Caro's Global Adventure

2006-08-09T00:25:00.000-04:00

Back in HobbitonI have a new appreciation for why NZ was dubbed Hobbiton at the time of the Lord of the Rings... I have been back for only six full days, and it feels like i never really left. There are a few new shops, a few new haircuts, and there's a tree missing from my garden, but apart from that, it's all so familiar. I can drive around, and know exactly where i'm going even though it's

2006-07-25T16:14:00.000-04:00

Oh Canada!Arrived: 20 July, leaving 29 July.This will be one of the few 'live' blogs i've managed to do recently... oh i'm a terrible blogger!My adopted family here - the Coopers, who are the parents of my sister's husband (got it?!) - so kind of In-Laws to me, are spoiling me left right and centre - we have been on a few outings, and went to a cool performance on Friday night of Susan Aglukark,

2006-07-25T16:06:00.000-04:00

New York: 15 – 20 JulyScary / Enigmatic things about New YorkDisclaimer: these are things that stood out for me as a first-timer in USA. So, I’m not sure whether they are just New York things, or representative of the country as a whole… It sounds like everyone is living in a soap opera – the eavesdropping that I get to do is often concerned with relationships, dramas at work, disbelief about

2006-07-25T15:55:00.000-04:00

Back to a second home – England: 4 – 15 JulySo, leaving the land of Africa and arriving in England (home of Western civilization!), was rather interesting. I was immediately struck by the neatness, the cleanliness, the new cars, and perfectly groomed highways, and paddocks. And of course, that everywhere I looked there were white people!The first few days I felt like I was watching myself acting

2006-07-25T15:49:00.000-04:00

2 June - 3 July 2006Safari Mwisho – the last journey in AfricaI didn’t really give a good summary of the last month’s travel in Africa – I was a bit distracted by my imminent departure. Now it’s over a month since I started, and seeing as my photos are just not uploading onto this damn blog, I’ll try to skim over the details:After visiting my little boy in Uganda, Simon and I traveled back to

2006-06-27T09:33:00.000-04:00

Dissociation in ZanzibarSo, i'm in the intriguing city of Stone Town, having a great time with four friends from Germany, Switzerland and USA. But I'm also having some weird moments, when my thoughts are far from here, I remember the first few weeks of my global journey, and my emotions are mixture of anxiety, gratefulness, and sadness.All of this I blame on the simple fact that I have 3 days

2006-06-15T11:47:00.000-04:00

Children of Africa - DantyI have been pondering these last few days over how it is possible to feel such a strong attachment to an 11 year old child who lives in a village on the shores of a crocodile and disease-infested lake, with whom I've sent and received only about 12 letters over the past five years.Yet, unmistakeably, for the 7 hours I spent in Danty's company, I felt as close to him as

2006-06-15T05:51:00.000-04:00

UGANDA 6 - 14 MayTried to think of some rhyming word to describe uganda, but my mind is not really in that mood, so it might be a bit of a hum-drum entry, except that my keyboard has a personality of its own and i might not be bothered to correct its mistakes leading to some interesting english structures!!no photos cos on these computers i can't compress them small enough to allow me to

2006-06-08T07:42:00.000-04:00

LeavingThis would have been a great topic to write a poem on, but as of yet, it exists only in my hopes, so i'll try best as i can to write my thoughts as prose!I left Dodoma on Friday 2nd June, and as I sat in the back seat of the 4WD, slowly but surely making its bumpy way to Dar es Salaam, I wondered many things... How many leavings will there be in my life - there's surely been many since i

2006-06-08T07:23:00.000-04:00

Birthday Abroad - 30 May 2006So, it would have been cooler if i'd actually written an entry on my birthday - but it was far too fun a day to sit down at the computer and do this, and that whole week was rather hectic, so here I m - writing from Uganda - more about that later!Completing my 24th year of life in a little city in Africa, I felt in exactly the right place in life - I couldn't think of

2006-05-31T01:35:00.000-04:00

The Lush version of Africa: Travelling to Kyela 20 - 26th MayStaying in Dodoma, I had basically decided that all my prior visions of forested, lush africa were in fact fiction. Here it is so dry and the trees are sparse, although they do exist.When we travelled down to Kyela, for work, I was amazed as we drove from dry flatness, through green hills and valleys. One of the valleys we drove through

2006-05-19T10:49:00.000-04:00

Renewed WonderWhen I first arrived in Dodoma, I walked around in child-like awe at the star-filled sky, the brightly-flowered trees, the sand-boulders.Now, after being here for three months (to the day, almost), and having only two weeks left, my wonder has been renewed. After adapting to the dust, getting used to walking across rutted dirt streets, becoming accustomed to the sounds of Swahili

2006-05-05T08:45:00.000-04:00

photos for funthe girls... dressed in african outifts, playing in the sunshine, pretty with flowers, the iron houses and flash 4WDs of TZ, coconut palms swaying, and birthday madness for Britta.

2006-05-05T08:19:00.000-04:00

My hair Tanzania is a pretty fu n place when it comes to hair – women’s hair anyway. I think I might have already written in praise of the wonder of Afr ican hair, but just to expand. Basically if you plait it or twist it, it stays in place perfectly… unlike mine which will slip out in a matter of hours normally (well ma ybe not mine cos its so thick and wild, but most westerners!)

2006-05-04T09:54:00.000-04:00

Tripping in Tanzania.. Friday 14 - Sunday 23rd AprilWell, there weren't any drugs, but certainly at times, my recent travelling exploits felt other-worldly or slightly out of the ordinary... really it was an epic trip, but not one i'd really like to repeat...The characters: Me, the star of course (yes, centre of my own universe), Stephanie Harr, native of a little town in the Mid-West of America,

2006-03-27T05:18:00.000-05:00

Photos... can't really be bothered writing so here are some photos...On the left is the view from my office floor - rusty corrugated iron roofs, half finished buildings, and beautiful blue sky aboveThis is a gorgeous photo of two of my lovely friends here - Britta (Germany) and Jess (England). Yes, they are slightly crazy, but aren't we all..Left is Laura (Australia), overly excited about the

2006-03-06T09:34:00.000-05:00

Mbili (two) So, I've been here for two weeks now... seems much longer - i have learnt so much, and feel so busy with work!! Tanzanian culture really is intriguing, I'm discovering through observation, and through not-so-nice experiences, that there is a lot to this place... more later, maybe.Over the weekend, I went shopping in town, with my new German friend, Britta! We bought lots of material

2006-02-22T08:43:00.000-05:00

A Mzungu in Tanzania - 20 February - sometime in MayThat's me!! A white girl in Tanzania!!! So, I have been here for three days, just settling in... looks like I will be busy, but should be fun... it's a bit more relaxed here than in Nairobi... only problem is that I don't have any togs and the main socialising place is the pool!!So, i flew down here from Nairobi by a small small plane - see

2006-02-22T08:07:00.000-05:00

Thorned Beauty Mon 30 Jan Silhouette graces the landscape, image of Africa. Soft boughs and tender leaves, Betray your armoured wood. Sharp antennae feel for any unwelcome touch, Defy the most ardent lover to come closer Admire, you say, but at a distance. You know that intimacy is dangerous.

2006-02-22T06:33:00.000-05:00

Kenyan reflectionsNow that I am in Tanzania, it's time to think about Kenya - i seem to do that often huh, don't do an update until I leave the place. I'm telling you, this blogging business is harder than i thought it would be!So I was in Nairobi and surrounds for 3 and a half weeks, just enough to get a feel for the place, get tired of the city, and get almost bored of the unending media

2006-01-31T09:01:00.000-05:00

Eastern Africa: 25 Jan - So yesterday was the first day I ventured further than walking distance from my wee home-for-the-moment, at the community of the RNDMs – the Sisters of Our Lady of the Missions, just west of Nairobi City Centre. I went to the college where one of the Sisters studies, and then caught a bus a bit further on to check out a park where

2006-01-31T07:37:00.000-05:00

South African highlights: 12 January – 24 January (random photos at top of me with a fig tree, me and Laura at Camps bay, with the Twelve Apostles in the background) Greatest ‘this feels like home’ moment: sitting on a grassy hill at Kirstenbosch Gardens listening to a concert by this pretty famous musician called Arno Carstens. Just like Summer City concerts

2006-01-13T07:50:00.000-05:00

South AfricaSo there wasn't a lot of detail about France, Germany and Ireland, but now I'm in Africa, which is exponentially more exciting, so I really just wanna talk about that!However, as my last entry said, I loved Paris, and felt quite comfortable there. It would be a cool thing to live and work in France for a while, to really improve my French. Just an idea at this stage, but I loved it.

2005-12-21T12:55:00.000-05:00

En FranceSo, here I am in the infamous city of Paris, and as I said to a man playing petanque in the Jardin de Luxembourg this afternoon, 'J'aime beacoup Paris', it's my favourite city so far! He said all the tourists say that, but he also said he liked tourists like me, and asked for a bisou - a kiss on the cheek as I left! I initially flew into Tours, in the Loire Valley, on the 15th, and

2005-11-25T16:25:00.000-05:00

ENGLAND!!England itself is a bit of an anomaly - in many ways it is similar to NZ, but then in a lot of ways it is different. Here at SPEC (photo of one of the buildings). Yet the busiest motorway in England, the M25 surrounds our property, so there is a constant drone of vehicles, and overhead, there are always jetstreams criss-crossing the sky. And then there are the quirky aspects of

2005-11-25T14:42:00.000-05:00

Italy: 26 October - 5 NovemberIn brief: three days in a farmland monastery on the outskirts of Rome, followed by five days in the city itself, and two days in Venice. Thus completing my pilgrimages to the three holiest cities of Catholicism - Jerusalem, Rome, and Santiago de Compostela!Craziness: Being the bizarre person that I am, I had booked my flights so that I arrived in London at 7pm on the

2005-11-24T15:28:00.000-05:00

Spain: 18 - 25 OctoberIn brief: 10 of us from SPEC trekking 120 kilometres over five days, from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela (the third most important pilgrimage site for Catholics), in the north of Spain, along the final stretch of the Camino de Santiago. The walking was hard, but it was wonderful to get to know other people so well - really great - i almost didn't want it to end. The

2005-11-23T14:11:00.000-05:00

Sweden: Friday 7 - Tues 11 OctoberIn brief: a four day weekend visiting Lucy Ellis (the famous one whose journal I largely plagiarised for my WYD blogs) in Sweden, where she is studying as an exchange student. One day in Stockholm and the rest of the time in her small town of UppsalaMy first Ryan Air flight took me through a beautiful mid-air sunrise to land in a crisp autumn day in Sweden. An

2005-11-13T18:20:00.000-05:00

Catching Up...Given that I am unbelievably behind with my blogging, I am going to attempt to summarise the last two months of travel into two entries. Here is an account of the most extreme adventure thus far:Egypt: 25 August - 4 September: travelling with Andrew Moraes...In brief: From Cairo we travelled along the Nile to Luxor and then across to the Sinai Peninsula and into Israel.Cairo is

2005-10-16T10:38:00.000-04:00

Post-World Youth Day Retreat: Speyer: August 22nd – 24th(much of this is taken from Lucy Ellis' journal - yay for Lucy)There was some serious sleeping in on the 22nd, though I’m pretty sure we all made it to mass at 11am at the Speyer cathedral - another imposing, majestic church! So after a lovely mass at the cathedral, and a chance to spend time in quiet reflection, we headed back to the hostel

2005-09-26T17:26:00.000-04:00

Day five and six: Saturday 20th - Sun 21st August - MarienfeldThe climax of World Youth Day week was upon us…the weekend at Marienfeld with a vigil on the Saturday night and mass on Sunday morning, both celebrated by Pope Benedict!I had mixed emotions about this pending event. The weather had been unpredictable all week, and the forecast was not good at all. I was worried it was going to pour

2005-09-20T14:37:00.000-04:00

Day 4: Friday 19 SeptemberI chose to have a break from the group today, and to wander around doing my own thing. Unfortunately I awoke with a terrible headache, but nevertheless headed into Cologne (see photo of the Koln Dom - the cathedral, from a cross the Rhine). I went to a photo exhibit called ‘A Day in the Life of the Church’, consisting of photos taken around the world over the course of

2005-09-17T12:30:00.000-04:00

Day Three: Thursday 18 August - The Pope ArrivesCatechesis, or teaching, took place at numerous locations around Cologne, Bonn and Dusseldorf. We went to one of the English presentations, along with Americans, Canadians, Australians, Africans etc. It was meant to be the time for bishops and cardinals to speak about the serious topics of our faith, along with some praise ‘n’worship and mass to

2005-09-17T12:00:00.000-04:00

World Youth Day WeekDay Two: Wednesday 17 August - Events galoreThe entire week of World Youth Day there were exhibitions, talks, shows, stalls, prayer times happening all over the cities of Koln, Bonn and Dusseldorf. We had programmes listing them all and just reading what was happening took about an hour!Today started with us kiwis leading midday prayer at one of the 20 churches around Cologne

2005-09-17T09:50:00.000-04:00

World Youth Day Begins!(again, many thanks to Lucy Ellis for her superb journalling of this entire event - what would i do without you?!)15 August - Arriving in CologneWe arrived at the parish of St. Aegidius, out in Porz Wahn, a suburb 20 mins from central Cologne. We spent a few hours hanging out in the parish centre while our accommodation was sorted out (a little bit of cabin fever set in for

2005-09-01T22:00:00.000-04:00

Siegen and Paderborn(again huge thanks to Lucy Ellis, you little star of Auckland, for a large amount of this entry)After a breakfast of thinly sliced bread with jam, different deli meats, cheese, nutella and apfelsaft (apple juice), and handing over our pile of washing to Anke, we headed to a bus station to jump on a bus headed to Paderborn, where the ‘World Wide Together’ festival was taking

2005-09-01T21:37:00.000-04:00

Athens to Germany(again many thanks to Lucy Ellis for her excellent and very expedious records of our time away - it is saving me huge amounts of time Lucy!!)We awoke the morning of the 13th August to find ourselves docked in the port of Piraeus, just out of Athens, and after another early start and a final good breakfast, we disembarked for the last time and jumped aboard a bus bound for the

2005-09-01T20:56:00.000-04:00

Greek Islands: Patmos, Crete, Santorini(would like to note that some of this content has come from the journal of the lovely Lucy Ellis who was on pilgrimage with me - thanks Lucy)After five splendid days in Turkey it was time to leave the mainland for our cruise through the Greek Islands. Another disgustingly early start, in order to get onto our boat and to Patmos, our first stop, with plenty

2005-08-19T05:39:00.000-04:00

Hello!It has taken a long time for me to manage to sit down and write an update... I am now in Köln but this update will be about Turkey... most of it is taken from an email i sent home on 9 AugustMy flıghts were fıne - apart from gettıng a bıt freaked out by some mınor turbulence. Kuala Lumpur was hot and stıcky - a really strange heat - there were crıckets chırpıng and frogs croakıng outsıde

2005-07-23T23:10:00.000-04:00

So, here’s the basic itineraryAs of 2 August 2005, I will not be in Wellington... the journey starts with two days in Auckland.We fly out of NZ on Thursday 4 AugustFor the first three weeks of my journey, I am travelling with a large group from NZ, containing many friends, to World Youth Day in Germany - this is a huge gathering of young people from around the world (most of them Catholic).We

2005-07-12T03:32:00.000-04:00

Counting Down...Well, there are 21 sleeps until I leave Wellington... I might as well start this blog with a bit of a build up to departure day...Things are going well - i have a to do list a mile long but feel pretty okay about it all. Work is crazy, but that will pass - i finish up working at the end of next week. All in all, it's finally happening, and it's a bit surreal to be honest.