Some New Zealand Memories

New Zealand, My First Stop in Jan 2009, approximately $500 o-w from LAX

Hundreds of shimmering dolphin bodies swimming in the blue vastness of the ocean.

The buzzing sound of bees as I assisted Beekeeper Keith in smoking them stoned while he took the honey.

Watching the swift rhythmic moves of poi dancing and being in the area where the dancing is believed to have originated.

Little girls happily wading in Lake Rotorua to pick out the trash just because.

The Maori wedding I had the pleasure of attending and the beautiful singing that rang up from the back of the crowd and seemed to seep into the air and my soul.

A seemingly endless herd of cows looking at me suspiciously with those big brown eyes on a Dairy Farm...and the surprisingly delicious taste of their milk.

Watching all the beautiful faces while serving up food at a community meeting in Te Teko.

The envious life of seals in Abel Tasmen Park and that luminous emerald water.

Getting chills from the powerful voices of Maori women performers singing at Womad and Te Matatini

The symbols of Maori culture that dot the landscape from small roads and highways to schools and city buildings, the fact that many schools offer Maori language to study, the indigenous prayer that usually precedes any big event or opening, the often lucrative Maori community trusts that are set up; the USA (and many other countries!)should learn many lessons from New Zealand, because so many in the US seem to forget about the history of our country, we likely need more visual symbols (and more mention in the history books and other policies!!!) reminding us of our indigenous, enslaved and immigrant histories.

New Zealand is a place where I never saw one (obviously) homeless person in my entire 3 months. I remember the safety I felt as i traveled alone around the country. It is a place I would consider living!! Beautiful land and a good social system. I was offered 3 jobs while there and would seriously consider going back.

Thank you!!!! The friends and families that that traveled by my side and/or took me in with such warmth, generosity and openness. Being that I am a very social person, I met people in various ways but SERVAS, WWOOF, and BBH Backpackers also helped.
Kia Ora....

Khalas (Arabic for "done")...but with every ending there is a beginning

The Photos: My cousin's babies, 777 planes have TVs in Coach!, ever present cats on dumpsters in dahab, children and the Sea, Me in a snowy Atlanta, Momma picked me up from the airport, the lovely healing Red Sea, hurtling piece of tin.

I write this from a hospital in Atlanta where my mother is visiting her boyfriend. He is thankfully feeling better and is due home soon, and "home" well home is the "Active Senior Retirement Community" where my mother also lives, where I am staying now. Yes that is right, I am basically in a retirement home...and let me tell ya, it is very similiar to a college dorm, just more laid back. I have been in Atlanta for about 10 days and her (super chill and sweet) man has been in the hospital the entire time...and while I watch them cuddle and talk about future plans and past adventures I think about life, love and especially time.

Time can be a beautiful thing, my last year was exceptional, a true gift and blessing...infact I have felt that about much of my life. When feeling fear or anxiety I try to remember just how lucky I have been....especially when in a hurtling piece of tin flying through the air at 500 miles per hour...yes I have an irrational fear of flying, and yet fly all the time (27 flights in the last year)I really don't know what my point is, maybe that though I have this fear I still strap myself into those narrow seats willingly and attempt to realize my dream of discovery, curiousity and making those treasured links to places and people near and far away...because it all comes back to time for me, my cousin told me once "life is short but wide" it is a quote on refrigerator magnets, she has one on hers...and well, it is simple but so fitting. The infinite width of life is something I have especially come to treasure lately(and being back with family makes me treasure it all even more...that and the fact that so many friends and family have had babies this year!). Truth be told, I am still in a bit of shock that I am back :)so... I will let everthing marinate for a while, and will likely keep the blog going a bit longer I will also have a Travel Tips post soon, cause I realize that... well, a bit of help never hurts so if anyone has questions or suggestions, email me.

My Nile Cruise...and Living in Dahab...again

Elephantine Island in Aswan:
From my hotel in Aswan, I took a ferry for about 3 minutes (costing about 20 cents) across the Nile to the lush land of Elephantine Island. Though I did not set up a tour and was alone, I was warmly greeted by an older man who was Nubian and spoke about 4 languages. He offered to show me around the little island he calls home. And instantly I felt at peace, seriously, Egypt can get pretty intense and no matter where you are especially if you are a woman alone, you will be hassled to some degree. Now don't get me wrong, I love it here (obviously seeing as I have remained in Egypt the longest of the countries I have been to) but, it is a very challenging place for me (on many levels)...and maybe that is why I have stayed. But on Elephantine Island I felt the most comfortable, maybe because some of the women looked like family and gave me warm smiles, maybe it was the kids laughing and testing out their English skills, maybe it was the lushness of it and the self sustainability of the island, or was it the colorful doorways and the cafe filled with baby crocodiles...who knows, but I loved it and was beyond happy that I decided to step onto that ferry that morning.

Cruisin:
A day later I would find myself on a 2 day cruise (huge ship with only 20 passengers!!! crazy and wasteful...and to think there were about 40 boats like this cruising up the Nile...also the boat's captain has 4 wives...all under 25 and he is about 60, there is a picture of him in the light blue galabeya standing on small bridge) up the Nile to Luxor, where I would stay at Bob Marley Hotel once again and meet up with Joshua (another Bonderman Fellowship winner and a friend from Seattle) Oh it was so nice to see someone that I actually have know in my life before these travels :)But I would only stay there a night, I missed Dahab and well, so here I sit in a non smokey internet cafe in Dahab Egypt.

The Power of the Earth...and us:
I have been here for about one month this latest time but really I have been here about 3 months. The Red Sea just keeps pulling me back here...the people, the sea, the cheapness of it all doesn't hurt either! I now live in a house (behind the hotel I used to live in)with a great roommate Erik (an actual Swedish Masseuse:)and next door to my friend Zel and her dog Eartha! I celebrated New Years in a wadi (Bedouin camp land) in the desert hills above the Red Sea!!! I was actually a bartender with Zel for the party...it was a magical and interesting night. Three weeks ago I celebrated my birthday at my friends restaurant while a lightning storm thundered in the background and electric bolts lit up the Red Sea. Though the night was beautiful there was major flooding and damage to Sinai... families were flooded off of their land and supposedly all the government gave them were blankets and a check for 100 pounds...at least that is what I have heard.

Makes me think of the natural disasters that have hit the world recently and all those people, losing everything and being given ..what really? I mean have the victims of Hurricane Katrina received land, homes, checks? ...some have I would guess, but really how about the rest....and were unemployed locals involved in the re-construction of new homes or did they sit and watch construction take place while begging for employment....and did new hotels or other businesses spring up quickly or are plans being laid out now for all the new profitable business to come...I donno....but wondering... I think of Naomi Klein's book Shock Doctrine and wonder what new private company will spread it's tentacles into the present disasters and the ones to come....and will the people that have suffered the most be given anything...and if they are given something...what will it be and will it even compare to the profits that the private companies will make. ....and on a really simple level, how many cars does one person really need? how many hand bags, how many homes, how many? And, me, I am not immune nor innocent to this either....anyway got a bit off track but well, my mind can wander. ...so, here I sit in Dahab feeling rather lucky and fortunate and thinking about what to do...about ...everything...

Aswan and other stuff

over 4 weeks ago, this is what I remember of my journey to Aswan:

NO MONEY NO CRY:
It is 5:30am and I leave the cozy friendly walls of Bob Marley House Hotel in Luxor; I head for the train station with one backpack (I leave my other bag there and will return in a few days to get it)Amr the owner was asleep near the reception area, he mumbled from under a blanket "pay when you come back" ...I smiled because really this is a rarity in Egypt, the fact that he seems perfectly content without me paying him. I placed 200 egyptian pounds (about 40 bucks total for 6 days) in front of his sleepy face. It is better to pay him now. He smiles and goes back to sleep. I pass by walls filled with Bob Marley posters as I walk through the doors into the light blue early morning crispness. I head towards the train station and watch men cycling and walking past me, I see only one woman in all black...though maybe it is not a woman...who knows. I have a hat on, a long shirt and jeans. From what I know about Egyptian transport, is that I will be among few women on a train full of men. I mentally prepare myself for the experience. I reach the station and opt for buying my ticket on the train, I find the platform and a train is slowly leaving. I pass a man at a candy stand and ask "Aswan?" pointing to the train. He nods and gets up. He looks worried for me and jumps onto the moving train. he reaches for me as do the other couple men that are standing at the open door of the train. Another man on the platform materializes and helps me onto the train while taking my backpack and also throwing it on the train. Next thing I know, I am in the air and then placed gently on the train amongst all these men. They have lifted me onto the train painlessly. "Shukran, shukran" I say picking up my bag, i thank them and smile to myself, I love surprises. They way they all worked together to help me was such a sweet surprise...oh humanity, I think with warmth.

So I make my way through the crowded cabins walking over sleeping bodies. I quickly realize that I am on the wrong train, though it is going to the correct place, Aswan, you see, I am on the local train:) Which is actually what I do prefer, but in Egypt, the government provides extra security for the Tourists Only trains cause of all the attacks on tourists. But personally, I would think that since there are occasionally attacks on tourists that maybe being on the "Tourist" train would not be the brightest thing...so i am actually relieved that I am on the local train, and well it should be an experience. It has been so far :)

MORE THAN I BARGAINED FOR:
So I am growing tired of walking over the bodies and decide to park myself at the tea bar where 3 men (2 guys in their 20s and one about 70)are working behind the counter. They smile and place sweets and tea in front of me. They chat in their few words of English and I in my few words of Arabic. We show each other photos of family. They are so friendly and I am glad to have perched myself at their counter. Of course everyone in smoking up a big grey storm and I am the only woman that has dared to sit at the little narrow bar; but it is a nice friendly place to be. The older man who just has shared photos of his daughters and their families pulls out his cell phone and begins a video, which I assume is of his family. But wow am I in for a surprise!!! It is a woman in a black burqua peeling it off to reveal her naked body. Yep, this man of about 70 has just shown me the beginning of a porno. And his face is still joyful, looking at me then back at his cell like "ain't this the best thing ever" there is no embarrassment or shame in his face, he seems happy and curious, and I look at him and say "La" (meaning No)and "halas" (meaning Finish or Stop); the young man next to him stops smiling and makes the old man stop playing it...the old man looks confused like "what? you don't want to see this?" And I think about the stereotype many people seem to have here, that Western women are interested in only sex....and truth be told based on some of the crappy Western videos ("Videophone" by Beyonce and Lady Gaga comes to mind) and movies that seem to show up in abundance here, it is not that difficult to see how one can come up with that idea once in a while...but that being said, I am in a bit of a shocked and awed state and honestly, though I would prefer to move from my little perch, I really do not feel like hiking over passengers...so basically I sit there in a slightly disturbed silence while they carry on behind the bar...The men behind the counter do not seem fazed, they are nice and generous and still ask about my job and family. And I am not really angry I am just kinda sad that this dude actually tried to show me a porno and failed to see a problem with that, though I am pretty sure that if I was Egyptian he would never have dared. I think about technology and how quickly it is creeping into everyones lives, I am thinking about the concept of shame and where it comes from, I am thinking about gender differences, I am thinking about censorship, repression, and self expression, I am thinking about religion and critical thought, geez, so many thoughts are racing around rooted in curiosity that I am relieved when other customers show up....The train speeds down the Nile's edge and I watch the blurred ride from Luxor to Aswan. When I get to Aswan, I meet up with a friend and guess what, the same thing happened to him....haa haa.

Going South to Luxor and then Aswan

So though I write this from a SMOKE FREE internet cafe in Dahab facing the Red Sea; I figure I needed to include something in my blog about Luxor and Aswan, though I ventured there almost a month ago.

Just let your Fro Glow!!!!

It was important for me to get to see those two cities mainly because that is where many Nubian Egyptians are from and still live. Yes the sights are great but most of you know that I am a people person and well, I wanted to meet up with some people from different backgrounds in Egypt. So really I was thrilled to get to be around some Nubian people. They live mostly around Luxor or Aswan, and they tend to be darker skinned with curly hair and in many cases locks. I really wanted to be around people from this experience especially because I had experienced quite a bit of negativity about my fab fro in Cairo and was longing for some of that Fijian fro love that I miss. Now first I did a road trip to Dahab and spent Thanksgiving with some friends on the Red Sea, then I took a cheap flight to Luxor and checked into the Bob Marley House Hostel.

BOB MARLEY HOUSE
A very chill hostel with excellent food and nice colorful rooms. The men that run it were amazing. They were mainly Nubian from Luxor. They hooked it up and even gave me a night for free!!!! Free, now that is rare in Egypt. It was great to be in Luxor and really interesting to be around more people from a Nubian background. It felt a bit more comfortable for me in some ways. But still the people staring in my face with mouths open unable to rip their eyes away was still happening, just not as frequently and with more smiles. Luxor is hectic and the hassling is wild. Men asking if you want to buy this or that, men asking if I want to be bought basically. I think they offered some camels for me.

Anyway I met a great bunch of travelers from Bob Marley House and my life was much easier hanging with them, especially cause one of them was a man. A very lucky man according to many local men we met. As we toured sites we were followed and interviewed about Egypt. A film crew from Aswan TV decided that we would make good subjects. At night we were invited to a wedding of the camera man's brother. The wedding was huge, with men on one side women on the other and families mainly in the middle. Many women were fully covered and some were veiled. Some wore flesh colored body suits with a skimpy dress over. There was fire play and big fuzzy costumed characters acting as the bride and groom. The wedding was also well covered by a couple different cameras and even one on a crane. We are even on the wedding video. The wedding music was mainly a form of techno and there was a belly dancer that danced on the table to a crowd of eager men video taping her moves with camera phones. It was a bachelor party and wedding rolled into one...so I guess the bride never has to wonder what happens at the bachelor party huh?...it is there staring her in the face, and No her face did not look too happy as that dancer shook it like a salt shaker with the groom.....anyway, everyone was so sweet and generous.I have been very lucky in my travels for many reasons and attending the Maori wedding in New Zealand almost a year ago and this wedding here are just two of the reasons. I love going to weddings no matter where they are and no matter who is getting married, I am an oddball that likes weddings, but being able to attend these ones meant a lot to me. So thank you:)Now from Luxor I took a 3 hour train to Aswan and on that ride a most unexpected surprise awaited me...but I will write about that next time.

Crazy Cairo and cameling it to the Pyramids

I just can not manage to get out of Egypt. The sun in this country just keeps me here. So though I am in Dahab on the Red Sea now; I did venture back to Cairo...yes that hectic city I love to hate...I went back and darted across the streets like George in that Frogger Seinfeld episode. Many times I just shielded myself between an elderly woman and a small child. Small children regularly roam the streets alone. Strange but True! This time I chose a quiet hostel in Garden City near the chaos but not in it like before. I had to renew my visa and experience the absolute madness of the Mogamma building. There are no lines or q's to arrange yourself into. Bribes are taken openly at the booths by those powerful few that hand you a visa. I proudly got mine in under 4 hours and for 11 pounds (about 4 dollars US) and praise be, I can stay here till either May 4th or April 6th....can't figure out which date arrangement they used :) But alas, I will only be here till mid January. Why creep into freezing climates and stiff bones when I can swim most days with box fish and chat with lil Nemo. Anyway back to Cairo. I attended a semi interesting belly dancing on a cruise ship dinner event, there was also a Sufi dancer....interesting is one word for the night, I need time to come up with the other words. I was a bit confused when the taxi driver began to dine with me, now I am no snob but I was just caught a bit off guard and wondered if I had been set up on some kinda date. Well either way he was a gent. :)

Pyramids!!!!! had a lovely camel ride to the pyramids with guides Alex and lil Mohommed. Amazing all the effort and death that went into those things, all for the afterlife. And yes the workers that built them were all thrown a big party then killed....what a way to say "Thanks".

Cairo Museum!!!! looks like some old man's garage full of priceless artifacts and dusty stone coffins. The gold room full of the king Tut things was really stunning. The place is really interesting especially cause there is just soooo much stuff cramped into a little space...hummm reminds me of my gypsy nest of a room I once had (and will have again). So after spending time in Cairo and Giza at the pyramids, I took a cheap flight (cause anything over a 3 hour bus ride is too much to cope with sometimes...especially in Egypt...and flights are not much more than a bus ticket and saves me money in wine purchases later on)So anyway I took a flight to Luxor and stayed at the classically chill and comforting Bob Marley House. And that will be another story.

Living in Assalah Egypt

So after I got back from Jordan I stayed in Dahab on the beach for 4 days in a really nice chill hotel called Sheik Salam, then I rented a room in a really sweet house in Assalah, which is in Dahab but in a local community, that is a bit quieter than the hustle of the boardwalk. The house is exactly what I would want if I owned a place; it is simple and all one level with a lot of outside space. The walls surrounding it are high which is nice; though we can hear all the baby screams, kids playing, trucks roaring and men talking...which is also nice. When I travel, I often like to stay away from the traveler circuit a bit and be in local communities, it has really enriched my experiences, especially in areas where I do not know the language. It can help to inspire communication and more interaction with the community...which really is the reason I like to travel. My days here are pretty slow and uneventful, I spend hours re-reading "The Shock Doctrine" and hours swimming and also contemplating life....which is such a privilege. I watch the strangely healthy looking stray dogs lounge about on the sand and wonder why the dogs here are so mellow while the ones in Bali and Fiji are all barkers and biters; (Sadly, one morning I attempted to stop a little boy from beating the sh-- out of a dog with a plank of wood) I think about how I overheard a European man (that now lives here) complain about the dogs and wants to have them all neutered or killed in the desert, I wonder if he has ever been to Bali and seen those dogs (most Bali and Fiji dogs have a bit of the napoleon complex thing happening....bark bark bark and maybe a bite or two)....cause the ones here are actually really affectionate and I have rarely even heard them bark at a person...though they do bark at each other quite a lot.... Funny, the man is also really into yoga...which I just thought was ...humm...ironic...is that the word I am searching for?... Anyway it is very interesting here, and I wish I could really get the Arabic language down...my big word is "Haram!" which basically means "sin"...It is a very useful word when someone is trying to rip you off, lying or doing anything forbidden by Islam. It worked really well in the taxi the other night when he wanted ten pounds for a 3 pound ride. My big drama is that I overstayed my visa and have to get an extension soon...but that is the drama for now (though there was drama later but that is another story). I going back to Cairo soon...ugh, a part of me really loves Cairo, it is beautiful and an interesting city, but really, I am just not feeling the big city vibe these days...and like I said before Cairo makes the busiest parts of NYC look like a quiet retirement community in Arizona...but I now know more people there so I plan to go out a bit at night and see the city night life before I leave.

TWO WEEKS LATER:
So I lived in the house for 2 weeks and well the house was lovely...I met some really interesting and warm generous people that live in Assalah. Just to name a couple of them; Francesca (the owner of the house) is a dramatically charismatic woman with 2 sons 18 and 21; She has lived in Egypt for over 20 years and is originally from Switzerland. She is a creative, carefree, intuitive woman who was very inspiring. Her son Omar was really sweet, and thoughtful and took me on a nice hike with his friends that was not too difficult and we had some lovely tea at a Bedouin camp, where I was so close to buying a traditional winter dress to keep me warm in NYC...but didn't have the funds...it was a great hike with views of the Red Sea and Omar was so concerned about my hip pain, he is studying massage....he is a mother-in-law's dream son. On the hike I also met an Egyptian from Aswan, Emad, who was telling me that many of the people in Aswan are proud to have locks and curls in their hair...so happy to hear it :)I also met another American woman Zel who has lived in Egypt about 3 years and in Dahab one year. It was so wonderful to hang with another woman about my age that remembers Legend of Billy Jean, and the original Fame...we even sang that song in Officer and a Gentleman...that one by Joe Cocker...anyway her and her dog Eartha (yes after Eartha Kitt!) were great to chill out with. Zel speaks about 4 languages and will curse a fool out in all of them when necessary...it is fun to watch :)I really loved Dahab but I wished that I could have seen more local women out and have had a chat with one or two; Zel knows a couple that she was going to introduce me to but it never worked out. Anyway I just have just found it really nice in my travels to chat with other people that are local and especially to other women. But I did bond with the Bedouin bracelet girls; they are fiercely smart young girls that sell bracelets on the beach, they usually speak 3 more languages) English, Russian and German mostly in addition to local languages. They are good little business women and I have a wrist full of colorful beads to prove it :)Zel is friends with retired bracelet girls, when they get older or as Zel says, when they get boobs :) they then are taken out of the bracelet business and likely plan for a marriage. Her friends now have about 4 kids and focus on family mainly. At night I would see more women out with their children or husbands and that was always comforting for me to see. Anyway I am in Cairo now, not as freaked out as before by the hecticness of it...though it is still hectic!!! I just cancelled my flight to NYC on Monday...I have decided that since I am here and since Zel is coming to Cairo for Thanksgiving, that I might as well stay a couple weeks more and go to the Nubian part of Egypt. So till next time :)