Pictures from Zanzibar

Back in Muheza

This is the after shot of my first major wipeout on the bike. As Sefu called that I am now black. Many major cuts all over my body. I feel I got away un scathed and I was laughing 5 minutes later. Sefu lately has been riding with us and taking some enjoyment of it. We have our usual loop that he has done 5-6 times and on the occasion we will do our long loop which involves a 10 minute no peadleing segment which he and I love to race.
Julliette was booged down with cloths from our 8 day Zanzibar trip. The laundry basket was overflowing. Having left the flash drive in the pockets of my shorts I realized that that was now in the wash. Quick moements saved the fob and all the documents on it. It didn’t quite get fully water drenched so it was easily savable and was then tested on the big computer at the hospital because if any computer here is going to need some reason for replacement it is that one.
We have now become somewhat into Turkey and Bike Trip planning. With the help of google maps we got down some distances and starting to give others who might join us some idea of where we are going to be. The route is slowly taking shape and google maps may tell us that the highway is fastest but that is not really what we are looking for.
Zanzibar finished with a bang. A 2 and a half hour truck/daladala ride with at least 30 people meant that there was some amount of money being handed over at the police stops. The classic moment was when our little truck licenced to carry 20 drove past a larger bus licencedto carry 30 when we had 30 oursleves. Met some Solvakian volunteers who were just finishing there time in Uganda doing teaching about “good” agriculture with the aspects of composting, no deforestation and land consevation. They were saying a lot of the same stuff about time that we say in the sense of they were there for 6 months and it took 3 months to get the compost up and running. First just apile of waste, then a hole with garbage and yard waste and so on. We got there email and wl contact them again.
We are back to our usual routine of Math, and English. Brain needs a refresher from not doing it for a week. Nice to be back in Muheza. Will post again soon
G

Merry Merry From Zanzibar

It is seeming that a lot of my blogs are starting with ``it has been a long time since I have posted'' which it has. We are in Zanzibar for Christmas on a postcard perfect sandy beach. Yes the postcards dont lie. Lately the weather has been overcast here on Zanzibar but a couple of days it has been in the high 30s to low 40s. Dad and Mom found Stone Town a little to "lonely planetyyy" for them and I aggree it was alittle over the top. With people hassling you almost every time you step out the door it got a little much. It took until the thrid day to figure out the meal thing with us paying 40 the first night, 22 the second night and 8 the last night. Mom and Dad have satified there coffee need with two latte's from the Zanzibar Coffee House and a expresso from on the street. Our hotel was the Flamingo in which was a little our from tourist ville and had tons of tiny streets near to go exploring. We found that there was one alley that was the true tourist hot spot with all the gifts and souviners at your finger tips. We rode a converted truck out to the beach. It is like a small pick-up truck are staying with a roof and bench seets. We are staying at the Red-Monkey Bungalows which is true to his name with enough Monkeys for it to be able to be a consevation site for the Red Monkey which is endangered. It is quite nice with a massive sand bar and swimming. The tide is the only problem beacuase whzen it goes out it goes out and it is only in for a short period of time. We have found ways around that with us walking out on the sand bar before diving in. Tons of creatures to see and just today I saw a mini squid shot out black ink beacuse i spooked him.
Muheza seemed ok when we left. We took the worlds fastest Daladala out to the airüpport which left almost immediatly which is very unusual. The pilot of the plane was from sidney. Yes sidney BC and he reconiced my Canucks Tshirt. He said he remembered Tanners Book Shop and all that. That was quite funny. The Amos family (Ben and Sally) had all come down with a cold just after there safari in the serengetti which brought back many great stories from Maxee (4) and Zacha (7). Now that we have left it looks like Alex has cuaght the cold to so we left at a very good time. Sunday night Catan carrys on as usual with the medical students. Now that we have just recieved Seafarers(another extension) we will be even more popular. I have just started to work and give my input on the Teule website and school is already going to be back in 2 weeks. ahh. Mom is back from Canada which as you all know happened a while ago but I am just that slow on the posts. Another AT news will be sent to rose soon and a christmas special plus pics whn i get around to it. I will hopefully write again soon. Merry Merry again and Happy New Year. Love to all. G

Things in and around Muheza

In the case of the punch buggy I got everyone on no punch backs. Simon was to busy taking photos of the car so I have to give him credit for the photo and Mom and Dad just don’t have the cat like reflexes like I do but I have to admit we are were a little late to start having not done it in a while.
We are just returning from a day in Tanga where Mom and Dad were on rounds at Bombo so Sy and I were off to our usual Mkonge rotation of Breakfast, Soka on TV and Schoolwork. We for the first time got to watch a Champions League game from start to finish. The first one was Lyon vs. Berlin in the champion’s league and arsenal vs. fc Porto also a champion’s league game.
As you can tell Mom is now back Jet lagged see was but is now getting back into the sort of routine. We had a 4-day weekend because of a Muslim holiday and Independence Day so that came a t a perfect time. She has brought back tons of reading material so none of us have been talking to each other at all over the last week.
I hate to tell yah this but I am already bored of being out of school. It was just starting to get to be a part of my daily routine when it ended. I will just put it out there that it is not fun with a bugging brother, relatively easy but sometimes challenging math, heat and 6 weeks with no summer camps. I now it sounds fun but I found that after the first week or so I was deadly bored. I know I know it sounds unreal but it is true.
Mangoes and Plums are now ripe and it looks like carrots and cucumbers are going out of season. Bananas are still going strong as I like to say as well as tomatoes, onions etc.
For all of you corresponding with L and A we are having serious problems with the downloading of emails. And no we have not just fallen off the map. I am trying very hard to fix it all as it is very slow and Ben is away in the Serengeti so there is no real computer technician to speed it up. We are really bummed about this and we will try to stay in touch.
There seems to be water rationing going on in Muheza as we cant tell but from the schedule, which is in Swahili, we either have water on Tues. and thurs or no water on those days and just to throw in another problem our water pump was on its last days and choose the best time to give out so we even f we had water had no water which caused great hassle and the using of the dreaded shower bag just to keep cool. Thankfully the fixing process took less then 30 min when we finally had someone go out and buy the new pump but all together it could have been a lot longer.
We are now starting to get a steady stream of letters and snail mail and now just before Christmas Parcels. Keep up the good work on the mailing front. It looks like most things from NA are about 2 weeks.
Anyway that pretty much summed up what we have been doing lately. Christmas is coming and you wouldn’t know it here. Ha-ha
g

A.T. News

Fun in the Sun in Dar

With us just back from a great weekend in Dar and Alex and Emily cleaning and fixing up there new house things were a little crazed when we got home. We had a wonderful time in Dar and the match was great with Tanzania winning 3-1 over Sudan. There was a great atmosphere when they scored but when Sudan scored you wouldn’t have known only that the ref brought the ball back to center. The crowd just did nothing. Not even a boo. Dad says his meetings in Dar were worthwhile but we might need to go back later with Mom but he received all the necessary emails and numbers to get at least an application in to get morphine at Bombo (Tanga’s Main Hospital). We had a couple brutal cab rides especially the one back a forth from the TFDA (Tanzania Food and Drug Agency) which seemed to be in the middle of nowhere and was a half and hour drive or more both ways. We tipped heavily on that ride. We had some very good meals and then some not so good meals. We found this amazing restaurant just around the corner from out hotel that had rice, chicken, mutton, samosa and sodas fro lunch and chicken and chips with some pastries for dinner. It had a little bit of every thing that would please us all. The dinner at the hotel was good but expensive so we only ate there on the first night when we were exhausted and didn’t want to walk around. The breakfast was a minute omelet, 2 slices of toast, a banana (on good days) and your choice of jam or blue band from the tiny selection that is scraped on to your plate that when spread very well could not cover more than a quarter of the toast. Our room had 3 single beds a bathroom, AC and a fan, which was really, all we needed accept my Dad really wanted a TV, which we didn’t have.
With school out for six weeks we are going to get very bored thinking of all you back at home struggling through a day of school while we lounge around. I don’t think it is going to be like that for us. We will be doing our home school package that we brought so don’t worry about us not having something to do and no, J7asper we don’t need some of your homework.
Our internet has been own so I don’t know when I will get this finally up but hopefully soon and I will post again soon.
G

A Walk in The Woods

The mosquitoes may have been bad but with what we saw it was well worth the the bug dope. The sights were amazing on the “chameleon walk” with us seeing massive grasshoppers the size of our hands and little tree frogs hidden so well beneath the leaves but best of all was the chameleons!! They came in all shapes and sizes with the colors sadly staying the same but people say that it takes a good while for the color to change.
A group of us meet at the Amani headquarters at about 8:30. Dad , Sy and I. Alex , Emily and the two Irish girls who had just finished teaching at Holy Family Primary School. The seven of us had high hopes for this walk and we were ready to see sights that made the $30 entry fee worth while (We only had to pay 5000 shillings or $5 because of our residence permits but the Irish girls had to pay full). We meet our two guides who know this stuff like the back of there and which makes us all walk a little easier. All of us “Americanized” folk with our 6 bulb super LED lamp and them with a light hardly right at all and they are the ones who can find these magical beasts.
We, sorry The Guides, spot the first Chameleon. A pigmy chameleon standing very still on a branch. We found out that once something a whole lot bigger then them approaches them their only tactic for survival si to stand very still and not move. This one was very small and its eyes ooo it eyes were very cool. They are almost a little eye on the end of a funnel they are very neat to look in close at.
With these creatures standing amazingly still it made it quite easy to get in close and “check them out.” The guides would even break off the stick that they were on to bring it close for us to see and then out it back very gently. It was very good we had these guides because first of all we would not have known our way and wouldn’t have had a clue what to look for and these guys knew.
Now it is back to the campsite for a nice long sleep because I can tell we are all so tired but again it was well worth it.
g

Internet

The hospital is having major internet problems
Right Now i am up at a internet cafe
no idea when it will be back up
they are doing a complete refitting
g

Movie

My movie is on the bottom of my blog
for those who want to see it.
g

After A Hard Days Cycle

From Amani

We have just got back from an awesome weekend at Amani Nature Reserve. We stayed at this campsite way up on the top of a cliff. We did a lot of walks in and around it and then a night walk on Saturday night where we saw camelons, large crickets, stickbugs and tree frogs. It was very cool to look in close at a chaemelons. Alex and Emily’s tent is in worse condition then it was in Peponi. Two poles have now broken. We only ate dinner at the lodge and brought up all our own fixings from breakfast and lunch. The two Irish girls stayed down in Amani village at the rest house there. They then met us for the night walk. The road up was not as bad as first though and our residence permits saved us $85!!!! We only ahd to spend 5000 shillings instead of $30 each person.
We have a Catan game scheduled for 7:30 tonight with the medical students for our usual Sunday night Catan. Mom has arrived safely in Toronto and has now visited her Dad. We will send usdates as we get them.
Just a little one for now
Talk soon.
g

Lots of News

Having not blogged for many day lots of new has come upon. Mom is leaving tomorrow, being Thurs, to head back to Toronto to visit her Dad who is in hospital with a broken hip and complications. We are all going to Tanga tomorrow so she can fly down to Dar and then fly KLM home. Many thanks to Sal and Rose who made this possible my finding the flight and booking it. What would we do with out them!!! She will be gone for what looks to be about 10 days to 2 weeks. In that time we will have gone to Amani Nature Reserve, Sudan vs Tanzania at the big field in Dar and most likely a couple hundred Catan games.
Our weekly Catan game with the medical students is going well. I was very close to winning last week but one of them is a Catan expert and has won both weeks. Now that Rose is home she has clarified many rules from Catan.com. I don’t know if she has started to play online yet at playcatan.com. Haha.
Just finished week of exams at school with Sy and I only having to write the English and otherwise just helping Sister G with odd jobs. Our marble skills have plumted. We have lost something around 50 marbles and counting. It is a good thing it is only 2 cents a marble. Mom went into Tanga last week and bought a used bike like Sal and Rose’s so she can actually have some left over energy after the short ride. She likes her new bike and now we fly all around on them except we are still suck on getting up the hills which is going to take some time!!!!
Hope you like the pics I was finally able to get up on the blog. It took some definite re-sizing to very small pics, but fro m what I can tell they aren’t half bad. If you saw my very short blog I said that I has figured out the computer problems which was just a small problem that was right under my nose. Almost had to call Graham in Ottawa but solved it a good hour before our scheduled calling time. I am very proud of myself.
Really gotten into reading here with all my extra time. Just finished my fifth book so far. The first book I read really challenged my reading and excelled me ahead once completed.
The Swahili, ah yes, the Swahili I didn’t realize how hard a new language is to learn and we all agree that if could do one thing differently in that last year it would be to have learned just some of the basic Swahili before coming here. It is just the pronouctation that has got me stuck but I am slowly pushing my way through the teach yourself Swahili which I was doing in school before this week.
My movie has made it on to the website but has not won yet. I you want to see it go to www.guardian.co.uk/canonfreecording and it is under the more movies section. Don’t let the little blurp about it fool you. The only reason it says Graham was because I am not 18 and I am not a resident of England. Since he is older then 18 and used to live in England he put his name in the entry form. It is also on youtube under Guardian Movie Entry. Hope you can find it.
We are getting a new fridge which is big news around here but my not be as big back home. The only reason I am saying this is because of me self urge to fill up and entire page of a word doucument so you proble don’t need to liten to the next new but I guess I am out of something to tell you so I will just sit here and keep you reading till I sign out and say goodbye. G

Computer Problems

I think I have fixed the computer problems. And this is very big because I did it without the help of Graham. I am so proud of myself. G

This is just getting ridiculous

Even more Pics

Here is some more pics

Finally a picture maybe more to come

hope you enjoy your one pic
g

internet is very slow so posts will be limited
computer not connecting any more
bye
g

Photo Post From, Ontario!

Hey everyone check out a photo post below!!


http://ambleahgriffinsy.blogspot.com/2008/11/photo-post-from-ontario.html

And a video post below!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSbGVJtdagM

hey all

A big congratulations to Barack Obama for his us election win. This will really change the world having a African-American President. We are reading a history book out loud that has all the history about the slave trade and the first settlements in Africa and now there is a Black President of The United States of America. Wow the world has come a long way.
Sally and Rose leave tomorrow. So we are all going I to Tanga for the day and then we are staying the night at a hoteli. Today was Rose’s final day of teaching at the school and Sister Gwyneth gave her and Sally a map of Africa carved on a slab of Banana tree. Their final week has gone so fast with my parents in Tanga and us up and down to school everyday. Good time to have a three day weekend.
Graham should be posting some photos on the blogs son. Hopefully! We just sent him the passwords so any day now.
School is getting more and more boring. We write are exams on Thursday of next week. That should be interesting. I might be helping Sister with the laptops and maybe even running some little practice times so that the kids don’t lose touch of the skills. I now can’t wait to ride S and R’s bike everyday since it is so much better and so quiet. I am making new friends at school and playing tons of marbles. This week was a rather bad week or a up and down because you never know how you are going to do.
Sal and Rose have now left That just shows you how long it takes to right a blog. We had a very nice visit with them, but just the same it is very sad to see them go. I guess now all those guys in Victoria will hear some great stories. They right now are in Zanibar and will be until Wednesday before they head home.
We have now received two pieces of mail!!!! One from the Victoria clan at Thanksgiving and one from Rachel (Rose’s daughter) in Korea. Please keep them coming. We figure that it seems to take about 2 weeks form Canada and some where around that from Korea.
I have a massive sunburn from being at the Mkonge with Sally and Rose on Friday. The doxychycln makes your skin more sensitive to the sun so I am much easier to burn. That really sucks.
I will talk again soon.
griff

Hello All

School has changed from "fine" to "boring." What can i say. I am doing all my own work and reading in class. We write are school exams on Thrusday if next week. So those might be interesting.
It is now quite hot here and hit 40c last week. And the worst part is it is still going to get hotter.
I will do a longer blog later
got to run
g

Happy Halloween ( you couldn't tell it here)

Hello everyone
happy hallowen
i hope candy is saved for me
g

Happy Halloween ( you couldn't tell it here)

At times I feel it is good that I am having a very easy time at school or I would be very tired at the the end of a week. I know that it is not the end of the week yet but as I sit here sewing together my Halloween costume I think how these people go there entire life with out collecting candy for a full day and then finally fishing it all weeks later. I know it is such a “Americanized” thing but I am struggling not to be able to do it this year. NOT! It is always good to take a break from something you love eve if it is Halloween. Any way. All the really big news is I saw bug with a cool diesign on the back and that is really all I have done. NOT again!
Lets see the big news is Amb finally won his first Catan game after what seems to be like 50 games. Mom comment that this was just like poker got a little to personal. Haha. Sy and I seem to be coming home with lots more marbles them when we lleft for school which in the scheme of things is a good thing. I hope. We have tabs for kids who owe us marbles. Can’t get ripped off. I finished my entry movie and sent it off with graham so hopefully he will enter it with his Potters Bar address that he got when he was on his gap year to enter it. Cross your fingers. Can’t get my hopes up though. It was fun to do anyway.
Graham showed us some faster ways to get internet and that has worked quite well. We are now able to connect quite frequently. Thank god. I love the market here. It has a great atmosphere. It is just lovely to be in.
I bet now by the timwe I post this it will be Halloween. Ooooooohhhhhh
Later. g

More info about me

Hello All you who read my blog.
Rose and I have been talking about our blogging saying that when you are typing your blog it is like a private diary that you just go let out to the world. Funny that. We have bogged down the cloths fundi (mechanic) over the past few days with Graham and his stuff for Leslie and all of Momís and Rose Pants. I got Pin striped pants in the market and I am getting them turned up on the bottom. I am picking up Swahili pretty fast. I have an ear for the numbers and I am doing my own Swahili in class. Rose has been uploading lower quality pictures, so I will start trying that. The internet is just not fast enough for a good quality pictures. Rose has two weeks left to be my IT teacher. She is stressing out that she still has to do Excel Spread-sheeting. Rose has just started a time management book that she realized that if she didnít start it now she would not finish it on the trip. Bad Time management!!!! I just finished my third book of the trip. AIRBORN for all you who have already read it. I loved it. I couldnít put it down. Sal and Rose have a very efficient bike that I am eyeing for when they leave. I know I am terrible. We took the day off on Friday to say goodbye to Graham. It was sad to see him leave. Luckily we still have two more weeks with Sal and Rose. Simon is quickly doing his math to catch up to me since I have been doing it at school. He is always competing. I was looking at facebook last night and saw holly had said ëíyou have Internet!!!íí I hope all realize that we doo have internet it is just very slow and hard to get a chance to use it. That's all. Hope you are all well and I will talk soon. G

hello

It was so sad to see Graham leave. It felt like he just got here and he left. But that is what it is like with all visits with someone you love. Sal and Rose leave on the 7th for Zanzibar for a week before heading home. We have 10 Anglicans visiting for a week. So my parents are going to be very busy but luckily they are not staying in our house. Karilyn also arrives on Monday. She is the doctor who recruited my parents to Tanzania. We saw her in England so it will be nice to see her again. With Rose teaching us IT and leaving in two weeks she is stressing out about finishing the curriculum because we are still on paint and my class has to do Excel spread sheeting. More time away from school is all I get out of it. But it is still a start as school is quite easy. The schooling is two years below what i would be learning at home so i am ending up doing most of my own stuff. I am still making friends and playing marbles which we are getting very good at. When we rode home yesterday the temp hit 40c. It was almost to hot to ride. The internet did speed up in the middle of Grahamís visit but not by much. It was at least fast enough that Graham didnít cry for long periods of time at least. HAHA. Having French toast this Sat morning. Canít wait. Will post this soon. Not before breakfast. Write again soon. g

One last thing
Graham brought me and sy ministicks and skittles
thank you bill and shauna
even though graham scratched out our names and wrote his
but thank you and i guess we will have to share with graham
g

Internet=a little faster but Graham still wants to cry

Hello all,
I am doing very well. Wait that what I said last post. Lets give them the truth Griff. Ok

I am still doing well (see itís a different sentence). With Graham here his has figured out loops to get a little faster internet which has dad happy. There is now 5 laptops as we have one, Graham has 1, Rose has 2 and Ilse has 1. We are so westernized. The PE teacher at school is not running a good class if you know what I mean. Sally and Rose have moved to the hoteli just while Graham is here. School is quite easy and I have brought my textbook in to class because they are teaching stuff I learned 2 years ago. And it is completely the opposite in Swahili where they are way ahead and I am just reading a teach yourself Swahili. Riding our bikes to school has been a great success and we have almost been able to make it up all of the hilly path. Lots of marbles are played around the school yard and we have some marbles but have not yet brought them out. SOON!! We go through soda like nothing here because it is so hot. The days seem to be getting hotter and hotter and then the next day it will rain and when it rains it RAINS! We took Graham for his first trip to Tang and we will be going again on Sunday. For a swim and shop. The fan is your best friend and it sucks when the power goes out. I have found it quite easy to sleep through the Mosques late prayers. Other people have been up most of the night because of it. My movie is coming along nicely. For those of you who have not read my last post i am entering a Guardian contest for your best home video and i am doing mine on Muheza. For more info go to www.theguardian.co.uk/canonfreecording . The camera looks pretty nice that you can win. I am picking up a little bit of Swahili but it is a very complicated language. I know the most for my family so everyone uses me to translate. Lately we have had a break from Catan but I am looking forward to a great game tonight. Sadly we are not going to b able to post pixs on the blog until Graham and Sal and Rose go home to some faster internet. It would take all night if we did it here but we will send home a big disk with them which they can then transfer to the blog or email out. I have been told that ˇou are a very good keeperî a couple of times. I would like to thank Bobby Stankov and IKC(island keeper clinics) for getting me here. Lots to do here. Graham is going to cry because he has not had internet this slow before. Talk soon. G

What More Is There To Say

Habari all,
I am doing very well and school is going well and that’s all I need to tell you. G











Just kidding,
Yes as I said before and said in other posts I am and still am doing very well. I think I have gotten over the malaria medicine that was playing with my mind. Not completely over it by almost. I school is getting easier and easier day by day. Our teacher has been away lately because of a death in his family so we have really not done much. Graham has arrived safely. It is lovely to see him and to thank him for all the stuff he brought for us. A Catan expansion and tons of reading materials. The guardian, Globe , New York Times, and so on. I found a ad in the Guardian that was about a contest to make the best Home movie. I am going to create a movie about Muheza. Wish me luck. If you want to find out more about it go to www.theguardian.co.uk/canonfreecording. It has been quite rainy here and we had to get picked up from school early because it was too hard to ride in. We are getting very strong on our bikes even if it feels like they are going to fall apart underneath you. I will write again soon. Send me emails. G

hello all

Habari Canada and some other countries.
I am doing really well. I think I have gotten over my sickness which is a big relief to me. I had to many sleepless nights that I lost count. Glad that is over. It is very rainy here with tons of huge rain storms. Like today it rained all day. Lots of Catan was played. For those of you that haven’t heard sy got a game from Sal and Rose for his birthday. It is called The Settlers of Catan. It is so addicting. We just finished a game like 10 minutes ago. I have won 3 of 8 games. School is going well but the academics are super simple. They are just finishing percentages which I did like 2 years ago. I asked the sister about the corporal punishment and she said she would deal with it. I hope I don’t have to worry about that any more. Sy and I got marbles after school on Thursday. We a getting rather good at it.. I think Simon is cheating he says not. Email is very slow or down so it is hard to stay connected. Rose and Sal are doing well and we all can’t wait to see Graham tomorrow!!! My snail mail address is
c/o Dr.Leah Norgrove
Hospitali Teule
Private Bag
Muheza, Tanga District
Tanzania

Internet=Slow

Sorry for the gap between posts as I am very busy with school and when i do get on it crashes. It is a very unsequre network. I will try harder to get on when ever possible. Tons of stuff to talk about. Sick to a lesser extent now. Still unable to go to school 3 of 5 days. but i hope i am getting better. Saal and rose brought simon The Settlers of Catan for his birthday. I t is a very addicting game
we are trying to get graham to bring the extention along with 50 punds of other stuff. School mis going well and i hope the corpral punishment is over. Sister is hoping that the teacher has left. I am hoping to. it leaves a very wierd feeling in your stomach. I am glad that that is over. The resort was wonderfyl. Please read my post on the snnorkelling
like one post back.
sy is good and so is all of us. Graham arrives on sunday so i cant wait to see him
i am planning a nice relaxing weekend to just chill out.
talk to you all soon
Griff

A great time snorkelling

I wrote this document for a L.A. assignment that Mom had brought me. It is about our snorkeling adventure at Peponi resort. My parents loved it and they said I should put in on the blog. Hope you enjoy it!

The fun began at about 10:30am. We gathered and made our way to the Pepi. There were 19 of us. 12 boys and 7 girls. We headed out towards the almost visible reef. As the doul motored across the rolling waves the crews starts to move and orders are being yelled until finally a massive sail is perched high on the mast. The boat rolls with the waves as we look out on the Indian ocean and some surronding islands. The horizon is clear, like a pencil line on the earth. Not a cloud I t eh sky. The sunscreen is passed around because we all know we are going to need it. We anchor to reeef stretching for miles down the coast. There is about a meter of water between us and a beautiful coral reef with hundreds of fish and sea life. The sun beats down on your face as fins and masks are passed about and we move ourselves into the water. Only a few seconds and your eyes are amerced in color. From the brightest of pinks to just plain black and white these fish are where graffiti artists pick their colors. They come in all shapes and sizes. The really neat ones camouflage into the seaweed to even the extent that it looks like the fishes body moves with the weed. The mention of stinging jellies scares me a bit, but I would have had no fun if I let the freak me out. I didn’t see one myself the entire time. I don't want to leave the water but we must to move to other fun things. Within minutes the sail was high and full of wind and heading northwest of the reef to a disappearing sand island. We arrive and the sand is hot on our toes. It is the color of parched wheat just before harvest. Everyone quickly lathers up with sunscreen as the crew unloads our lunches and builds a quick shape structure. Lunch consisted of whatever you ordered at the bar. I had a crab and mayonnaise sandwich like so many others. The water is warm and lots have come to the consensus that it is saltier then at home. Dad doesn’t believe it. I spend most of the rest of the day in the water. I circumnavigated the rather small island only with arm power (crawling along the sand. In the water) Dad didn’t believe I could do it but I did. We return to the Pepi and sail o home with a full sail. We return tired with crusty sea hair bit if you ask any one of us we will tell you they had a great Day. BY GRIFF

The bad night

Dad said I should right a little thing for my blog about my terrible sick night at Peponi resort. It may get a little graphic for some people. No just kidding! Please enjoy a in-depth picture of my night at Peponi.

I bet I can speak for a lot of people in saying I hate nausea. I hate the feeling of puking or vomiting for those more in to the big words. In this essay I am going to give you in depth feeling of what it was like for me on the night of October 4th I was up all night with cramps, nausea, loose poops, hallucinations, puking and a couple of other things.
At diner I started feeling weird. I was truly bummed because I had ordered octopus and was looking forward to it. Once everyone had completed his or her meal I was still feeling uneasy so we headed back to the tent.
I have to warn you that I am only writing what I remember so don’t blame me if there are big gaps in the information. I remember only a small portion of the night and I will tell it to my best memory. Now where was I, oooo yes the tent. Now that we have returned to the tent and I was lying down I was starting to feel a little better. Dad read aloud and then it hit. I felt almost immediately that I was going to puke bit I didn’t. I decided to sit outside to get some fresh air. Dad came out to because he knew what I had and was worried I would get confused. Just to be safe he sat with me. I realized that he knew what I had and I had no idea. I was so confused. I was feeling quite hot and needed a cool shower. Together we walked to the bathroom and I cooled off. Ahh. Much better. After that I realized that I was not going to be able to stay at the tent so we headed to Sal and Rose’s banda. We tried to sleep of even rest because the mozies weren’t that bad and we didn’t want to disturb S and R. At this time I wasn’t really having nausea but more stomach cramps now. I was quite hard for me to sleep and I knew I couldn’t do it. I just lay awake feeling…weird.
I remember later on being positive that the monkeys were coming out but I was wrong. It was just a leaf. I finally puked at about 12:00am. I ran to a near by ditch and let….I would recommend not eating or drinking for a little bit because this next section gets quite in-depth…At the rail everything went. The octopus, the salad, the sprite. What a waste of food. I felt much better after doing this but here my mind goes blank on what happened for a few minutes. I don’t remember anything until my Dad returns with a bottle of water to swish my mouth out. When I woke he had walked past the tent and was dancing around because he had stepped on a ant hill and was getting bitten. After I saw him with the ants I was positive for the rest of the night that there was ants crawling all over me.
Then the rain began. It sounded like someone had a knob and was turning it up and down and up and down. It went on for about and hour and when it finished the breeze died down so we knew we would have to return to the tent because the mozies would start biting again. We slowly made our way back to the tent to the sound of a bird that was like a baby getting punched. I know very weird. At the tent the breeze came up again and I sat outside until finally I feel asleep in my dad’s arms and slept like a baby still eight, This is pretty much all I remember. This was a very weird night. For more in-depth stories like this one keep checking my blog.
Griff

all is well except i puked

hello all
yes as you now know i puked.
it was from teh malaria medication so we are going to put me on a different one.
it has happened several times and just last night i started to hollusinate
(however you spell that)
we decided that that was enough so i am stoping that drug
we have just returned from a long weekend trip to peponi resort
it was awesome
we went snorkelling and had lunch on a sand island
we will deffinatly be going there again
school is gone well so far but the is a little bit of corpral punnishment
sometimes lots
it is alttle scary but i know i won't get hit and if i do i won't be going to that school no more
we are talkiing to the principal tomorrow because from what we have heard she does not tolerate beating of children
so we thank that this teacher might be doing this behind her back.
we are doing lots of biking
we bike every where and lots of times to the fundi(the mechanic) because these bikes fall apart easily
it is a good thing that it is on;ly 50 cents a trip or we would be broke.
tons of soccer
almost everyday
it is cool to see all the different moves kids have
some are also very fast
we ahve also watched a couple of organized game sin and around muheza
i love all the fruit
tons and tons of it
tons more come into season soon!
i am very tired so this is all i will say for today
sworry for the distance between posts
internets is hard to come by
overall 8i am well and so is the rest of the family
i wi;ll try to update again soon
griff

finished week 4

We have just finished week four of this massive trip.
I feel that we are staying contacted with everyone rather well
School has gone well and the biking has been awesome.
I hear that it is raining in Victoria.
Is this true?
Sal and Ros ecom ein a few days and then Graham after that.
We will ahve a very full house.
Keep staying in touch.
griff

Sorry

Hello everyone,
I am very sorry for the long delay in posts as it has been very ahrd to find internet and then we are having some small conputer problems.
Sya and I started school on Tues after buying bikes in Tanga. The first day of school went well as did the rest of the week. We have this week off as it is Ied and mid term. Couldn't fall on a better week. Sal and Rose are in there safari park just north of DAR and will arrive in 6 days. The food at the school is revolting as it is salty spinach and mass produced rice.ugh. Have started to make friend s at school and all is well. Graham arrives on the 11th so we weill have a very full house. Both sy and I got little bugs mine we think from the malaria medicine and sys we have no idea. They were just for a day or so and we are all good now. We have our bikes and we are riding everywhere. The ride to school will definatly prepare us for the cycle trip. They are one geared bikes and there is a lot of walking. Going for a swim after this. will try and stay a little more on top of it. will blog again soon. griff

Post from Muheza

Habari everyone,
Got to Muheza safely, long long journey but lots of free stuff from biscuits to toiletry bags along the way.
I start school on Tuesday and will ride to school , just like at home.
Played lots of soccer already, our ball is like a magnet. You can bring it out for 5 minutes and have 20 kids around you.
Slowly picking up some of the language which is Swahili. I don’t know if I will be fluent by the end of it, but I should be able to have a conversation. Pops are like 50 cents, so you have to be careful not to drink 5 of them one day.
The weather has been hot as planned, around 28-35 degrees and this is in the cooler season. Apparently it will get close to 38 in Dec or Jan.
Tons of fruit and veg at the market, which is always a really hoppin’ place, so many different kinds of things being sold there from Billabong T-shirts to handmade woven baskets all at amazing low prices.
There are a few trees near our house which are swarmed with fruit bats, who make tons of noise and I have not been crapped on yet . they have yellow poo so it blends into the ground. Had been sleeping with the fan on all night and mosquito nets to prevent diseases like malaria and dengue fever.
Limited internet connection has made it hard for us to email and there has been a mass power outage at the hospital which no-one knows the cause of. Internet access should get better when that is solved.
Please keep checking the blog for further updates. Should be easier when the internet problem is solved at the hospital.
Griff

First Post From Tanzania

I have made it safely to Africa
The flight went fine.
Emirates is a awesome airline!!
fly with it when ever possible
There best flight is Vancouver to Chicago.(NOT)
Writing From Intrenet Cafe in Tanga
We start school next week.
Bye for now
g

From Heathrow Airport

Wow
this is a big airport.
we are in the departures lounge and it is the size of mayfair mall or bigger(for all you victorians).
we leave for tanzania in 2 hours
will update when get to tanzania.
talk to you soon
g
ps funny story
i went to get new baggage tags for the bags
i just went to air canada because it was closest.
then when we went to check in with emirates they had the sweetest baggage tags
we stole a bunch and are going to make brand new tags
i guess i am lazy
what ever

Pictures From Past Few Days

Here are a few pictures from our few days with Tilly in Wales

Update From Wales

Thank you all for leaving your comments. It has been a very nice way to here what you think of my blog. I have tried to keep it update when ever possible, but who knows if it is going to come to a abrupt stop when we get to Africa or if, with much help from Rose, we could still update from Africa. As most of you know I was in charge of collecting all the technology that we would need on the trip. As I was doing this I received a lot of help from many people and would like to say thank you to some people.
First I would like to say thank you to Dan Nevin who helped set up the laptop with the right operating system and some on the GPS and Video Camera. Jane Eert you helped me figure out how a GPS really worked and got the necessary maps I would need. Lukas Blakk (Rose's Daughter) who helped set up the blogs and a torrent download site. Bill Marsh and Shauna McGarvey who helped out picking the right portable hard-drive, Patrick Baud who helped set up the email or "gmail" and Graham who set up many things like the transferring of files from our big computer to the laptop, Rose who is in the process of setting up internet in Africa and The people of Future Shop, Staples and London Drugs for supplying all the goods I would need. I hope I did not forget anyone.
If I did I am very sorry.

Today was Sy's Birthday. He got many things will probale tell you about them on his blog. Today the very neat thing I did was go horse back riding with tilly and we skyped with 5 different family's. Please leave you Skype address on the comment board so I can add you. Bye for now.

g

Pat's Talk

Just to let you all know
Pat talk went very well and we are very proud of him
g

Waterfall

Hey
I hope you all saw those departure photos.
They will be on the big blog soon
Today we went to the waterfall near tilly's house that is bigger then Niagara.
Pics to come.
Keep Checking
g

Good Bye Pics

Hey check out all these cool pics from deb
thanks deb

More Pics From Deb

A small update from Cambridge

I write to you from kate and tims house
we are visiting them on a late wednesday night
Sy and I picked up a mini rugby ball and have had a lot of fun with that already
leaving for pat presentation tomorrow


g
ps soroy for the speeling msitkaes lsat psot

Post from England

As I sit here in this cambridge internet cafe I just go through all what has happened over this past month, week or even day. So in this past day we have flown across the atlantic ocean and Canada aswell as enjured a 23 stop subway ride, visted platfrom 9 and 3 quarters, met my cousin right on schedule and had a 1 hour train to cambridge. And know I sit on this computer after a good meal missing you all but ready for more.

g

We are away for....

just to keep you on your toes we are away for:

-303 days
-7272 hours
-436320 minutes
-26179200 seconds
-and the calculator had an error when i tried milliseconds

I hope this is correct
i could be way off
grif

Pictures of Trip

Hello Everybody,
Please check out all our pictures from the trip on Flickr.com.
Just search up my name on filckr and it should come up.