Spring Break - Year 2

The 2015-2016 school year is coming to an end and even though I still  have about a month left (you're reading correctly, my summer doesn't begin until July 6th) I'm starting the exit process of my teaching abroad experience.  But before I say farewell and close this chapter out, I still have a few post I would like to share with you.  So let's get started with this one.

In April for my Spring Break I took a trip to Sri Lanka.  Hearing the recent news about the landslides Sri Lanka has been experiencing, I reminisced about the beautiful island nation and people I experienced just last month.  My friend Wam Bui and I wanted to see all that we could of the island, so we set up a route that had us in a new city almost everyday of our trip.  Along the way, we met great people while experiencing the culture, food, land, and religion.  

Day 1:
March 25th 

We arrived in Colombo and immediately took a very short drive to the next town over - Negomobo.  We spent the night at a hotel right on the beach.  We didn't have time to enjoy the beach because the next day we were heading to our next destination.

Day 2:
March 26th 

We drove to Pinnawala to see the elephants at the famous Elephant Orphanage.  When we arrived I was a bit disappointed to find out that the orphanage was just another tourist attraction where elephants were being put on display for our enjoyment.  I thought I was going to visit an elephant sanctuary where the elephants would be roaming free and where we would have the opportunity to interact with them by bathing or feeding them.  Instead I saw elephants chained to post or poked around for the tourist to see up close and personal   

I told our driver that I wanted visit a place down the street from the orphanage that was recommended by a friend. She was able to interact with the elephants the way I thought I was going to be able to at the orphanage.  Our driver took us to a place where we were able to ride an elephant but I soon realized this still was apart of the elephant orphanage.  Even though it wasn't what I had in mind, I still enjoyed riding the elephant.  

Next, we headed to the herbal garden where my legs got destroyed by the mosquitoes (I forgot to reapply my repellent, biggest mistake).  As we walked through the garden our guide  explained to us all of the different plants we saw and how each of them were used to create natural remedies.

Once we left the garden (with me purchasing mosquito ointment to put on my very itchy legs), we headed to our last stop of the day - Kandy.  When we arrived in Kandy we went to see a the Kandy Dance performance which included cultural dancing pieces and men walking on fire!  I must say I didn't care for the dancing (and if you know me, you know I love dancing) but the men walking on fire was pretty cool to see. 

We ended our night back at our hotel, enjoyed a local beer while eating dinner, and met our house pet, Lanka.  He was the small lizard in our bathroom.  When we asked the Bell Boy to get Lanka he refused (I'm assuming it's a cultural thing because no one seemed to mess with the lizards).  Fortunately Lanka kept to himself, so we didn't have any problems.

Day 3:
March 27th - Nuwara Eliya

The next morning, we headed to the Temple of the Tooth Relic.  This temple holds one of Buddha's teeth.  Yes...his tooth!  We went during the weekend, so it was very crowded with buddhist who were coming to pray.

On our way to our next town, Nuwara Eliya, we stopped and tried on saris and visited a tea factory.  You can't go to Sri Lanka and not try a sari or tea, it's what you do!

Day 4:
March 28th 

The next morning we got up to catch the train to our next destination - Ella.  When planning our trip we heard so much about traveling by train so this was a must do on our list and ended up being one of my favorite parts of the trip.  We met so many  people on our ride:

• Sean the cyclist who had been in Sri Lank for two months cycling around the island.
• The elderly firecracker of a woman from the Czech Republic who was with her friend backpacking through Sri Lanka.
• Sinto the tour guide who spoke seven languages.  He was with a large group of tourist from Germany who we happened to run in to at our hotel at the end of our trip.
• A man originally from Canada, but had been living in Germany for about 30 years traveling with his family.
• Two friends from Spain who meet and travel every three months in a different place because one lives in Germany and the other lives in Qatar for work.

Not only did I meet some interesting people, but I was also able to see the beautiful farm land and people of Sri Lanka.

Once we arrived in Ella, we had lunch at this very cool restaurant called Chill.  Good food and drinks, can't go wrong with that.  Following lunch on our way to our hotel we stopped on the side of the road and checked out a beautiful waterfall.  Bui was a bit hesitant to venture over the rocks to get a closer look, but when she heard my reaction to the natural beauty she couldn't resist.  Bui was later almost attacked by wild monkeys that came to join us in our waterfall photo shoot.  The monkeys pretty much ended our time at the waterfall and we then headed to my favorite hotel of the trip.  

The Jetwing Hotel was my favorite hotel for so many reasons: a cute little bungalow with an outdoor bathroom and shower, peacocks roaming the hotel grounds, bicycles for us to use to get around the hotel grounds, and the service was excellent. I didn't want to leave, but we had to move on the next day to our next stop. 

Day 4:
March 29th 

Our next destination was Yala, where we enjoyed the day on an animal safari.  I really wanted to see a bear, but they didn't want to come out and play while we were around.  We did get to see a leopard (which was very exciting), wild boar, a variety of birds, a crocodile, and many other animals.

Day 5:
March 30th & 31st

Bui and I wanted to make sure we had some time to relax on our trip, especially with all the moving around we had been doing.  So we made sure we ended our trip at the beach in Unawatuna.  For the next two days I was a beach bum.  That pretty much sums up my time at the beach.

Day 6:

April 1st 

Because we had a later flight Bui and I were able to squeeze in one more activity in Colombo before we left.  My friend who had visited in December recommended a cooking class that she found on a site called With Locals.  On this site you can find people you can hire to be your tour guide when you visit their city or you can sign up for different activities people are offering to give you a real "local" experience.  If you plan on going to Sri Lanka any time soon, I highly recommend taking the cooking class with Duneeshya.  She demonstrated how to make steamed rice, dhal curry, bean curry, gotukola sambal, coconut sambal, ambultiyal fish, and wattalapam pudding.  I didn't think I was going to eat most of this food because I don't really eat curry and I'm not a fan of coconut (which was used a lot), but I loved it.  The food was excellent and I was so mad that I couldn't take any of it with me because before we knew it, our driver was back and it was time to head to the airport.

Here's a picture of Duneeshya our cooking instructor.

I would definitely recommend Sri Lanka as a place to visit.  The people are nice, the country is beautiful, and it's an affordable trip (icing on the cake).  Oh the places I'll go!

Check out my Sri Lanka video!

Dubai Street Art

Last month Dubai showcased artist from around the globe during their annual art festival - Dubai Canvas.  This year they featured 3D street art.  The canvas pieces were showcased on the sidewalks and walls of Jumeriah Beach Residence also known as The Walk.  When looking at these pieces they may look flat, but once you add yourself to the master piece the 3D work came to life.  Here's a glimpse of some of the unique pieces and artist.

Kurt Wenner was a featured artist at the festival best known for inventing 3D street painting and pavement illusion.

Of course I had to take a picture with the swan!

Playing with my cameras creative features.

My friend Ebony testing out the water.

Our new pet!

Don't look down!

Exploring

My Dubai

 Panda

Desert Forecast

Before I get started, I just want to let my mom know that I was careful and safe.  Don't call me after reading this and yell at me.  Thanks!

They say it never rains in Southern California.  Lies!!  That's what we say for the desert as well.  We should say, it almost rarely rains in the desert (I"m sure that could also apply to Southern California as well).  Lately here in the desert we have been experiencing some unusual weather.  When I say unusual, I mean it's unusual for the dry and hot climate area I live in to get rain more than once in a month and just this week it has rained twice!  That's ludicrous!  

When it rains here, the kids and some adults go crazy because they are so excited to experience this rare occurrence.  It's like how people act in Atlanta when it snows.  Unfortunately here they don't shut the city down because of the inclement weather but they are just as unprepared as Atlanta for the foreign weather.  First issue: they don't have a lot of drains in the first place because it doesn't rain often.  Second issue:  the drains don't drain due to being full of sand which causes flooding issues. Third issue:  the driving is already crazy here and when it rains people don't make any adjustments to their driving.  Crazy, right?!  You basically don't want to be on the road when it rains because some  majority of the people here have not been educated on how the water on the road can effect their car and driving.

Unfortunately I had to be on the road today while it was not only raining, but pouring.  I would have loved to snap photos and videos to share with you all, but I was so scared.  All I could do was say little prayers the entire way home, keep both hands on the wheel (there might be an imprint from my tight grip), and try to avoid getting into an accident.  I did get some footage when I arrived home safely and I collected some from my friends.  My rainy experience included:

• Being escorted to my car by one of the cleaners at work who had an umbrella.  By the time I made it to my car, my feet were soaked because the parking lot was flooding.  
• Driving at a snails pace 
• Having cars flash their brights at me to move out of the way.  If I didn't they were bold enough to venture into the flooded area to go around me.  
• Fallen trees (Okay, I only saw one but at the time it added to the dramatic experience I was going through)
• Flooded and chaotic roundabouts.  We have roundabouts literally all over town. (For those of you who aren't familiar: A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic flows almost  continually in one direction around a central island.)
• Getting home and after being scared for my life, 10 minutes later the rain stops and the sun comes out.

Here's a picture after the rain had stopped.  This street was flooding an hour before this picture was taken.  The drains started working when the rain slowed down.

Take a closer look at today's weather:

In other news, (actually I'm still talking about weather) I also experienced desert fog.  Also not a fan.  You could be on one end of the road and by the time you get to the other side you can't see the car in front of you.  If the fog gets really bad, some schools will delay the start of their day.  By 9 or 10am the fog burns off.  Take a look at what I experienced one morning.

My school

So the lesson for today is that you sometimes do have to check the weather, even when you live in the desert!

March 9, 2016

Just and update.  Because of the rain that has continued off and on since yesterday, Abu Dhabi Educational Council has cancelled school for the rest of the week.  Some of you may not know this, but teachers are usually a bit more excited about days off than the students.

Here's a post I saw online of an area further out in the desert - Liwa.  Apparently they had bigger issues with the drains and still people are out on the roads.  Craziness!

Kenya

I’m baaaack!  I haven’t had much to report on during this term now that I’m in my second year and things aren’t so new to me anymore.  But trust me, I do have some post that I’ve been working on. These things just take time and research to complete.  Look out for new post in 2016.  But while we are still in 2015, I would like to share with you my last trip I took just last week.  I went back to The Motherland and visited Kenya!  Kenya was an experience.  From our accommodations to the animals…an experience.

Accommodations: 

Masai Mara Camp

We had three places we stayed in throughout our trip.  When we first arrived in Kenya we took a 5-hour drive out to The Bush also known as the Masai land.  It was a long and bumpy ride.  I felt like I was Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura 2 dying this part of the trip.  When we arrived we were in slight shock when we saw where we would be sleeping for the next two days – tents!  We were literally camping.  The bonus was that we had a cement foundation, a toilet, and shower in our tent.  (Notice how I didn’t say bathroom because I wouldn’t call it that because there was nothing to separate the toilet and shower from the rest of the tent.)  Now some of you may be wondering why we would be in shock if we have access to the internet and could look up what this place looked like before arriving in Kenya.  Well you know how you look at something online and it looks like you can manage and everyone else seems to be okay with it?  No? Well, that’s what I thought.  I must say, I think I did pretty well.  One of my friends even said that it looked like I had done this camping thing before. (I guess that one trip to Yosemite paid off Dad!)

Here’s our tent and my roommate (Rosamund) for the trip!  We stayed in this tent the first night and on the second night we had to be moved because Rosamund saw something near the headboard of my bed with a white tail.  Ummm, we quickly vacated the tent and moved to a new tent that had a real door (the door made us feel a little better).  The two other girls, Ebony and Cidney, joined us in our tent that night because they didn’t want to be too far away from us.  Let’s just say you hear some very interesting noises in the middle of the night when you are camping out in the wild.

My bed that I slept in fully covered with a hoodie and all.  We had to clean up some dead bugs before tucking ourselves in the first night.

Here’s some of our neighbors.  One decided to join us for breakfast our last morning, uninvited might I add.  He jumped on our table, we ran, he got his breakfast, and we (including the men who worked at the camp) had a good laugh.

Lake Nakuru

When we arrived we were greeted by the staff and informed that there was no power.   Now in Kenya a lot of the accommodations in this area turn the generators on during a certain time for you to have  power and warm water.  So initially when we heard no power, I thought well what time does the generator come on?  No, there was no power since yesterday, which meant no hot water, which meant no shower!  On top of that, there already wasn't anything to do as far as entertainment goes once we had gotten there so we got to our room (we were so happy to be in a room and we were in one room which made us feel safe) and we were literally sitting in the dark.   

The staff was nice enough to provide us with a flashlight and kerosene lamp.  We went out to the front porch and played some checkers.  The board was made out of cork and the checker pieces were bottle caps.

We had a "romantic" dinner with the other guest and the cats that lived on the property.  If you know me, you know I was not excited about the cats, but the other guest entertained and fed the cats, which kept them away from me.

When we returned to our room we were a bit bored so I made some shadow puppets.  That didn’t last long and we weren’t tired so we had girl talk.

Nairobi

Every new accommodation was a step up from the last.  We couldn’t wait to make it back to the city and get to our last accommodation – The Fairmont!  This Fairmont is the oldest hotel in Nairobi.  We were so excited to sleep in a comfortable bed and take a nice shower. 

The Trip

Day One:

We traveled.  By the time we made it to the campsite, we felt like we had seen most of Kenya.  If you plan on traveling to Kenya anytime soon make sure you factor in the horrible traffic you will encounter.  At one point it took us two hours to get somewhere that should've taken us twenty minutes.

Traffic in The Bush

Traffic in Nairobi

Day Two:

We went on our safari and saw four of the Big Five animals.  The Big Five are some of the biggest and meanest animals in Kenya – the lion, elephant, buffalo, leopard, and rhino.  We were lucky enough to see everything but the rhino in just one day!  You’ll see a ton of animal pictures in my video.  I was super excited about seeing all these animals and I had a new camera to play with.

Day Three:

Before we left the Masai land, we stopped to visit a Masai village.  We were greeted with a song and dance showcasing the Masai mens' jumping skills.  We were then granted access to see how the Masai live.  
Later that day we visited Lake Nakuru.  When my Dad traveled to Kenya years ago, I remember him showing us pictures of hundreds of flamingos at this lake.  I was very eager to get to the lake and see the same.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t quite what I remembered from the pictures.  The water levels have risen in the lake and now there aren’t as many flamingos as there once was (thanks a lot Global Warming).  I  did still get to see a lot of flamingos and as a bonus we saw a rhino on our way to our lodge!  Seeing all the Big Five animals...check!

Day Four:

We visited Crater Lake.  We took a guided hike around the park, got pretty close and personal with some zebras and giraffes, and enjoyed a wonderful lunch down by the lake.

 Later that day we headed back to the city and were greeted by the Nairobi traffic.  Once we finally made it to our hotel and dropped off our bags, we met Beverly, a friend of my Dad who has been living in Kenya for many years.  She had some friends over and prepared a wonderful meal for us.  It was my favorite meal of the trip.

Day Five:

We walked around town and bought fabric and souvenirs.  For dinner we visited a local restaurant and pub where our server became our new Kenyan friend.

Day Six:

It was time to head back to the desert.  After getting bumped off my connecting flight from Doha to Dubai, I finally returned at 2:30am in the morning.  I still had to get to Al Ain which was another hour away, sleep for about an hour, and then get up and go to work the next morning...Oh the places I'll go!

Summer Break Part 2

I would've liked to have posted part two of my summer vacation sooner, but I had to make some edits to my video.  One, I just had a ton of pictures from Greece and two, because YouTube has these silly copyright laws with some of my music choices.  But I've gotten it all worked out and finished.  Hope you enjoy my short video (more like short film because I couldn't resist with some of these pictures) just as much as I did.

For part two of my vacation I visited Greece.  I had never taken so many pictures on a trip in my life!  I loved Greece!  From Barcelona we flew into Athens, Greece.  We purposefully planned a long layover in Athens so we could take a quick trip to the Parthenon.  When we landed we checked our bags at the luggage center, caught a taxi, and twenty minutes later we were at the bottom of the Acropolis Hill.  Hill seems like an understatement after we made our way up the "hill" with the sun beaming on us with every step we took.  Once we made it to the top I couldn't stop looking at this monument that has been around since 447 B.C. (of course with some renovations).  It just amazes me that something like this could be created in a time where things were only created by hand.  As a bonus we also got to see all of Athens from the top of the Acropolis.  Before we knew it, our layover was just about over and we had to head back to the airport.

After our thirty minute flight we landed at our next destination - Santorini, Greece.  Santorini is currently holds the number one spot on my list of best places I've visited.  I recommend anyone and everyone to take a trip there.  I will definitely try to make it out there again.  The food was great, the people were nice, and the island is beautiful!  Santorini also has the best sunset in the world, according to the locals.  I must say it is pretty awesome.  Everything about this place is picturesque.

Our first day on the island we took a half day boat tour.  We did a semi-private tour which means we were on a yacht with a few more tourist.  This was the absolute best.  The tour included food, information about the island, and we got to hang out in the Mediterranean Sea.  The water is so beautiful but was a bit chilly especially with it being July.  Once we were back on land we rented ATV's as our transportation.  We were able to rent the ATV's for twenty-four hours for $45.  Can't beat that!  Getting around the island was so easy.  The island has two main areas.  The lower area is Fira and the upper area is Oia.  We hung out in Fira for the remainder of our first day.  Most people head to Oia to catch the sunset but we caught it in Fira and enjoyed it without having to deal with the crowds of people.  At the end of our first night we were taken care of at a local restaurant our ATV guy recommended.  Everyone we encountered really wanted to make sure we were having a good time and enjoying everything Santorini had to offer.

On our second day we took our ATV's and headed to Oia.  We walked to the highest point of the island and took a thousand pictures.  What you see in the pictures and on postcards looks even better in person.  We enjoyed a nice lunch looking over the Mediterranean Sea and later took a little side adventure to find a hidden gem (a beach with a cliff that my friend Asha and other crazy tourist jumped off of).

Okay, I've typed way too much!  It's just that this place is awesome, but I'll let you see for yourself.  This part of my trip we added one more traveler - Lindsay (another best friend from home).  If you never wanted to go to Santorini before, I think some of these pictures will change your mind.

Summer Break Part 1

I know, I know!  I haven's posted in forever...well forever is a bit extreme, but yes it has been a long time.  Well that's because I was on my summer vacation which meant a lot of traveling for me!  I couldn't wait to get my summer vacation going this year.  I was ready to see new places and get back home to see my friends and family.  This summer I took a total of 18 flights!  Word of advice, sometimes it's worth paying more to not have to deal with layovers and cheap airline rules and restrictions.  But with that being said, I had great trips and a great time this summer.

My first stop (after the layover) was to Barcelona, Spain.  I loved Barcelona!  I could definitely see myself living there.  You have the city and the beach all in one.  Who could ask for more?  I also appreciated the fact that Barcelona is a major city, but didn't feel like a major city.  There was no hustle and bustle or lack of courtesy due to the limited space a major city usually comes with.  Barcelona took on the beach water personality being smooth flowing and laid back.  There is one thing you must be aware of while in Barcelona (or any other place in Europe from what I hear) - pickpocketing.  Many of the locals will warn you to make sure you don't put your bags down on the ground and to keep your wallet and phone somewhere else besides your pockets because they will come up missing.  Luckily we didn't have any victims on my trip.

One of the best parts of my Barcelona trip was the bike tour.  We ended up having the guide to ourselves which was great.  We were able to see so much of the city and learn a lot about the history of Spain.  I try to find bike tours wherever I visit because it gives you an opportunity to visit little nooks and crannies the normal tourist wouldn't have the opportunity to see.  Try it on your next trip.

My next stop was Ibiza.  This is Miami, Florida Spring Break on steroids!  If I would have come here in my early 20's I really could have taken advantage of all it had to offer, but we took it easy especially since we were only there for one day (one day was all we really needed in this environment).  Unfortunately my carry on bag had to be checked at the gate when leaving Barcelona and that was the last time I saw it.  Yes, I was extremely bummed and upset about it (still get angry when I think about some of the items that were in the bag) but I still had a trip to continue and places to see.  We spent our one day at the beach where I literally baked in the sun all day.  Later we had to check out the party scene because that's what you do in Ibiza.  We ended our night a little early around 4 or 5am because we had an early flight to catch.  On our way to the airport around 6:30am the clubs were still going (they close around 7am).

Next, I went back to spend one more day in Barcelona where I had the opportunity to check out some of the must sees in the city - a flamenco show and the Picasso museum.  If you have the opportunity to visit the city make sure you check out some of the performing and visual arts the city has to offer.

That's the first part of my European trip in a very small nutshell.  Check out my video below to see more.  By the way the "we" I have been mentioning included James (my friend from Abu Dhabi), Asha (my best friend from home), Brandy (my fitness instructor and friend from Abu Dhabi), and Ashley (my friend from Abu Dhabi).

Milan

One of the perks of living on this side of the world is that you are closer to a lot more countries also known as places I want to visit.  So when my sister says that she's going to be in Milan for business, I start to look into plane tickets for a weekend trip.  Yup, I said it! Milan for the weekend!

A few weeks ago, I met my sister in Milan.  It was my first trip to Europe, so I was very excited.  During this trip we went shopping, checked out the World Expo, saw a show during Men's Fashion Week, and went to a party at the house where Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper.

Day One:  We went shopping at a vintage store that had a lot of great finds.  It is Milan after all.  After shopping we wanted a quick snack, but a lot of restaurants close around two and then reopen at seven.  We ended up going to dinner later at a restaurant that gave us the real Italian experience.  If you didn't know Italian, then you didn't know what to order because the menu was only in Italian.  Our server had to explain a few things off of the menu for us tourist.  The food was good, the wine was good, and the conversation was...interesting.

Day Two:  Work and then play.  I tagged along with my sister to a photo shoot (work) and then we later attended the 2015 World Expo (play).  Don't know what the World Expo is?  I didn't either.  Here's the link to learn more about it:  http://www.expo2015.org/en/learn-more/the-history- .  Before heading to the Expo, we needed a bite to eat.  Of course we had to stop and try some authentic Italian pizza.  The pizza was good, but similar to something I had tasted before.  I'll have to compare the taste to the next pizza I try on my next visit to Italy.  We then headed to the Expo where we attended the Cirque Du Soleil show, Allavita.  I love Cirque shows and this one actually allowed pictures and video to be taken and shared.  Check out the footage I got from the show below.  If you haven't been to a Cirque show you need to go. After the show we had a little time before the park closed to check out some of the exhibits.  We found out that Slovenia knows how to party.  You'll see how they get down in my video.

Day Three:  We started the day off by going to the Zegna fashion show.  It's amazing how excited people can get over clothes.  It's crazy to think about how much goes into a fashion show for it to last about 10 minutes.

Next my sister and I headed back to the World Expo to check out more exhibits, but going during the day wasn't the same experience we had the night before.  This time it was like we were at an amusement park.  To get into some country's exhibits there was an hour and a half wait.  We decided to check out some of the smaller countries and purchased some really good Ethiopian food.

To end our trip we attended a GQ party.  The party was held where Leonardo da Vinci painted The Last Supper.  We tried to go see The Last Supper several times, but it was sold out every day.  So being in the house where the magic happened would have to do.  The house was beautiful (especially for how old it was), the party was great, and we even got a special (and I mean special) performance from Miguel.

I'm so glad I got to visit Milan and explore with my sister.  I'll be back in Europe soon, so keep an eye out for my next post!

Check out my videos to see more from my trip to Milan.

Milan

Cirque Du Soleil