As Countries Change, so do Blog Addresses

Okay, so after about a month of living in Ethiopia, Blogger just isn’t
an option anymore. Firstly, all of blogger is blocked here, so I am
unable to post any content without going through a computer outside of
the country (which is very slow given the internet connections here).
Second, the Blogger online editor is rubbish.

So, that brings me to this point. WordPress has good reviews, and
works in Ethiopia. Easy enough. So, as much as I was happy with
blogger before, I have a feeling that WordPress will be just fine, if
not better.

The good news is that because I can now post easily and right from
Word, I can upload posts without spending time working through the
technology, which translates to more content posted for you to enjoy.

The New URL is: http://mikedotonline.wordpress.com

Kisumu, Day One

The plane ride to Kisumu took only 45 minutes in the air. We deplaned (what a silly word) and headed off to our hotel with our World Neighbors contact, Quiresh. After checking in we headed out for dinner at a Chinese restaurant and enjoyed a fine meal, with far more than we could all eat. Very full, we headed to bed early, knowing that the next day would be a long day in the field.

FOCODED

At 9am, we assembled in the hotel lobby with Quiresh and met Daniel, a government official from the KARI office (KARI is an agricultural development organization). We all piled into a van and headed off down the road to FOCODED (a community organization) which was about an hour or so down the road toward Nairobi. When we arrived we were escorted into a concrete building. We were introduced to all of the project members (Secretary, Assistant Secretary, Treasurer, Health supervisor etc.) and Martha, Victoria and I introduced ourselves too. Quiresh then quickly outlined how the project operated within the World Neighbors structure and handed the floor over to the Secretary (president) of FOCODED, Eddie.

Eddie started his presentation by telling us of all of the successful initiatives that the project had undertaken. These included some agroforestry and water quality projects as well as the livestock with which the community had won first prize in a regional competition. After the presentation we went with the FOCODED staff to the areas where they were currently undertaking some initiatives.

The first stop along the way was to a gully that had been created as a result of deforestation induced erosion. These gullies were greater than sixty feet deep and some were decades old. They demolished roads, consumed vital crop lands and completely changed the landscape. The good news is that the community has recognized that the cause is linked to deforestation and has come together to plant trees all over the area to reduce the growth of the gullies.
Another initiative to reduce the impact of gullies is the introduction of natural fencing. Instead of using cut timber and wire as fences, the community is starting to use hedges. The addition of the live fencing also contributes to mitigation of gully creation because of their root structure.

The degree of erosion in the gullies is largely controlled by the amount of water that runs off of the surrounding hills. In an attempt to curb the flow rate of these waters (especially during flood times) dams have been created in strategic places in the community. The dams pool water during flooding times and reduce stream velocity. Further, they allow silt to settle which can further cause erosion. Even more, the dams incorporate chicken coops, which sit over the water to allow chicken droppings to fall into the water. The droppings provide nutrients to fish which the dams are stocked with. Lastly, the communities have started to collect water during flood times to provide water to small vegetable gardens. These gardens are then able to feed a few families in the community.

After seeing all of the projects that were being undertaken to mitigate the erosion, we went a bit further through the community (Our van getting stuck only once on the ‘roads’ we were on) and came to a meeting of the community elders. Everyone in the room introduced themselves and explained where they were from. It turned out that not only were there elders from the tribe where the erosion was happening present, but also the elders of the tribe from the hills where the water was coming. The meeting was an effort to look at all of the ways that the tribes in attendance could work together to help one another. It was really neat to meet everyone and see how they were finding innovative ways to cooperate. After a few speeches everyone shook hands, and we headed back to our van.

The next stop was about fifteen minutes down the road to an example farm where one of the FOCODED executives lived. The farm was used as a model for members of the community to visit during training sessions so that they could see a real example of sustainable living.

On the property were goats that were kept in pens and fed hay clippings (livestock traditionally graze aimlessly), kitchen gardens to feed the household, trees planted in the gully on the property (which were banana and mango trees for more food, bonus!), a fish pond down by the river that flowed by the end of the property, bamboo trees that were grown for leafy cattle feed, a water point for filtered water and also a variety of mango tree that they were able to splice with apples to create a more hearty fruit.

It was inspiring, seeing all of the projects that were ongoing in this one farm. Clearly a huge amount of work had gone into making all of this a reality. If all of the community was able to follow this example then major strides would be made to decrease the environmental issues facing the community as well as generate wealth.

Respa
Crossing the road (which is always treacherous in Kenya), we walked up a short hill to a house that was owned by a woman name Respa. Respa is a widowed woman living with HIV/AIDS. After her husband died she was left with nothing and had little to carry on with. However, she was able to start small farm raising a few chickens and growing enough food to keep herself afloat. Eventually, she was able to expand her operation to have many chickens and enough food to start buying goats to produce milk to consume and sell.

However, in an incredible act of selfishness men from the community came into her farm one night and stole all of the chickens, because she was a single woman with HIV/AIDS. What a truly despicable act. Having no other option though, Respa started again and was able to restore her farm to its previous status. After members of the community found out about the theft on her farm they made sure that the theft would happen again by making it known that her land is not to be tampered with. Another amazing fact about this woman? It is her goat that won first prize in Kisumu.

While we were looking at her goats, chickens and vegetables I asked her if it would be alright for me to take a photo of her. She agreed on the condition that she got a copy and after organizing with Quiresh we came to an arrangement. Here is my photo, Respa. What a courageous spirit. We left soon after and when our van came by we said our goodbyes to the FOCODED team and Daniel, Quiresh, Martha, Victoria and I left to get some lunch.

We had lunch in the local village and our options were chicken, or fish (tilapia from Lake Victoria). No menu, just the two options. We were happy to be out of the heat though and enjoy a few cold Cokes (it was really hot outside, by the way). While Vic and I had chicken the rest had the fish. Martha wasn’t that hungry though when the food came, so after some coaxing, I tried a bit of the local delicacy. While I normally detest fish I decided that I should at least try and I’m glad I did! The fish was actually pretty good, and although the chicken meal would have left me a bit hungry, the fish was perfect to top me up.

Upper Catchment
After lunch we drove to our last stop of the day which was at the top of the hill where the water catchment area is. As we climbed up the road we passed by many tea plantations that were the local cash crop and sold to multinational corporations. We also passed by a few towns where people had gathered to grab drinks and get some shade from the heat. Many of the kids we passed stared into the van as we went by, having seen few Mezungus (white persons) before. We waved to everyone and mostly, everyone waved back.



At the top of the climb we got out and Daniel lead us on a hike through the bush (I gathered many scrapes on my arms from the dense thorn bushes we had to pass through) and after a while we emerged the ‘the rock.’ The rock was a pretty stellar lookout point where we could see all of the surrounding communities and all of the locations downstream where the gullies had formed. Naturally, as a photographer I grabbed a few snaps.




After ‘the rock’ we headed back to our van fearing that we were going to get caught in the rain that the ominous cracks of thunder were promising. We were about 100m from the van when the skies opened up. We got pretty wet, while scrambling to back to the van. We drove back down the hill (snapping pictures at the vistas that lined the roads) and headed back to Kisumu. On the way we stopped at Hippo point on the shore of Lake Victoria and watched the sunset.



When we were finally back at the hotel, we had dinner and relaxed, tired from a really long day. We opted for another early night as we had more projects to visit the following day with ICRAF.

Nairobi (Part Two)

Clouds Over Rift Valley

Kenya Gatsby Trust

The second day of work in Nairobi started early again, as we needed to meet with a group named the Kenya Gatsby Trust. We were on the road by eight am for our meeting at nine.

We arrived at the Kenya Gatsby Trust’s (KGT) building early and waited for the CEO, Valentine Mehiso to meet with us. It wasn’t long however before he welcomed us into his office and asked us who we represented and what we had come to discuss. We briefly went over some of the projects that COMART had worked on and supported in the past and the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) paradigm that they served. Next we asked for a bit of information in the KGT and when we were all up to speed we turned to focus on the matter at hand, the Chujio water filters.

The KGT is a company that seeks to enable small businesses to grow and build capacity. They accomplish this by looking at all aspects of the business and marketing plans and also by building capacity within those businesses. Further, KGT has many different partners and connections so that they can make sure that the businesses that approach them are hooked up with the right partners. For Chujio water filters this means connecting them to Health and Water sectors of domestic civil societies.

Feeling invigorated by the possible synergies that KGT and Chujio could create, we set up a meeting for the following Tuesday between the two parties and, time allowing, us too. We left the KGT building and headed back to our hotel to prep for our next appointment of the day at a friend of Martha’s house.

Andrew in the Rift Valley

(Most of) Andrew's Family

We met Andrew at the hotel parking lot at just before noon and headed out in his car to the outskirts of Nairobi to the Rift Valley which is Masai Territory (more on that later). On the way we past baboons at the side of the road picking through trash. They were explained to me as ‘a nuisance like racoons, but with the strength of bears.’ We arrived at Andrew’s house before long and were welcomed inside.

Rift Valley Before Sunset

Andrew and his wife lived in a nice flat and it was clear that they had cleaned the house especially for us. Pressed white linens hung on the furniture and a lunch was prepared for uswhile we chatted in the living room.

The church that Martha belongs to, Runnymede United, had been supporting Andrew and his wife to foster several children who would otherwise be orphans. We listened intently as the children’s stories were told to us and about all of the various projects that were underway as a result of the funding that the church was providing. At around 3pm Lunch was provided, cooked by one of the daughters who had been sponsored to attend cooking school. The meal was made of up local dishes that were prepared excellently. Clearly the chef school was put to good use.

Mansion Amid Bungalows

After lunch we organised a group photo of all of the family that was present and us. It over the course of the day kids had been filling into the house and by the end of the day there were twelve family members there and at least three were still missing! Following the pictures, the family sung a song to thank us and wish us safe travels and we said our goodbyes. We then took a ride in the car out to the Rift Valley to see some of the countryside.

The Country Club!

The Rift Valley is an area that is reserved for the Masai people. The Masai people are a nomadic people which drive their cattle across the country each year in search of green pastures. They are known for going wherever the grass takes them, including on to the international airport!

As we drove up to the Rift Valley hills we passed by many of the Masai people. The local people of the area can always tell which of the people walking beside the roads are Masai. From what I’ve learned the Masai have telltale features such as their red clothing, being very tall and extreme lean, and the configuration of their ears with spacers and part of their lobes removed. The other obvious way to tell them apart are the massive amount of cattle that they drive. The Masai people equate respect with the number of cows that a man can care for so these herds can sometimes reach well over 100 cattle.

Middle Class Housing

The scenery around us changed quite quickly. From the middle class Kenyan suburb it went to a far more rural setting. We began climbing in the hills and the views out the side of the windows began to become very picturesque. The rift valley runs all the way through Kenya and is quite deep. Naturally this produced some very beautiful scenes and I have done my best to capture them here. Eventually we came to the end of the road and turned back (providing a second opportunity to keep my shutter rolling). We stopped on the outskirts of the village and two boys sold us three trinkets for our keys for 50KSH in the Kenyan national colors.

The Rift, Rift Valley

Driving back to our hotel now, we took the long way home and passed though a forest that used to exist where Kibera now sits. It is incredible to think that instead of a slum, the area used to be a pristine natural forest. In fact, at the edge of the forest we came upon Kibera. We passed by an area of Kibera where Andrew had set up vegetable gardens that were thriving. As the sun had now set we passed through Kibera which was completely full of life. People were out enjoying one another’s company and generally having a great time. It was just like any other scene of a Saturday night, except the backdrop was slightly different. When we got to the other edge of Kibera we were at our hotel and after thanking Andrew for his hospitality we said our goodbyes and went off to bed.

The following day we prepared our belongings for the plane ride to Kisumu where we were to visit a few communities that COMART was supporting and to attend some ABCD training that World Neighbours had organized.

Nairobi was a fascinating city. The Centre was filled with smog and guns, the slums full of life, and the suburbs full of peoples and customs I had never seen before. I was eager to see more of this fascinating country as I got ready for the 45 minute flight to Kisumu.

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Nairobi (Part One)

Preamble

While I have been documenting my trip throughout Europe for a little while now (and managed to get more than halfway!) I have run out of time to keep writing about it. Unfortunately due to backups and limited access to computing facilities I have to abandon that storyline for now and move on to more current endeavors.

Five days ago I traveled to Nairobi, Kenya to look at some projects in the area. The following blogs will rejoin my adventures, now in Africa.

Getting to Kenya

Following the end of my European adventure, I took a RyanAir flight to London Standstead and checked into a hotel in Clapham South called the EuroLodge Clapham. The accommodation was the most basic I could find above the level of a hostel, and cost $75.00 per night. The facilities were very basic but that was alright as I was only staying there for just enough time to get an Ethiopian VISA and do some laundry. While I was afraid that the VISA might be complicated and take longer than originally budgeted, it turned out to be very simple and straightforward. Very kindly, a friend of my sister’s had agreed to hold on to the bulk of my belongings while I was in Europe, and when I asked them where I could do laundry they offered to wash my clothes from Europe (I tried to explain that they might be a bit rank, but they wouldn’t take no for an answer). After four and a half days I set out for Heathrow airport at 6am.

Getting to the airport slightly more than three hours early for my flight I was able to get an emergency isle seat on my Kenyan Airways flight to Nairobi, which was fantastic, considering it was a 8.5 hour flight and my in-seat entertainment system did not work.

Arrival in Kenya

Getting to the airport, I quickly made my way off of the plane and headed towards the customs center. The Kenyan Airways flight had run out of customs cards, so it was a bit of a flurry to try and get my customs and VISA card filled out before the lines for processing became too large. Luckily though I was able to get the VISA forms done quickly and the lines were not too long. The interview for the VISA took about three seconds – the longest wait was for the official to place the sticker into my passport and stamp it. Waiting for me was a driver with a name card and before long I was checked into my hotel and asleep for the night.

The next day I had little to do as I was waiting for my sister Victoria and cousin Martha to come back from a game drive in a national park that they had gone to. With the extra day, I chose to get up reasonably early and hire the same driver, Memussi, to take me into the city centre so that I could see a bit of the safe areas of town.

Nairobi is a very Christian city and on Sundays the entire city is like a ghost town. This played into my favour as it made it very easy to walk around and view the city, although almost every shop was closed. I walked around for about a half hour, stopping into a supermarket (Tuskys) to get some clean drinking water. What really surprised me was the amount of security that was outside of every shop, carrying clubs in case of trouble. Further, almost every street corner had both police officers and Administrative Police (who wear combat fatigues) carrying new issue Kalashnikovs. I later asked Memussi why there was such a visible police presence and he explained that without them Nairobi would descent into lawlessness very quickly. After walking I met with Memussi again and headed back to the hotel.

The rest of the day was fairly uneventful, but I did go to a market that sold hand crafted work and also a plaza to get some lunch. The rest of the day was spent at the hotel.
Kibera

The second day in Nairobi Victoria and Martha arrived in from their excursion and we spend the day relaxing at the hotel and preparing for the following days of work.

Wednesday was our first day of appointments in Nairobi. We woke up at 8am and had a quick breakfast and met up with a member of the Chujio Water Filter Company.

Chujio, is a family business that originally focused on making clay stoves for heating homes and cooking in the Kibera slums. Over 18 years they perfected their craft and became experts in pottery, knowing the whole process inside and out, from acquiring the raw clay to packaging their final products. A couple of years ago though, they were approached by a member of the Potters for Peace and offered the opportunity to start a new initiative producing clay water filters, which they how now been selling for two years.

After meeting Wanja and she drove us to meet with her sister Wangari and a pastor from the Kibera Slums before we took a mutatu (a local bus system, privately owned) into the edge of Kibera.

Kibera is the largest slum in Africa. Started during the First World War by Sudanese refugees, the slum has grown to house approximately three million people. Walking around the streets of Kibera with Wanja, Wangari, the pastor, Martha and Victoria there was so much to take in all at once. Houses are mixed in with small businesses on every street and the houses are made of corrugated sheet metal and timers, maybe fifty square feet per house. The streets which have never been paved are only passable by SUVs and off road vehicles. Beside the streets are gutters which carry all of the waste water in the slums to small rivers that run throughout the Kibera. Water pipes, the few that work, run through these gutters and carry water full of bacteria and have spouts once and a while where residents can fill ten-litre jugs to carry home. As these pipes run through the gutters, whenever the piper break the sewage water flows into the pipes and causes sicknesses to whole communities. Every twenty feet or so there is a smouldering pile of ashes that are garbage fires as it is the only way of removing garbage (trash is also thrown into the gutters and rivers).

Kibera Slums (Picture courtesy of Victoria Martin Evans)

The pastor led us along the highways of Kibera to a couple homes where two of the Chujio clay water filters were located. The church priest lived there with his wife and family and used one filter to provide water for his family and for any of the parish who needed water. The other filter was in the house next to his where some young men wad the filter in their house. We were invited into both houses and discussed how the filters were being used and how it had impacted their lives. Both houses had very positive things to say, and while they had been suffering many illnesses before their introduction, they had had little sicknesses after, and none from water borne infections. After talking for some time we left the houses and went out into the church yard where we were greeted by many children who had just finished school for their winter break.

School Children on Winter Break

The kids were very excited to see us loved to have their picture taken. The kids would crowd around for the picture and then fight for a chance to see it on the camera’s LCD panel afterwards. We did this for a little time but eventually had to tear ourselves and head for a school that was still in session in another part of Kibera.

The school had five filters and had approximately fifty children in the classroom. The filters were in the rear of the building and we talked with the teacher and the Chujio sisters inspected the clay, finding a crack in one of them which had to be destroyed and replaced. The school had had this broken filter for a few weeks and had taken no steps to replace the broken part. This demonstrated the way that foreign aid can create very clear systems of reliance. The filters had been donated to the church and school by an American church foundation. The Kibera school had the means to replace the broken on their own but would not because they were waiting for the American church to give them a new filter. This donor model is commonplace in Kenya and after years of providing free services and items it has served to create systems of reliance on foreign aid.

School Filters

After visiting the school we walked back to the mutatu along the Kibera streets. While walking I learned that while it would not be safe to walk on these streets alone, it was very safe because the pastor we were with was well respected in the community and everyone knew not to cause him any trouble. I also learned that there were over seven hundred NGO’s at work in Kibera.

Taking the mutatu back to the place where we had parked the car it was hard to process everything that I had just witnessed. Knowing that it would take time to sink in I focused on the next part of our day which would be at the Pipeline settlement.

Pipeline

Pipeline Housing
(Image courtesy of Victoria Martin Evans)

We drove out to the pipeline settlement to visit an orphanage that had been given a number of filters. The area, which had originally been zoned as industrial area was illegally sold some decades ago to families needing an area to expand into outside of the city. As a result the conditions were deplorable. Pipeline had a few high rise apartment buildings that house people, but because it was industrial lands there was no infrastructure in place. The power lines that ran from building to building had been strung haphazardly. Each corner of the buildings was a rats nest of open high voltage wires, some within an easy reach of rooftop balconies where children played.

High Voltage Wiring
(Image courtesy of Victoria Martin Evans)

Water was another essential service that had no infrastructure. While in Kibera there were pipes running in the gutters, Pipeline had nothing. Water has become a private enterprise, where men carrying many ten-litre jugs on donkey carts would sell their water, which would likely not be treated. Taking the car into the centre of pipeline was tenuous. We scraped the undercarriage many times and Martha , Victoria and I offered to get out and walk so that the car could ride higher over the ground. Eventually we were able to get to the orphanage without leaving the car and we met with the manager. He gave us a tour of the dormitories and the play areas and we tried to take in as much as we could. I noticed though that they had a brand new computer in their office that had been donated and I chatted with staff for a little while as to how they used it. They said that slowly they wanted to teach all of the children living there how to use it but there was just too much of a demand to be able to do so at any meaningful level. We continued on and looked at all of their filters, and the manager explain how grateful they were that the filters had come along, cutting out all of the water borne illnesses that had been very common before. Each child was given a bottle that they could carry with them to school each day so that they would be able to have clean drinking water all day long, something that would not have been possible before they had the filters. After seeing and learning about the orphanage, we moved said thank you to the manager for allowing us to come and see his facility and made our way to lunch.

The Filter Factory

After leaving Pipeline, we were caught in massive traffic jams on the outskirts of Nairobi. While it is very common for traffic to be very bad inside the city, this volume was pretty extreme for the road we were on at that time of day. It turned out that because Hilary Clinton (US Secretary of State) was in Nairobi that day, entire section of the city had been completely closed to non-diplomatic traffic and had caused massive jams all around the city.

Eventually though we made it out of the city and followed up a winding road past the Canadian embassy (which was a huge building with high walls surrounding it), the UN compound and the American Embassy (the American embassy dwarfs the Canadian one, and has very serious security and “No Photography” signs every 20 feet). Lunch was served at the Red Java restaurant and after a tasty meal we continued on to the filter factory.

Pottery!

The factory was up quite a ways from the city in Lewa, a suburb. The elevation was at an elevation of something like 2100m (AMSL) and was in an area that had many tea and cut flower plantations. We arrived at the factory gates and went inside to meet all of the family that ran the business.

We were joined by Wanja and Wangari’s father, mother, sister, brother and nephew. The group of us went through the factory seeing the process from them refinement of the clay to the mixing, pressing, drying, firing, silver treatment and finally the packaging store room. Each member of the family had a specific area of expertise and they all worked as a team to produce the filters. In total there were twenty workers in the factory to produce the filters and stoves. After going through the entire factory, we were invited in their home (on the same property) and had some tea which grew in the plantations in the neighbouring fields.

Adding the Colloidal Silver

We chatted about their goals for their business and also about the marketing hurdles they were facing when selling the filters to the NGO’s. By giving the filters away, the NGO’s create systems of reliance instead of empowerment and was leaving their business with little opportunity. After hearing their business marketing plan we discussed the topic further, and Victoria (who has worked in marketing) took in as much information as she could so that later on she would be able to help foster connections with local marketing NGO’s. For my own part I will be taking a look at their online presence to see if I could pass along any tips or advice. At the end of the conversations the power (which had been rationed while we were there) was turned back on and we went back out to see the machines working in the factory. Finally however, it was time to say goodbye though and after a few group photos Wanja and Wangari drove us back to our hotel.

The Chujio Family Team

It was a very busy day with many different sights sounds and smells. I learned a great deal and am still processing it all today, nearly a week later.

Day Nine – Nuremberg

Day nine began early again as I chose to get up with Thore and head back to the Deutzendiech. Thore and I were going the same way so we walked together over to the museum.

On the way we stopped a bakery and got some pastries (this time it was considerably easier to order with my German speaking counterpart beside me) and continued on. Outside the shop though, Thore and I turned to each other and he said, ‘Did you see those girls in the shop checking us out?’ I agreed and told him how I was pretty surprised. My surprise surprised him, and after thinking for a second he asked, ‘Do guys seriously have to ask the girls out, never the other way around in North America?’ I informed him that yeah, it was pretty much guys who asked women out and rarely the opposite and he couldn’t believe it. He said that that seemed like ages and ages ago, back to a time when men were gentlemen and horses squired couples out to grand balls. We had a good laugh and pressed on to the Museum.

Arriving at the corner where our paths split up, Thore and I made plans to meet again after he was done work in two and a half hours (remember, he just finished his major project two days ago so there wasn’t much left to do) and I went off to see the Nazi museum. When I got to the museum, the Deutzendiech was completely overrun with schoolchildren and tour busses. I suppose that is to be expected but it still blew me away how many teenagers were milling about, in clearly defined social circles.

The entrance fee for the museum was 10.50 Euro but I had them knock it down to the student rate of 4.00 Euro which was another score for my Queen’s ID. The museum was streamlined into a prescribed path and the audio tour guide device worked really well, making it very easy to navigate and see everything that it had to offer. Inside, the majority of the museum was dedicated to the rise of Nazi power illustrating how Hitler had motivated the entire country into a state of fanatical devotion (well, if were weren’t devoted you would disappear) and only really touched on the combative part of the war near the end. It was really quite disturbing though, looking at all of the photographs taken from Nuremberg when the Nazis party was at its height. The places that I had been walking only the day before covered in swastikas, everyone cheering wildly for Hitler.

Thore and I had decided to meet up again in two and a half hours, but it really wasn’t enough time. I could have easily stayed in there for another hour, going through all of the extra bits of information that was available and sitting down for a few more of the movies that were playing at various locations. I ended up running out of time and I had to hurry along as I was going to be late to meet up with Thore.

Exiting the museum I went to the pre-arranged meeting location and Thore hadn’t made it just yet. We had however made the contingency place that if he was late I would go to the beer garden nearby and wait for him there. Finally, after shrugging off a number of beer gardens previously during the trip and the expensive mass (1 litre) beers cant came with them, I broke down and purchased a full liter of some locally crafted weisse beer. I was about halfway through mine before Thore showed up and he too enjoyed a pint with me. After enjoying the fine beer we headed back to the flat.

Back at the flat Thore had a bunch of school work to get done and I was pretty tired from getting up early and seeing the museum so I watched some TV with Alex and had a rather long nap in the afternoon.

When I finally did get up it was about time for dinner. Because it was our last night in Germany (Alex and I decided to head to the south of France the next morning) I asked Thore if he could think of something very typical of a Sunday dinner he would have with his family. He said he would ponder it, and we went off to search for food. Eventually while rummaging through the supermarket he did think of something and after finding all of the necessary items we went back to the flat to try and concoct a crazy meal.

I’ve lost the name of the dish, but I can describe it to you. The good news is that it included vegetables this time (pickles and onions), but also had both beef and pork. Basically, the dish was a pickle wrapped in bacon wrapped in a thin steak that had been tenderized and covered in mustard and spices. The super wrapped item (kind of like a German turducken, or the SNL Taco Town sketch) was held together with wooden skewers and then pan fried to sear the meat. lastly the ‘meat roll-ups’ were submerged in a large pot of premade gravy and onions to braised for two hours.

The result was soooo good. I realize that by now, you’ve got to be thinking, ‘did mike eat anything he didn’t love?’ the answer to that is yes, but it’s not likely to make it into the blog J. Our traditional meal was really really good, and is something that I will have to make again. Maybe I’ll introduce it to Ethiopia and it will be a big thing. Maybe....

After dinner was all done, it was quite late and instead of heading to a bar or out for the night we thought we would save our strength as we had a really long travel day down to the south of France the next day. However, near the end of the night I was feeling a bit pent up (having had such a long nap in the afternoon) so Thore and I ended up going for a walk just before midnight.

We sauntered off in the direction of the Duetzendiech but turned into a large park that backed onto a sizable lake which I suspect was another man made entity like the one behind the Duetzendiech. The park that went around the lake however was enjoyable and while it wasn’t lit up well, that was a bit of the draw to it. Naturally, a dimly lit park after midnight on a Friday night made me start to wonder if it was a safe decision to be out there. Thore allayed my fears though, explaining that while teenagers use parks to drink and have parties back in North America because they can’t go to bars, that simply isn’t a problem in Germany due to the lower drinking age. I was skeptical at first but after quite a long walk there really was nothing to worry about in the park.

We walked and chatted about GIS, masters programs, and life in general. It was a really good walk and I was happy to be out and walk around for a while. Eventually though, we headed back to the apartment and by 2am I was in bed. It was our last night in Nuremberg, and our last night in Germany until the very end of the trip. It was definitely my favorite night during the trip so far, and looking back (I’m writing this while on the way to Kenya more than two weeks later) I might even go so far as to say that it was the best night of the whole trip.

Day Eight – Nuremburg

On day eight I got up early with Thore and while he went off to work I headed into town in search of an internet Cafe where I could catch up of the happenings of the world and try to write up some of these blogs that were rapidly piling up! I found a pretty cheap internet cafe long my way into town although it would open for another hour or so I instead continued walking in until I found a bakery, bought a croissant and a coffee (I was getting pretty good with my broken German, for this part of the day at least) and then walked through the old town again, looking for a Saturn (German Best Buy) to see if they would have any cheaper memory cards for my camera that I could purchase.

It took a bit of searching but eventually I found the shop. It had begun to rain, so I was pretty happy to lurk around the store for a while and be out of the worst of the rainstorm (it rains a lot in Germany, btw).While I had high hopes that Germany would have better prices than back home on technological items, I was sadly mistaken. On all of the items that I chose to compare (going from memory) I found that everything was about the same price as back home, but in Euros. So much for getting cheap memory! In contrast though, I did find a bin full of 8 gig SD memory cards for shirt pocket cameras that were only 4.99 a piece! Eventually though I was bored of the shop and went back out into the rain to try to see some more of the town that we hadn’t gone to with Rebekah the previous day.

I found it to be a particularly interesting experience, walking though the old town. I say this because while the old parts of town in every city I had been in previously were the sole domain of shutter happy tourists (myself included) old Nuremburg was actually a fully functioning commercial area. Most of the people on the streets were in fact just ordinary citizens going about their business, they just happened to be working in buildings that were really old.

My wandering in the rain continued for some time and eventually led me back to the internet cafe I had pegged earlier (Via GPS) and I sat down and enjoyed two hours of the ‘net for two Euros.I managed to rip off one or two blogs (heh, blogging about blogging). My stomach started growling though by the end and I figured I should head back to let Alex know the plan that I had come up with earlier in the morning with Thore for the afternoon.

On the way back I stopped in at a Subway restaurant to grab some food (which was really quite expensive, and they only let you have one topping! Thus my sub consisted of Meatballs, Cheese and Lettuce) and as I was enjoying my rather simple lunch I saw Alex walking by on the street. I poked my head out of the shop and yelled to Alex and after she found the source of the shouting she came in and joined me. I let her in on the plans to meet Thore by a large Nazi museum after he finished work and then she and I set off in opposite directions – Her to check out more of the city and myself to head back to the flat.

Back in the apartment, Rebekah had to head out so she leant me had laptop and I looked up some of the possible places that we could go next on the EuroRail trains. After a bit of time Alex was back and it was time to go meet Thore out by the museum. Having looked up the trams that went out there earlier Alex and I were able to catch the right one pretty easily from right outside of the flat.

Arriving at the Museum, called the Duetzenriech, we waited for Thore to show up on his bike. He was a bit late getting out of work, and unfortunately because the museum was closing shortly we didn’t have enough time to go in. However, the location was situated on a large set of grounds that were pleasant to explore in the afternoon sun.

The campus, in true Hitler fashion, was grandiose in all measures. Used as a place to have massive party rallies and gatherings and had parade grounds, camping areas, a large manmade lake, a mock roman coliseum and a Zeppelin field to boot.

Walking around the sprawling grounds took well over an hour. One of the more interesting parts was the grandstands that were located on what is now the front stretch of the Nuremburg Racing Ring. Not to be confused with the very famous Nurnberg ring (where fast cars are tested and Formula 1 cars race), this race course is used for touring car championships. It was really odd, standing at the pulpit of the grandstand though, looking out over the parade grounds and into the Zeppelin fields. It was hard to imagine two hundred thousand people listening to you, women fawning over just the sight of you as if you were one of the beetles, and men waiting eagerly to go to war to fulfil your dreams. Even the brightest of sunny days can become spooky.

After finishing our walk about the grounds Alex and I caught the tram and Thore rode his bike back to the flat. Knowing that we would have arrived first Alex and I went up to the supermarket to grab some dinner. Alex, unsurprisingly went for a salad and I, also unsurprisingly, went for some German sausages and beer for Thore and I.

Back at the flat we cooked up our dinner, finished our beers and then went out into the old town to find a bar that Thore promised would have the very famous Banana-Weissen (he had been building it up for a couple days by now). Just like how we have desert ice wine in Canada, the Germans have desert beer. Essentially it is made up of a sweet weisse beer with a tin of banana juice poured in on top.Oh man, this is some seriously good beer. Not the kind you could have all day mind you, but for one serving it was amazing. If you are even in southern Germany, this is an absolute must. Seriously good beer.

We watched a bit or the Tour de France highlights while there too, and when the program was done the bar was closing down. We walked the long way home and headed to bed pretty quickly thereafter. Another splendid day in what was becoming my favourite country outside of Canada.

Day Seven – Nuremburg

While Thore had to get up at the crack of 7:30am for work at Siemens (where he was at work completing a project for his thesis), Alex and I chose to sleep in, catching up on all of the sleep that we had missed on the train we had taken the night before – as well as from two very long days of visiting Munich and Berlin. We in fact were so good at ‘catching up’ that we slept in until sometime later than 2pm!

Finally getting up though, we had showers (which required moving a skillet or two) and prepared for a light afternoon of visiting the old city with Thore’s roommate Rebekah.

Rebekah, a student from Hamburg, was happy to show us around and also glad that we were not actually dead as she feared. We walked into town which turned out to be a pretty short walk (maybe 10 mins) and passed under the fortification wall towards the castle.

The castle, circa 1000AD, was situated at the top of a humongous hill and given the rather warm weather we were debating it’s value climbing up. However, while we were initially skeptical, we were quickly turned around. Being so high the wind coming through the courtyard was really fantastic. Looking out from the top we could see the entire of the south side of the city. Our wonderful guide, Rebehak, informed us that the view of the other side of the castle, although requiring a bit more climbing, was even better and trusting her judgement this far we climbed on over.

Walking across the courtyard we saw numerous university students who had also made the climb up to the top of the castle just to read a book or study for a course at the local university. I very really envious, I must say, since Kingston (where I went to school) has no castles on top of hills with amazing vistas to look out from. But, rather than be sore about it I whipped out my camera and started shooting a few panoramic sets. I could have stayed up there for a long time I think, letting the cool breeze hit my face and looking out across the town. We didn’t stay too long though as there was a pub back down in the old city that Rebehak wanted to show us that produced it’s own beer.

Arriving at the brew pub, we sat out on the patio in between some century old fairy tale houses and I enjoyed a well crafted weisse beer. As for food, I asked Rebekah what I should go for and she wholeheartedly encouraged me to try the Schnitzel. I’ve got to say, the beer and food was really good. I thoroughly enjoyed both and a big thanks to Rebekah for pointing me to them! After we had finished our meals the three of us paid our bills and started back towards the apartment. Rebekah had to be home as she was expecting a customer to arrive to purchase a record (she has her own record label with many Metal bands signed on from a number of different countries) and also so that we could meet up with Thore who would be finishing up with work and looked forward to having a few beers to celebrate the end of a big project he was involved in at Siemens.

When Thore arrived home we went off to the supermarket and foraged for some grub as well as a few beers. As in Munster, I let Thore do all of the choosing on the beer front as I was sure that he would make some pretty good choices. He pointed me to some Rattler beer (beer with lemonade in it) and also to a noname brand. What I mean about noname brand is that it is a company which produced beer, but spends no money on advertising and has no brand name for the beer. There were two flavours to this beer, one that was allowed for export and another that could only be found within Germany. Naturally I didn’t want to discriminate, so we got one of each and went home to make our dinners.

I can’t quite recall what it was that Thore and I made up for dinner, but I do recall that it involved meat and little else. Either way it was pretty good and I think even Alex, who is a vegetarian, was a bit jealous. For the rest of the evening we enjoyed our beers and conversed about many more cross cultural elements, using the web to illustrate some of our points.

Alex, for her contribution from England, chose to show us some of the Mitchell and Web shorts from British TV, Thore pulled up some Klaus Safety Videos (search German Forklift Safety video in YouTube and be amazed) and I contributed Rick Mercer’s Talking to Americans. We all had a good laugh watching these videos and while Alex was having a side conversation with Rebehak, Thore and I swapped stories about all of the devious things that we had gotten up to as irresponsible teenagers.

It was quite remarkable, really. Although we were thousands of miles apart, our childhoods were quite similar! All across the world, it would seem, boys will be boys, fashioning potato canons, tearing around on bikes and generally being pretty rowdy.

This is how it went on for the remainder of the evening, chatting and enjoying one another’s company until it was time for bed. It wasn’t the busiest day we had, but I would say that it was really quite fun to just hang out!