Team Feth

Happy Anniversary!

2011-09-06T00:29:00.000-07:00

Well let me just dust off this blog a bit...there we go, my it's been a while!

We Feth's have been super busy!

Oh the transitions we've been undertaking lately, but more about that later.

Right now it's all about our 3rd Wedding Anniversary!

Or is it actually 12? (let's see, started dating in 1999 and well you get it...)

Whichever number you choose these two Feth's are celebrating!

Happy Anniversary!

San Francisco Summer

2011-06-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

Hello San Francisco summer!

The next couple of months are going to bring about some new adventures:

Move to Berkeley: ripe with aging hippies and intellectuals

Road trip to the Pacific NW: excited for tall pines and some Canadians

Early August school days: new backpack and iPad for Brian

New dog: we're on the hunt for a new family member

and hopefully some more backyard camping with our nephew!

Berkeley It Is, Folks!

2011-05-04T20:03:00.000-07:00

The decision is in, America has decided, Brian Feth will be attending Haas Business School at UC Berkeley starting this August.

It's a 2 year MBA program and it looks like it's going to be a bit of a tough one.

From what I've gathered, there will be lots of Friday night networking parties (costumes required), networking trips to Tahoe, networking trips to Vegas, networking trips to insert name of city here, hiking, biking, bonding, some studying, networking over drinks, more networking...and so on and so on.

It should be a ~~fun~~ productive, ~~eventful~~ resourceful 2 years!

Congratulations Brian!

Decisions, Decisions: Kellogg vs. Haas

2011-04-26T20:42:00.000-07:00

We're home from our visit to Chicago and it's lovely neighboring state, Indiana.

We had a lovely time checking out Kellogg and visiting with friends and family.

However, we have not yet made a decision!

Humph....

The deadline for Kellogg is fast approaching so this week will be chalk full of spreadsheets, charts, graphs and perhaps even a coin toss.

Stay tuned!

Lunch with good friends in Lincoln Park

Flying through Millennium Park in downtown Chicago

Jed and his fiancée Michelle (not sure what Brian is doing...)

Torsor and Brian: awesome jumping action

Hello Chicago

The Windy City

2011-04-14T11:32:00.000-07:00

We are off to the land of wind, to the city by the lake.

Chicago, Chicago, my kind of town.

Hey there Chicago!

Well, to be more specific we're actually heading to Evanston which is north of Chicago.

And why you might ask?

To visit Kellogg!

Now this isn't the Corn Flakes kind of Kellogg nor the Frosted Flakes which I coveted as a child. This is the Kellogg of Northwestern type.

We are visiting this weekend to determine whether the Chicago land area will become our new home for the next 2 years.

It's down to the finals folks, the business school contenders are Kellogg and Berkeley's Haas.

California vs. Midwest

Pacific Ocean vs. Lake Michigan

Tahoe vs. Chicago's tallest hill

SF Giants vs. Cubs

California Pizza Kitchen vs. Deep Dish Pizza

49ers vs. Da Bears

Hippies vs. Chicagoians

What will it be?

Well, it all really boils down to the program and fit.
So we'll see how this weekend pans out and keep you posted!!!

Chicago

Berkeley

First Job Flashback: Electric Hole Puncher

2011-04-08T23:12:00.000-07:00

While volunteering today with Equal Rights Advocates, I overheard someone ask their colleague for a hole puncher. The colleague responded questioning whether that person wanted an electric or hand-held hole puncher.

Suddenly my mind raced back = first job flashback

Did I ever tell you about my first week at my first real job?

There I was, fresh out of college in my new role as an Accountant at this super great investment management firm in Los Angeles. It was my first week and so far things were going really well, everyone was super nice and I was pretty much in the home stretch; the last few hours of Friday afternoon.

Little did I know what was in store.

Near my desk was our department's electric hole puncher. Simple enough to use, one would think. All you do is put a few pages into the slot and it automatically punches three holes into the paper.

Enough said.

Well I happened to need to use the device that particular afternoon and unfortunately placed one too many pieces of paper into the slot. This resulted in the puncher making a funny grinding noise and my pages getting stuck. Luckily, one of my colleagues came to my aid.

The following few minutes went a little something like this:

I reached to the side of the table on which the hole puncher was placed and unplugged the machine
My colleague pulled out the pages seamlessly
I reached over once again to return the plug to the socket
Unbeknownst to me my long hair was dangling over the hole puncher's evil metal clamps
Hole puncher hole punched my hair
I screamed
My colleague ripped my hair from the clutches of the deadly puncher
I looked at my colleague
She looked at me
We both looked down
A huge chunk of my hair was lying on the floor next to my foot
The room smelled of burnt hair

And there in concluded my first week at my first real job.

Let's just say they threw me one heck of a going away party when I departed a few years later. It was chock-full of hole punchers. I'm well stocked.

Do not try this at home people - leave this up to the professionals please

Just Another Tuesday

2011-04-05T22:26:00.000-07:00

Today was a lovely day but nothing spectacular happened, so I thought I'd just jot down a few unextraordinary things to remember because otherwise they'll be gone from memory forever and that would be no fun....

Traffic was really bad coming into San Francisco this morning which is rare
I had a rock in my shoe on the way to catch the 38L bus
The guy sitting next to me on the bus smelled strongly of cigarette smoke
I made Brian a really large lunch today all compartmentalized into single serving Tupperware containers: veggie pizza / celery and peanut butter / raisins - dried cranberries - dried bananas - dried apples / granola bar / veggie burger with english muffin / meat sandwhich on english muffin
I think Brian consumed every bite
I chatted with a woman at lunch about her upcoming wedding
I asked a guy at the gym if he was done using the sit-up bench and he said yes and then walked away without wiping off his sweat (I wiped it off before using)
I think cell phones should be banned in a gym setting because it's annoying when a person is talking loudly on their phone whilst working out on the elliptical machine
My brother sent me a silly email and he never sends me emails
Brian told me he tried to send an automated prank call to our friend but it didn't work :(

Hope you had a delightfully uneventful Tuesday.

I'll leave you with the astronomy picture of the day - isn't it pretty!

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Lumberjack Feths

2011-03-31T10:54:00.000-07:00

Having a fireplace at our apartment in Tiburon has been a toasty delight.

However, with a fireplace comes the need for firewood and it's not like back in the Midwest where one can chop down a tree on the back acre; here it must be purchased and it's expensive!!!

We purchased our first quarter cord of wood in February and to our dismay it didn't last as long as we had hoped. So instead of purchasing another bundle, like the resourceful Feth's we are, we went scavenging.

On a recent visit to the Castro to meet friends for brunch, lo and behold, what does Brian spy with his little eye?!

Oh yeah - a pile of logs on the side of the road! Who would have thought?!

We quickly assessed the situation and swiftly loaded those logs into our VW.

Another opportunity arose last week when one of the torrential rain storms knocked down a tree branch outside of Brian's office. Again, like clockwork we scavenged up all that would fit in the car.

So that brings us to last Saturday.

The joys of finding logs for free are quickly met with the realization that they do not split themselves.

We mentally changed out of our resourceful hats and into our imaginary flannels and showed that wood who's boss:

Next weekend we shall plant trees :)

Look What the Rain Brought In

2011-03-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

It's been a rainy one here in Northern California lately and with the rain comes all sorts of creepy crawly slimy little creatures from who knows where.

I prefer to leave such beasties outside in their natural habitat but Brian usually has other things in mind.

Hence, the following.

Brian calls to me after returning from taking out our recyclables,

"Jalyn come here, hold out your hand and close your eyes."

I figured there would be no harm in this effort given Brian can be quite the romantic at times, so I decided to follow along.

With hands open and cupped ready to receive some fun little gem of thoughtfulness, I instead receive these guys:

Yes, snails!

So I didn't freak out or anything but instead took them to a better lit area for further viewing

Brian got in on the action as well

You can see the fascination in his eyes

Pretty much for a half hour straight our kindergarten brains allowed us to ooh and ahhh over these slimy shelled mollusks. I have to admit, it was fun.

Note: one must wash very thoroughly to remove all snail slime from hands!

Nature is soo cool.

Erin Go Braugh - My Dear Grandmother

2011-03-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

Today the heritage of my family's people will be celebrated by green-wearing, whiskey-drinking, look-at-me-I'm-Irish toting Americans and the like all over this land.

Well whether you're an authentic Gaelic speaker or just a once-a-year-Irish loving fool, I wish you a happy St. Patrick's Day!

This time of year brings back fond memories of my dear grandmother Catherine A. Leitch Tunnell; a feisty, quick-witted Irish lass from Belfast who emigrated to the states in the early 1950's.

In 1955 she married my grandfather, a Midwestern native and together they had my Uncle Kerry, Aunt Eileen, mother Colleen and Aunt Catherine; all carrying forth the Irish legacy in their names.

When I was little my siblings, cousins and I would spend loads of time at my grandparent's house, raking up fall leaves in the front yard, jumping into their bright colors at day's end; helping to clean and tidy things up in the house and simply listening to my grandmother's funny accent.

My Grandma Tunnell was a force to be reckoned with, when she wanted things done a particular way they were done as so. When tidying up in the house, it was often my task to dust off the bookshelf near the front window and after I thought I was done, she would question me with her strong Irish dialect, 'Now did you get the tops of the books like I asked?' I couldn't lie to this woman, she would have seen right through me, so every time I would have to go back and dust the books again, just like so.

A visit to grandma's house always meant a delightful trip into her shiny glass candy dish full of sweet and minty treats. Often times she would also make us buttered toast sprinkled with just the right amount of sugar - it was a simple delicacy that only she knew how to make.

Being the little kids that we were, my siblings, cousins and I would be playing around the house and someone would pass gas - it happens... Well this always got a rise out of my grandmother. Once she got wind of the perpetrator's scent she'd yell, 'Who blasted!?' 'Who bloody blasted!?'

Oh we thought this to be the funniest thing ever! First off we knew that bloody was a bad word in her book and secondly she would just start raging as the Irish often do when they get in a tizzy.

The list of fond memories goes on and on with my dear grandmother and I consider myself ever so fortunate to own such wonderful thoughtful gems. My grandmother passed away when I was in 6th grade to a series of illnesses. She was far too young to depart from us and her memory lives on with me and the rest of my family today and always.

So please enjoy your corned beef and cabbage this day and Erin Go Braugh to you and my dear grandmother.

An Old Irish Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

Take Heed

2011-03-14T14:21:00.000-07:00

The recent events in Japan are more than heart-wrenching, words can barely describe the horrible tragedy taking place there. Our prayers and thoughts of hope and healing go out to all those suffering.

With forewarning of the approaching tsunami wave headed for the West Coast, Brian and I were surprised by a certain sight on our way into work on Friday morning and the revealing behaviors of humans.

As we scooted along Tiburon's main road headed for the 101 freeway, we noticed a large gathering of gawking, touristy-like folks fixing their attention on the Richardson Bay. With ease we slowed our vehicle, mostly in response to those in front of us, who too, were also trying to figure out what these people could possibly be looking at.

We quickly realized that with cameras in hand, they were waiting, watching for that tsunami wave to impose upon our shores.

Ummmm.....

I'm no expert in all things MacGyver, but common sense tells me that if there is a tsunami warning or any other natural disaster alert you do not go to the very place in which such an event might occur. I repeat, you DO NOT go towards the danger.

Perhaps it's the world we live in today, the up-to-the-minute YouTube clips, Tweets and FB posts; everyone wants to be credited with being the 'first' to report a scene. However, when presented with a potentially life-threatening scenario I'll always choose flight over fight.

Case in point

Whilst enjoying an everyday, normal taxi ride one evening in the city of Accra, Ghana, Brian and I were no more than 1 mile from our apartment when danger sprung out of nowhere.

I, sitting in the back, Brian in the front passenger seat, promptly noticed the dashboard lights go dark. With no warning, smoke began to emit from all vents; so naturally, I reacted.

Despite the vehicle still moving at a good clip I jumped from the taxi. I didn't even flinch,without a thought, my body responded as if I'd be training for such an event to take place while living abroad in Africa.

I ran down the road a ways, making sure I created a good distance between myself and the car. As I glanced back, assuming Brian had immediately followed suit, I realized that he was still in the vehicle!

Oh my goodness! What kind of a wife was I!?

I quickly ran back to the car to save him from the threatening doom, realizing his passenger door wouldn't unlock.

By this point the car had come to a full stop and I swiftly flung open his door to release him from the danger. Without hesitation he yelled, "What the heck are you doing? You just jumped from a moving vehicle?!"

I was confused by his confusion.

However, quickly taking in the fact that the dashboard smoke didn't amount to the treacherous explosion I had envisioned in my mind, I could kind of see where he was coming from.

Fortunately, we were not that far from our apartment, so we paid the taxi driver for his services as he phoned for assistance and we walked home.

End case in point.

A few things can be gathered from this scenario:

1. I choose flight, literally

2. Brian assesses the situation, builds a strategic analysis in his brain on the pros and cons of each potential outcome and then chooses the most rational route

(all of which he later revealed to me and as long as the door isn't locked)

3. At the end of the day we generally come to the same conclusion, we just have our different methods of getting there

All in all, if you are ever presented with a potential dangerous situation, heed any warnings available to you and don't go towards the danger.

Sadly however, life doesn't always play out like this and even with forewarning, devastation still occurs. Let's take action for those who were impacted by the Japanese earthquake and pour out our hearts for their suffering.

Here are some ways to contribute to the relief efforts:

Text: REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10

Give: Red Cross

Give: Salvation Army World Services

Information: Google Crisis Response

The Transition Years

2011-03-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

We Feth's are living in what I'd like to formally call The Transition Years.

It's kind of like The Wonder Years but without all the braces and awkward first kisses....

This chapter of our life follows The Dating Years which began with our marriage and will end roughly around summer of this year (give or take a month).

You see when the Feth and I became one, I had a good idea (after 9 years of courtship) of what I was getting into: fun / adventure / deep intellectual conversations / stuff like that

Well what I didn't know was that we Feth's would become quite the world travelers and consumers of all things change. We have truly lived by the mantra: the only constant is change.

These Years of Transition have included a wedding in Napa / apartment in San Francisco / a year in Africa / return to San Francisco / move to Tiburon

And soon we will be closing out this treatise with our next big change-agent =

business school

B-school Brian has been a busy pre-bee-schooler these past 6 months, what with all the GMAT studying & essay writing & interviewing.

I've happily been on the support staff - acting as editor in chief and all things

GSD (that's Get Sh_ _ Done - we're all adults here so you can fill in the blanks)

Yesterday was the grand finale of interviews, culminating with HBS; a climactic conclusion to an intensive, soul-searching process and rightfully so.

Whatever the outcome may be (and we'll know around the end of the month) it has been arduous, tedious, strenuous, and any other -ous ending words you can think of!

But fantastically worth every brain teasing moment.

For both of us this chapter will end on a positive note, highlighting the fact that there is so much to do and so many things we can be in this grand old world of ours. But our time is limited, so we must maximize what has been given to us so we can give to others and truly make a difference.

They (and I'm not clear on exactly who 'they' are but just roll with it) say that successful people are the ones that don't give up after failing, because let's face it we all fail but it's what we do after we fail that makes us great.

So here's to a future of failure and success and to nearing the end of

The Transition Years

It's been a sweet ride

What will be the premise for our next chapter?

Here are a few thoughts:

- The Puppy Years

- The Beardless Years

- The Baby Years (that one's for you mom!)

- The We're as Broke as Grad Students Years

- The I Wish We Could Afford a New iPhone Years

- The Remember The Transition Years...

A Snuggly Scarf

2011-03-07T22:44:00.000-08:00

It seems only a handful of selected outfits have been making it

out of our closet and onto my body these days.

I didn't really notice that I had reduced my wardrobe to an elite class of snuggly scarves, cardigan, jeggings and boots until the husbster commented on my pants this morning on the way into the city.

B-hub: 'You're wearing those pants again! Haven't you been wearing those for the past 3 days now?'

Me (in my defense): 'No I have not been wearing them for the past 3 days now, just on Saturday and now it's Monday, I gave them a break yesterday....'

What's the BIG Deal anyway?

If you recall, when we lived in Africa I was confined to a portable wardrobe a la suitcase. I had only packed so many clothes, leaving necessary space for souvenirs and knowing we would only be away for 6 months - which later turned into a full year abroad.

After a while, I maxed out all possible combinations for said articles of clothing and ultimately created my own line of Jalyn uniforms!

It appears that despite having access to an entire closet full of cotton, polyester, lycra and rayon, I have unknowingly moved in this same direction.

Hmmm....

I'm going to chalk it up to strategy. Yes, strategy.

You see, I know what I like and what looks good on me so I have subconsciously-strategically-vetted my clothes cupboard into the most efficient outfits available in line with the times.

There. That's it.

- I guess life's just a little simpler with some clothing consistency -

Hey I didn't say anything about lacking cuteness!

What's your self-imposed uniform?

By the way, The Husband's been sportin' the same messenger

hat for ages now - and it's supercute!

Mt. Tama - wuh?!?

2011-02-28T15:28:00.000-08:00

The OHIO Feth's are in town and we are up to nothing but adventure. A series of winter storm warnings tried to stand in our way this weekend but we powered through the sunny weather (California weather forecasters are quite dramatic if you didn't already know....)

Winter NO-storm 2011

Adventure took us around our Tiburon home, on a ferry ride to visit our beloved City of San Francisco and to the top of the nearest mountain, Mt. Tamalpais - say that really fast 5 times!

Tiburon ferry

Brian the amazing fire-builder (we enjoyed a number of snuggly fires due to the wintry weather outside) set up our telescope and played a game of 'Eye Spy'. After viewing far away neighbors enjoying a drink on the patio or dinner at their table we focused our lens on the very tip-top of Mt. Tam. There we discovered a unique fixture that we just had to go and check out in person.

So along the 101 we ventured, following signs to Muir Woods (named after that epic outdoorsman John Muir) and skirted our way up to Mt. Tamalpais. The tippy-tip-top required a bit of fancy footwork over a rocky path but the reward at the end made it all worth the effort.

Exhibit A: fancy footwork & sweet stylin' moves (notice the robot hand)

The fixture we spotted through our lens from far far away turned out to be an old fire lookout. It appeared to be fully functional and has been taking in the magnificent views since 1937.

After our fill of breathtaking scenery we coasted down the mountain to Stinson Beach. A requisite cocktail was in order to set our afternoon straight and then we continued south on Hwy 1 - my favorite road in the land.

View from Mt. Tam

If you haven't done PCH (Pacific Coast Highway) you just haven't lived. It represents all that is great in this lovely country of ours. It makes you feel as though everything is possible and we should take nothing for granted....

Get there!

Overlooking the North Bay

The OHIOians are heading south in the days to come to visit that other group of West Coast Feth's in San Jose. It's been a delightful visit and we look forward to our next adventure!

Manchego in the Window

2011-02-18T15:41:00.000-08:00

There's been a lot of talk over here lately about adding a new addition to this team of ours.

Back and forth we discuss whether or not we're ready for such a big change and if this is the right time.

So to help us make a more informed decision we looked into some resources around the city and found just the one to give us the insight we needed:

SPCA's Puppy Parenting Class

PUPPIES you say....well, what did you think we were talking about?????

Oh yes that other kind of 'addition'. Wellllll, we will just have to see about that another time....

Boy did we learn a lot at that class. First of all we were late, not just a few minutes but like 15 minutes late and thinking back on it that's not a good start to learning how to be a good puppy parent.

Apparently puppies urinate frequently and thus are required to be taken out every 2 hours or so. This would be a serious adjustment to our schedules as most days we are very 'go with the flow' kind of folks. But SPCA made it clear that puppies' bladders do not accommodate such flakey behavior. Ahhh, I'm already feeling like a horrible parent!

As we all know, during the teething process, puppies will find anything and everything within your home to chew on. I can just imagine this future scene:

We walk in to find a half chewed voodoo doll hanging from the mouth of our dear puppy.

Now you can't easily replace a voodoo doll my friends. This one in particular (and you are wondering why we even have a voodoo doll - you can take that up with my husband) is from Togoville, a small West African village in the country of Togo, that we had to take a boat to get to, so not cool future puppy-child!

However, puppies are loving, furry-soft, playful creatures that will love you unconditionally with their big brown puppy dog eyes and hearts; as well as leave you little presents in your shoes or under your bed. Nevertheless, there's a reason we are so smitten with our canine companions -

c'mon they're supercute!

All in all, the Puppy Parenting Class gave us a lot of good information, so much so that we're not really certain of our next step. There are a lot of wonderful older dogs out there that also need homes and perhaps a puppy is a choice we make later in life when we finally do decide to start adding humans to our clan.

So at this point we are torn and won't make any hasty decisions until we feel the timing is right or fall in love with a particular dog - like that one named Manchego at the SPCA shelter!!!

*uber-joy*

I know it's a silly name but you should have seen him! Oh he was so cute and adorable with his sweet doggy ways and delightful jumping and playful tricks.

Hmmm...maybe a Manchego will join our team or perhaps another dog,

someday.....

Here's Bosco, my parent's dog who just showed up one day last October, maybe that's how you find the right one, they find you first!

Silver Lining With a Splash of Petrol

2011-02-17T16:02:00.000-08:00

Oh my rainclouds,

it is a serious thunderstorm up in here!

Hail, sunshine, more hail, and lots and lots of rain poureth down on Northern California this day.

But you know what they say.....there's always a silver lining to every cloud.

But who said such a thing in the first place?

It isn't exactly clear but Wikipedia confirms it's an expression, a metaphor for optimism - but what's even more interesting, as you read further down their page, Silver Lining was the name of a Law & Order episode. And you know, I've concluded that I like L & O. But not Criminal Intent or any of those other hundreds of versions out there, no, just Law & Order SVU. What with all that suspense, and cool noise they make in between scenes, I see now why my family is hooked.

But I digress - see what rain does to a person!

So what kind of a silver lining are we talking about anyway?

Our fireplace.

Yep, that magnificent brick structure that contains a fire breathing bundle of logs carefully purchased at our local CalMart for $9.

(can you even believe such a thing!?

$9 for a bundle of wood - outrageous!)

Now you can't have a $9 bundle of logs without a snazzy husband to light them!

And let me tell you, Brian is a master at this craft (no gasoline or other illegal starters required). All those years boy scouting around have served him well.

And I'm right there to ensure that the orange and red flames maintain their fiery glow.

But I didn't learn such skills in girl scouts or any other formal setting. Instead I gained my dexterity from my clever father who from an early age showed me how to carefully build bonfires using pallets, old sheds, a small tire or two and plenty of gasoline. Talk about ultimate D.I.Y.!!!

This evening, in our lovely apartment in the town of Tiburon we shall enjoy our swell fireplace as we readily welcome days like this that just beg for a warm hearth

(without the petrol, OK, well maybe just a dash....)

Looking forward to lightin' this baby up later!

Race Day

2011-02-06T13:25:00.000-08:00

The buzzer loudly penetrated the crisp coolness of the early morning air. Leaning over the side of the bed, the bright red lights flashed 3:30am....

It was finally time.

It was race day.

The time had come for Brian (also known as Chuck Norris to those allowed close to him) to prepare for his very 1st marathon on that tough terrain, that intense coastal battlefield called Maui.

A refreshing shower woke his senses, freshly brewed coffee activated his anxious energy and a healthy breakfast filled the tank that would need every ounce of fuel it could consume.

The support team, otherwise known as Coach (the wife) / Brosif (Jed the brother-in-law) / and the soon to be engaged girlfriend (Michelle aka Dirty Bit) were all there to rally behind CN.

Like clockwork we jumped into the rental Jeep and tore off down the road in pitch dark. Not knowing exactly where the start line originated (we won't place any blame here....eh-hem) there were a few u-turns and recalculating of the GPS unit but we made it just in time.

The race was small, around 345 people running the marathon, with the rest of the roughly 2500 participants being divided amongst the later half-marathon, 10k and marathon walk.

CN jumped right into his stellar stretch moves, hydrated with style and mentally prepared himself to kick sand in the face of the Maui Oceanfront Marathon. The sound of conch shells signaled the start of the race and CN was off!

Coach, Brosif and Dirty Bit ventured back to the hotel. We felt the best way to support the Norris was to channel our inner relaxation vibes through the actions of watching movies and drinking coffee. After a random but surprisingly entertaining Matthew McConaughey film we left for the finish line.

Around 9:30am we staked our claim at the line of success. The sun was beating down a dreadful beat of heat and folks later commented that it was exceptionally warm for that January 23rd winter day. Brosif made his way down the road so as to give us a signal when there was a CN sighting. Dirty Bit and I waited anxiously for a sign, congratulating those as they made it across the finish line.

At 4 hours, 37 minutes and 30 seconds (the time in the photo displays the half-marathon time) we witnessed the one and only cross that line he for so long sought after. He looked exhausted (of course done only for show to make other racers feel better) and went straight into a cool shower of mist. Brosif assumed the role of water boy and Dirty Bit and I the cheering squad.

CN shared that up to mile 17 he had kept a strong constant pace. At that point, bodily functions beckoned him to make a pit stop and thereafter it was an uphill battle. The heat had been quite a contender that day but it ultimately had no hold over Brian. Without injury, at a 10 1/2 minute mile, and exceeding his fundraising goal of $1500 (raising $2,115) for the young Kenyan entrepreneurs, he successfully completed the Maui Oceanfront Marathon.

Way to go Brian!!! Congratulations - job well done!!!

An ocean ice bath, large consumption of BBQ and beachfront chair rounded out the remainder of the day.

We Interrupt This Important Marathon Update for a Midwest Thundersnow

2011-02-03T15:51:00.000-08:00

The Maui Marathon was brilliant, never before seen moves by the one and only Chuck Norris!

Wait till we tell you what happened.....

So this humpback jumped out of the water and Oh, wait, what's that?

Oh, we need to cut to an update on the Midwest Thundersnow?

Alright....

Actually, let's divert our attention to why it is so great to be in California right now rather than the Midwest. A full report on the Maui Marathon will come following this suspense building, delay tactic list of totally awesome reasons California RULES.....

1) It is currently a sunny 55 degrees in San Francisco
2) It is not this temperature in the Midwest
3) There is snow in Tahoe, but only there
4) There is snow everywhere in the Midwest, and a lot of it I'm told
5) I'm not wearing 30 pounds of extra clothing in order to stay warm; I'm not even wearing a coat
6) I'm not stuck in a snow drift
7) I didn't take Lake Shore Drive to get home yesterday
8) Ice cream sounds like something I would like to enjoy right now
9) There are no discussions around, hmmm how do you say, thundersnow?
10) I'm off to the beach to make a sand angel and drink a mimosa

To top things off and build even more suspense around the fantastic trip to Maui, I shall leave you with this photo and comment(s):

Who is this mystery man with Chuck?

Is he a king crowing CN for his victorious marathon or rather some guy we saw at a rest stop?

Stay tuned for the answers and the full story on the Maui Oceanfront Marathon! Mahalo!

You Can Do It!

2011-01-17T19:31:00.000-08:00

We are officially less than a week away from the Maui Oceanfront Marathon in which the one and only, Brian Feth, will be honoring with his presence.

The Chuck Norris look-alike has been training hard these last several months. And that's only because he wants to - not because he needs to. Whether it's a quick 10 miler here or a 20 miler there this bearded beast of a runner is ready for the challenge.

As his coach (wife) it is imperative that I be there for the big race day. As a result, I will be accompanying him to the island of Maui solely for emotional and mental support. If, in order for me to calm my nerves thus calming Brian's nerves, need to ingest a couple of mini umbrella garnished cocktails, then so be it. We must do what we have to do to win....

The course will skirt along the coast where gracious humpback whales will jump in the distance and soothing ocean waves will beg at the shores. These are clearly staged distractions in order to force runners to lose their focus. But there is no worry here, because Brian doesn't just closely resemble Chuck Norris he thinks like him too and no amazing ocean sunrise Has. A. Chance.

This will be no day at the beach people.

(Ok, well perhaps before and after it will but let's stay focused!)

On a more serious note...............this is a super exciting feat for Brian; his 1st marathon and in such a beautiful setting. The efforts Brian has put forth thus far have been incredible! He's been amazingly dedicated and has challenged himself to achieve something both personally and socially gratifying. He has raised over $1500 for young women in Kenya so that they may improve their lives through the benefits of economic empowerment:

http://www.active.com/donate/BrianFeth

Best of luck to you Brian! I'll be right there waiting for you at the finish line!!!

Now, where did I put my sunscreen.....

For Hire: Team Feth Moving Company

2011-01-14T12:34:00.000-08:00

FOR HIRE

RIDICULOUSLY GOOD LOOKING EXPERIENCED MOVERS

MOVED TO ALL CORNERS OF THE WORLD

ABLE TO MOVE ONE BEDROOM APARTMENTS IN A SINGLE DAY

BEARDED MOVER CONVEYS EXPERIENCE, SPEED, AGILITY AND KNOWLEDGE OF MANY THINGS

FEMALE MOVER CONVEYS NICETIES AND WHOLESOME VALUES

WE DON'T COMPLAIN WE JUST MOVE

DO IT!

We're off again to another move....stay tuned!

Hey There New Year (and then some)

2011-01-12T17:28:00.001-08:00

Oh yes yes Happy New Year! Of course! You've been around awhile I know but I seem to have been busy or something, just too busy to stop and send out my New Year's hello's.

Hello!

How are things? How were the holidays? Great, same here. Team Feth had a lovely Midwestern Christmas and New Year's escapade full of snow, family, hot cocoa and lots of glittery lights. It was joyous!

And then we flew back to San Francisco on my birthday, January 5th.

Humph.....

Not the coolest of birthdays given the full day of travel but nevertheless hubby and I made up for it by sharing a bottle of wine and eating some really good Indian food that night. Pretty similar to the year prior when were celebrating my 30th actually in India! (use your imagination here)

Next step, enter reality.

The current apartment has been a challenging one and for our first night back I awoke in the middle of the night to some really loud snoring. Just as I was about to tap Brian on the shoulder I realized he wasn't the one who was snoring....I was totally freaked out!!! It was one of our neighbors sawing away at some hefty logs.

As a result of this and several other ongoing sounds, we are in search of a new address to add to our resume.

And do you know what this resume entails exactly?

Well I shall tell you.

While on the plane to visit family back in December we both tallied up the number of addresses we've had over the course of our lives. Can you even begin to guess what we're talking about here?

In my (eh-hem) 31 years I have had a total of 23 addresses.

Mr. Feth in his (a bit older than me) 31 years has had a total of 21 addresses.

WOAH!!!

I feel like we've just been inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records or something.

Speech:

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

It is such an honor to receive this award. It's taken a lot of time, muscle, moving trucks, sweat equity and buckets of tears to achieve such a feat. We couldn't have done it without Penske, Budget, some guys on a street corner and of course my brother Jed for being an exceptionally large human with big muscles.

Ok ok it's not quite like that but it is A LOT. Seriously.

So let's hope for the best with this latest apartment search. I know friends and family are having trouble keeping up with which one is which and you can just imagine what we're having to deal with at the post office.....

Happy New Year everyone! Hope it's a good one!

Let's Adapt!

2010-12-15T10:21:00.000-08:00

Stomp stomp stomp

Bump bump bump

Knock knock knock

These are the sounds we hear in the night.

The first night in our new apartment was a bit of a rude awakening. The walls seem as though they were made of 8x10 sheets of paper all stapled together in the early 1960's. Our bedroom appears to be located within the bathroom of our upstairs neighbor's apartment.

It was not a pleasant night.

REALITY CHECK

Old scenario: we are coming from our own tiny house where we had no direct neighbors atop a quiet hill on a dead end street.

New scenario: we are living in an apartment complex with direct neighbors on three sides just off a busy street.

Hmmmm......

LET'S ADAPT!

This adaptation business should really be old hat by now. I mean c'mon people! This team has traveled all over the globe, lived and visited various and sometimes questionable places and we can't even hang in our own city of San Francisco!

WE NEED TO GET OUR ADAPT ON AND FAST!

How do we do this? Well our approach is as follows:

1. As keenly pointed out by Brian we need to recall the time we lived with roommates. Yes, it's true we lived with other people after we were married. Sure it may have appeared weird and awkward at times but we were in transition until we found our own place. Check.

2. Play radio louder to drown out noise. Check.

3. Buy earplugs. Check.

4. Download peaceful noises/music to listen to at night. Check.

5. Bang on ceiling with a broom. Wait don't do that.

6. Buy a broom. I need one anyway.

7. Stay out late and only come home when have to. Hmmm.. not so sure about that one.

8. Adapt. Check.

So adapting is going to take some time but we've been down this path before.

And I'm sure there are a lot of good things that can come out of this like take for instance when looking for our next apartment, request top floor only.

Here's a little inspiration to keep us going.

When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.
Helen Keller

Even if that door of happiness keeps on opening and closing, opening and closing, opening and closing and opening and closing........

North Beach We Bid You Adieu

2010-12-13T11:00:00.002-08:00

So long

Farewell

Something something something

Dancing - singing - dancing - singing

Repeat

Ok - you get the drift.

This past weekend it was farewell to North Beach and hello Inner Richmond!

Funny that it's called Inner Richmond. Wonder why.

Let's see what Wikipedia tells us:

'The district was given its name by Australian immigrant and Japanese fine art dealer George Turner Marsh, one of the neighborhood's earliest residents, who called his home "the Richmond House" after Richmond, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia.^[2] The district was originally an expanse of rolling sand dunes. It was developed initially in the late 19th century'

Hmmmm....not that interesting really. Very well.

Something more interesting that I learned recently is that my left arm is significantly weaker than my right.

That cannot be. How did you learn such a thing you ask?

Well I shall tell you.

So Team Feth relocated to a new apartment in a new neighborhood within this same fine city of ours. As always we vowed to hire a company to move our things for us but never made any effort to make that a reality. Our conversation on the matter went a little something like this:

Before the move:

'Maybe we should hire someone to move our stuff out of storage'

'Nah......we can do it there's not that much and we'll save money'

During the move:

'What were we thinking - this sucks!?'

'I can't feel my arm...' (this is my quote of course)

After the move:

'Well we are never doing that again!'

'That's for sure, we're definitely hiring someone next time!'

My poor little left arm realized its maximum potential yesterday after lifting and carrying a large Crate and Barrel couch up a flight of stairs and down a long hallway (this is after moving boxes and other large items for 4 hours).

Sure I tried to coach her on, motivate her to keep fighting. I even considered popping open a can of spinach (I was desperate). Brian even attempted to give her a good talking to but little lefty just couldn't muster enough strength to carry on. She officially deflated at 1:30pm yesterday afternoon.....

Fortunately through the miraculous healing powers of pizza, a beer and a good night's rest little left arm is back in action today - a bit sore but working nonetheless - whew!

So long

Farewell

Something something something

All in all North Beach has been a fun part of town to live in, full of Italian eateries, supremo espresso cafes and crazy people that like to party here on the weekends. It's been interesting to say the least.

Now we're off to a new neighborhood where we have more space, parking, equally amazing eateries and cafes to explore, parking and parking!

Looking forward to the next adventure and here are a few moving tips to keep in mind for next time (if for some strange reason we don't hire anyone....)

This Hiatus Must Come To An End

2010-12-09T10:45:00.004-08:00

I believe it was a fall day in September when you last heard from a member of Team Feth. It was as if we had closed all the doors, shut up the windows, pulled the blinds down and hung a sign that said 'out to lunch' but never came back.

Well take that sign down silly because this hiatus has ended!

The hiatus was unintentional to be honest. Sometimes life just happens and we get off schedule, mix up our routine and go with the flow. And this time around the flow took us back to the Midwest for a lovely spell. Much of October was spent stomping around at the old homestead of my parent's house in Indiana. B. Feth joined and then we skipped over to Ohio for more family fun.

By the way a friend recently made the comment that Ohio is round on both sides and high in the middle.

What kind of a statement is that you ask????

Just the same, the Team was bewildered by such a remark. Upon hearing this the husband and I looked at each other stumped. I couldn't recall learning that in school so I looked at B. with questioning eyes, 'Hey you're from Ohio what is our friend talking about here?'

Well....

O - HI - O

Moving along, after a delightful trip to the Midwest we ventured back to our favorite city, San Francisco. Before we knew it November was upon us and more family time ensued, accompanied with lots of food intake and football viewing.

Hello San Francisco!

That pretty much catches us up to today (without all the details and important stuff - think high level here people) a chilly rainy day in December.

This morning I sit drinking my coffee, warmed by the flip-of-a-switch fireplace in our living room, listening to the fly by chatter of a flock of parrots, thinking about what's next.

The hiatus is over. It's time for the next phase.

Now which phase are we entering again?

It's interesting that we think of life as a series of phases, isn't it?

Phase 1 = born.

Phase 2 = childhood/paste eating.

Phase 3 = teenage angst/pimples.

Phase 4 = college/thinking you're an adult.

Phase 5 = 20's (which were fun).

Phase 6 = turning 30 (I'm still adjusting....).

Phase 6.1 = early 30's (I'm not really sure what happens here....).

But I'm pretty certain we're in Phase 6.1, yeah that sounds about right.

I think this is the phase where you have to really think and act like a grown up and consider doing grown up things like all the time.

Wish us luck!

Looking very adult, aren't we?!

1 and 1 Equals 2 and Sometimes 11

2010-09-04T18:20:00.000-07:00

Monday the 6th of September marks the 2 year anniversary of our wedding and it also marks the 11th year of our being together.

It all started way back when on a small patio at a mutual friend's party at Purdue. There I was sitting outside chatting it up with some neighbors when all of a sudden out of the corner of my eye I spotted this supercute guy walking through the patio door. His eyes sparkled in the night and he looked over my way. We were introduced and for the next hour we couldn't stop talking. I excused myself to go to the bathroom and on the way back my friend grabbed me to go to another party.

Of course the way Brian tells it sounds a bit different; 'she went to the bathroom and never came back. I was confused because I thought we were getting along well but guessed not..."

However you interpret that first night, things obviously worked out in the end and besides what can you really expect when you're 19 and in college? I know I know, it's hard to believe that this little team of ours joined forces at the young age of 19! The 11 years to follow would include a journey filled with happiness, heartache, discovery, growth, road trips across the US, new jobs in California, an engagement in Yosemite, wedding in Napa Valley and first year anniversary in West Africa.

So what's in store for our second? Well back to the beautiful scenery we enjoyed that morning Brian asked for my hand in marriage in Yosemite. We're heading off for a backpacking trip to our favorite national park but this time we'll try out some place new. One thing we've both realized is our love for the outdoors and adventure but most importantly is the love we have for one another. We're both very blessed and look forward to kicking off another year of marriage in this great team of ours :-)

Cheers from Team Feth!

Where in the World You Ask?

2010-08-22T22:59:00.000-07:00

Yes we know, it's been a while. And with all that promising to catch up and stay in touch often here we go and drop the ball....

geez!

Well I guess sometimes life just happens. And in San Francisco it's happening all over the place what with the sun actually coming out of its cloudy chalet after who-knows-where-its-been-for-how-long-I-mean-it's-summer-people!

Sun = good.

For the last couple of weeks I've been what I like to think of as 'guest starring' in a temporary casting role at my old organization, Room to Read. I'm technically just contracting there for a short time but it feels like I'm a guest star in a sitcom I used to adore and watch all the time. Superfun!

It's been great and while I chip away at numbers and all things spectacular in the world of accounting the hubster is GMAT-ing it up at home. The final countdown has begun and we are now within a week of the BIG EXAM (ok, deep breath....). So I'm being the most supportive wifey I can be by baking him scrumptious cookies and hearty meals to fuel the engine that is his brain via his stomach..... That's how it works right!?

So far so good.....

Once the EXAM has been taken and I've tucked away my calculator and set of multi-colored pens we are off to the land of whales and glaciers exploring a far away non-contiguous state known as Alaska. We're looking forward to the adventure that awaits and I'm secretly hoping I won't get attacked by bears, keel over from sea-sickness or lose a toe to frostbite.

It should be glorious!

Until the next update - - - over and out from SF - - -

Photo courtesy of Brian Feth - yeah it's a good one isn't it!?

It Was a Meeting of Four Feth's - Part 1

2010-08-05T21:53:00.002-07:00

Long long ago in a way way far away place known as Kenya in a month called April there was a very important gathering of four Feth's. The Ohio Feth's joined the Kenyan Feth's for a convention on all things safari and fun. Over a period of about a week and a half the dynamic foursome put on their explorer hats and ventured out seeking adventurous excursions around Nairobi, Massai Mara and Lake Naivasha.

The following are photos from Part One of the Four Feth's Amazing Kenyan Adventures!

An important introduction to one of our close friends in Nairobi - Mr. Giraffe

The Ohio Feth's met our colleagues and friends from work

(colleague and good friend Pauline featured here :))

After a couple of days in Nairobi we headed off to Massai Mara

This is the airport and the 12 seater plane we flew in on

Right away we set out on safari and several animals were anxiously

awaiting our arrival

We settled into our cabins at the Royal Mara, along the Mara River, and enjoyed several safaris over the following few days

We spotted a bat-eared fox hiding in the tall grass

A young male lion looking off in the distance

Enjoyed views of peace and calm on the savannah

There was a face off between man and elephant

On one of our safari days we enjoyed a lunch picnic out in the wild open

It was a grand affair

Brian really connected with nature

I too enjoyed myself immensely

We had to take a quick time out to help another safari vehicle in need. A French family had been stuck in the mud for well over an hour but luckily our super guide John saved the day!

We spent an afternoon visiting a local Massai village

The chief took us into one of his houses and told us about his villages and way of life.

He showed us a calabash - a gourd filled with mixed cow's milk and blood

Brian's dad chatted it up with the chief as the rest of our Feth crew

looked over the market of goodies and crafts

To our delight we saw this mother cheetah and her young cub

just as we were heading back to our lodge one evening

A sleepy hyena was spotted basking in the sun

A male water-buck was caught lifting its' head up after a large bite of grass

The breathtaking moonlight over a quiet Kenyan night

Our adventures in Massai Mara had finally come to an end. It had been a splendid journey for the four Feth's but more adventures were just around the corner!

Here we are waiting for our plane to arrive to take us back to Nairobi

Stop. See. Smell. Smile.

2010-07-30T16:11:00.000-07:00

Walking the streets of a bustling city, there is always something that is bound to grab your attention, pulling you away momentarily from listening to your iPod or thinking about which great restaurant you want to try next. Maybe it's a small dog with big brown eyes gazing up at you outside a local grocery store or the clicks of bike shoes on the sidewalk worn by bikers strolling into a cafe to order a cold one after a long day's ride. Perhaps it's the screaming baby being pushed in an overpriced buggy by its' super athletic mother or the dancing hippies in the grass at mid-day.

Whatever it may be, sometimes that momentary interruption is so captivating that you can't help but stare a little longer. Other times, and more often than not, we continue bustling, continue shuffling away quickly on to our next destination, our next task. But for those rare occasions, the enticing vision pulls you in and you pause, just a moment out of your busy day, to acknowledge that one thing that is so very important at that moment.

And maybe you laugh or smile or think, 'dude, that is crazy!' and quickly pull out your iPhone to take a photo.

Well I had one of those moments the other day (not a dude that is crazy moment but the other kind). I set out for an afternoon walk in Golden Gate Park and the colors quickly caught my eye. Each one was so perfect and so uniquely different, I had to have a closer look. So I decided that at the end of my walk I would reward myself with a longer gaze and the next day I went back with a camera.

There's something to be said about taking a moment to stop and smell the roses. Well, these are actually dahlias (not roses) and I didn't smell them (they were guarded by a steel fence) but anyway I enjoyed their beauty for a few minutes.

Hope you enjoy as well :)

Two Feths In A Nest

2010-07-29T12:45:00.000-07:00

It's official - these two Feths have found their temporary nest in San Francisco! This past Tuesday we looked at a variety of apartments throughout the city and it was the very last one that sealed the deal.

It's close to our old neck of the woods, North Beach, on Telegraph Hill with a lovely view of the bay near the Vallejo street steps. Unfortunately no parking is available but that is the price you pay for living in this city.

The place is owned by a lovely couple from Napa and we hit it off right away. The apartment is cozy with a lovely garden patio out front and we look forward to having folks over for some good chats and good eats soon!

View of the Bay Bridge down Vallejo Street Steps

Me on the Vallejo Street Steps

View the other direction down Vallejo St.

More photos of our new place can be found here:

http://thegordongallery.com/LeNid

Adaptation

2010-07-22T21:08:00.000-07:00

As one begins to adapt to any new environment they are at first highly sensitive to the sights, smells and sounds around them. Things are still new, fresh and sometimes funky (in both that cool trendy outfit hairdo combo and foul odor sort of way).

Kind of like this guy...

Just as we experienced with adjusting to Kenya, Ghana, Morocco and India we are taking in all that San Francisco has to offer and adjusting as best we can.

Here are just a few of the new, fresh and funky things witnessed over the past couple of weeks:

'So according to his Facebook status he's in a relationship....' a young twenty something rambles to her girlfriend at a bus stop on Market St.
'Spare some change!?' random homeless people shout to passersby on Haight St.
'So it like takes something like 650 gallons of water to make one cotton t-shirt' girl behind counter at the Buffalo Exchange clothing store bellows. 'No way, for real!?' customer responds.
Everyone has a dog in the city and they are seen everywhere shopping with their owners: grocery stores, clothing stores, pharmacies, you name it
Crazy homeless lady laughing from the pit of her stomach at nothing and nobody as she happily meanders down the sidewalk; her laugh can be heard from yards away
You know a group of tourists when you see a family of four all wearing shorts and newly purchased San Francisco sweatshirts - this isn't LA people, it's cold here!
Most people carry around their own green grocery bag
People seem to be constantly hyped up on caffeine, everywhere you look someone is holding a coffee cup at all times of day (sure do miss those tea breaks in Kenya!)
Cars will stop even if they see you on the side of the road just considering the thought of crossing the street. I actually forgot about this and was waiting at a crosswalk and a whole group of cars came to a halt and I quickly realized 'oh yeah this is San Francisco - cool!'
Today I saw blue hair, purple hair, yellow hair and orange hair and that was all in the same neighborhood
The fresh floral and fauna scents throughout Golden Gate Park can really calm your senses but a quick whiff of the homeless guy peeing in the bush throws everything off
I've heard several different languages spoken over the past week: Mandarin, Italian, French and Spanish
The clothing style is really tight skinny jeans of which not everyone should participate in wearing; for what appears to be a lack of comfort mostly
Everything is organic, green, local and/or made from hemp
And finally people can been seen all over the place picking up the feces of their beloved dog. I still find this hilarious and know that folks back in Kenya are just floored by this concept as pets aren't even a part of the culture in any way, let alone cleaning up after them

Adapting to San Francisco is like adapting to any other place one decides to hang their hat for a while. It's definitely a bit easier because we are coming back to familiar grounds but the conversations, the sights, smells and sounds are certainly different from the ones we experienced in Africa and quite honestly the Midwest, our birthplace, for that matter :-P

Summertime Hot Cocoa

2010-07-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

No it's not lemonade. Nor is it sweet refreshing iced tea. No it isn't even a cold brewsky or thirst quenching water. None of these things occupy the green mug enveloped in my hands in the middle of summer. Instead it is a warm, rich and creamy cup of hot cocoa. While folks in other parts of the country bask in the summer sunshine, here in wintery San Francisco I spend the afternoon making a nice piping hot cup of chocolatey goodness, one because it is so yummy but two (and most importantly) because it is so cold!

source: Richmond Public Library

Today is one of the cooler days since returning to SF over a week ago now. It is so chilly that the cute little yellow butterfly I found fluttering around our friends apartment had second thoughts about leaving. I saw him floating around the kitchen, let him land on my hand and as I opened a nearby window to allow him to fly away into the wonderful outside world of flora and fauna he began to retreat. Peddling his tiny legs backwards, I could see exactly what he was thinking, 'are you kidding me?' 'You except me to go out there?' I couldn't blame him. So I placed him next to the window leaving it open a crack just in case he changed his mind.

He was still sitting there last time I checked....

Brian and I got a glimpse of summer yesterday when we visited a friend in Woodside, located about 45 minutes south of the city. Wow it was so warm! I had to leave my scarf and jacket in the car and I probably could have worn shorts had I known about such weather.

When in Nairobi I used to dream about the cool breezes of SF, envisioning me walking around all trendy like in the city with my trench-coat adorning a colorful scarf. But not in the summertime - what was I thinking! I guess sometimes we tend to remember things all perfect and pristine when we miss them. And now here I am missing Africa. Missing the bigger than life sunrises and sunsets, the laughter of colleagues and friends and the adventure. Now I know Kenya or Ghana weren't perfect and neither is SF but any place you call home will always be remembered with warm fuzzy feel good memories, especially when you are so far from it.

Picture of a warmer time in our lives on the coast of Ghana

Ghanian sunset

So as I think back fondly on so many wonderful experiences in Africa, the hot blooded mammal sitting next to me spouts, "I'm cold! Feel my arms they are so cold, I'm like freezing!' And sure enough I touch his arm and it was like ice. I go to the kitchen to make him some coffee and hot cocoa for myself and on my way back to the living room I check to see if my little fluttering friend is still sitting near the window only to find that he's gone, off on a new adventure.

Trying to stay warm in SF,
Team Feth

Team Feth Walk/Run

2010-07-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of things Team Feth has encountered over the past year while living in Africa. Through our adventures we faced adversity, extreme danger while rafting down the Nile (mainly on my part given my fear of water and plunging over waterfalls in a small plastic boat), difficulty maneuvering the sly escape from the sights of a buffalo and many other things like falling in sewer trenches on dimly lit streets and other such calamities. But through all of the hardship we came away knowing each other much better and understanding each other’s limits that much more.

Basically you can sum us up like this:

Brian

- Likes taking risks and pulling me along for the ride

- Likes running

- Likes winning

- Likes touching things that look poisonous

- Likes probing animals with sticks

- Likes meat, lots of it at one time and often

- Likes adventure and whatever comes along with it

- Likes to debate

Brian found this little guy in our hotel room in Uganda, put him in this glass and stared at him for a while

Self explanatory

He's kind of a big deal.....

Jalyn

- Doesn't like taking risks but always goes along with what Brian says because he looks into my eyes and says 'trust me' making it hard to resist

- Likes walking

- Likes when everyone wins, especially the underdog

- Likes only looking at things that are poisonous and would never think to touch them

- Likes saving animals from Brian’s probing sticks

- Does not like meat, vegetarian all the way!

- Likes safe adventure that is well planned out and organized

- Likes to calmly discuss and share opinions

This is a picture of a Hibiscus flower I took because I am at peace with nature

Here I am holding a cute baby in Kenya

I perceive this as risky behavior

As you can gather from the above, you will see that on many levels Team Feth consists of two opposites. But it is the very fact of us being opposites in certain ways that makes our team work so well. If it weren’t for Brian tricking me into going white water rafting down the Nile I would have never known the challenges I could overcome and what a wonderful experience I would have missed out on. If I weren’t there to protect Brian from himself he would surely be bitten and stung by tons of poisonous snakes and insects.

Returning to San Francisco makes us no different. Of course we aren’t concerned about predators lurking in the trees of Golden Gate Park (not that the thought hasn’t crossed my mind….oh my imagination sometimes!) And generally there are no poisonous creatures slithering around for me to worry about Brian picking and probing (I still need to wikipedia that one just to be sure….)

Yes, we are still opposites in many ways.

Currently living so close to Golden Gate Park, crashing at a friend’s place, we both decided to take advantage of nature and start exercising regularly again. Brian’s a runner and tries hard to convince me to run but I like to take things slow and build up to them. Right now I am what I like to call ‘champion walking’ which is basically walking as fast as I can.

He’s a runner and I’m a walker but together we always finish the race (I know so cliche but I couldn't resist). That’s the most basic way you can sum up this little team of ours and we wouldn’t have it any other way!

For those interested here are Brian’s amazing-awesome-way to go dude running stats:

Brian 'Butters McMeaty Chuck Norris' Feth

San Francisco

2010-07-11T18:10:00.005-07:00

Team Feth has officially landed back in the foggy city with the big red bridge by the bay - SAN FRANCISCO! It's so crazy to believe that it was over one year ago that we were walking around this insanely pedestrian friendly town full of yuppies and hippies.

We drove up from San Jose yesterday afternoon and to our delight we were quickly reminded of 'the city' while viewing puffy white waves of fog rolling over the hills along Interstate 280. The enchanting clouds pointed the way north until we were finally enveloped within their moist cold air. Nothing says welcome to summer in San Francisco like the bitter cold!

As we ventured through the city, making our way to a friends house we’ll be staying at for the next few weeks, we noticed everyone was layered up in warm jackets and hats. Such a contrast from sunny San Jose! But I guess that’s the sacrifice one makes for living in such a cool city. Although, it will take us a while to adjust to the climate once again. Mark Twain had it spot on when he noted, “the coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”

Speaking of that quote, it got me wondering a bit. Most folks have heard of that statement by Mark Twain about San Francisco but what sort of information is out there about SF and Chuck Norris?

Well, I didn’t come across much, other than this little nugget of knowledge:

Chuck Norris made a guest appearance in a film called Slaughter in San Francisco where he plays a guy called Mr. Bigshot who helps out a kung fu mastermind who recently got kicked off the SF police force for killing some guy. The reviews on-line about this movie are hilarious, 'its so bad it's good!' It apparently is horribly dubbed over making it seem like one of those old kung fu movies. Sounds intriguing doesn't it!?

I have to admit the lack of juicy information on the internet about Chuck Norris and San Francisco was a bit disappointing. So my mind continued to wonder and ended up with fun and interesting nuggets of goodness about the great city we have just returned to.....SF:

There is an ordinance in SF which bans the picking up and throwing of used confetti

San Francisco cable cars are the only mobile national monuments

SF is home to the largest Chinese community in the world outside of China

Irish coffee was invented in SF yum!

Well it is good to be back in the city we once called home over one year ago. Whether we will continue to call this our home only time will tell but until then we will enjoy all of the fun and flavor this vibrant place has to offer! Good to be back :)

Whichever Way the Wind Blows

2010-07-09T21:54:00.000-07:00

So we’re back in the good old U. S. of A. We’ve been on American soil for a week now and it’s been pretty busy so far. Our first day back we crashed at a hotel near SFO airport. The next morning we met up with family and were treated to a lovely American style pancake breakfast, outfitted with way too much food and sugar. That evening we attended a good friend’s wedding in Sonoma, a beautiful wine country outdoors wedding. The following few days we decided to transition back to the fruit forward tastes of bountiful cabernet and crispy pear pinots and chardonnays. Coupled with some brie and water crackers made for some nice Californian welcome back meals. After getting our fill of wine and cheese we headed to San Jose to spend some time with family. We have been so blessed to have Brian’s brother and sister-in-law tending to all the little details of our lives while we were away in Africa. We have been enjoying these past few days with them and their adorable children. There’s nothing like a 4 year old knocking on your bedroom door at 7am asking if you will make another train layout like the day before. Or when asked why he is wearing three shirts backwards and his response is, “because when animals wear shirts they wear them backwards to make people laugh” it puts the world into an entirely new perspective.

In addition to all the fun we’ve been having transitioning back to the American way of life, we are definitely looking at this place with a new pair of eyes. As we venture out on the highway we notice the concrete plastered on the sides of hills made to look like natural rock. We can’t help but ask questions like, “is that the best use of tax payers money?” Wondering if there are other necessary services that can be provided rather than aesthetically pleasing concrete plaster. The lenses we put on every morning are tinted with visions of a developing country where half of the people have no running water or access to medical services. While sitting in a lovely library in San Jose we look around questioning all of the comforts placed in the Internet Café. First of all, wow, there’s an internet café. Furthermore, the same question persists, ‘is it all necessary?’. Coming from a society where basic needs are not met it is a difficult transition to enter one where more than all the needs and wants are met and exceeded. America is so rich in so many ways. The other day I saw a mother standing on the side of the road holding up a sign asking for money because she was recently laid off. I hate to admit that I found it hard to feel compassion for her knowing so many more that are suffering far worse than she ever will know. The thing is that it isn't that she doesn’t have it hard but this society does provide access to services that help those in need. I guess at the end of the day it is all relative but I can't help but know that I have seen the worst, probably some of the worst living conditions on the entire planet and until I understand or experience something differently here in the US, there are no excuses, we have means and access, there is always a way in America.

I guess we kind of knew and had been told that returning to the US would be interesting and perhaps challenging. We feel very blessed to live in such a prosperous country and be able to return to it but the greater question now on our minds is this, what are we going to do with all our abundance, access and knowledge? Well, that is still yet to be determined but we’re hoping to figure that out soon J.

Until then, we thank all of our friends and family for welcoming us back and we can't wait to see you and catch up! Thank you for following our travels over the past year, it has been one amazing journey - now we'll wait to see which way the wind will blow us next.....

And We're Back!

2010-07-02T23:27:00.000-07:00

Hello friends and family ~

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we have arrived safely back in San Francisco! It was a very long 24 hours of travel but we along with all of our luggage made the long journey back just fine. We got into the hotel in SF near the airport this afternoon and pretty much crashed after assessing all of our inventory.

We plan to spend the next couple of weeks here and then figure out our next steps. We look forward to catching up with everyone very soon!

Big hugs!
Team Feth*

Bittersweet Farewell

2010-06-27T14:16:00.000-07:00

Hello - It's been a while hasn't it? Yes it has, we know and we're sorry for not writing....

Life seems to have been happening without a moment to write and there's so much to catch up on but for now we shall fast forward to the present. You know what this week is? Well, it is our last week here in Nairobi - in Kenya - in Africa. I know what you're thinking....no more safaris? no more pictures of Chuck Norris on the great savannah? No more....

Our year in Africa is actually coming to an end and we too are in shock. Who would have guessed we would have been here for one whole year and now that year has passed so quickly?! But I guess time flies when you're having fun. And oh what fun we have had!

It is with bittersweet emotions that we say goodbye to our friends and colleagues here in Nairobi and at TechnoServe. Brian and I have made so many lifelong friends during our stay and we are so grateful for the opportunity to have lived in such a vibrant culture and beautiful country. We know we're only saying 'see you later' as Kenya will always be a place to return to in our future.

So what's next you ask? Well, we can speak to the very short term but beyond that we shall see and keep you posted! We depart Nairobi on Thursday and arrive in San Francisco the following day but only after traveling for approximately 24 hours. The 3rd we head to Sonoma to attend a good friend's wedding and get reacquainted with the US via wine country - not a bad way to transition back :-) We'll spend some time there getting over our jet-lag and then we'll spend time in San Jose - visiting our wonderful family!

There will be near future plans to visit the Midwest and catch up with friends and family all over the place. We look forward to seeing everyone and catching up on our year and your year! We've missed you all very dearly and are excited to say hello. However, at the same time we are also quite sad to say goodbye (or 'see you later') to Nairobi. It's a bittersweet farewell indeed.

Hugs,
Team Feth*

Massai, a Cave and a Goat

2010-06-07T10:50:00.000-07:00

It was an interesting weekend indeed. We spent Saturday night in a cave with some Massai and slaughtered a goat. More to come....

Last Safari - What?!

2010-05-30T10:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we enjoyed a lovely trip to Tsavo West National Park. There is a Tsavo West and a Tsavo East but we chose west because that's just the kind of people we are, we head west.

Well actually we headed south from Nairobi early on Saturday morning to kick off the four hour drive. It hadn't really hit us yet but we were at the time embarking upon our very last safari in Kenya. What?! Last safari!? Who's idea was this? Yeah I know it's hard to believe but things are coming to an end here people. Our Kenyan safari days are numbered, and we're actually trying to understand what an American safari will look like when we return to our homeland.....RVs on Route 66? Open top buses in San Francisco? Road trips like the one in National Lampoon's Vacation? Hmmm...

Anyway there we were on our last safari adventure. Of course I shed a tear, I'm the emotional one in this team of ours. We arrived at the park around lunchtime and shortly after pulled into our hotel at the Kilaguni Serena Safari Lodge, one of the first safari lodges built in Kenya. Our room was quaint but one that was in dire need of renovation, which we noticed was well underway in other parts of the hotel. The lodge had an amazing terrace where all meals were served and guests able to observe birds and other wildlife mingling around the nearby watering hole.

After an enjoyable meal we set out for an afternoon game drive. Immediately we noticed the landscape in Tsavo to be much different than any of the other parks we have visited in Kenya. It’s thick brush and crowded trees make it more challenging to spot animals. With it being so wooded, it was evident there was an abundance of birdlife present in the park. We saw hornbills flying from branch to branch, brightly colored birds swinging their long tails in the wind and small fouls scampering across the road.

That afternoon we drove out to a large lava flow that remains a sea of black from its eruption over 200 years ago. Many local people believe that the lava flow from the Chyulu Hills carried down evil spirits that still exist today. We saw nothing of the sort but instead super cute little klipspringers (small antelopes) frolicking on top of the black rock.

The game drive didn’t give us much of an animal showcase other than some birds, the tiny little reindeer like cuties and some lesser kudu (another white striped antelope) but it was relaxing and enjoyable nonetheless. That evening back at the lodge we had a lovely dinner from the large buffet of choices the Serena likes to offer its guests. As we enjoyed our cup of coffee after the meal we made our way to the edge of the terrace to keep our eyes peeled for any movement of wildlife near the watering hole. Our guide book had prepared us for some action *our fingers were crossed*.

As I was focusing my eagle eye out into the darkness, I caught a glimpse of something moving above me in the rafters. I looked and thought at first it was a large cat but as I looked even closer it was no cat but a very unique animal. It had a tail like a raccoon and a face kind of like a small fox. Brian and I followed it as it ran along one of the large beams overhead and finally we realized it was a genet. We were so excited because we saw this nocturnal catlike creature on the National Geographic channel the other night - score!

After our amazing genet sighting, my lucky contacts served me well again as I spotted a large creature moving in from the forest on the right. It was an elephant! And it was huge! This guy was sporting some amazing tusks. We watched as he came closer to the watering hole and walked along a thin pathway in between the two small ponds to come right in full view of the guests finishing their dinner. We watched as the large male gulped big quantities of water from the source. He then proceeded to scratch his side on a large boulder next to the pond.

Another elephant, almost equal in size, soon joined the big guy. As time went on there were more, coming out of the dark forest two by two and by the end of it all a family of twelve elephants were drinking from the watering hole right in front of us. It was spectacular.

We watched them for some time with other guests also taking in the view. We chatted up a nice young British couple on holiday. Soon the elephants quietly and slowly left just as they came but this time all together. That was our sign to also make a move and hit the hay.

The next morning we rose early to set off on a game drive around 6:30am. The sunrise was gorgeous and with the variety in landscape the morning views of Tsavo proved pleasant. It wasn’t long until our driver, Edwin, received a call on his radio that there was a leopard sighting. Woohoo a leopard! We had briefly seen a leopard on our last day in Massai Mara but it didn’t really count because it was running away in some tall grass. Maybe this would be our chance, our chance to complete the sightings of the Big 5 on our last safari.

Edwin kicked the safari van into high gear, as much as you can with a safari van and in no time we were there. Two other vans were already viewing the young female leopard but just as we pulled up she came right into full view, perching herself on an open rock perfectly positioned to take in the morning sun. She sat that way for about 30 minutes and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Once she had had enough of us we proceeded on to complete the rest of our morning safari. We were on a natural high having seen such a beautiful creature and for such an extensive amount of time. The rest of the drive we saw giraffes, monkeys, the smallest of all the antelopes, the dik dik, and zebras and elephants.

It was back to the lodge for some yummy breakfast, which we were pleasantly surprised to find came with some complimentary champagne; this was the perfect way to celebrate such a successful morning and our last safari. After breakfast we made our way to some nearby natural springs called Mzima Springs. From the springs it was back to the Tsavo park entrance and then back to Nairobi. Our last safari was short and sweet and gave us some breathtaking views we hadn’t yet seen in other parts of Kenya. It was a bittersweet adventure and one great last safari.

Tsavo is also known for the man-eater lions of 1898 but we didn't see any lions

On our way to the lodge we saw a large monitor lizard on the road

View of watering hole from terrace

White-bellied Go-away-bird

Hornbill

Yellow-necked Spurfowl

Klipspringer in mid-chew

Klipspringers

We got out of our safari van to walk around the dried lava

Chuck scopes out the scene

Tree hyrax - cute little creatures that live in rocky areas

I spy a genet!

Elephants at the watering hole at night

Good morning sunshine

The leopard sat on this rock for about 30 minutes just enjoying the morning sun

A cute little *wink* goodbye!

Lesser kudu (a type of antelope)

Dik dik (the smallest of all antelopes)

Von Der Decken's Hornbill

Mzima springs coming out of the ground

We didn't see any fortunately!

Tsavo West

What a wonderful last safari!

Glad It's Not Malaria

2010-05-27T12:28:00.000-07:00

So I've been feeling under the weather since Monday with an incessant cough, runny nose, aching muscles and exhaustion. Today when I thought I should be making my way out of feeling icky I felt worse so I went to the hospital.

Because Brian is in Uganda his good friend, Steve, another volunteer, came with me to Aga Khan Hospital nearby. We entered the busy waiting area and took a number. In just about 10 minutes the number was called and I filled out a form with my name and contact information. Another 10 minutes later and my name was called again to pick up a card with my name on it and then I was asked to sit on the other side of the room.

Steve kept me company and got me water while I tried not to hack up a lung. It was about 30 minutes and my number was called by the cashier. The price for the visit was Ksh 1,200 (US$16) which I paid before seeing a doctor or nurse.

It was another 30 minutes and I was called in to see a nurse who checked my blood pressure and took my temperature. She asked me what was wrong and I told her I felt as though I had the flu. She took some notes and sent me back out to the waiting area.

About 15 minutes later I was in with the doctor and he looked at my throat, listened to my breathing and immediately ruled out malaria (which is the answer I was hoping he would give me). He said I have a case of the flu and that he's been treating lots of people with the flu for the past couple of days.

Steve and I were curious to know how could one tell if he/she has malaria? He said you wouldn't have any congestion or sore throat just a fever and body chills. Good to know!

He wrote me a prescription for some cough medicine and pain reliever which I picked up just around the corner of the waiting room. The cost Ksh 550 (US$7.30).

After that I headed straight home and slept all afternoon. I'm feeling a bit better tonight and will continue to rest up and drink plenty of fluids tomorrow.

I thought the process was interesting compared to that of the US and that the total cost about US$23.

Brian returns from Uganda tomorrow night to take care of me - yay :-)

Wikipedia shows us some of the symptoms of malaria:

America: An Idea

2010-05-25T03:27:00.000-07:00

Growing up American one is well aware of the American dream. The idea that if you work hard the future will be what you make of it. Sure I've always known this but I don't think I have ever realized the true weight of this potential or that America is more than a country, it is an idea.

This has been evident here in Kenya in watching and listening to young entrepreneurs who partook in a recent entrepreneurial exchange program with the University of Connecticut. I had the opportunity to answer questions about the US before their departure. Some asked questions about culture, some on climate and others on food and infrastructure. But what floored me most of all was the way people talked about the US. I recall one person saying, "there's one thing you must do before you die and that is go to America." Upon hearing this I felt like crying or singing God Bless America. I mean I'm proud of growing up American but never had I realized what this really meant until I heard Kenyans speak of the land of opportunity. A place to realize dreams and that place is America - wow.

Sure America has its list of problems like other developed countries but no other country wears a sash that says, 'land of opportunity'. European countries aren't talked about the way America is talked about. It's more than a country it is an idea.

When the team of 13 young entrepreneurs returned from the US a couple of weeks ago I asked a few of them about their experiences and what they thought about America. I was surprised to hear nothing but positive remarks flowing from their mouths. I had expected a couple of negatives but overall America lived up to the great image they had anticipated. A land of opportunity, the American dream. One guy actually didn't come back, he saw this as his only chance of living the life he wanted.

So as an American, what is my American dream? I think it can be best summarized in this amazing commencement speech given by Bono (I know of all people, an Irishman!) at UPenn a few years back. After reading this I thought we really have something special here, something that other nations yearn for, other people long to be a part of, so let's not waste our potential:

American Dream

Pineapples and Tea Leaves

2010-05-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends back my dear friend (and YWE program manager) Pauline, invited Brian, another volunteer, Bethany, and I to visit her village, just a couple of hours north of Nairobi. We set out, with Kiromo, a driver from TechnoServe, on a beautiful sunny Saturday to visit what Kenyans call 'shags'. Shags is the slang term for the farm or village. So I guess it turns out that I'm also from 'shags', a village of just over 10,000 called Lowell, IN. :-)

We arrived in the early afternoon and as we pulled up, Pauline's mother came to greet us at the gate. Her sweet mother knows no Kiswahili or English, only her mother tongue, Kikuyu. So on the way to her home, Pauline taught us how to greet her mom in Kikuyu. Her mother was very impressed by our greetings.

We followed her mother inside the gate to find a lovely concrete blockhouse inside. The home was surrounded by lush green everywhere we looked. The richness of the farmland around was breathtaking, we all found ourselves wanting to skip off and take photos before even having lunch. Fortunately and politely Pauline told us we'd have time after we ate to walk around the farm.

As we ventured to the backyard we found Pauline's father sitting peacefully under what appeared to be his favorite resting spot, underneath a big shady tree. Like her mother, Pauline's father knew no English but knew Kiswahili, it was just that we only knew kidogo (little) Swahili and couldn't communicate directly. As a result, there was a lot of smiling and head nodding that day!

The food was ready soon after we arrived and the women settled into the living room area inside the house. The men, Brian and Kiromo, joined Pauline's father outside. This apparently is the norm when visiting a Kenyan's home, the men hang out together and the women stick together. Brian sat with the men for a bit but he quickly joined us in the house given the language barrier.

We enjoyed the impeccable food Pauline's mother cooked for us. Kenyan's are so hospitable and you can never go hungry in their presence. There's such a strong culture of sharing whatever you have with everyone around you and this comes out when you visit someone's home. As a visitor you will receive some of the heftiest portions and it is a good idea to try and eat as much as you can because saying thanks is much more than just a verbal gesture it's said with the stomach!

After enjoying a tasty meal of chapatti, goat stew, veg stew and irio (mashed potatoes with corn) Pauline gave us the tour of her family's farm. We walked around back out the front gate to take in the view of several well manicured farms stacked on the surrounding hillsides. There was a ravine with a rapidly flowing river below, flooded from the recent heavy rains.

Pauline's family used to grow lots of coffee when she was younger and during that time there was a huge coffee boom in which her father was able to easily sell the beans and use the money to send all of his 11 daughters off to school. Each one of Pauline's sisters has her college degree, an amazing feat for any Kenyan family. It's important to note that Pauline and her siblings played a very big role in earning their education, as they were the ones that had to pick the coffee beans every day, a task that Pauline is very happy to have in the distant past!

As we went walking around the farm, we saw hard long spiky leaves covering the entire hillside. These were pineapples Pauline's mother was managing. Nearby there were rows upon rows heading down to the river of small tea shrubs. Pauline gave me a small lesson on how to go about picking tea leaves. You have to look for the ones that are a bit lighter in color and are accompanied by a tall stem, once you've identified the right leaves, you quickly pinch them off.

We continued to make our way along the hillside, finally rounding back to the house. As we came back in I was inquiring about what it would be like to really pick the tea leaves; with basket in tow. Pauline asked if I wanted to try and once I said yes we were right back in the tea leave shrubs with Pauline's cousin, an expert in this task willing and eager to show me the ropes.

I placed the basket on my head and tried to identify the right tea leaves to pick. Once I had a handful I was advised to throw them over my back as they would easily fall into the bottom of the basket waiting for others to join. Well sounded easier than it was. First of all one must learn how to balance the basket and then second, you've got to actually get the leaves in the basket, good aim is important. After a few tries I started to get the hang of it but will be the first to say, it is not easy work! Apparently, Pauline's cousin wakes up at 5am to start picking the tea leaves that head to the market the same day by 1pm. When she demonstrated how she picks tea it as if someone had hit the fast forward button because she was able to pick the leaves with such agility and speed I couldn't believe my eyes. She had clearly been doing this for some time.

Once the tea adventures were finished in the field, we went back to the house to have some in a mug in the liquid form. We sat in the open air and sipped our tea, enjoying the conversation of good friends and a simple way of life.

As we were getting ready to leave to head back to Nairobi everyone except Pauline's dad came outside to send us off. We didn't necessarily expect him to get up from his cozy chair as we had already said our goodbyes while he was seated underneath his tree. He is age 92 but during our visit he claimed to be well over 100 given his age could only be estimated without any proper documentation, of which he had none. However, he actually came out and joined us, which Pauline later conveyed on the ride home that for him to come outside the gate to say goodbye to visitors was a very big deal. Awww :-)

Pauline's 'shags' was a beautiful place full of green lush farmland, natural beauty and a kind of peace you only find in a place without electricity and the constant interruptions of modern life. She comes from a loving family who values the gift of education and an appreciation for hard work. We all felt very lucky to have enjoyed such a lovely way of life on that sunny Saturday afternoon.

Farmland on the hillside opposite Pauline's farm

Pauline is always making me laugh!

Enjoying lunch (one of Pauline's sisters also joined us)

We brought a small gift for Pauline's mother (new set of spoons)

Brian, Kiromo (TNS driver) and Pauline's father

Backyard

Pineapples in the foreground

We enjoyed a pineapple and it was so sweet, very delicious!

Pauline educated me on how to pick tea leaves

She then showed me how she used to walk up the hill carrying a large sack of pineapples on her back, and emphasized how she would do this several times in a day = hardcore

I decided to give the picking of tea leaves a real try with Pauline's cousin showing me the ropes

She picked the leaves so fast!

Brian and I with Pauline and her lovely family

The Great Delay.....

2010-05-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

There has been much delay these days in keeping up with the blog, you may have noticed. Yes, I've been delinquent in my entries and the documenting of our lives and I'm just going to point out that - it's not my fault.

You see, we recently had to get a new external hard drive (the square little device where all of our pictures live). The one we brought from the US is almost at capacity and we also thought one day, 'what if this thing breaks or we end up losing it?' = BAD. So we decided we should have a backup for the over 12,000 photos we've taken since we arrived in Africa (thank goodness for digital!)

The new, much more sleek and high powered hard drive has a much greater amount of space. It's classy and doesn't require an additional energy source like the old one. However, it is compatible with Brian's PC but he hasn't checked to see if it's friendly enough for my Mac, and believe me I'm not going to try it out all by myself - are you crazy! What if something happens to all those photos! I know, I know we have the backup but.....

(You see where this is not my fault)

As a result, Brian has been managing the photos for several weeks now, the uploading of the photos to Lightroom, the deleting of the photos from the memory card, the uploading and so on and so on..... But at no time do the photos go public - I mean come on man! Chuck, I know you are a busy guy but we have to keep our friends and family up to date as well as log all of the wonderful experiences in Africa that we don't ever want to forget!!! Ok, I may be a bit manic about all of this but really!

So the backlog stands as follows:

1) Feth parents trip - lots of photos here people! Lots to share...

2) Visit to Pauline's (my program manager) village to meet her parents

3) 10k walk for charity - it was quite the experience let me tell you

So how will this delay finally come to an end!? How can I have regular access to the precious external hard drive I so crave and miss? Access to the photos that drive Team Feth's every blog entry?

Well I have a few ideas:

-Hijack Brian's computer in the evenings. This however, may prove difficult given he likes to look for music and movies to hoard on the internet

-Ask him to use my computer. Again may prove to be a challenge given his ultimate preference for his PC

- Refuse to cook him meat for a whole week until I am fully caught up on the blog!

Yes, there we go....

Thank you all for your patience and understanding.

The Kenyan World Around Us

2010-05-09T13:33:00.004-07:00

It was a busy 'half-week'. The Feth parents left for the states on Tuesday night and we were back into our routine the following day. There's much to show and tell about their visit with us but I'm still sifting through the tons of photos we took, so more to come on that later.

For now here are some of the things that have made impressions upon us here in Kenya that we know we will have fun looking back on someday:

- Everyday at the corner of our road a gentleman sits roasting corn on a makeshift charcoal stove selling to passersby. It always looks and smells appetizing and we plan to try some sometime soon

- Almost every night it rains (mufua) now. The day's are mostly clear but as soon as the sun sets the long rains move in ready to rock us to sleep

- Our power flickers on and off most evenings and will go out for minutes at a time. Whether rain is present or not the Kenya Power is not very consistent

- Most roads in Kenya have serious potholes (and are often unpaved). As a way of trying to get quick cash you will come across gentleman who fill the holes with dirt from the side of the road. Not sure how successful they are in actually receiving money from those driving by but it sure makes a difference!

- We recently met a Massai man who has 6 wives

- We unfortunately have many cockroaches in our apartment and I have become a cockroach serial killer, sorry but seriously.....what would you do?

- Some Kenyans like to end their sentences with, 'isn't it?' to emphasize agreement with the statement they are making. As if saying their point is correct, isn't it? For example, "The real way to help farmers isn't through handouts but through direct intervention, isn't it?!"

- When greeting a Kenyan one knows formally (or are two men greeting one another) shake hands and then ask how the other person is and how things are going, then move onto business talk. Two females greeting one another (and knowing each other well) touch left cheek to left cheek, right cheek to right cheek and then left again while shaking hands and asking the usual formalities

- Kenyans do not like drinking cold water. When going for water at the water cooler they will fill their glass 2/3 full of hot and then top it off with cool making it refreshingly luke warm!?

- Toilet paper is often viewed as a luxury so I am always sure to carry my own supply wherever I go

- Police officers do not have patrol cars so to curb speeding, all streets include several large speed bumps you don't ever want to speed over with your car, otherwise you will 'bottom out' for sure

- Taxi drivers are often some of the most informed people you will come across. You'll find yourself discussing everything from politics to religion on your ride somewhere

- Traditional Kenyan dish: grilled meat (chicken, beef, goat) , ugali (mix of maize flour and water) and spinach or kale

- Women in Kenya and all of East Africa for that matter do not carry things on top of their heads (that is done in West Africa) but instead place the strap of a basket around their forehead and lean over to balance the basket on their back

- Kenyans pronounce english words with a hybrid Kenyan/British accent, so that whole aluminum pronunciation throws us Americans off here as well!

- Kenyans are some of the happiest and friendliest people we've ever met :-)

Feth's!

2010-05-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

Things have been busy since the Feth parents arrived over a week ago. We've been traveling all over Kenya; Nairobi, Massai Mara, and Lake Naivasha. We've been having a blast, eating good food, taking in gorgeous sites of wildlife and nature and catching up on the past 9 months.

You can tell that this is only a quick update as we have yet to sift through the tons of photos we've been taking. The Feth 'rents leave tomorrow, Tuesday night and have, from what we've gathered, thoroughly enjoyed Kenya and its' people. It will be sad to see them leave but they will leave with us having just less than 2 months remaining in Kenya! Can't believe our year in Africa is actually rolling into the final stages.

Lots to think about for next steps but for now we are enjoying time with family.

More to come!

Oh, Hello!

2010-04-21T11:06:00.000-07:00

Oh me oh my! Where has the time gone? It's been ages since we chatted and caught up on all things Team Feth.

Well where to begin....hmmm... it seems that this month of April is really flying by. Let's see, the last time we talked we discussed our wonderful beach excursion to the coast. Oh yes, that was nice but oh, I remember now, there was that awful skin rash I had all over my body when we returned.

It seems that I am allergic to the Target off-brand sunblock we decided to purchase to save a few bucks way back when *grrrrrr* I only recently discovered this new allergy to add to my repertoire because I just used up all of my 70 SPF sunblock (yes it goes that high). So, I had to use Brian's, which he apparently is NOT allergic to.

After all that itching subsided, we had a busy yet normal week of work. Brian's been a Mobilization Manager maniac guru of sorts, balancing out Coke on one hand and Gates on the other. My program has eased into its' next phase and things have calmed down from all of the recent award ceremony activities.

The weekend before last brought very little excitement so that was that. But this past weekend was fun and eventful with a visit from one of our Ghanian friends, that led to a trip to the Nairobi National Park, a viewing of playful orphaned elephants and several handfuls of tasty veggie pellets fed to our long-necked friends the giraffes. I was able to slip away for a wedding ceremony for one of my colleagues during these activities. It was my first Kenyan wedding and it was so beautiful full of lovely songs and a happy couple.

Now that leads us to that crazy spewing ash volcano, I'm sure you've heard of that intrusive Icelandic event, and to Ohio Team Feth scheduled to arrive in Kenya this Friday. The Feth parents are coming to visit their son Chuck Norris and the Mrs. for just over a week. We're planning to introduce them to all of the wonderful animals that we've grown so fond of over the past year (and crossing our fingers in hopes that we can convince them to adopt an elephant - shhhh, we haven't told them yet!) and of course show them around our home away from home.

I'm sure we'll have plenty of pictures and stories to share and wish everyone could come and join us in the fun!

In the meanwhile let me introduce you to my new friend :)

To The Beach!

2010-04-07T01:13:00.002-07:00

The Easter weekend was almost upon us and Brian had just returned from two long weeks in Uganda. We were still sorting out our plans for the four day weekend when he arrived the afternoon on Thursday, the day before our holiday began. We had at least settled on heading to the coast for a beach getaway but hadn't figured out exactly how we were going to get there.

All the plane flights were booked up by those who plan in advance but given that Team Feth likes to live on the edge of excitement and glide on wings of unpredictability we were up for the challenge. After some internet searching and various phone calls to taxi drivers for rates we settled on taking an overnight train from Nairobi to Mombasa and then hiring a taxi to Diani Beach - our final destination.

Reservations were made for a small one bedroom villa near the beach, train tickets purchased and bags packed full of beach attire. We arrived at the train station at 6pm and departed promptly, as promised, at 7pm. We paid for a room to ourselves, and as we settled into our cozy nook, I immediately had flashbacks of the images created while reading Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, a wonderful mystery novel set on a train just like ours. Now of course I was hoping that no murder would take place but I was hoping we'd meet some interesting passengers. We were not disappointed.

The restaurant car was placed right next to ours so as the dinner bell rang around 8pm we were quickly able to make our way down the narrow hall to dine during the first seating. Because we were only two and the seats were four people to a booth we were seated across from a couple. We made our greetings and learned we would be having dinner with the 'Great Kahleed' and his Kenyan girlfriend. This 'Great Kahleed' was an African-American man in his early 60s who traveled to the African continent once a year to purchase crafts to sell at concerts back in the US.

Our conversation was one for the books. He introduced himself as a 'good Muslim' not one that would blow himself up along with anyone or anything else. He was a former member of the Black Panthers and knew Malcolm X's brother. He mentioned that he was trained to enter a room and know about everything and everyone in it. He had the ability to 'take care of things' so we needn't worry about the rest of our time on the train, he had it all under control. Brian and I weren't really sure how to respond thinking this guy was definitely packing so we just said nice to meet you.

As our dinner was served, he continued to talk about some of the civil rights events in the 1960's and his experiences like the Watts riots in Los Angeles. He was well travelled throughout Africa so we chatted about our time in Ghana, Togo, Uganda and of course Kenya. He told us about his work back home in Hollywood. He was in charge of the lighting on movie and commercial sets and didn't care much for movie stars, he thought they were all messed up.

This 'Great Kahleed' was a lover of mo-town music evident in the fact that he carried around a small stereo and played it for everyone to hear. He even played it at dinner. We were thankful it was Smoky Robinson coming out of those speakers and not something unbearable. An Austrian guy across the aisle dug the music and let the 'Great' know, which pleased him very much.

He continued to tell us about his side business and his wife back in the states. That's when we put two and two together realizing that was his mistress seated next to him. Towards the end of dinner he asked us not to tell on him.

We said our goodbye's and headed back to our room to read a bit before bed. A few minutes later we could hear the swoons of the The Temptations' My Girl and quickly realized the 'Great' was in the room right next door. As the train rocked us into relaxation the sounds of the oldies eased our minds, an annoyance but a pleasant one - it could have been much worse.

15 hours later, most of which we slept, we pulled into the train station in Mombasa. We had been up since about 7am for breakfast and to wave back at all the small children who find the passing of the train their only amusement for the day. We stepped out into the bright sunshine and felt the heat of the weather which was siginificantly warmer than Nairobi.

We found our taxi driver; a ferry ride and two hours later we were at our villa in Diani Beach called Amethyst House. Unfortunately the house didn't quite meet our expectations given what we were paying but the amazing beach and wonderful seafood restaurants nearby more than made up for it.

Diani Beach is what you dream about when you've been stuck working long hours in a cold office, hunched over a computer in your tiny cubicle week after week and you've just about had it with the free stale coffee. This is your happy place. The sand is soft molded by years and years of washed up coral. The water is the most amazing shade of blue your eyes have ever seen. And the warm sea breeze carries away any amount of stress you've ever endured in your life. This is Diani, welcome.

So you can imagine what we did all weekend: ate and swam. We didn't even partake in any activities we just let the ocean entertain our every whim and the scrumptious menus of the Blue Marlin and Almanara Resort fulfill our every need. It was like another honeymoon, it was heaven.

Unfortunately the real world always come knocking on your door just when you feel you've gotten the hang of the new beach bum lifestyle. Monday afternoon came around and it was time to pack up our things and say goodbye to paradise. But we didn't really say goodbye we said see you later; this is not a place you can visit only once in your life.

On the train in our room

Morning on the train to Mombasa

Children running towards the train to wave at the passengers

View from the train

Diani Beach

Team Feth

Our flight back to Nairobi in a small 12 seater - we sat right behind the pilot

Did I Mention We Went to Lamu?

2010-03-28T04:11:00.000-07:00

Oh where has the time gone? About three weeks ago Brian and I traveled to Lamu with two friends from TechnoServe, Adam and Bethany. Lamu, a place we had visited last year in August, is an island situated on the eastern coast of Kenya on the Indian Ocean. We left on a Thursday afternoon and stayed until that Sunday. We went during an Islamic festival called Maulidi, which celebrates the birth of the prophet Mohammed. Lamu, and Shela, where we stayed, are predominantly Muslim areas, showcasing a unique glimpse into the old Islamic Swahili coast.

Thursday afternoon, as we were waiting for Adam and Bethany to arrive, Brian and I were able to view the last of a two day dhow race; watching large white sails rippling in the fierce wind, while several men scampered to an off-shooting beam to balance out the boat. It was quite exhilarating knowing that this was an age-old tradition during the festival in Lamu.

That night we witnessed mass prayers in the town center, with men seated on the ground on one side of a large mosque and women on the other. This was a bit of an intense experience for both Bethany and I as a woman forced scarves over the top of our heads and we were doused with what was perceived to be holy water. We didn't stay long after that, feeling out of place and not wanting to offend anyone.

The next day we enjoyed a walk through the small beach town of Shela and then took a tour of the larger Lamu with a local guide. That evening was the culmination of the festival presented by a massive parade of men singing, chanting and playing music through the streets. That was followed by a continuation of singing and dancing near the mosque, men and women celebrating separately late into the night.

It was beach time the following day with Bethany and Brian both impressively swimming out to a nearby sandbar while Adam and I hung out near the shore. We took a quick hike up one of the massive sand dunes to capture a spectacular view of the coastline. That evening as the sun was setting we enjoyed a relaxing dhow ride in the soothing waters of the Indian Ocean.

Our final day we took care of our requisite tourist shopping at the local Massai Market and purchased much needed ornate dhow boards. Brian and I almost ended up with three, due to excited hoarding instincts, but I was able to intervene successfully, so now we only have two.

It was then a small plane ride back to Nairobi to shake out the sand in our clothes and leave the crashing sound of waves behind us. Overall it was an amazing and interesting cultural experience with enjoyable newfound friends.

Racing dhow

Adam, Bethany, Brian and I arriving into Shela by dhow from the airport

Shela beach

Children in Shela

Tour of Lamu

Decorative, hand-carved door frames in Lamu

Getting ready for the parade in Lamu

The festive Maulidi parade in the streets of Lamu

Local Muslim women looking for a place to watch the parade

Too cute!

Little boy waving a flag

Singing and dancing by local Muslim men

Donkeys carrying sand to a construction site in Shela

Catch of the day

Atop one of the sand dunes in Shela looking out over the Indian Ocean

Brian and Bethany standing on top of a sandbar

Sunset dhow ride

Brian's new friend

Dhow 'eyes'

Our almost three dhow boards, we got rid of the one in the middle

Flight home

Ugandan Chuck and Sleepy J

2010-03-26T15:06:00.000-07:00

Today we held the first of two award ceremonies honoring and awarding young women from the slums cash prizes to start businesses. It was a huge and successful day with folks from Safaricom, Coca-Cola, other local partners and one of the Ministers of Parliament all supporting these aspiring entrepreneurs. It was a day filled with emotions, solidifying how life-changing our program has been for so many young ladies. There were many tears of joy shed by all.

It was a seriously busy week with all the preparations accompanied by a few late nights but all worth it in the end. Now the weekend is here, and I'm in Nairobi and Brian is still in Uganda. He's been there since Sunday night and will return next Thursday. He's off to hike and explore waterfalls throughout one of the national parks. I'm certain he will have a lovely time, though I wish I were there to share the experience.

But I'm exhausted and it's sleepy time for this chica. So this weekend will be full of much needed shut eye, yummy tea to warm the soul and a good book to do some exploring of my own.

Here's a story I wrote about one of the top businesses who won today:

Big Five Making Big Waves in Kawangware

Around the corner and halfway down the dimly lit alley, rays of sunlight cast down on four young women peeling the shells off groundnuts as they prepare to make their next batch of tasty peanut butter. One crouches down, hovering over a small circular sieve while another sits on the ground sorting and filtering, working tirelessly for several hours at a time. For some of the ladies it is their first time in business and as they confidently describe, all with large beaming smiles, it has been a tremendous success.

Like the big five that dominate the great savannah, these young women are making waves in Kawangware selling deliciously, professionally packaged, tasty peanut butter. The ingredients are straightforward, a few kilograms of groundnuts and salt. The supplies are manageable, charcoal and a jiko for roasting, sieves for sifting, self-sealing containers for packaging and the rental of a milling machine from a friend for grinding the nuts into creamy peanut butter.

With training and support from TechnoServe’s Young Women in Enterprise (YWE) program, these bright young entrepreneurs were able to realize their potential in catapulting their business idea into a reality. YWE’s main objective seeks to raise the level of entrepreneurial activity among Kenya’s adolescent girls and young women, particularly the most vulnerable, to catalyze the start-up of income and employment-generating, women-owned small enterprises. For six months, these four have been attending weekly classes in an enterprise club in Kawangware called Excelling. There they have received training in four critical areas: entrepreneurship, employability, life skills and financial literacy. Their trainer, Jahazi, enlivens the curriculum with his exemplary training techniques allowing the girls to fully appreciate and enjoy the basics in starting and running a business.

With a small start up grant of Kshs 1500 from the experiential business-learning module in YWE, the Big Five hit the ground running and never looked back. Within a week they learned how to make peanut butter from a friend, accurately conducted market research, delegated roles and remarkably jelled as a team wanting to succeed in business. Young Women in Enterprise is committed to supporting these aspiring young businesswomen and plans to do so with the next phase of its’ program, called aftercare. This component includes business start up support, linkages to short-term and long-term employment opportunities, linkages to micro-finance institutions for additional lending options, and continuous learning (field trips, guest speakers, networking events, computer skills).

The Big Five have their eyes on the future, growing their business and ultimately seeing their tasty peanut butter on the shelves of large supermarkets all throughout Nairobi. TechnoServe’s Young Women in Enterprise is proud to be providing the opportunity for these young women to improve their lives; knowing that the positive changes they make today will bestow far greater changes for themselves and a brighter Kenya tomorrow.

A Grand Occasion - Seeking Your Support

2010-03-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

These past couple of weeks have been amazing and intense. In both of the slums Young Women in Enterprise operates in we have conducted the judging of over 200 individual business plans. With six months of training in entrepreneurship, financial literacy and business, the young women were ready to share and promote their creative business ideas. The judges were folks from all over Nairobi who volunteered their time in support of these aspiring young business women; from business professionals, to professors, management consultants, teachers, bankers, accountants, you name it.

It was an exciting affair seeing the girls all dressed up in their very best outfits. Some were adorned in black and white, some in grey, most in skirts but all with a professional smile. The transformation represented in these past two weeks is beyond what words can describe. During recruitment last July, these ladies were sporting ragged t-shirts brought over from far off Goodwill stores, stained skirts and unkept hair. But now just looking at them, it's hard to believe they are from the slums.

A group of three young women decided to present a business plan together and as they finished up, they came storming out of the judging room, their faces lit up as if they had just won the lottery. They were on a cloud nine they never knew existed before.

Left and right girls were departing their panels of judges with sheer joy written all over their faces. For most, this was the very first time they had ever presented anything to a group of professionals. And knowing that at the end of the day not everyone can come away with a top prize all of them are still winners as they've overcome so much to get where they are today.

And they are still moving along this positive track starting with this Friday in Kawangware. We are holding the first of two ceremonies, presenting the winners from the business plan competition with cash prizes and other giveaways. Everyone will receive a certificate and a small gift. In these two weeks we will be honoring over 320 girls in both Kawangware and Mathare for their amazing accomplishment of successfully completing their core business training as well as writing and presenting business plans. Next, we'll be transitioning them into an aftercare program providing the continued support they need to get the ball rolling in business or employment.

Brian (one of the judges) and I have been so moved by these young women and inspired by their determination to create something better for themselves and their families that we would like to invite all of our family and friends to support them, as they say in Kenya, in taking it to the next level. I know this is short notice for the award ceremonies but if anyone is interested in supporting these young women in their business start up with capital or gifts in kind please let us know and we are happy to facilitate the process. The aftercare program will be taking place starting next month and go until the end of the year. Each one of these girls is truly a winner and just a little bit goes so far in their lives. Most of them making less than $1 a day.....

If you have any questions about this program please let me know as Brian and I are both happy to facilitate any contributions you are so inclined in giving.

Cheers to young women paving a new path in Kenya and making history today ;-)

Waiting patiently to present her business plan

Coming away from presenting - she was quite relieved!

This young woman was all smiles, so professional and poised.

Waiting her turn....

Cloud nine

TechnoServe Kenya

Girl Effect

Brian + Jalyn = Brilyn

2010-03-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

I totally get the whole Brangelina (Brad Pitt + Angelina Jolie) thing now. You know the adopting of several children from developing countries? You know what I'm talking about, Madonna's on board now.

What I'm getting at is everyday I see bright eyed, glowing-smiled children running around after me in the slums of Nairobi and I can't help but shake all their hands, ask them how they are, and wish I could take each one of them home in my pocket.

I think you would think the same thing if you were me. Seeing children wearing two different types of shoes on their feet, covered in dust from the streets and hungry for food and attention. When I walk through the slums I am indeed a novelty and the children just eat it up. They run after me yelling, "How are you? How are you? How are you?" And I respond, "I am fine, how are you?" Sometimes they too respond but mostly they just giggle and run around.

Despite how amusing and adorable this experience is, it is also very heartbreaking. I see several children who look as though they haven't been bathed in a week, sometimes their eyes are crooked, they walk with a limp or they are ill with TB/HIV. I just don't know how to cope, as there are so many.

But I know one mustn't get overwhelmed because if you allow yourself to think too much about the issues in the slums and all over Kenya for that matter, you'll find it too difficult to move forward. So I shed some tears, say several prayers and wake up the next day to do it all over again.

I know Brian and I can't save the world but at least we can make a difference in a few people's lives. You have to start small, and one person is better than none.

P.S. Just to be clear, we have NOT adopted any children but I must say it's quite hard to resist these little guys ;-)

A Day in the Life

2010-03-10T11:02:00.001-08:00

Sure Brian and I go on these exciting weekend adventures where we pet wild rhinos, wrestle crocodiles, and tame lions but what's an ordinary day like? Well, I will tell you.

Most days (at least the last few weeks anyway) I've been going into the slums. I've been working with the Monitoring and Evaluation Manager for YWE, conducting Focus Group Discussions to understand how things are going for the school girls in our program. We've contracted outside consultants, so as to remain unbiased, and set up about one hour to meet with 10 girls in each school club to ask them a series of questions.

So my day usually starts between 8:30am and 9am; I check my email, work on a few projects, have lunch and then head to the slums, in my case, Mathare. I ride along with one of our TNS drivers and two or three of our consultants and we drive through the hectic streets of the slum to arrive at one of the schools. At one particular school, I find the school principal to announce our arrival and do formal greetings (customary in Kenya) and he arranges for us to meet the teacher who has organized 10 girls for our group discussion in a nearby classroom.

This school, is located in a three story building just on the entrance to an unpaved muddy side street. You wouldn't necessarily know a school even existed here if it weren't for the students pouring out the front door in their uniforms. They don't have a football (soccer) field nor any green space to play. As a result, they rent out a field from a nearby primary school and ironically have one of the best teams in the district. The halls of the school are dark and grey and the sound of students' feet shuffling about from class to class carries loudly through the entire building. It's hard for me to imagine any student easily concentrating on his or her studies in this environment.

Despite the loud noise coming from the hallway, we gather, with the 10 girls, into a small classroom across from the principal's office. The girls form a circle with their old rickety, wooden desks and stare at me as a novelty - it's apparent they don't see that many mzungus wandering through these halls. The principal also happens to be the teacher and patron for the Young Women in Enterprise club. He makes sure all the girls have joined and we get started with the questionnaire.

The facilitator asks a series of questions, some personal, some general, and some specifically about the program. One question is asked whether the girls think men or women are more vulnerable to HIV/AIDS in their community. The girls unanimously respond: women. She probes further to ask why and they convey that many young women engage in sexual activity for money, or they have low self-esteem and succumb to peer pressure. The facilitator takes note of the responses and then moves on to inquire about employment and what challenges the girls foresee in securing employment once they graduate from high school. Many respond by saying, tribalism, corruption and not enough jobs (i.e. high competition in Kenya). The facilitator continues on with her questions, many of the girls reluctantly responding allowing their shyness to win them over but some speak up and proudly respond to the inquiries.

After an hour's time we conclude the questionnaire and thank the girls for their time with us. The girls are pleased with our visit (a nice change from their normal routine) and offer to send us off in style. One girl stands up to lead the girls in a song accompanied by a series of clapping. After the last round of claps, we smile, pleasantly surprised and thank them for their send off.

Our team heads downstairs to the car to travel back to the office in the midst of the heavy 6pm traffic. We discuss our observations along the way and are satisfied by the overall responses and honesty the girls provided but also disheartened by the poor environment so many students must endure to receive their education. The girls really opened our eyes to their understanding of the world (Kenya) and I couldn't help but feel frustrated with what these young girls have to encounter in their daily lives.

We finally arrive back at the office and my day has come to an end. I meet up with Brian and we walk back to our cozy little apartment in Westlands. As I sit upon our couch, sipping a glass of wine, unwinding from the day, I can't help but think about the drastic contrasts that I encounter day to day. I travel to the slum, walk in streets lined with sewage, see mothers beating their children with wire switches and shake the hands of small children elated to see a white person in their neighborhood. I see young men concocting illicit brew, young mothers attending to several babies and senior citizens tired from decades of poverty. And then I come home to my cozy abode. Some days are really tough and other days are just days. But all in all it's a day in the life of someone working to help young women create better futures for themselves and I wouldn't trade it for the world.

Chuck Norris Pets Wild Rhino

2010-03-06T05:20:00.005-08:00

Last weekend Brian (aka Chuck Norris/CN) ventured to Ol Pejeta Sweetwaters Conservancy, a 90,000 acre wildlife conservancy situated between the foothills of the Aberdares and Mount Kenya. Because of CN's busy schedule I will write about his experiences there.

Chuck was very pleased with the amount of wildlife he saw and that got to see him. The weather complied with his mood and the rhinoceros beetle he found in his room posed no threat because it knew what it would be up against.

CN awoke to a beautiful sunrise looking out over Mt. Kenya which he knew he could climb in one hour if he wanted to. It takes most people 4 days.

After a lovely morning game drive, Chuck and his friends sat down to enjoy a fulfilling breakfast. Animals couldn't help but be drawn in by Chuck's impeccable force.

That afternoon Chuck fearlessly approached a wild* white rhino, petting him at will and showcasing his dominance over the entire animal kingdom.

Chuck was happy.

These buffalos thought they could intimidate Chuck but quickly learned that the chief export of Chuck Norris is pain.

Chuck enjoys bird watching and was pleased by these birds.

These chimps couldn't stop talking about Chuck.

Once the word got out that CN was in the park, everyone was looking for him.

It's known that Chuck Norris once kicked a horse in the chin. Its descendants are known today as Giraffes.

Overall, Chuck thoroughly enjoyed his weekend in nature and all of the animals in the park were grateful to Chuck for not killing or eating them. Because you know there is no theory of evolution, just a list of animals Chuck Norris allows to live.

*The white rhino Chuck fearlessly approached and got to pet was orphaned at a young age and raised by a park ranger. The ranger is working on reintroducing the rhino into the wild over the next 2 years.

I would like to personally thank Chuck Norris (Brian) for allowing me to write about your experiences last weekend. You are awesome.

And Now for a Little Swahili

2010-03-03T07:35:00.001-08:00

It's time for a Swahili lesson. It has been entirely too long, last July in fact, since we shared a bit of Swahili and living in Kenya you must learn some Swahili. We haven't done a very good job of it but we'll do what we can little by little.

Jambo!: Hello - this one we all remember and it's one of the first words we learned

Habari yako?: How are you?

Mzuri or mzuri sana : good or very good

Sasa: Hey - slang

Fit: Fine - slang

Mambo?: Informal how's it going?

Poa: good - slang

Asante sana: thank you very much

Kwaheri: goodbye

Kidogo: little

Pole pole: slowly slowly

Pole: sorry

Mzungu: foreigner/white person

Kazi: work

Biashara: business

Hapana: no

Bwana: husband

Maji: water

Pesa: money

Ndio: yes

That's all for now, let's hope the vocabulary continues to expand greatly!

I was visiting one of the schools in Kawangware and these children ran over to us, fascinated by the mzungu!

Down on the Farm

2010-02-26T11:09:00.001-08:00

Today I ventured out to the rural areas of this lovely country. Where the air is clean and there's nothing but green and some more shades of green as far as the eye can see. My Program Manager, Pauline and I headed to Naivasha, about a one to two hour drive from Nairobi to visit farmers using irrigation pumps created by a local NGO named KickStart.

KickStart has created durable, affordable, transportable irrigation pumps that are transforming the lives of rural farmers in Kenya and throughout Africa. Farmers spend so much time transporting water to and from their fields via many bucket loads every day. When the dry season hits, they struggle to sustainably water and grow their crops to continue feeding their family and generate income.

KickStart has come up with a simple solution to aid farmers in managing their crops year round and to upscale them from subsistence farming to selling to neighbors and wholesale markets. Through the use of low maintenance treadle and hip pumps farmers can now easily sustain and expand their crops. Pauline and I were fortunate to meet a couple of farmers who have benefited from these pumps.

An older woman using a treadle pump is able to grow her crops year round by easily pumping water from the small pond she dug last year and spreading it around her five acres of land. She and her husband have no trouble feeding their family and selling the excess produce to the local community, bringing in a significant amount of income each month. Another gentleman has been using his pump for almost 20 years on his twelve acres of land. He's been able to expand his crop varieties as well as try new things like beekeeping and operating a green house.

KickStart is greatly changing the lives of farmers every day all over Kenya. Pauline and I thoroughly enjoyed our time with the team and seeing the amazing impacts taking place in the rural communities. Just being on the farm today was such a wonderful escape from Nairobi and a reminder that some of the greatest things in life are simple. Those simple things found in nature, like wide open fields of green, birds chirping in nearby trees and a breeze that rustles past with a fragrance of fresh rain. And of course the hushed sounds of water swishing as it is being pumped by a treadle or hip pump to water the food so many in Kenya are dependent upon.

www.kickstart.org

Farmer showcasing her treadle pump

I gave it a try - it's like a Stairmaster!

Pauline's turn....

Now for the hip pump - you've really got to put your hip into it!

Tough work!

Off to try and sell a pump or two

I'm holding one of the pump hoses after a demonstration at a local farmer's home - sale successful!

I Got Worms

2010-02-17T06:33:00.001-08:00

Walking out our front door shoots us onto a busy street in one of Nairobi's main suburbs, Westlands. Thick dark clouds of exhaust fill the air as we turn to make our way down to the end of the road. Bicycles and pedestrians share the space with screeching matatus and a cluster of cars not adhering to normal traffic patterns, spilling over sidewalks and riding the middle line. After waiting and looking and waiting a bit more and looking once again, we finally cross to the other side. This is just one of a few streets we must maneuver on our walk to work each morning.

There are many risks when living in Nairobi, the daily horrendous traffic, pollution emissions from gurgling exhaust pipes and situations with security. However, there are other risks that are not as apparent as these. They are tiny, minute hazards that can creep into your life at a moment's notice and stay with you until you return to the US or beyond.

What small perils do I speak of?

Lloyd: "This isn't my real job, you know."

Mary: "No?'

Lloyd: "Nope. My friend Harry and I are saving up to open our own pet store."

Mary: "That's nice."

Lloyd: "I got worms!"

Mary: "I beg your pardon?"

Lloyd: "That's what we're gonna call it. 'I Got Worms!'

Scene from the movie Dumb and Dumber.

We have been advised that if one remains in Africa for 6 months or more it is a good idea to get de-wormed. Yes I said it, de-wormed. Like what one does to their beloved pet back in the States. Despite how gross and unpleasant this subject is; it is a fact of life here, and all over the world for that matter.

In fact, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), approximately one third of the world's population is impacted by parasitic infections. Of that, about three hundred million are severely ill and at least half of those are school-age children. This not only harms the health of children but also reduces their educational achievements. This is obviously not the sexiest topic in the developing world. Most folks want to put their money directly towards education or economic empowerment programs but if children are not well they won’t make it to school or do their best when they do attend.

Brian and I have the luxury of a pharmacy here in Nairobi where we can purchase over the counter medications for such ailments. 2 tablets taken at the same time with water and you should see improved results within just a few days. The cost for the 2 pills = Ksh 240 (approximately US$3.20). However, the WHO reports that the cost for a single treatment per child can be as little as US$0.02, some of the more expensive and effective drugs can be on average US$0.20. These medications can improve children's lives but so many are living in rural areas of the world making access and availability a challenge.

There are organizations out there that are working towards increasing availability, such as Deworm the World. This topic along with Deworm the World, amongst other groups working on life changing projects in the development field, are featured in an article from last December's The New York Times by Nicholas D. Kristof: check it out!

Deworm The World focuses on reaching children in schools all over the planet. They recognize that by piggybacking onto the already existing school structure they can minimize costs as well as impact the largest number of children at a time. According to a randomized trial in Kenya, de-worming children showed a reduction in school absenteeism by as much as 25 percent (Miguel and Kremer, 2004).

This experience is just another reminder of how fortunate we are in the West. The majority of Americans generally have ways of obtaining medications when we need them and live in relatively clean environments with access to running water and sanitation, significantly reducing the risk of parasitic infections. But for so many of the world's population, these basic items are not within reach, the very things all humans should have access to; thus making them vulnerable to parasitic dangers.

For those of us who are so lucky, do as your mother always said, wash your hands after using the facilities, before and after you eat and upon finishing a round of petting the family dog. But most importantly be thankful for your health and do something for those who are without.

http://www.dewormtheworld.org

Wild or Mild?

2010-02-12T10:40:00.002-08:00

"Wild or mild" he asks? "Mild please" I respond with quivering lips. I know I will just cry if I have to go on the wild route. "Well we will have to see how many others are interested in the mild, I can't guarantee anything" states the Adrift rafting guide as he takes our money.

"Well we signed up for the mild" Brian interjects sensing my uneasiness. That's when our soon to be guide saw the fear in my eyes and knew that there was no way I was rafting down the Nile via some wild and crazy death ride. It was mild or nothing.

So mild it was. Fortunately for me, there were a few other scaredy cats (excluding Brian of course) to comprise a group of 6, including our guide, Kamo, a New Zealander with a sarcastic sense of humor.

Our mild excursion down the waters of the great White Nile began just after 10 in the morning in Jinja, Uganda. In addition to our small raft, with the lovely letters EXTREME painted on the side, there were about four other rafts out for the day. Straight away I learned that both the wild and mild groups followed the same course, the only difference was that our guide wouldn't try and purposefully flip our raft (oh great...).

To get things started, Kamo asked us to jump out of the raft to get used to being in the water 'just in case' we happened to fly out. So we jumped out just before a group of rapids. I freaked out, taking in larger than life breaths and Brian immediately swam to my side to calm me down. Of course I was fine but just nervous and overwhelmed. We quickly got back into the raft, which I'll admit is not easy or a pretty sight. You basically slither your body across wet plastic making an awful sound and flop into the boat like a fish out of water - but you're in and that's what counts.

Kamo had another exercise for our group, another 'just in case' scenario. This time we all had to sit on one side of the raft while Kamo flipped us over. This was to experience what it would be like in the event we fall out of the raft and get trapped under the boat. (Again, I'm still not keen on this whole rafting thing at this point. Let me just say this was not my idea but marriage is about compromise and I was compromising....) So there we were in the water again and under the raft, hoping we wouldn't have to go through the real thing down the river in a mad surge of rapids, which our guide so kindly equated to being trapped in a washing machine, but only for like 5 or 10 seconds (oh is that all...)

Now it was time to hit the rapids. We floated along and approached the first one. This is when all the safety alarms and anything I had ever learned about avoiding danger, not talking to strangers, stop drop and roll, get under your desk in case of a tornado, basically anything and everything safety related entered my head and went haywire. I mean all the meters and buzzers went over the top! So naturally, I asked to leave. I wanted to be excused from the rest of the trip. Our guide just looked at me and said "sorry, but it's too late sweetheart."

GULP!

So I buckled down, gave myself a little talking to and just did it (I had no choice in the matter obviously). Our small little team, randomly named hippo by our guide, paddled as hard as we could flying into the waves, crashing through the water and dipping down a waterfall. I screamed and yelled, my heart racing as though it were going to beat out of my chest, and before I knew it we had made it. I was alive! Yeah! We did it! Wow - what a rush!

After that first hurdle of rapids, I felt like maybe I could really do this. I mean yes, I was scared out of my mind, but the rush of adrenaline I felt once we made it through successfully was exhilarating. Maybe there was a wild side to me after all! Brian was thrilled and excited as well but he was like a pro at this kind of stuff. Adventure is practically his middle name.

For the rest of the day, the fear coupled with the thrill, kept our spirits high as we worked hard to stay inside our tiny raft. While other teams, being wild of course, flipped with ease, we kept our balance and stormed through the rapids. We felt success each time we made it through, giving each other high fives with our paddles and then slamming them on top of the water accompanied with the necessary manly grunts only winners can pull off. We were a small but mighty team of first timers, scaredy cats and Brian.

The day ended around 5:30pm after many many rapids, lots and lots of paddling and a pint or two of unintentionally ingested Nile water. It was such an amazing experience as we were able to see the Nile up close and personal, view several types of beautiful birds, spot a monitor lizard and take in the splendor of Uganda.

I'm obviously not always one to jump at a daring escapade like Brian (which I admire and thank him for) but that is why we are perfect partners. We encourage each other and support one another in all of life's wonderful adventures! He's the best teammate a girl like me (i.e. scaredy cat) could have.

Enjoy the photos from our mild (wild) day on the Nile courtesy of Adrift: (I'm wearing a long sleeve brown shirt in the yellow helmet behind Brian who is in the front with a pink helmet)