how big or small they may be. Henry Miller once said that, "One's destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things," I am ready to have wonderful adventures and see the world in a whole new, glorious light.

Safe travels!