Safari in Tanzania

Winter break was unbelievable!

We flew into Kilimanjaro airport in Tanzania. I wish I had taken a photo of the mountain. Kilimanjaro is huge and almost looks out of place. We stayed in Arusha that night and started our safari the following morning.

 

I really wasn't sure what to expect from the safari. I always pictured older couples with tan hats, vests and binoculars hanging out of a truck. It turned out to be an incredible experience!

1. The Animals

Everyone asks if you saw the Big Five - African elephant, Cape buffalo, black rhino, lion and leopard. We saw all but the rhino, and many more!

Turned out one of my favorite animals to see (I know because I took a hundred photos of them) was the African elephant. 

The most beautiful was the leopard. The picture just does not do it justice. It's coat looked like it had been painted on and it shimmered.

My favorite moment was when we saw a lion and lioness on the side of the road, enjoying the shade. Our guide said they come to this area for one week to mate, and the only shade is on the side of the trails. We stopped, opened our windows and took photos. At one point the lion got up, looked right at Michael and walked toward the truck. The guide started rolling his window up as fast as his could, and Michael got one shot, then slammed his window shut! This was the photo:

I also loved watching the animals interact. in the Serengeti, you see wildebeests and zebras for miles! Thousands and thousands of them, eating grass and drinking water. Sometimes they look up at the truck and move from the trail. One time we looked and saw 30 zebras all looking up in the same direction, not moving. A lioness was laying in the grass about 70 yards away. It was so cool! 

2. The camping

The only other time I've been camping was for one night in the desert, so we're counting this as my first time camping! We stayed on campsites, had great food, bathrooms and showers. The first night was near Lake Manyara, the second in the Serengeti and the last on the Ngorogoro crater rim. The second and third night I woke up around 2AM. The first was because of a baby elephant and hyenas  and on the crater rim a Cape buffalo was eating grass right beside our tent! I could see his shadow! (a little scary) 

3. Spending hours in a truck

When we decided to do a safari, my first concern was spending so much time riding around. I thought it would be boring, but I was wrong! The change in habitats was amazing. For example, driving from Lake Manyara to the Serengeti took us around the Ngorogoro Crater. We saw lush forests, green rolling hills, and dusty grasslands. Also, we only had one other person with us on the safari, so we had plenty of room in the truck and good company.

We checked "Safari" off our bucket list! On the last day we thought, "When will we ever see animals like this again?" 

The next post will be about our trip to Zanzibar!

Random Updates

I wish I updated more, but I feel there is nothing interesting enough right now to dedicate a whole blog post to. So unfortunately today you'll just get my random updates and thoughts.

I went to Bahrain 2 weeks ago! It was completely last minute-I booked the night before! I went with four other girls and it was a great time. I think it was the company that made it so much fun rather than the country. It is very similar to Kuwait, but less conservative. It was a nice weekend away.

Travel updates:

**In 6 days Michael will be home.

**In 2 weeks we will be on a plane to Tanzania for a safari.

**In 3 weeks we will fly to Zanzibar for a tropical beach vacation with mom and dad.

**In April it's Spring Break in Bali.

**In May we're heading to Dubai for a long weekend.

**In June we're making a 3 night stop in Amsterdam, then heading back to NC!!

**In July we'll visit friends in Canada.

**The next post will be about August : )

We are so blessed to be able to do so much travelling over the next 6 months. I would have never dreamed of living in the middle east, but it has been an amazing experience. The location has allowed us to go to places that I have always wanted to go, and some places I never thought about. So far I have been to 8 countries. My goal is 30 before 30!

Teachers can relate to this: We need a break!! The teachers need it and the kids need it! We're on week 15 and still have 2 weeks to go! Fortunately, next week we have a field trip, a school wide Sports Day and a project presentation day, so it will fly by! ....I hope : )

I think the only thing that has kept me sane this past month has been yoga and Insanity. I like working out....when I actually do it! Living in an apartment building with all of your friends and coworkers is great, because we can motivate each other to workout-and the gym is downstairs! Insanity workouts are a blast and I've fallen in love with yoga!

Well those are my random updates. I'll write another before Winter Break!

Michael's New Job

Michael got a job! He will be teaching English for the next 4 weeks in Al Kut, Iraq.

Basically, he is working for a company that is hired by oil companies to train their new hires. Michael teaches Phase I which is conversational English. He's living in the building that has rooms for the teachers to live in as well as the classrooms; he said it's basically a two story house.

Michael with some of his students.

He said it's going well -the guys are eager to learn English and really nice. The weather is a lot colder than Kuwait and the power goes out often. He's on what we called Kuwait time, but I guess it's Iraq time too-they start class at 9AM, eat lunch at 3pm, eat dinner at 9pm. He said the food is awesome and there's a lot of bread and tea. 

I'm so proud of him for doing this! It sounds scary to Americans and Kuwaitis-living in Iraq for a month. But he did his research, kept an open mind and is now having a great experience! 

He comes back February 8th, then February 16th we're off to Tanzania and Zanzibar!

Jordan

As I mentioned before, to continue the work visa process, the school sent us to Jordan! To be honest, I was very naive and figured it would be very similar to Kuwait-dry, dusty, and flat. I was wrong! When we arrived late Sunday night, we could already tell it was going to be very different from Kuwait. The air was fresh and crisp, and the drive was very hilly. 

On Monday I had to have blood work done and chest x-rays with a few other teachers. Then we were off to Bethany Beyond the Jordan and the Dead Sea. 

The drive was beautiful!

 Bethany Beyond the Jordan is the location where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. The picture below is where the river use the flow. Three Byzantine chapels were built to commemorate Jesus's baptism.

"Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John. But John tried to deter him, saying, 'I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?' Jesus replied, 'Let it be so now; it is proper for us to do this to fulfill all righteousness.' Then John consented. As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, 'This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.'" (Matthew 3:13-17)

This is walking down to the actual River of Jordan. It's also the border of Israel. There were literally armed guards on both sides, and baptisms taking place on the Israeli side. It was surreal. 

 Next, we were off to the Dead Sea. Fun Fact #1: It is 390m below sea level. This sign is at sea level.

 Fun Fact #2: The Dead Sea has 33.7% salinity- that means is 8.6 times saltier than the ocean.

The shore of the Dead Sea.

The mud in the Dead Sea is great for your skin! Rub it on, let it dry and rinse.
My skin was so soft!

The morning temperature started in the forties, but it warmed up. At the Dead Sea, the air was really warm! The water was like swimming at the beach in NC in early May. The best part was when I walked out and my feet began to float up! 

Trying to do breast stroke was hysterical! I literally couldn't keep my feet in the water, they just floated up behind me, so it looked ridiculous. 

One of my favorite photos.

That night we went out to eat in Amman with the other teachers. Then we visited a sport's bar and shared a pitcher of cold beer! Jordan is less conservative than Kuwait, so it's legal to drink.

We had to leave Amman at noon the next day to catch our plane, so we explored Amman really early. 

This is at the Roman Amphitheater. Can you find me?

 From the Amphitheater, you can see the Citadel on the hill across from us. Well, Michael calls it a steep hill, I call it a low mountain. We were going to just take a taxi, but the more we walked, the closer we got. We kept finding staircases to get us there.

This was one of the staircases-12 flights. 

We looked at one staircase and a man shook his finger at us and told us not to go. Then three little boys started yelling at us to come to them. An old man in a little house talked to us and said what every Jordanian we met says, "Welcome to Jordan! Where are you from? America? Welcome!" We followed the boys all the way up (they are fast! and I was puffed). But we made it to the Citadel. They wanted their picture taken and we gave them a Jordanian dinar. 

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 We reckon that coming from a country that is 230 years old means we have a different idea of historical sites. The ruins we saw in Jordan were the oldest structures we have ever seen!

This is a picture of Amman, Jordan from the "hill." It was a nice break from Kuwait visiting a country with fresh air and friendly people!

Christmas Break!

Christmas is only 3 days away!! I can't believe it's almost here!

It's hard to get into the Christmas spirit in Kuwait. At home you see Christmas decorations in homes and stores, Christmas commercials and Christmas movies are playing on TV and it's cold outside. We don't have a tree, but we do have our stockings up, a Christmas tree scented candle burning and of course Christmas music playing all the time! I think one thing I miss more than I thought I would is playing the piano! I love playing carols and hymns on the piano and this is the first year without it!

So the plan for the next few days was last minute and unexpected, but most definitely a blessing! If you talked with us this summer, you probably heard about the visa processing fiasco! The list of things to get done to have a work visa issued is intense-background checks, degrees, teaching certificate, marriage license all authenticated in Raleigh and Washington, DC, along with a slew of medical tests. When everything was almost done, we were told to just enter with a visitor visa.....it was a mess!! 

So to finish the visa process, the school is sending most of the new teachers Jordan for 3 days. Some took the trip in September, some will go in January and a few of us were asked to go in December. The date kept being pushed back, but we got the final word on Wednesday that we are going to be in Jordan Saturday to Tuesday!

Working at an Islamic school, we only get Christmas Day off, but with this trip, I will be out of school Sunday and Monday : ) We'll fly into Amman, Jordan tonight and come back right before our Christmas Eve party! 

Here are our plans for Jordan, Insh'Allah: 

1. Visit the Dead Sea-It's going to be in the 50s during the day, but I hope we can still take a dip : ) 

2. Visit Bethany Beyond the Jordan-this is the part of the Jordan River where Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist. 

3. Enjoy food and drinks around Amman-apparently there are some places in Jordan that are very "American." Maybe we'll see a Christmas tree! 

We're looking forward to the Christmas Eve party, Christmas morning breakfast with friends at our place (minus the sausage, bacon, quiche and grits) and of course skyping family and friends! I can't wait to see what Santa brings Reagan and Reece : )

Merry Christmas! Love the Phillips, 2012

PS. I counted 13. Sorry.. I wrote the word "Christmas" 13 times in this post. Can you tell it's my favorite holiday? 

Update

I don't have much to blog about, but here are a few updates!

1. It's official! Mom and Dad received their passports yesterday and are ready to travel!

In February, Michael and I will go on a safari in Tanzania and then meet Mom and Dad in Zanzibar! Just 9 weeks away : )

The next few weeks are 4 days weeks, which will be nice! We have professional development this Thursday, Christmas day off and New Year's day off.

2. After watching the news this morning, I have never felt safer in Kuwait. The girls who teach here always talk about how safe we feel. We can go to the mall or walk down the street and not have to worry about getting mugged. Fun fact: Guns are outlawed in Kuwait.

3. A colleague showed us this video yesterday- kids talk, and then adults act out their conversation. This one is called Math Class. Teachers-you will love this!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was wonderful! We had a potluck dinner with our colleagues/neighbors/friends. As you can see, we had quite the spread : ) We ended up eating in the gym in our apartment building. The table is our ping pong table covered with the most neutral/Thanksgiving color Michael could find-teal! It's nice to be surrounded by friends and good people especially during the holidays when we're all missing our family : )

At least we got to Skype! We sat at the table with the Gardners-I've been missing the casual dinner conversation, so it was nice to just sit and listen. And of course we caught up with the Phillips!

Keri showing me her "plastic surgery" face hahah

Reese is saying "Hey Aunt T! I love you and miss you sooooo much! You're my favorite aunt!"
Well I'm translating her babbling, but I'm pretty sure that's what she is saying. 

Before Michael and I told Reagan, "Help! We're stuck in the I-pad!"

Brody!! 

The one thing we miss from home that we talk about at least once a week! 

Other than Thanksgiving, everything has been pretty routine here. It's cooled down quite a bit-highs in the low 70s. We've also had a few cloudy and rainy days!

We might be taking a weekend trip to Jordan. The school is sending some new teachers to take care of our visa process.

Thought I would share this video! It made my day last week when I watched it, because it is all the funny things southern women say! It is hilarious!!

I'll write a classroom post next and then hopefully a post about our trip to Jordan (Insh'Allah!)