My thoughts ... for whatever they're worth...

Amani ya Juu and Nairobi

2009-07-27T12:17:00.001-04:00

This will be another long post, but I believe it will be the last one about my trip. I am presently visiting a friend whose in-laws own a lake house in the northern-most part of Wisconsin, and access to the internet is several miles away. I�m currently typing this offline (while looking out the picture window at the gorgeous lake!) and will go to town later to upload it at an internet caf� there.

Some of you are not necessarily familiar with Amani ya Juu, which is Swahili for �peace from above.� The most important thing to keep in mind when thinking about Amani�s ministry is that a higher peace, from the Lord above, that only He can give, is the only peace that truly leads to healing in this world and reconciliation in our human relationships. In other words, this higher peace brings transformation in the hearts and lives of those touched by Amani.

Amani is a ministry which I have been involved with for more than three years now. Two years ago I was honored to go with a group of women from the US to visit Amani�s main center in Nairobi, Kenya for two weeks. Then, this past fall, in October of 2008, a group of Amani women brought a fashion show called Sankofa to the United States, and we were excited to host them in DC as one of the cities where the fashion show was shared. I was thrilled to have this new opportunity to visit Amani again this summer.

Amani is, officially, a �stitching project�. Women from many parts of East Africa (and beyond) find themselves in Nairobi for various reasons, having various sources of loss and grief and brokenness to work through. At Amani, women are introduced to a holistic process of healing and reconciliation with God and in other parts of their lives. Meanwhile, they are taught to sew � they learn different aspects of the production process � from tie-dying fabrics to working with the raw materials (fabrics, buttons, zippers, etc.) to patterns, cutting, and sewing to quality control to inventory to the export process to running the on-campus shop to running the on-campus caf�.

Their campus is an oasis of HOPE within the heart of Nairobi. There is a quiet peace and tranquility in the physical setting. And the sincerity of the joy on the women�s faces and in their greetings and in their love is amazing � and can only be from God.

The typical day at Amani starts and ends with a time of devotion and prayer. The morning prayers usually start with delightful singing and time of praise with music. Then they share prayer requests and items of thanksgiving. They translate all of this between Swahili and English. Then they have a wonderful time of greeting each other � every woman greets and welcomes each other woman. At the afternoon �chapel�, they also begin with praise in music and then there is a time of devotional sharing from one lady (they rotate who shares each day).

I suppose that I can�t stress enough how obvious it is that God�s hand is SO strong at work in this place. It is not possible for such peace and hope to exist with the same degree of transformation apart from the Lord.

The products (mainly textile based products) created at Amani are sold locally in their shop as well as in other small local venues and markets. They are also sold through volunteers in other parts of the world. In the DC area, Amani has just opened a warehouse/shop in Mt. Pleasant. If you are in DC, please check out Amani�s shop on Mt. Pleasant Ave. They have an extensive variety of the products created at Amani�s Nairobi center, and are beginning to bring in products created at Amani�s sister centers in Kigali, Rwanda and Bujumbura, Burundi.

While visiting Amani as a volunteer, you are matched with tasks that suit you. For example, I do not sew. Therefore they find other things with which I can help. :) While at Amani this past few weeks I was mainly helping with some computer training and problem solving. I was also tasked with doing some photography of the ladies and the campus. Finally, I was invited to share the devotional on Wednesday afternoon in the chapel time.

My computer tasks involved two main �projects�. The first was to figure out a way to represent the data about the raw materials in a spreadsheet. I was to work with a woman named Judy on that project. Originally we were thinking that we�d have to create a new spreadsheet and enter all of the data by hand � quantities and prices and item numbers and so on. But we worked out a way to copy the data from a pdf file. Although there was massive re-formatting of the data required, it certainly saved a LOT of typing time.

The second �project� was to work with one of the managers on her computer skills. Margaret is one of the managers in Amani�s production & distribution department. She had been resistant to learning to use a computer, but there are so many of her tasks that can be better and more efficiently completed using spreadsheets and Word documents and so on. There is a computer in the production department, and although Margaret has been excellent at keeping her records on paper, Amani needs some system that would be easily accessible and understood by anyone who needs the information without necessarily needing to go through Margaret. At first she was extremely resistant to working with me, and she told me later that she felt like she was being �punished� by having to spend time learning about a computer. But by the end of our first day working together, she was convinced that this was going to be a good thing, and had a million and one questions for me. We had a great week working together!!

As far as the photography goes, I mainly did portraits of the ladies and took shots of the ladies working. Hopefully the women who work on Amani�s website and e-newsletter and some of the electronic media will be able to use some of the photos that I took. I haven�t had a chance to really go through the images yet. When I do, I�ll post them to Flickr and I�ll let you know (here and on Facebook).

As I also said, I was also asked to give a devotional at Wednesday�s afternoon chapel. I found that to be a bit intimidating. These women at Amani have all been through things in their lives that I could never even begin to imagine. Difficult circumstances cultivate a depth in one�s personal relationship with the Lord that cannot be achieved in any other way. I am not ignorant of the comparative ease of my life in the United States, and I am not ignorant of the fact that I have had relatively few (if any) even minor �problems� in my life thus far. So what am I supposed to say, devotionally, to a group of women who could probably easily tell me MORE and BETTER about God than I could ever say. Well, after talking with one of the women there with whom I have been in close contact over the past two years, we decided that it would be okay for me to start my devotional time by making a statement to that effect. I started by talking about the fact that I have a great respect for the situations that the Lord has brought each of them through, and that I don�t presume to teach them anything, but that my prayer would be that someone would be encouraged by something that I would say.

Recently, I have been reading a book called �As We Forgive� by Catherine Claire Larsen. It is a collection of stories from survivors of the Rwandan genocide of the early 90�s, and the process of forgiveness and reconciliation that they are working through. In between each story, the author includes a few pages of her own thoughts and processing about these ideas of forgiveness and reconciliation. One of those sections was about faith, hope, and love and their place in the process of healing and forgiveness. I was especially struck by this section, so I used it as the basis for what I shared with the ladies at chapel that afternoon. And, by the way, I highly recommend the book �As We Forgive�. It is so uplifting!

I can�t begin to tell you how wonderful it was to reconnect with the women at Amani. Most were the same ladies who were at Amani back in 2007 when I was there previously. Several of the women who were in DC back in October were also there. They treat me with such love and affection, and they were so excited to see me again and to talk with me. I so very much loved being there. I have to admit, though, that they did more in the way of ministering to me than I probably did in the way of ministering to them.

There was an �incident� that I want to tell you about because it is still bothering me. When a visitor comes to Amani, they can arrange a tour for them. They have a couple of the ladies, usually Zipporah, who do the tours, and they truly give you a wonderful idea of what Amani is all about, and they give you a very comprehensive view of their campus and operations.

One afternoon I was working on a laptop in the production & distribution area. This room is full of cutting tables and piles of fabrics and raw materials. There is always a lot of activity there, as the women who do the sewing begin and end each project in that room. There are two women who are �managers� there, Margaret and Elizabeth. Both of these women are probably in their 50�s, have grown children and grandchildren. The rest of the women truly look up to them and treat them with great respect. Keep in mind, also, that the women who are at Amani are all African. My white face was usually the only one in the room. So get the picture in your mind: a flurry of activity in the room, women doing all sorts of cutting, measuring, folding, etc., and Margaret and Elizabeth sitting respectively at the desktop computer and at the file folders keeping track of what projects each of the women is working on. And Lou Ann sitting off to the side working on a small laptop computer.

At one point that afternoon, Zipporah walked in with a woman to whom she was giving a tour. The woman was dressed extremely well (and very Western), and based on her jewelry, excellent hair style, perfect makeup, and the accessories on her cell phone (which was permanently attached to her ear) I guessed that she was somewhat wealthy. My guess is that she was of some Middle Eastern descent.

As she and Zipporah walked into the production and distribution room, she was half-listening to what Zipporah was saying, half-listening to someone on her cell phone (and answering) and was sort of looking around at what was going on in the room. When she finished with her phone call, she looked around the room again, looked at each of the women in the room, looked at me a second time, and then decided to introduce herself to me. She explained that she owns a shop at a local mall (the Village Market, for those of you familiar with Nairobi) and that she�s considering selling some of Amani�s products on consignment.

I was rather appalled. That she would assume that I was the person to whom she should speak about this threw me off. It should have been obvious to any observer that Elizabeth and Margaret were the women in charge there. Why did this lady find the one white face in the room and assume that I�m the person for her request? I didn�t really say anything to her (I was too shocked!), and one of the Amani ladies stepped in and continued the conversation with her. After she left the room, I looked at Elizabeth, and asked if she was thinking the same thing I was. She said �yes�, but the subject was dropped.

I continue to be plagued by this. At one point, while being driven through the city, we noticed that much of the advertising on billboards and signs featured white people or very fair skinned black people. This was in very sharp contrast to the people who actually walked the streets. At the Village Market, I noticed that the people working behind the counters and serving the food at the food court were all African, but that the people who were the clientele were fair skinned, mostly white, and mostly speaking English.

In short, I truly believe that we have more to overcome in this world than merely the poverty in Third World countries. The entire world has some basic thinking and basic assumptions to change. So, the real question is: how do I do my share as an agent of this change? I fully intend to work on the answer to that question.

Well, besides this little incident, and the whole �getting home too late� thing that I talked about in my previous post, my time spent at Amani was purely delightful. I was SO happy to meet a new director, Pat � who I quickly felt a sister-hood with. I ended up having lunch every day with a different Amani lady and had some of the best conversations that I could have imagined with them. I have renewed some relationships with some of the women I hadn�t heard from for the past two years. I grew closer to some of the women with whom I interacted in 2007 and again when they were in DC for the Sankofa fashion show last fall. I feel like I accomplished a lot with the computers and with Margaret and Judy. And I think that I got some nice photos of the women that can be used for the website and electronic communications.

Finally, a little bit more about my non-Amani activities and about Nairobi in general. I already pointed out that the first few days in Nairobi I wasn�t necessarily expected to be working at Amani, so I familiarized myself with the matatus, and also made plans to meet up with friends for lunch on Saturday. Well, there was some confusion about the place to meet the friends, so I missed the lunch the first Saturday, but we rescheduled for the following Saturday and had a lovely lunch. I also had the opportunity to meet up with a fellow photographer from my online photo community (www.photo.net) and his girlfriend (who happens to be an American living temporarily in Nairobi).

The first Sunday that we were there, Nina signed us up for a small �tour� that some of the people from her conference were taking. We met the bus very early in the morning and were taken to a small park on the outskirts of Nairobi � called �Nairobi National Park� � where they keep large game and you can do a small �safari�. That was a lot of fun! We went from there to a Maasai market and to a spot where you can overlook the skyline of the city of Nairobi, and we even went out to the spot above Limuru where you can overlook the northernmost end of the Great Rift Valley. It was a gorgeous day, weather-wise, and we had a lovely time.

The following Sunday, Nina & I met up with Charisa, the daughter of Becky who was the founder of Amani. She took us to a local church, walking distance from the Brackenhurst, but completely Kenyan. We were the only three non-African faces in the congregation. The service was a couple of hours long with lots of amazing music, a sermon given in Swahili but translated into English, and a time of testimonies. After church, Charisa took us to their beautiful home (on the other side of the hill from the Brackenhurst) and served us a delicious lunch.

As far as some thoughts about Nairobi in general, I must point out that both of my visits to Nairobi have been quite emotionally exhausting for me. As much as I love spending time at Amani, my observations of the poverty that exists as a way of life for so many of the people who live in the city have overwhelmed me. I don�t think that it�s possible to explain to an American what existence in a Third World country is like. What exists as �poverty� in the United States is probably about the same level as what would be considered �middle class� in a place like Nairobi. I can�t begin to consider what can be done to �solve� the problem of world poverty. It doesn�t mean that I won�t be involved in efforts to do so. But the task seems SO monumental that I am at a loss as to my place in the big picture. For now, working with Amani and supporting other like-minded organizations is a start. I will always be praying about other ways in which God can use me in His big picture and in His plan to combat poverty.

Well, I�ll give you a break at this point. Check back in a few weeks. Hopefully I�ll have a link to my Flickr photos posted. Thanks for keeping up with my travels! :)

Nairobi ... and the matatus!!

2009-07-22T22:34:00.005-04:00

This will be another long post. Sorry about that ... but I was not able to use Blogger while in Nairobi because for some reason the computers in the hotel did not have the correct "cookie" settings to use the Blogger software. Bummer! Anyway - I'll probably make two or three "final" posts, talking about my time in Nairobi. In fact, they may all come on the same day. So watch for it! :)

Nina and I had a couple of long flights and a long layover in Amsterdam. We arrived in Nairobi on Thursday, July 9. Although I had a couple of days to unwind, get my body clock adjusted to the significant time change, and to explore the city a bit, Nina hit the ground running, literally dashing off to her first meeting as the cab from the airport dropped us at the conference center.

In a future post, I will write more about Amani and about the conference center where Nina and I stayed and about some of the other random things we did while there. But I wanted to start in this post by writing about the matatus. That sounds like a strange place to start, but my rides on the matatus came to symbolize all of the mental and emotional processing that I did while we were in Kenya.

Recently, I was reading an article about the economics of poverty. I can't find the actual article that I was reading, but here is a similar article that I just Googled: http://bulletin.aarp.org/states/ne/2009/20/articles/poverty_economics_101_poor_pay_more.html - very logical, and very interesting.

Matatus are the public transportation in Kenya. The concept is that of a "shared taxi". See this article in Wikipedia about them. The photo that I've included here is actually one that Nina took (thanks, n.!). The matatus are essentially 15-passenger vans (that often hold 20 or more people). They run particular routes, and you can get on or off at will. If you want to pick up a matatu along a certain route, you flag them down. When you want to get off, you notify the conductor (by tapping him, or telling him that you want to get off, or by tapping on the roof...)

Using the matatus to navigate Nairobi was an obvious choice for me because using a cab to get from the conference center (where Nina's conference was being held and where we were staying) would have been VERY expensive. The matatus ended up costing me less than $5 a day. Interestingly, though, referring to the concept of the economics of poverty - I quickly realized that one single matatu ride from the Brackenhurst Conference Center to Amani in Westlands would take anywhere from 1.5 hours to over two hours, depending on traffic, time of day, etc. Thus, 3 or 4 hours of my day every day was spent on public transportation. Essentially "wasted" time - but it really struck me that this is how thousands (if not millions!) of people in Nairobi get to/from their daily activities ... including many of the women who work at Amani ... the economics of poverty.

One of the Amani ladies, Catherine, lives up toward where the Brackenhurst Conference Center is located (near the suburb of Limuru). Previous to my arrival in Nairobi, she advised me about the route numbers of the matatus to look for, so I (thought I) was all set. Since I had those extra days, I decided to use Thursday and Friday (July 9 and 10) to "practice" and explore the routes that I would need to take to get to Amani the following week.

To get from the Brackenhurst campus to the main road, there is a long driveway (down a somewhat steep hill) that takes about 10 or 15 minutes to walk. It's a pretty walk. At the main road, I would flag whatever matatu was coming down the hill (the #116). This matatu would take me to the end of the route ("to town"). Usually, the cost was about 70 or 80 Kenyan Shillings ($1 equals about 75 Kenyan Shillings). One driver charged me 50. Other times they charged me 100. Catherine said that it could depend on the number of riders or even on the weather. I'm sure that they were also ripping off the only white woman who they'd probably see riding all day.

Once in town, it took me some time to figure out that to get from the end of the #116 from Limuru, there is a three-block walk to catch the next matatu (the #48 or #48A) which would take me from town to the road where Amani is located. The first time I ran the route, I had a "nice man" (toothless, and obviously a con man) attempt to help show me the right place to find the #48's - but he took me in the wrong direction to the wrong lot and then asked me for a handout. Doh!

Typically, from the moment I left the Brackenhurst for that walk down the driveway, through my entire ride to Amani (and also the reverse), I never saw a single other person who wasn't black/African. I am SURE that I stood out significantly. Often, the other passengers in the matatus included those of whom I probably ought to have been scared. I kept reminding myself that Brittany and Rachel both ride the matatus alone when they are in Nairobi. And Brittany has beautiful red hair. So I figured that if they could, I could!

I often felt that the conductors (the men who hang out the side of the matatu, calling for riders and collecting the ever-changing fares) were looking out for me - often making sure that they knew ahead of time where I wanted to get off, and often making sure that I knew where i was to go next if I looked confused. Often, but not always. :)

One time, I was sitting in a seat in the middle of the matatu, and there was a man next to me who I thought I needed to keep an eye on. At the next stop, the people in the front seat got off, and immediately the conductor pointed to me and motioned me to sit in front, next to the driver. I wonder if he was also concerned about me sitting next to that man...

Another time, during an afternoon ride back to the Brackenhurst, my matatu was only taking me from town to Banana (a town halfway up the hill to Limuru where I sometimes had to change matatus in order to finish the trip to the Brackenhurst). I always carry my fare in the my fist so that I don't have to fish around in my wallet and so that I can be sure as to whether or not I've already paid. This particular day in question, I handed the conductor my fare AS I get on the matatu (30 shillings). THAT was my mistake. I should have waited until he asked me for it. After I paid, there were quite a few stops with lots of passengers getting on and off. Part way up the hill, the conductor was collecting fares - including from me. I tried to explain that I had already paid, but he insisted on 30 shillings. I definitely didn't feel comfortable arguing with him, on "his" matatu, in "his" city, surrounded by other Africans, and ME unable to speak Swahili. Nope. I simply paid again, but did not relish having to open my wallet in front of other riders. And, really, 30 shillings is less than 50 cents. No big deal, right?

Well, at first, that little "story" about paying twice amused me. But I was soon sobered on it. The next morning at Amani's morning prayers, one of the women shared a "thanksgiving". She was on the matatu coming to work at Amani that morning, sitting near the back of the matatu. Suddenly the police came, pulled the matatu over, and arrested the conductor. (At this point in her story, I wasn't sure how it was going to be a "thanksgiving"....) She was SO thankful because the conductor had already collected fares from the riders in front, but not from those in the back. She would not have been able to afford to pay the fare the second time, and was SO grateful that it hadn't been paid yet. I was QUITE humbled - just the day before I had been joking about having to pay twice. :(

The ride down (up in the afternoons) the hill from the Brackenhurst took me through many poor areas, where the "homes" were often shacks made from old, rusty, corrugated tin sheets, and where vendors set up their own shacks lining the streets. There would be huge numbers of matatus everywhere (like in Nina's picture above), donkeys with carts, and pedestrians walking EVERYWHERE. Banana was by far the busiest of these areas - and probably also the most dangerous. During one ride up the hill, I was contemplating the abject poverty and the lifestyles that I was seeing out the window. I looked up and saw a small church which was made of the same worn-looking metal sheet walls. What caught my eye was the sign over the door: "I will enter His gates with thanksgiving". I am constantly impressed (and humbled) by the amazingly grateful attitudes held by African Christians living in poverty. We "Westerners" often attach our thankful attitudes to materials things that come our way. But here is this church that obviously has little in the way of material "stuff", and is probably attended by people of very little means. Yet the reminder to enter with thanksgiving seems so joyful. I looked at that little church every time I remembered to do so, up and down the hill, for the week and a half that I was there ... and will continue to remind myself what true THANKFULNESS should be about: having a true relationship with Christ.

A more serious story involving the matatus goes something like this. On Thursday afternoon, July 16, I decided that I wanted to ride the matatus home with Catherine, the Amani woman who lives up near Banana and who helped me figure out what routes to take when I first arrived in Nairobi. When I told her that I wanted to ride with her, she reminded me that she is responsible for closing the Amani shop between 4:30 and 5:00 (I was usually leaving around 4:00-ish, after afternoon prayers). She also reminded me that she has to wait until all of the customers are gone, even if it's after 5:00. No problem. (Right?)

Well, while I was waiting for her, around 4:45 or so, a large group of Americans came in. Around 5:00, I started thinking that I should head home alone. But I kept convincing myself to wait another 5 minutes ... another 5 minutes ... well, Catherine was finally done with her customers and duties about 5:30 and we left right away (she seemed a bit concerned, too). Once on the street, it took us over 20 minutes to find a #48 with ANY extra seats on it. When one finally came along, we got stuck in Nairobi rush hour traffic. When we finally got to town and walked to the other matatu lot, the first one leaving was only going as far as Banana, meaning that I would have to change matatus at Banana. In the daylight, that sounded rather "do-able"....

By the time that we got all the way up the hill to Catherine's stop (before Banana), we both knew that it was too late (due to impending darkness) and that there was nothing that could be done for me to stop it. Ugh! After Catherine got off, a strange man sat down next to me and started talking with me in a flirtatious way that made me a bit uncomfortable. I was afraid that he would follow me in Banana, or (worse) up to the Brackenhurst. I tried my best to ignore him, and he finally left me alone. When we got to Banana, I waited until everyone else was off the matatu before getting off, hoping that the strange, flirty man would be gone and not follow me. Once alone with the driver and conductor, and once they found out that I wanted to go to the Brackenhurst, they offered to take (just) me there for 1500 shillings. Then, when I refused, they started asking me how much money I had with me, attempting to barter me down. No way! Finally, they realized that I wasn't going to go with them, they agreed to show me where the matatu to Limuru was. They even drove me there. It was already almost completely dark out. I made sure that the conductor knew that I was going to the Brackenhrst. While waiting to leave Banana, and while driving up the hill, there were a zillion negative self-talk things that I did to scare myself. First of all, the lights INSIDE the matatu are left ON after dark - great for security INSIDE the matatu, but not so great for seeing OUT to know if I'd missed my stop. I HAD to rely on the conductor to remember to get me off. And I was concerned that someone from the matatu would follow me up the hill while I was walking. AND/OR I was worried that someone already on the main road or on the Brackenhurst driveway would follow me. I had myself resolved that my purse would be stolen - and was quite convinced that I was going to be raped before getting back to my room. By the time the conductor told me that we were at the Brackenhurst, I was terrified. When I went to get out of the matatu, the conductor said "you're going alone!?" That did NOT help relieve my fearfulness. Even the conductor was worried......

Once on the Brackenhurst driveway, I was determined to walk as fast as possible, to ignore ANYone I saw, and to PRAY the whole time....

As I came around the first of several hairpin turns in Brackenhurst's driveway, I saw a man standing there (remember - pitch black darkness now) in the road. As I attempted to rush past him, he fell into step next to me and tried to talk to me. I didn't even try to hear what he was saying - I just put my head down and walked a LOT faster. He only kept up with me for a few moments, and then stayed where he was. After that, I nearly RAN up the hill.

Interestingly, the Brackenhurst driveway (about 1 km or more long) is quite poorly paved - very uneven, full of huge pot holes, and has several speed bumps along the way. On a smooth surface in broad daylight I am NOT typically very sure-footed. Yet, on this very dark evening, when I couldn't even see the ground at my feet, and when I hadn't made my usual change into my walking shoes, I did NOT trip or even slightly stumble - not even one little time along the way. Just one of many of the Lord's protections on me that evening.

When I only had a little bit longer to go before the Brackenhurst main gate, I noticed that a motor-scooter was following me at a distance. If I paused, it paused ... if I wlked faster, it started up again. I thought maybe it was the man who had followed me.....

Well, I finally reached the main gate in one piece. I had to go to the reception desk to pick up our room key (where Nina and I would leave it when neither of us was in the room). I was fighting back tears and panting like crazy, and a security guard was standing there talking to the evening receptionist. They commented on my breathing and I replied that I had just practically run up the hill. The security guard made a quick call on his walkie-talkie, and then told me that the man who had tried to talk with me was also a Brackenhurst security guard, and that he could have called up to the Brackenhurst for a ride for me. They pressed me on why I refused to talk with him and how I didn't see his nametag. But the definitely seemed to appreciate my explanation that I didn't realize that Brackenhurst has security down near the main road, and that I thought it would be dangerous to turn and face a strange man in that situation. The receptionist also agreed that it was dangerous for me to have come home on the matatus so late at night.

I had never been SO scared. In fact, I don't remember ever being so terrified in my whole life. But God is SO good. He made sure that I was protected on the portion of the journey that I thought was going to be the most dangerous.

My physical reaction to the stress was that it took over 24 hours for me to stop shaking and to get my appetite back. I still shake a bit thinking about it.

I spent much of the week at Amani working with Judy. Judy has a long scar across her face. She was walking home from work one day last year and was attacked by someone with a machete. I have spent a lot of time contemplating that Judy has no choice about how she gets to/from work - even after her horrible experience. What was only a scary possibility in my mind was reality for Judy. And while after a week and a half I was able to leave the world of matatus and the land where women are property which can be "stolen", Judy has no choice but to continue in her mode of transportation to and from work every day for the unforeseeable future. Quite sobering....

Well, thank you for reading this far ... and I will probably write one or two more posts in the next couple of days. Please check back!

An American in Lima

2009-07-06T14:48:00.008-04:00

The title was totally stolen from a writer's blog that you can find here. But I figured that it's an appropriate title for this post, so I'm going to use it. If the owner of the blog wants me to change it, I will. :)

URUGUAY
So ... where did I leave off last time? I suppose that I haven't yet written about getting back to Montevideo on Friday. Leti and the kids and I all took the bus from Montevideo back to Rivera - about a six hour ride. Her parents live there, and her dad met us at the bus station. I spend the night there at her parents' house and she and the kids would be spending the week there, as it's their winter break.

Her family is delightful - several generations in Uruguay, but very very Italian, and very much like any American Italian family. Her parents both have HUGE personalities. When we arrived, about 7:00pm, they started serving us wine (a delicious Argentinian malbec, which is often my variety of choice at home!). Her sister, brother & wife, and her mom's sister were all there, too. It was reminiscent of what my family's huge get togethers used to be like before our family began to spread out and get older. Lots of eating, lots of laughter, lots of noise and LOTS of energy. It was a lovely evening!!

In the morning, Leti and I walked to a corner market for some bread and came back and had a quiet breakfast together. Gianella picked us up around 10:00 or so and we went out to do some shopping. Uruguay is known for its leather products, and I was hoping to find a good leather jacket. Unfortunately, I couldn't find one that fit me well enough to make me say "WOW!" and thus justify the cost. We also found me a Spanish bible (I was having difficulty finding a Reina Valera 1995 in the States) and a good Spanish dictionary. Funny - in the States I have only been able to find Spanish/English dictionaries. I don't want the English - I can do that online. I wanted Spanish definitions of Spanish words. For those of you who have been discussing Spanish dictionaries with me ... I looked at both RAE's and Larousse ... and I decided on the Larousse. I probably could have gotten one on Amazon ... but I really wanted to have it in my hands, page through it, see what kinds of "extras" it had, read some of the definitions, etc. So it will be worth (I hope) carrying it home all the way from South America!!

We met up with another attorney from the Uruguayan network who I had met at the Convocation in October and the four of us had lunch together. More asado/parrilla and red wine. MMmmm.... A delicious lunch - but not enough time spent with friends, as we needed to get ME to the airport for my flight.

Leti's father drove me (and Leti & Juan Martin) to the airport. LAN airlines had asked that I arrive at the airport three hours before my flight. But their counters didn't even open until about two and a half hours before. Ugh! Anyway, Leti (et al) were kind enough to wait with me while I checked in and paid the airport tax (you have to go to a counter down the hall from check-in and pay $31USD per person ... and, yes, they are very happy to take my US dollars instead of my left over Uruguayan pesos!).

I was so sad to say good-bye to Leticia. Who knows when we'll be able to orchestrate another visit, whether it's Leti to DC or me to Uruguay. We've talked about some possibilities. Hopefully it will happen some day soon!

LIMA
I actually started typing this yesterday, but got distracted and ran out of time. I�m about to leave Lima (yes, a VERY short visit here), but want to type about my very short time spent here.

My flights from Uruguay to Lima were uneventful ... had extra time at the airport in Montevideo so I had dulce de leche flavored ice cream (!!) and a coke. The flight connected through Santiago, Chile, but only left me with enough time between to RUN through the airport (like OJ!) to get to my next flight. When I arrived in Lima (about 11:00pm) there were a few hundred people in line for immigration. The room was HOT and stuffy and people all stood toooooo close together. It took almost an hour to get through that line and to pick up my luggage.

It was about midnight when Nina was finally able to welcome me to her home city. :) We took a taxi to my hotel, which is about two blocks from her mom's house. Although my jet lag is usually worse when traveling west, and Lima is two hours behind Montevideo, I couldn't fall asleep. Ugh! I only ended up getting a couple hours rest that night.

Nina walked over to "pick me up" the next morning (Sunday), and we walked to her mom's for breakfast. I met her mom in October when she was in New York, and it was WONDERFUL to see her again. One of Nina's sisters, Katty, also lives there, with her husband Franklin, and their 4-month-old baby Ezra. They're a gorgeous family! Since it was Sunday, breakfast was a big deal. Of course, there were several different breads and cheeses and delicious jams. We also had tamales (YUM!) and papaya and papas fritas and ........ fried blood. No joke. And it wasn't bad. I have been trying to figure out how to describe the taste ... but really can't figure out how to do so. And I can't easily find anything about it online (if you google it, you come up with some really WEIRD websites.....) Anyway - take my word for it - it wasn't bad. I had seconds ... but would probably not make it for myself or want to snack on it........

Due to a miscommunication, we sort of missed church in the morning (confused about the service times). Nina's husband Roberto & her son Robertito went to meet his sister & her family after the service, which Katty & Franklin took Nina and I on a WONDERFUL driving tour of parts of the coast.

Interesting thing about Lima: in the winter there is this thing called "la garua" ... or, "the mist". It's like a thick fog/cloud sets down over the city for several months. It feels like it might be raining a bit (they'll say "drizzle"), but it never actually rains. You may feel wet, but it's really never raining. It's always gray out, and VERY muggy. The temperatures never really leave the 60's Farhenheit.

Anyway, when we decided to take this drive along the coast, I saw the only sun that I saw pretty much the whole time I was in Lima. I don't mean to say that we could see all the way up and down the coast super-clearly. But it was definitely MUCH more clear than I was expecting, and Nina & her sister & brother-in-law were impressed that the sun actually came out (for our drive, specifically). Lima's coastline is beautiful. It curves around quite a bit, so you can see other parts of the city. And there are large (huge) outcroppings of rock cliffs that create a wonderful view. I'll need to visit sometime in their summer months. (Didn't I say the same thing about Montevideo?) :-)

Some other highlights of my short stay in Lima include an evening exploring Miraflores (where we met up with Nina's other sister & brother-in-law Tonya & Kenny) and shopping some of the independent vendors there (although I really haven't bought much here in Peru...) and a night-time view of the coast from a shopping mall that is built into a cliff. GORGEOUS! We have also had traditional Peruvian food a couple of times. One afternoon, we went with some of Roberto's family to a rotisserie chicken place. I tried a local soft drink called Inka Kola ... interestingly, when Coca Cola found that they couldn't get decent sales in Lima a number of years ago, because everyone here loves Inka Kola, they BOUGHT the company. So now, the same Inka Kola is still sold and is just as popular as before. But the profits go to Coca Cola. Hmph!

We also tried these delicious things called "picarones" (singular would be "picar�n"). Nina says that some people call them "Peruvian Doughnuts", but that she thinks it's an inaccurate description because doughnuts are usually made from dough that has flour in it. But I think that "doughnuts" IS an accurate description because they are O-shaped pieces of fried dough. They just happen to be made from a different kind of dough. Regardless of how you want to classify them, they're DELICIOUS!!

AND, we ate at a Peruvian restaurant where we ate lots of different popular Peruvian foods. We ordered family style, and had dishes like "anticucho" (cow's heart), "ri�oncitos" (griled kidneys), and "seco de cabrito con frijoles" (a dish with rice and beans and goat's meat and a delicious, spicy sauce). We also tried several different sauces, including a "chimichurri" (a green sauce) and "salsa a la huancaina" (a white sauce that is VERY yummy!!). The food is DELICIOUS!! Que rico!!

Okay - this post is getting TOOOOooooo long. So I'm going to shut down. Maybe, if I get online in Amsterdam (during a layover) or somewhere else in the next few days I'll leave you with some random thoughts about Montevideo and Lima. I have really loved being in Latin America, and am truly looking forward to coming back!!

In the meantime, our next destination is Nairobi, Kenya. I'll be traveling with Nina. While there, I will be working as a volunteer at Amani ya Juu. If you're not familiar with Amani, please scroll down here to the post entitled "Summer 2009". Also, you can find out more about their organization at Amani Africa. I can't wait to visit Amani again!

I have seen the Southern Cross for the First time...

2009-07-02T16:51:00.002-04:00

He visto la Cruz del Sur por primera vez. :)

My flight from Buenos Aires to Montevideo on Sunday was over an hour late leaving, but only one hour late arriving. I think that�s funny. Anyway, what was NOT funny was that my suitcase was THE last suitcase from my flight to hit the conveyor belt. It took over an hour to get my bag, and at this airport, they don�t allow anyone but passengers in the baggage claim area, so poor Gianella was waiting outside for me for SO long.

The weather was cloudy and cool � apparently typical for the wintertime here. When we left the airport, Gianella took me on a quick driving tour of the coasts of Montevideo. What a beautiful city! There are miles and miles of riverfront property, with a �rambla� (or a lovely walkway along the waterfront) on one side of the riverside road, and many tall buildings (mainly apartments) on the other side of the road. Then we went to her home and had a mid-afternoon snack and watched the news for awhile. There had been a military coup in Honduras, which was of course one of the main stories on the station �CNN en espa�ol�. There were also national elections in Argentina and primary elections in Uruguay on that day, all of which was of great interest to Gianella. I was using the opportunity to practice my Spanish listening skills, which are rather lousy. :)

Before dinner, which is often a late-evening affair in many parts of the world, we drove a bit more around the city. Gianella showed me the main public square and some parts of the �old city� and some statues of famous Uruguayans. We had dinner at a wonderful restaurant called �The Famous Grouse� � I had arroz con mariscos (rice with shellfish). Mmmmm� But the BEST part was dessert � panqueques de manzanas, apple pancakes served with the best (literally) ice cream I have ever tasted in my life. (And you know me � I am an ice cream expert, a talent/skill inherited from my father!) Mmmmmmmmmmmm��..

The next morning it was pouring down rain and there was lots of thunder and lightning. Originally, it had been my intention to rent a car and drive the 5+ hours from Montevideo to Rivera, but eventually changed my mind and allowed Leti to buy me a bus ticket. I was SO glad, because the weather was so bad, and the entire bus ride (which ended up being almost six hours) was through mucho, mucho rain! I planned to read a lot on the bus, but ended up sleeping a lot. I�m not sure why, though, because I wasn�t necessarily tired. Hmmm�

Leti and Gerardo AND both of their children, Micaela (11) and Juan Mart�n (7) were all at the bus station to pick me up. They drove me around the city of Rivera a little bit before going home. Rivera is a fairly large city on the border of Uruguay and Brazil. There is really no distinction between the parts of the city that are Uruguayan and those that are Brazilian. You wouldn�t necessarily know if you�d crossed from one country into the other, which we have now done several times.

Their home is on a small piece of farm property about 15 minutes outside of the city of Rivera, in a jurisdiction called Curticeiras. Gerardo is a local politician and was running for national parliamentary office in the primary elections the day before (and he won!), so their phones (home and cells) were ringing non-stop. Several days later, they are still getting frequent calls of congratulations. In between phone calls, they started a fire in the fireplace, and Gerardo set up a small grill, called a �parrilla�, over the fire. In Uruguay, there is a style of cooking meat called �asado�, which involves cooking sausage (�chorizo�) and different red meats over the open fire in a barbeque pit or in your fireplace. We sat around drinking DELICIOUS Uruguayan red wine (a shiraz that I wonder if I�ll ever be able to find in the States�) and eating the asado as Gerardo pulled it from the fire. Meanwhile, Mica practiced her English with me (she speaks like a native!) and Juan showed me some of his notebooks from school (which were exceptionally neat and organized � I wonder if I can ever get my own students to keep such wonderful notebooks�) We also drank a Uruguayan drink called �mate�, which is similar to tea, but is served in a special container, you pour hot water over the yerba mate (which is ground to a tea consistency) and drink through a metal straw-like contraption called a �bombilla�. Mate is rather bitter, but of course, because I love black coffee so much, I am no stranger to hot bitter drinks. I really like mate. I�ll need to bring me home some of the necessities and see if I can find yerba mate at a local international grocery store. Dessert was dulce de leche and cookies. I�ve had dulce de leche with almost every meal since then. Also another yummy tasty thing that I�m indulging in while here.

Before going to bed, we noticed that the skies had cleared, and they took me outside to show me the southern constellations, including the Southern Cross. I hadn�t realized that Southern constellations are different than the Northern ones. Quite fascinating. Since we are in the countryside, the lights from the city did not distract from seeing a zillion stars and a bright, bright winter quarter moon. I don�t often get to see such a beautiful night sky when in the DC area.

Breakfasts this week have mostly been �continental� style � breads and jams and cheese and juice and coffee and mate and so on. One kind of jam that they have lots of is quince. �Quince� is the English word (�membrillo� in espa�ol) for a fruit of which I have never heard. They happened to have one on the property and Mica went to find it for me. It is a bit bigger than a mango, bright yellow, and very aromatic. Apparently you don�t really want to eat it raw (as it is supposedly quite bitter), but it is great when prepared for jams, etc. I wonder if I can find it in the States� I suppose I�ll be spending lots of time in the international grocery when I get back home. :)

Yesterday morning, instead of the �continental� breakfast, Juan Mart�n, with really not much help from his mother, prepared panqueques for us. They were not like fluffy American pancakes, but more like flat crepes that you spread things on and roll up. Of course, Mica and I used dulce de leche in ours.

Leti and I have spent the mornings this week just sitting and talking, catching up (I haven�t seen her since she was in DC in October when we met). It is so much fun being here with her, in her home, in her country. I�m having a wonderful time!

Their tradition is to have a large lunch, snacks with mid-afternoon tea, and a late and large dinner. One afternoon, we went to the city and used the computer in Gerardo�s office to check e-mail and Facebook and do other random stuff online (like looking up the Jimmy Buffet song about seeing the Southern Cross for the first time ?). We�ve explored Rivera a little bit, saw some of the sights like a place on the top of a hill where you can look down over the whole city, and we marveled at all of the places where Gerardo�s face, name and political advertisements are painted HUGE on walls around the city. I also had my photo taken on the international border, with one foot in Uruguay and the other in Brazil. Another afternoon, we took a scenic drive in a gorgeous valley called �Valle del Lunarejo� � climbing on rocks with the kids, climbing through a barbed wire fence to get a better view (and better photos) of the valley, and just looking at all of the gorgeous countryside. We have spent only a very little time shopping. I�m not much of a shopper, but will eventually want to stop for a few souvenirs and some gifts before I leave Rivera on Friday afternoon (my flight from Montevideo, Uruguay to Lima, Peru will be on Saturday afternoon).

One evening, after dinner when Leti took Juan Mart�n to pick up Gerardo from work a bit late, she said something to Mica very quickly in Spanish. I didn�t think anything of it. While they were gone, Mica and I sat eating our manzanas con dulce de leche (apples with dulce de leche) and gabbing (did I mention that her English is excellent?). Suddenly she says to me that her mother told her that she was not supposed to allow me to do the dishes. Well, you should have seen the conversation that ensued. No one (NO ONE) tells me what to do and what not to do � especially a kiddo. She insisted that if I attempted to get into the kitchen, she was going to lock me out. Later she told me that they don�t have a key for the one door that would have let me into the kitchen. Anyway � I gave Leti a hard time for using my ignorance of the Spanish language against me. It was all in good fun � but, again, I MUST work on mi espa�ol!!!!! Oh � and Mica just told me that I have to tell you that � she won! I did NOT do the dishes. :)

Obviously, Mica is proofreading this for me. She wants me to add that I think that Juan Mart�n is a HAM! It�s been interesting trying to explain to her what, exactly, I mean by that description. But he is really, truly a ham. I keep telling Leti & Gerardo that �no necesitan un televisor� (that they don�t need a television set) because Juan Mart�n is entertainment enough. (They DO have two television sets � but really, the kid is in a constant state of �hilarious�!)

So, with all of this talk about dulce de leche I have to add this little story. As I was pondering whether to bring my �good� camera or not, I got advice from several people that I should NOT bring the camera if I was going to be in Lima. After checking with my homeowners insurance and talking with some more people, I decided to bring it. So this evening, Leti & Gerardo and I were walking along, eating churros filled with dulce de leche, and I looked down to see hot dulce de leche dripping down my entire sweater and ALL OVER my camera. You�re not supposed to get a digital camera wet in any way, so I wasn�t even sure if I�d be able to clean it. Ugh! Well, it DID get clean and my sweater is fine. But who thought that the dulce de leche would be the downfall of the camera, and not a pickpocket in Lima�... :)

Leticia is an English teacher at a local high school. She probably knows more about my language than I do. That makes it very easy for me to ask her some very analytical questions about my Spanish learning (you know how my brain works). That has helped a lot. We have tried to converse in Spanish here and there. But it�s difficult to have a deep conversation with a girlfriend in a language that you know very little of. Mica speaks English and wants to practice with me. Juan Mart�n has started learning English in school, but is rather unsure. When he speaks to me in Spanish, he forgets to speak slowly, and he runs his words together, so I have had difficulty understanding him. But I try to speak to him in Spanish, and he is comfortable correcting me, and is always VERY polite when he does so. Gerardo doesn�t speak much English, and Leti is pressing him to learn a bit more. He has tried to speak English with me a little, and I have tried to speak Spanish with him a little. But our conversations end up turning political or to some other more complicated subject, and Leti ends up translating for us. Some day we�ll both be fluent in the others� language.

As I said, I will leave Rivera on Friday, we�ll spend the night at Leti�s parents� house in Montevideo. Saturday morning, I believe that we�re going to do some more shopping and have lunch with Gianella. I�ll need to be at the airport mid-afternoon for my flight to Lima. I�ll connect through Santiago, Chile and arrive in Lima quite late. I will hopefully have time to update again sometime while in Lima. Keep checking back! :)

At an Internet center at the Buenos Aires Airport

2009-06-28T09:52:00.002-04:00

Apparently I haven't been spelling Buenos Aires correctly in my Facebook posts. Haven't I watched/listened to Evita enough times to be able to spell the name of the city!!??

Anyway - not much news to report yet. My flights from DC to Miami and again from Miami to Buenos Aires got off fine. I didn't realize until the last minute that I had a layover in Buenos Aires. Now my flight to Montevideo is delayed by about an hour. So I had time to look up an internet center to post a little bit.

Interestingly, we were required to fill out an extensive health form and wear a surgical mask before getting off the plane in Argentina. I'm not sure if it's about the swine flu or something else. But when I asked about how long we had to wear the mask, I was told that it was up to me and how comfortable I was with breathing the air without the mask. That's an easy one ... I don't tend to be a hypocondriac, so I immediately took the mask off. lol....

Had some strong coffee in a little cafe in the airport and am continuing to read my summer murder-mystery (Jonathan Kellerman's Alex Delaware series, "Flesh and Blood"). Not sure when I'll have a chance to update next, but please keep checking back!

Chao!

Summer of 2009

2009-06-26T11:53:00.007-04:00

So I didn't really end up back at my blog again since my post in December, more than 6 months ago. But I have decided that this blog will be the best place to keep you updated on my travels this summer.

As per usual, my summer travel plans have come together within the past few months and I have been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to see new parts of the world � to experience new cultures and to grow a little bit along the way. I have even been dusting off my espa�ol in anticipation of a trip that would involve a week in Uruguay and a week in Lima, Peru.

Tickets were purchased, arrangements for lodging were mostly completed, and plans to spend time with friends in Latin America were eagerly awaited. And then, during the last week of May, a late evening phone call put a twist on all of this. The friend who I was supposed to visit in Lima had the opportunity to work at a ministry conference in Nairobi, Kenya during the very week that I was supposed to be in Peru. She wanted to know if I would be interested in going to Kenya with her.

Well, many of you are aware that for several years I have had a very soft place in my heart for a ministry in Africa called Amani ya Juu. Amani ya Juu (meaning �higher peace� in Swahili) is a sewing-marketing-training project for marginalized women in Africa. The main center is located in Nairobi, Kenya with sister centers in Rwanda and Burundi. The women involved in the project are learning to work together through faith in God who provides a higher peace that transcends ethnic differences. Amani itself portrays a unique picture of diversity with women coming from Rwanda, Burundi, Congo, Uganda, Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, and Somalia as well as from other African countries. During the summer of 2007 I had the great privilege of spending two weeks volunteering at Amani and immersing myself in the culture of healing, peace, and reconciliation that underscores Amani�s great impact in East Africa.

You can read online about my previous trip in my blog at: http://www.louannsplace.com/Africa/Africa2007.html

After much prayer, quite a bit of indecisiveness (on my part), and several conversations with Amani staff and admin, I have decided to accompany my friend to Nairobi. While she is working at a conference just outside of Nairobi, I will be working at Amani (whose campus is located in downtown Nairobi). I am confident in the Lord to work out the remainder of the details.

My travel itinerary is roughly as follows: in the next few days, I will travel from Washington, DC to Montevideo, Uruguay and spend a week with a friend who lives in Rivera, Uruguay (which was part of my original plan) - about 5 hours from Montevideo. Then I will travel from Uruguay to Lima, Peru to spend a couple of short days there. (It was supposed to be a week. I already want to plan to go back some day!) Next, my friend and I will travel to Nairobi, and will be there for about ten days. Due to the best prices on flights, I will fly back to Lima and directly back to DC from Lima.

I covet your prayers as I prepare for the trip and as I travel to Nairobi in July. I would ask that you pray that the Lord will use me in significant ways to glorify Him and to truly minister to the hearts of the Amani women and to the Amani center. Please also continue to pray for all three of the Amani centers in East Africa and the women who are being served by this wonderful ministry. The Lord is working amazing things in the lives of these beautiful ladies!

On that last note, please share with me some of your own prayer requests. It would be my privilege to lift your needs up in prayer to our gracious Lord and Savior.

Contact me at:
louannaepelbacher@gmail.com

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-20T09:07:00.002-05:00

I have obviously not posted to my blog in a few months. But I do not intend to abandon my blog completely. I'm just trying to arrange my priorities.

In the meantime, for some holiday fun, take a look at Photo.net's Editors Picks photos for the 2008 holiday season. Although my photo of the Capitol Christmas Tree was taken in 2006, they decided to use it in this year's display. I am quite humbled! Enjoy the holiday photos!

Have a very Merry Christmas and many blessings in 2009!

Life is good!

2008-09-17T22:37:00.002-04:00

Just one of those relatively "up" days. Yeah. Three things occurred to me as I was coming in tonight after my rehearsal:

1) I had on my favorite shoes today. That's enough to make me smile!!

2) My Mary Kay gal came to my orchestra rehearsal to find me ... just because she knew I wanted some blush. She had no reason to be there ... just to bring my blush to me instead of making me go to get my blush. (I wasn't expecting her.) AND, she brought three different colors to pick from, told me to take them home, try them, and get the two I don't want back to her. She'll worry about the receipt later. Yeah. How can you not LOVE Sheryl!?

3) We started working on Christmas music in rehearsal today, and I was SO happy to be playing Christmas music. In September. Knowing full well that we will have over three straight months of playing Christmas music. A lot. And I LOVE it. I even put on my Christmas playlist on my iPod in my car on my way home from rehearsal. Just to hear some of the familiar carols.

Life is good. Ahhhhh......

Green Tea Ice Cream

2008-08-13T21:46:00.002-04:00

A few years back, while visiting a Japanese restaurant owned by one of my student's parents, I was served green tea ice cream. It was homemade in the restaurant, not on the menu, and was AMAZINGLY delicious!! I have heard that the best green tea ice creams are home made and can only be found in good Japanese restaurants. I'm not sure how true this is, but I have always asked about it whenever I'm in any Asian restaurant. It's typically an expensive dessert, but extremely well worth it.

Well, I recently discovered that Haagen-Dazs has made a special, limited-edition Green Tea Ice Cream flavor. I had some tonight and it's really good. It's not as good as the first bowl I had way back when my student's parents brought me their made-from-scratch version. But it is definitely worth the trip to the store. You'll HAVE to try it!

The Buffalo Bills at the Washington Redskins!!

2008-08-09T21:52:00.002-04:00

The Bills and the Redskins are in different conferences. The Bills are AFC and the Skins are NFC. Basically this means that they don't play each other too often. It's only every couple of years they play each other, and it's not always IN Washington. And somehow I always have something previously planned that day that is nearly impossible to reschedule.

Several months ago my cousins from San Diego (who have never been to Western NY) decided to come to WNY to see the family and go to Niagara Falls and so on. They chose this week, and my mom planned a family get together for tomorrow, Sunday August 10. In fact, there are several members of the Buffalo family who have never met these cousins. My brother hasn't seen Michael since about 1973. So, of course, I decided that it was important for me to be in WNY for this small reunion.

Then the Bills' 2008 schedule came out. The first preseason game: Bills AT the Redskins, Saturday August 9. IN WASHINGTON. WHILE I'M IN BUFFALO. (sigh....) At least the game is on TV in Buffalo (if it were a home game, it might not be on TV here).

I even had to pass up a great opportunity to watch the game with some Skin-fans who are friends of mine at their home. What fun THAT would have been!! (sigh.....)

The next time the Bills play IN Washington, I am going to buy expensive tickets immediately after the schedule is released so that I don't have any excuse to miss the game.

By the way - I wish they wouldn't wear those retro-helmets with the outline of a red buffalo on them. Uck!

Oh, and - go Roscoe Parrish! My current FAVORITE Buffalo Bill!! Close, close, close second favorite: Trent Edwards. Woot!

Enough already....

2008-07-31T18:45:00.004-04:00

Okay, I KNOW that Marion Jones did a bad thing by taking steroids. I understand that she had to give back her Olympic medals. I even understand that she had to serve prison time. I appreciate what a bad example she set for young athletes and for other people in general by what she did. But come ON! She was as public with her admission/confession as she was with her previous athletic accolades. I think we need to move on and leave the woman alone. One of my biggest arguments for leaving her alone is to point out that she is FAR from being the only one. How many athletes have been caught and had their hands slapped and haven't had the public humiliation that Marion Jones had? How many athletes haven't been caught?

Yet, when I stopped at the mechanic today I noticed a copy of today's USAToday on the counter. This photo caught my eye on the front page. The woman has a beautiful face. And this photo is a fabulous photo. But, of course, the story immediately beneath the photo was about doping and the Olympics. It's not even an article about Marion Jones. For crying out loud. Is she the new poster child for Athletes Fallen from Grace?? Enough already. Leave her alone now to put her life back together. We all make mistakes. Some are worse than others. But most of us don't have to live them out over and over again on the front page of USAToday!

Tim Zimmerman and the King's Brass

2008-07-25T22:19:00.002-04:00

Wow! I thought I was going to be bored, sitting at a concert with a brass ensemble dressed in tuxes. Well, they were dressed in tuxes (for part of the concert) and they were a brass ensemble (yet with no French horn players....) but it was ANYTHING but boring!! In fact, it was a BLAST! The group was Tim Zimmerman and the King's Brass. The group consists of a pianist, a drummer, three trumpets, three trombones, and a tuba. They had a few classical pieces, and several religious pieces, but almost everything was done with a touch of jazz and lots of humor and exceptional musicianship! They had the most amazing arrangement of Yankee Doodle (no kidding ... a whole variations-on-a-theme approach ... it was amazing!) and played jazz standards like Somewhere Over the Rainbow and In the Mood. In several of their songs they worked in several different related melodies. It was just so much fun! If you ever hear that they're in your town, you MUST see them. Here's a clip (it's Christmas music, but it was the best video that YouTube had....) Enjoy!

Beijing 2008!!

2008-07-22T08:55:00.002-04:00

Are you looking forward to the Olympics? I am. I've always been a fan of the Olympics. Just the idea that the whole world sets aside their differences and comes together in a spirit of sportsmanship and competition - to support and encourage one another - it's so profoundly meaningful!

This year, I feel even more strongly about the spirit of the Olympics because they are being held in China. Many of us will have to think outside the box to embrace the idea that we can enjoy the experience of the Olympics in China!

Recently I discovered a fabulous photoblog at Boston.com called The Big Picture, News Stories in Photographs. They always have fabulous photo essays tied in to current events. This morning I discovered that their latest photo essay is about the upcoming Beijing games. You can see all of the images in this essay at http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/. I especially love the building shaped like the Olympic Flame.

Go USA!!

The trees make noises!

2008-07-12T13:14:00.002-04:00

When I first moved to Northern Virginia back in 1996, it was late July. I noticed that the trees make really loud noises. It was the strangest thing - because in the North, our trees don't make noises. At first I thought maybe I was going crazy. Hearing things, ya' know. But then after a couple of years, I realized that it happened coming up to the hottest part of the summer every year and lasted for a few weeks through those really hot months. Eventually, someone told me that those sounds are actually the sounds of bugs who live in those trees. (Whew! I'm not actually hearing the trees make loud noises ... it's BUGS!)

Well, this morning was the first time this year that I heard those really loud sounds consistently while walking out of the house to my car. Maybe today isn't the first day of the sounds ... but it's the first day that the sound was so loud that I was conscious of it. Hmmm... I'm in the South now!

Gasoline Prices (AGAIN!)

2008-07-02T22:07:00.001-04:00

I drove from VA to Buffalo today. I paid $4.13/gallon to fill up in VA, saw gas priced at $3.95/gallon in Pennsylvania on the way up. And in New York it's $4.33. Come on, folks - that the heck is this kind of discrepancy all about!? Oh, yeah - it's TAXES!! (UGH!!)

Georgetown Cupcake!!

2008-06-27T17:40:00.002-04:00

Georgetown Cupcake!!! Who says you can't have a cupcake for dinner. I mean, it doesn't happen every day. Just once in a great while!! A couple of weeks ago, my friend Kristi and I tried out a new "restaurant" in Georgetown ... like I said, it's called Georgetown Cupcake. You totally have to try it. It's near the corner of Potomac and M. Easy to find. They basically have cupcakes and coffee-type drinks. That's it. And, of course, we should have eaten somewhere else, and then stopped at Georgetown Cupcake for dessert. But our time was limited and we figured, heck, it's just this once! They have lots of yummy cupcake flavors and varieties. I had the mocha chocolate cupcake (see below) and a chai latte. How could life get any better!? Oh - and, by the way, make sure you visit their website - it has been designed by someone brilliant. It's the coolest thing!! :-)

Accents on the East Coast

2008-06-18T09:44:00.003-04:00

All week I have been noticing the gorgeous full moon in the evenings (well, the non-overcast evenings anyway). It's been HUGE and low on the horizon. Beautiful! And, on my favorite morning news show (on WUSA channel 9 in Washington, DC!) the weather gal is Kim Martucci - and she's been talking about this "strawberry moon" (the name of the full moon in June ... never knew that before!). Well, I had an appointment in Georgetown last night and took my camera with me - on the way home I stopped to take a few shots of the moon over some of the monuments. I sent Kim a copy of one of the photos to show on the morning program. And she did!

Not only did she show my photo, but she gave me a shout out, and she pronounced my last name exactly correctly ... that is, if you live in Buffalo. Well, Kim is from Pennsylvania, but worked in Buffalo for a few years. In Buffalo, they say "Apple-back-er" with "back" like "front and back". But everywhere else we say "Apple-bach-er" with "bach" like the composer J.S. Bach. So when she answered my e-mail, I responded, thanking her for the props and mentioned that she pronounced my name like a true Buffalonian. She responded AGAIN to me... with the following link about regional accents. If you're not from the Eastern United States, you will probably not find this article interesting. But if you ARE from the East, ANYWHERE in the East, you'll love it. Read on!

New York Times Article on Travel

Thanks, Kim Martucci!

Oh - and if you want to see a couple of photos of the strawberry moon over the DC monuments, take a look at my Angaza Photography blog. Enjoy!

Tim Russert

2008-06-13T20:31:00.002-04:00

I couldn't believe when I was sitting at my computer this afternoon and the breaking news e-mail appeared that said that Tim Russert died today. No way! I read it wrong. No way! It's a rumor. No way!

Unfortunately, yes way. So sad for so many reasons. Tim Russert was a class act journalist. He was, by all public appearances, a great guy. He was a devoted son, husband, father. And ... he was a BUFFALO BILLS FAN!

Yes, Tim Russert was from Buffalo. He talked about Buffalo all the time. He wrote about Buffalo in his books. He exuded "Buffalo"! Whenever I saw him on TV, I felt like I was seeing the next door neighbor guy. He just seemed like someone who would be from Buffalo.

He was from South Buffalo, to be exact. He was an Irish Catholic from South Buffalo. If you're from Buffalo, you know all that being Irish Catholic from South Buffalo entails. He went to Canisius High. He knows the Broadway Market. He worked for Moynihan.

Despite the other Buffalo Bills' news stories as of late, this one takes precedence. The Bills have lost their #1 and most public fan.

Tim, we will all miss you!

Nephews update...

2008-05-14T20:09:00.002-04:00

Over the past few years I have occasionally posted a photo of my nephews. Well, my brother's family visited on Sunday (they were at my mom's for Mother's Day). They're getting SOOOOoooo big!! :-) Here's a picture that my sister-in-law, Danielle, took of the four of us.

Hobbit Name

2008-05-10T16:32:00.002-04:00

Okay, I totally stumbled on this website, thanks to one of the photography online communities in which I participate. It cracks me up. You go to the website, type in your first and last names, and they tell you what your name is in Elvish language. They also have a counterpart website that will give you your name in Hobbit. :-)

In Elvish, my name is: Alat�ri�l Amandil
My Hobbit name is: Myrtle Boggy-Hillocks (too hilarious!)

Here are the links to the site:
Elvish: http://www.chriswetherell.com/elf/
Hobbit: http://www.chriswetherell.com/hobbit/

Have fun!! :-D

Gas Prices!!!

2008-05-09T09:56:00.002-04:00

Ugh!! I had the opportunity to spend a few days in Southern Arizona last week. When I left Buffalo, the gas prices here were in the upper $3.70's range. When I got to Arizona, the prices were in the mid $3.30's. By the time I left Tucson, I saw a gallon of gas for $3.33! Near the airport. As in, last chance to gas up the rental car before you return it. And it was STILL $3.33!! The same day, when I arrived back in the Buffalo area, I saw a gallon of gas for $3.87. How in the world can gas prices differ by over FIFTY CENTS!? I don't get it. I mean, I know that New York State pads gas prices with lots of taxes, but not THAT much. It's just ridiculous.

Rant over... :-)

One of my butterfly shots won a photo contest!!

2008-05-01T00:30:00.003-04:00

I uploaded several butterfly images into my Flickr account and added them to several butterfly groups. This one happened to WIN a contest!!! I couldn't even believe it. I've never won a photo contest before. (Not that I have joined many ... maybe my ego is more easily bruised than I would care to admit....) Anyway - take a look. :-)

Buffalo Bandits!!

2008-04-27T22:07:00.002-04:00

Did you know that I'm a Buffalo Bandits fan?? I mean ... I'm not typically into Lacrosse. But I LOVE attending professional sporting events. My mom and a group of family friends have had seasons tickets to the Bandits games for years. This year I went in with them. The games are a BLAST!!

They typically have an almost full house ... almost 19,000 seats are mostly full for every home game. The place is loud and full of energy. I love the music that they play, the announcer ROCKS, and the game is a blast to watch and keep track of.

One of the unique things about the Bandits is that just before they announce the players, they have a bagpipes player (no joke) come out from the crowd (in the dark) and come down onto the playing field. He plays the whole time he's coming down the steps and onto the field ... when he gets to the center of the field, they sync up some loud rock music and it's like a rock & bagpipes duet. (Really! No joke!!) Here is a video that someone else took of the bagpipes player. (This person with the camera must sit near me because that's almost the exact same view that I have....)

I'm so sad that last night was the last game of the season. They will be in the playoffs, but I think I'm going to be out of town for the first playoff game....

Good Bye, Sarah...

2008-03-27T16:36:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite photographers passed away this past weekend...

I "met" Sarah online at photo.net. We actually met both in DC (where I lived) and in Boston (where she lived), and I had the great opportunity to go "shooting" with her twice. We kept in touch up to just a day or two before she died. We even talked about traveling together next month. I am so sad....

Sarah has an amazing eye for color and composition. I can recognize one of her images from the tiniest thumbnail. One of my favorite trends from Sarah's photos are the many photos that she took of the brightly colored walls in Latin and South American countries. She was capable of using her lens to bring out the color in just about any scene.

Please take a look at some of her brilliant work:

On Flickr - Sarah's Flickr Screen Name was "All the Color"

Sarah's PhotoBlog

On Photo.net - Sarah's photo.net portfolio

On Lightstalkers

The Iditarod

2008-03-03T21:18:00.003-05:00

I have a confession to make. I am really, really, REALLY into the Iditarod. Some day I will go to watch it. (I will never, ever, ever, EVER consider running it ... are you KIDDING??)

I really had no real knowledge about the Iditarod until I went to Alaska. I mean, I knew it was a dog sled race, and that it had to do with a drug serum run to Nome way back when to save a whole town from dying. That's all I knew. But when I went to Alaska in 2003, I learned quite a bit more about dog sled racing (not that I ever actually was ON a dog sled!), and about the Iditarod trail.

Then, in about 2006, I discovered a podcast that I absolutely LOVE called the Alaska Podcast. Well, Scott Slone (the podcaster from the Alaska Podcast) started doing an Iditarod Podcast and that really launched me into an Iditarod fascination. Last year I listened to three different Iditarod podcasts, including Scott's and one from a local NPR network. I read stories about it on the internet. It was a blast!

This year, I am totally hooked. Scott is podcasting it again. He's got some great video! I have also been listening to the NPR news podcasts. I am constantly refreshing the "current standings" webpage to see how my favorite musher is doing (GO LANCE MACKEY!!) And I have discovered that there is a company that has worked together with 19 different mushers who have agreed to take GPS units with them, so that we can follow the race literally live while it happens.

The race doesn't actually start ON the beginning of the real Iditarod Trail. That's near Seward, and would require going through some rather populated areas. So they have a "Ceremonial Start" (this year on Saturday, 3/1 in Anchorage) and the following day have the actual start, north of Anchorage. So they have been racing for about a day and a half at this point. Lance is holding his own. He won both the Yukon Quest and the Iditarod last year, and has already won the Yukon Quest this year. His strength is that he has dogs with fabulous endurance. They may not be the fastest dogs, but his team starts and doesn't stop ... so I totally like him for this year's race, too. By the way - his father and his brother have both also won the Iditarod in the past.

Some links:
The Official Iditarod Website
Follow the racers with GPS units in real time
Scott Slone's Iditarod Podcast website - you can watch/listen online without downloading to iTunes

GO LANCE!!