The Thames River Walk by Night...

Of Tubes and Tarts

London. Land of Patrick Stewart and Noel Fielding. A European power. A place for two trollops to sully. So, the day began late. Real late. Like, mid-afternoon late. Apparently, when you go a day without sleeping and cross a continent during that day, it wipes you out a bit. As you can tell from the post below, Candace got a bit of the ol' insomnia and decided to update all y'all (proper plural of y'all, for those of you that don't know), but that little bout made it very difficult for her to be non-tired in the morning. I, myself, could sleep through a nuclear holocaust, so it makes sense that she couldn't get my lazy ass up.

Once we finally got going (in record time, I might add), we made our way to the bus so that we could get on the tube to go back to Camden. I love Camden, and was happy to spend another hour there just taking in the sights and the food and the surprisingly tasty mulled wine. I also love the tube. I love the bus. In fact, if I didn't know for a fact that I have not been high at all since we've been there, would be fairly certain that I am some sort of stoner, since I love

everything so fucking much.

So, following Camden Market, we made our way to the Hawley Arms, where I wanted to eat supper (even though we had already eaten Indian food in Camden, which, you guessed it, I loved with a passion akin to that of nuns for Jesus). We found the Hawley easily, but found that it was much too crowded to wait for a table. Didn't matter too much to me, since I was there only because the boys from the Boosh had been there. Saw their pic on the wall and left.

After a tube ride, we walked over to the London Eye. I was super pumped for the Eye, but

apparently it will be closed from January 11 - 20, so we couldn't go up. That would have been nice to know when we checked their, apparently, infrequently updated website. Assholes. Ah well, the Eye has been pushed back to a 'maybe' later on in the trip. We have to look at the itinerary book (yes, book) and see what can be moved. I can live without

seeing it, but, really, should I have to?

Finally, we walked down to see Millenium Bridge (which is supposedly quite the sight) and

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre. The Globe was closed, as we already knew, but we had a photoshoot and illegally obtained a shot of the scale model inside, so that was mission accomplished. As we sat outside (in the snow), we looked about for the Millenium Bridge, that wonder of modern architecture. Candace was adamant that we were basically right on top of it, but neither of us could see it. After a few minutes of looking around, we inclined our heads slightly left and saw this piddly little walking bridge, that looked like a mini suspension bridge. We were like, "There is no way in hell that THAT is the Millenium Bridge". It was. Once we stopped laughing, we decided that our best option was to cross that magnificent bridge to either the St. Paul's or Mansion House tube station. Lucky thing we did cross the bridge, because we got some pretty kick-ass photos on it. All was not for naught. Brilliant.

Not much else happened; we took some fun photos on the empty tube (including the 'Mind the Gap' signage, which always makes me think of a) Matt Good and b) Russell Brand), then headed back to Sara's flat for some pizza, chocolate, candy, and wine.

So, that was Day 2. Tomorrow will be our hardcore sightseeing day, which will culminate in some Middle Eastern food and shisha, followed by a viewing of Avenue Q at the Gielgud Theatre (Noel Fielding is supposed to be down the street at a comedy show that night, so let's all pray to God, Buddha, Allah, or L. Ron Hubbard that I can randomly spot him).

xoxo (what a fucking retar-tar sign off, I'm changing it)

Nanoo nanoo, bitches,

KDu

Defeated by Jet Lag...

It is currently 3:22am in London... ugh. We went to bed ~9pm, but for some reason I have awoken and can't get back to sleep. I'm sitting downstairs, somewhat freezing, wrapped in a fluffy blanket and listening to the drunk 20-something girls giggle as they stumble home.

The flight over to London was uneventful-- gin and rum filled, but uneventful. Kathleen's video screen gave the old college try, but in the end failed her in her effort to enjoy G-Force. Which, frankly, may be for the best as I might have ended our friendship over her watching that "film".

I would say the highlight of the flight, as with any good Air Canada segment, was the food. My supper was some sort of frozen egg-bread, a peas-and-unidentified-veggie salad (Kathleen tried it... couldn't decide if it was carrot, sweet potato or turnip) and a chicken in roasted red pepper sauce with penne. Not delicious (or really edible), but Kathleen got the real gem. She had ordered a diabetic meal, just to be careful, which apparently means everything is gluten free. Her roll felt like a stress ball and we marveled at how one could squeeze it and it would retain its shape. Her meal was chicken in mushroom sauce on basmati... which was actually rubber in brown goo on rice-shaped cardboard flakes. The goo is what got me... it was actually the consistency of slime.

"These mushrooms were freshly picked from the forest. They taste like dirt." - K. Du.

The line at Heathrow security was long, but only took half an hr to pass and then we were off on our very long tube ride. We arrived late, as our plane had been delayed 40mins for de-icing in Ottawa, but Sara waited for us at the tube station and I was so excited to be greeted by her gorgeous face upon arrival! She had waited about an hr in the freezing cold station, but it wasn't so bad-- the numerous attractive men helped her while away the time.

At this point something magical, and you may believe impossible, occurred- we were waiting outside for a taxi and only 4 or 5 passed by, all with people in them. One guy drove by and wouldn't stop... then, our of nowhere, a black cab driven by a lovely woman stopped and asked where we were going-- it was on her way, so she said she would give us a drive because we "looked cold". We found out that her car had had its windows smashed the night before and she had in general been having a stroke of poor luck, so she figured helping us out might turn her karma around. It was the NICEST thing. We were very cold, and appreciated the drive immensely. Then, to top it off, she wouldn't take any money for the trip, as she was going that way anyway. Seriously, this city is like any other-- can you picture NYC or Paris cab drivers giving you a break? It just doesn't happen. Welcome to London.

Sara's flat is lovely and TV-less--while this stressed K Du out, I quite like it. There is wireless if needed, but you can sit around and drink and talk...and there is no background noise. You do other things, because there isnt a TV to spend valuable time watching. I dont know that I could live without the potential of watching Mansbridge, but I like the idea.

We hit Camden Market tonight, for a couple hours. It was a little cold and, the bigger issue, we were tired. There are some artists there that paint (albeit in mass production) beautiful work and K Du and I both picked up a couple paintings. Sara is in heaven there, as they have so much vintage jewelry and clothing-- she is one of those effortlessly beautiful people with more character than most, who can pull off the fashionable looks most of us only dream of. I love the handmade crafty things and vintage silver, but I just look like some sort of yuppie hipster wannabe, so I stick to my basic essentials and leave the rest to the glam kids.

I have had love and hate affairs with Camden Market, but I do truly love it. There is a lot of repeat stuff and some garbage (particularly if you get off at Camden Town tube stop and have to walk down the street of trashy stores) but there are also some gems-- like my painters. I also love the food options-- there is Mexican, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Middle Eastern and, my fav, Indian, all in multiple stalls for 4pounds per meal. Mix and match what you want. We had some

sort of Indian chicken in a peanut-y coconut sauce that was basically the most amazing thing of life, and a

chocolate/banana crepe that surpassed all others I have ever eaten. We didn't spend enough time in the market, but may venture back tomorrow when we have a full day to tool around London. We were supposed to do a Grayline tour of Windsor, Bath and Stonehenge, but apparently everything is "closed" due to weather. Like, for real. We heard a woman complaining on her cell that it was snowing "quite hard" while we were in Camden Mkt-- the three Canadian girls looked around and noted some minor flurries, but it wasnt remotely storm-like. There is some ice here and a bit of ground snow, but it is very minor. People here are so unaccustomed to it though-- we head about one girl who commutes to London from an hr away, who emailed and said she may not be able to get to class because there is "a foot of snow" in her city. ONE foot. That would be my dream winter! Alas, to be fair, Britain and Britons are not really equipped to deal with snow at any level (evidenced by the lack of salt or sand on the icy sidewalks). It was a little cold tonight with the wind off the canal, but in general its about 0 degrees over here-- compared to the -15/20 Ottawa has been seeing, it's virtually tropical.

So, with the cancellation of Grayline, we now have extra time to spend in London and we are moving Stonehenge to another day at the end of the trip. Windsor might get missed, but I've been there and the state apartments are closed anyway--I'm sure we can find something else to do with our time.

Tomorrow will see the hunt for a SIM card-- I finally ditched Bell and their shoddy service and went to Rogers, so I have an unlocked GSM Blackberry waiting for a local SIM. I almost like not having a phone, but it will become increasingly difficult to plan anything without one. Sites and shows in Londontown for a couple days, then off to Amsterdam!

And it is now 3:52am. Le sigh.

xo from London,

C.

Chez Sara

We have made it to London! We are staying with Sara in her lovely flat, drinking wine and eating a large pizza that cost .99 pence at Sainsbury's. Best deal of life.

Will update soon!

xo from London,

Candace

Back to the motherland!

Wow... I really lost the blogging at the end of that Africa trip. After Alexandria, I was in Cairo, Luxor, Aswan, Abu Simbel, London...

Alas. I will endeavour to be more diligent in the future, mes amis.

After I got back from L'Afrique, I moved to Ottawa for work (or, rather, to live with my bff Mepa and hunt for a job). Since then, I've only done some little trips to Toronto, Pittsburgh, Washington D.C. and back to New Brunswick for the holidays. Maybe that isn't bad for Aug-Dec, but I feel I have been in the same place for too long. Time for a vacation!

Tomorrow I am headed to London with une autre bff Kathleen, who is pretty excited to leave this continent. We will be in London, Amsterdam, Bruges and Paris one week, and Edinburgh, Galway, Dublin and whatever travel time we spend in Wales the next. All in all, 15 days of mid-January vacation with lots of rarely-seen friends along the way. Usually, this is a great time to hit London and Paris (I was there last year), but with this freak cold/snow snap, I'm not sure what to expect. That said, I'm a Canadian, dammit! A little snow will not dissuade me from an adventure!

As per, I shall update as I go!

xo from Ottawa,

C

Alexandria!

The hotel was great, but time to leave. After Shaloo got in, we moved to my friend Leanne’s house for a couple nights. It was nice to get somewhere and just relax and have a house. And a washing machine. I did 6 loads of laundry and hung it to dry on a rack—my clothes haven’t been clean in 3 weeks. We discovered that you can order takeout online here for a nominal fee (1-2$ delivery charge) from about 100 locations, so we got falafel and Hardees for lunch and delicious Pizza Hut for supper. I played some Mario Kart, which I’m crap at, and just enjoyed the house and catching up with Leanne for the night.

The next day came at 5:50am. We had to go to the Canadian Embassy for a little passport snafu. I figured no one could be less efficient than Passport Canada IN Canada, but I was wrong. We sat in the lobby with a bunch of people who had Canadian Visitor tags on—presumably, those who are trying to come to Canada. When we finally got into the consulate, they were totally unhelpful and sent us away to get other documents and pictures together. Since it was 9am and we had

plans, we said screw it and will try again at a real embassy—the one in London.

9am was a hastily planned tour to Alexandria for the day. It’s 220 km to Alex from Cairo, but the roads aren’t fast, so its 3-4 hrs. We stopped at a lovely coffee shop, Shaloo’s first proper coffee experience in months, and finally arrived in Alex around noon. Alexandria is described as the “greatest historical city with the least to show for it,” because it has been destroyed so many times throughout the ages. It was founded by Alexander the Great (proper city name is Al Iskendariyya), and was the seat of Cleopatra’s throne. It was once a thriving metropolis, but Christian and Muslim wars destroyed much of the metropolis— and with the Muslim conquest moving the capital to Cairo, the city was left obscure for centuries.

We first visited the Catacombs of Kom Ash-Shuqqafa when we hit the city (construction: 2^nd

century AD). This ancient Roman burial site was discovered when a donkey pulling a chariot fell through the ground in 1900. It’s a pretty impressive, and famous, burial site—the catacombs consist of three tiers of tombs and chambers cut into bedrock at a depth is 35 meters. You enter down a spiral staircase of 99 steps, and it’s a very interesting, eerie place. There are chambers for bodies, a library for holy books, a dining hall for family members… when they discovered the catacombs there were mounds of broken dishes in this area. Apparently, it was customary to eat in the catacomb and then break the dishes on the floor. A very interesting place, but no pictures allowed.

We next hit Pompey’s Pillar and the Serapeum, erected in 291 AD. This is a giant 30 m pillar, left standing at the ruins of the Temple of Serapeum, is one of the major attractions in Alexandria. The Temple housed all the overflow books from the famous library of Alexandria, and was destroyed in 391 AD by Christians—in an assault against Pagan intellectuals.

We next went to the Roman Ampitheatre, but there wasn’t enough to see to make it worth paying for. The sites in Alex are interesting, but there is so little left of them. This on is 13 marble terraces, and used to be a park in Ptolemaic times.

It was well after lunch time, but we had little time left to see everything—so we headed to Fort Qaitbey. This fort, which looks like a castle, is nestled on the Mediterranean and offers amazing city views. It was built in 1480 on the site of the original Pharos lighthouse (one of the original wonders of the world, destroyed by earthquake). It was cool to see, but I think we were more of a tourist attraction than the site itself. Our guide explained that most of the people there weren’t from Alex, but from villages and towns where foreigners don’t generally travel. So, to them we

were something only seen on a television. We took no less than 30 pictures with people, and a couple overly-aggressive guys got a little irritating by the end. But, we got to see the city from a whole new angle. After this long run of sites, I was ready for a few liters of water and a nap.

We had a quick lunch at a French-Middle Eastern fusion place—the falafel was delish. I’ve decided I might just eat falafel every day for the remainder of the trip. I got my giant bottle of water, and we were off for our last site—the Library of Alexandria (Bibliotheca Alexandrina). The original library was founded in the late 3^rd century, and aimed to have one copy of every published work on earth within its walls. When ships came to harbour, they were searched for any books—and anything found was confiscated and hastily copied. Alexandria was an information repository, and the destruction of knowledge in Alex led to the Dark Ages. The original library was destroyed, either by Julius Caesar or early Christians. The new library has space for 8 million books, and it a multi-floor, vast collection.

We hit the road again for Cairo—I slept through the entire drive. We stopped at the Papyrus museum when we got back, where a nice man showed us the papyrus making process and harassed us to buy something. I actually did, as I thought the art was really interesting. A small-ish sized piece was about $40, so I got one with the Egyptian Calendar on it. We thought we were heading home, but instead we hit a small bar for a drink and a shisha. Most people are familiar with shisha—it’s a flavoured tobacco water pipe thing that everyone smokes here—every man, I should say. We each tested out a different flavour, and hit the road back to Leanne’s. This is where the fun really began. The driver dropped the guide off on the highway, as it was closer to his house. He was supposed to take us home and we’d pay him and all would be well—which would have worked out if he had any idea where he was going. After a series of phone calls, questions to randoms and some stopping to walk around the road and smoke a cigarette, we found our house. About 2 hrs after we began the hunt. All in all, it was an interesting day and a good start to Egypt. I needed to acclimatize to the heat a bit, as I’ve been living in A/C, and prepare myself to see les Pyramids! That happens tonight….we’re going to the (supposedly cheesy) Sound & Light Show at Giza—stupid as it may be, I can’t wait! Yay for tacky tourism.

A discourse on difference.

First, I apologize for this blog post. I know it is made up of only half formed ideas and reflections, and maybe I will make something of it later tonight. But, here we go.

I'm getting ready to leave my hotel and head to a friend's house for a couple nights, but I thought I would address something. When I started plans to come to Egypt, and continually since I made them, people have reacted the same way--excitement about the pyramids, and fear about terrorism. When people would ask me, "Aren't you afraid of terrorism? Americans get attacked there..." I would always give a reassuring laugh and say that everything would be fine. But, I would be lying to say that it hadn't crossed my mind. There are bombings in Cairo sometimes, and as an Islamic country it gets lumped in with most Muslim nations, inciting thoughts of extremism and fear in the west. I'm not saying that it is totally safe here, but it is no less safe than any major European city. Cairo is cosmopolitan-- there is everything here you could ever want. The people are generally friendly, though in my experience little English is spoken outside of tourist/expat locations. I went shopping and found all western clothes, an Aldo, and a Johnny Rocket restaurant. I saw couples, the unmarried type, laughing, holding hands, and kissing on cheeks in public. Sure, many people are religious and dress in a certain way, but they're the same as anyone else. That is the overarching thing I've learned from the places I've visited-- people are truly the same everywhere. There are cultural differences and sensitivities which are unique to specific places, but people are the same. Everyone wants life, love, and happiness. Most people are kind. I believe that most people are good. There is extremism all over the world--we have extremist evangelicalism, and there is extremist Islam as well. But on the whole, people are peaceful and violence and hatred are universally denounced.

I was reading the Egyptian Gazette this morning, and two front page stories caught my eye. First, Oman al-Bashir is in town. The Sudanese President is supported by the Egyptian government, despite being accused of genocide in Darfur by the International Criminal Court. The article showed him with the President of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, decorating newly graduated police officers and talked about Egypt's interest in peace in Darfur. The word genocide was only used once, when describing what the ICC had accused al-Bashir of. It was a strange article to me, as I see al-Bashir so differently from how he is portrayed here.

The other article of interest was "Call for concerted efforts against Islamophobia". In this story, an Islamic woman was stabbed to death in a German appeal court while present to testify against a Polish-German man who had been convicted of calling her a terrorist. She was on a playground with her children, wearing a headscarf at the time of the incident. He received a fine for the racial slur. At the appeal, her husband tried to protect her and also received a few stab wounds. Compounding this was a German police officer, who presumed the Muslim husband had started the fight and shot him in the leg. This story is absolutely insane and horrific, but has not brought about intense anger in Germany. The article asks what "the reaction would have been in Germany had she been Jewish". People here are aware that the rest of the world sees Muslims as terrorists and dangerous people—but it is illogical to assume that everyone from an entire religion practices the worst perversions of those beliefs. And those that do are not just Muslim. For example, Fred Phelps is a psychological terrorist in my opinion. There are many ways to pervert a religion to reach a violent goal, but I don’t believe that’s the point of religion. And I believe most people in the world would agree on that.

Cairo!

I've arrived in Cairo!

The flight was lonnnnnng... on the flight from Addis Ababa I met two awesome American girls who had just lived my African nightmare. They were teaching in a village in middle of nowhere Ethiopia, and were taken from their homes at gunpoint by the government in the night. They were illegally detained and held without cause for 3 days, without being allowed to speak with their embassy or families. No one knew where they were. The Embassy was searching for them, and when they found the students the Ethiopians had already issues a deportation order. They had been held for 55hrs in total, and were put on my flight from a detention room in the airport at the last minute. We were all pretty hungry so we asked for crackers--and got these gem Ethiopian Jets ones...little airplane crackers. I'm aiming to not complain about anything ever again, as I can't imagine living through what these girls did.

Cairo was the best airport experience of life. I've heard horror stories about this place, but I came in at 2:30 am and my friend Leanne organized a car for me. I walked into the airport, and a guy had my name on a card. I went to him, and he filled out all my forms in Arabic and I gave him my passport and just followed him around. He got my visa in 30 seconds and we went through immigration in 60. I wasn't even asked a question. Not one. Just walked though. He carried my bag too. We got to the door and he shook my hand, and handed me off to Khalid, the driver. Khalid took me to a sleek black Mercedes and I just relished the bit of luxury. For the next 30 mins we drove down beautiful roads--the first relaxing vehicular experience in awhile! I stayed in the Heliopolis area at an Intercontinental, which is one of the best hotels ever. They were super nice to me, gave me a late check out, free internet and breakfast...pretty much everything I wanted. I didn't realize til today, Sunday morning, that there is an amazing mall and movie theatre attached! I went on a little shopping trip and picked up a few shirts... I wanted more but it seemed like a poor choice.

I discovered tonight, when I went down for supper menus, that there is a post-work reception in the lobby every night from Sun-Thurs. This reception features free food (WOO!) and drinks...including wine and beer. I snacked on pita and falafel, and ordered fries off the kids menu while watching The Fugitive tonight. It's been a pretty chill night, which I loved. And needed, I think. My only complaint? The hotel room reading. The most recent issue of Egypt Today is laid out for visitors to peruse-- though, I don't think the headline is particularly tourism-encouraging!

Tomorrow Shaloo gets into Cairo, and we start checking out the country. We have to make a, hopefully quick, embassy visit and will head to Alexandria to start the adventure! Can't wait!

Leaving Kigali - A Sad Day.

What a day.

For lunch, we met with one of my favourite people in the world, Eloge. Eloge is a survivor, and I blogged about him early on—the first thing we did when we arrived in Rwanda was to attend a memorial service for his father. We talked about the program, and Eloge told us how impressed he was and how much he believed in us. He’s really part of the team, so it didn’t need to be said—but there’s something about approval from this guy that just makes your day perfect. As always, he gave a little impromptu speech that made everyone cry, but was uplifting at the same time. I don’t know what I believe in religiously—its come up a lot in this country—but I know that when I sit with Eloge I see all the best things the world has to offer. Whatever God is, it shines through him. I know he will change the world.

We also had a little cry with Faustin, our “guide”/BFF. We thanked him for everything he did for us, and he made a little speech. He said he has no family, and he has been searching for someone to be his sister. He took Sara’s hand, and said he had been waiting for her— to be his family. He is getting married to his beloved “bebe”, and he always thought she deserved a sister—Sara is that woman. SO sweet. He told me that I was tranquil and said everything with my eyes—and that I had the qualities of a leader. I countered that if he remembered my RDB experience, I certainly wasn’t always tranquil haha… but I think I was quieter around Faustin because he was always explaining things in French and my mind isn’t fast enough to translate and make informed commentary before he went on to the next thing. I generally understood him, but translating took me too long!

Sara’s mom took us all out to Heaven, an amazing expat restaurant. We had, hands down, the best meal in Africa. Sara even got a free little cake and birthday song—the humiliating type where 10 people come out of the kitchen singing and bring a little cake with a candle. The best part was they set it in front of me, so I got the abject humiliation while I tried to tell them to move the thing to her.

Alas. Today is the end of Kigali, for now. I woke up to WATER for the first time in 4 days, and despite its freezing-ness, I had the best 20 min shower ever. You appreciate everything much more here. A cold shower is far, far better than no shower. Richard, one of the survivors we met along the week, stopped by the house to visit this morning. He just wanted to say goodbye. So sweet of him. Everyone has been very welcoming and wants us to come back as soon as we can. I think they would keep us here if they could! The generosity is astounding.

Everyone else if off to a wedding tonight. They’re going to get traditional African clothes today. I’m at the airport right now, in Kigali, waiting to fly to Cairo…via Addis Ababa and Khartoum. Trying not to think about that second one.

I love my new gorilla pen.

Efficiency may not be a strong point here, but at least things get done. I last wrote about how I was supposed to get my money back from the tourism office for my lack of Gorilla trekking. Well, it was supposed to happen before noon on Thursday (the day I left, or so I told them), but did not occur. So, I went back in on Friday with a look of death in my eyes. The man I was dealing with, Faustin, was slightly scared and invited me to sit down. He called the travel agent, who was trying to keep my money, to come in and bring me cash or she would be suspended. While we were waiting for her to arrive, he gave me some handmade Rwandan baskets and a…gorilla pen. With a whistle. Then he asked me what I was going to tell Canadians about Rwanda. He was very concerned it wouldn’t be positive. Then he asked if I was single.

Eventually, the chick showed up and gave me my money back, in cash form. No bank transfer required, and I’m heading to Egypt with real money as opposed to an ATM card and a hefty load of hope.

We split up a little recently—mostly, I split off from the group. The others went to church with Faustin, our guide. I wasn’t feeling it (which was good, as it was super Evangelical with people speaking in tongues) so I bailed and went to Bourbon Coffee, the expat Starbucks with free wireless internet. I met up with Sara’s mother’s group, randomly (there is also a group of 30 Canadian educators here, mostly from Ontario) and we headed over to Hotel des Mille Collines (Hotel Rwanda) for a drink. Mmm drink.

Another great Bourbon Coffee experience occurred the next day—when we met a survivor at the UTC. I had been put in touch with this gentleman by an acquaintance who said he was incredible, and someone I definitely have to meet. Without knowing anything at all about him, I felt like we should try and meet—and was it ever worth it. He’s an incredible young man, only 29, who is working for an organization that does education and promotes peace and understanding in schools. We learned that Rwanda doesn’t actually teach Rwandan history—not modern history, that is. It is difficult to teach and not pit students against each other, but there is also no denying historical fact. Patrick, the survivor, also told us a bit about his life and of his dream to help other survivors. He used to play on the hills of Kibuye and herd cows with his grandfather, who used to tell him marvelous stories. He was a city boy, but was always happiest there and didn’t want to leave. His grandfather was well respected and known, but rivals sent the Interhamwe after him and he was killed on the hillside while herding his cows. His grandfather had even given Patrick a cow, and he hoped to find at least that one—unfortunately, it had been killed an eaten by the Interhamwe—who stole all of his grandfather’s cows and buried him on the hillside. His dream is to someday build a house on that land and buy a herd of cows—so that survivors can live there and be given another chance. Truly an incredible guy.

Tonight was Sara’s bday—I won’t say what age because she’s sensitive about it—and we took her out to dinner at a fantastic restaurant with a strange name. AMAZING pizza. Don’t make any comments about the food choice- I’ve been eating a lot of beans and rice and it was a welcome change!

C’est tout for now—leaving very soon. Not quite ready to say goodbye to this country!