I know I have been silent lately on the blog, but I can report that work was being done behind the scenes.

First - Mapping Your Volunteer Vacation is published, at the Tattered Cover in Denver, available when I speak and also on my website www.janestanfieldwish.com!

During the process, it seemed like it would never be done, but when I looked back on my calendar, it was really only 9 months from start to finish. When I showed it at the Colorado Independent Publishing Association (CIPA), I said " It took 9 months, and it isn't a boy or a girl, it's a book!" I submitted the book to the EVVY Awards with CIPA in two categories and my designer submitted it for technical awards. I only have to wait 25 days to find out how we did. Please keep your fingers crossed!

I am waiting to hear from the Tattered Cover, Colorado's largest independent bookstore about an event at the store. I will let you know via the social networks, my newsletter and the blog as soon as I know a time and date.

Second - The anticipated webradio interview will yours truly will be broadcast on Sunday, March 15 between 2-2:30 Mountain time. Eventually, I will receive an RSS feed and that will be posted on my website. If you want to listen on the actual day, the program is called Engaging the Ostrich. Log on to http://metradio.mscd.edu and hit listen. You may need to download the player which can take a few minutes, so I suggest logging in 5-10 minutes earlier.

Third - I am finally on Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. I don't check in as regularly as I would like, but plan to make posts at least twice a week.

I will keep you posted as things progress.

Travel in Safety.

Jane

Exciting Announcements! remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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First, under Where Is She Heading, I completed 50 presentations in 2007 and it looks I will reach the 100 mark by the end of 2008.

Second, I launched the website for Where Is She Heading this year. Check it out at www.janestanfieldwish.com.

In addition to information about the 2006 trip and the 5 different presentations offered by WISH, the site also contains a calendar of upcoming classes, presentations and the schedule for the book club at the Tattered Cover on Colfax.

Third, the Travel Lovers Book Club is in year two of books to be read and discussed and we are pleased that there are new faces appearing at every meeting. Our numbers swelled during the months when we discussed Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Summaries of the all the books read since 2007 are included on the book club pages so you can catch up on any titles you missed.

Lastly, at least for now, I am pleased to announce that my first book, Mapping Your Volunteer Vacation, will be in print as of November 2008. It has been a journey from thought to paper and I am still involved with the final tweaking and working with various editors and designers. Once I finally get this one in print, I may write about my experiences of writing a book!

As soon as I have a firmer publication date, I will let you know.

Until I see you again, please travel safely.

Jane

New things happening with Where Is She Heading! remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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As of 1/27/07, the verbiage for the 2006 trip is loaded on the site. I know that there are still photos missing and I will try and go back and load them before I leave for Thailand on Feb 13.

I finally realized why I was having a hard time finishing and not loading my blog. I associate posting the blog with sitting in a coffee shop. So here I sit, on the 27th of January, with a quickly-growing-cold-cup-of-coffee and loading photos and words.

I have in my hands 3/4 of the blog that had been thoughtfully copied and put into binders for me by two of my special friends in Colorado, Kerry Beebe and Susy Hickey. This will make proofing, editing and reading the blog much easier for me as I move into PHASE 2 of "2006 - The Volunteer Trip Around the World".

Look for the summary of the first month home to be posted by next weekend and see WISH - WHERE IS SHE HEADING?

Thanks for your interest and support!

Entry 35 A - First month back in Snowy Colorado remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Monday, January 1, 2007 – Back to the US of A AND THE LAND OF THE PLENTIFUL NAPKINS!!!!!

Late night and early alarm, but I was out, on the bus and at Heathrow at 7am. As I approached to put my luggage through, they asked if I had any matches of lighters in my bags. I realized that I had a book of matches from a hotel in Romania. Luckily I remembered what compartment I had them in and found them quickly. As I mentioned before, the closer to the US I got, the more questions I was asked at airports. I was checked in by 7:10 and was on my way to security. As I approached security, I saw a woman with a lipstick in a little plastic bag and I realized that I had some of those in my carry on. Luckily, I had a spare sandwich size Ziploc in my candy bag, and quickly pulled the three things that I knew that I had in the baggie. I was through immigration and security and on the concourse by 7:35. My flight left at 10:15. I know, I know, way to early, but it sure beats rushing!

I had a lovely British woman as my seat mate (I had the aisle) who was returning to St. Louis where she works for Busch. Directly in front of us was a couple with their 12-month-old son who was not happy, harboring a cold and loudly telling all of us about his distress. The parents were stars and did their best under difficult circumstances. 8 hours between Heathrow and O’Hare.

I landed and wondered if immigration would be different when you have been away for so long. We landed at 12:40 and my original connection would have been at 1:50.

Traveling on 1/1 seems to be the way to go. There have been minimal lines in both airports! Passport control was no problem. Bags seemed to take a long time in coming, but as one person pointed out, I don’t care if it is the last one, just as long as it gets here!! Very wise outlook in my view. I played a game with my vibes to see which one of my bags would arrive first. The vibes said Big Gray would arrive first. It did.

I had answered on my customs declaration that I was carrying food, I had animal products and that I had handled livestock. They just skimmed my form and only when I indicated that I had something did they declare did they send me to x-ray. The Dept of Agr guys x-rayed my bags and looked through Big Gray. Those lucky people got to paw through all my dirty clothes. I had packed all my purchases from abroad into one backpack. They asked me if I had any food and I said candy (of course!) When he took out the backpack, he asked if I had anything round in it. I could only think of the spoons, but as he unpacked it I remembered that I had the Gerivital I had bought in Romania. No issue, he closed it back up and I could go. On the plane they kept stressing about foot-and-mouth disease so I told him my only concern was that I had been hiking in my boots, so he said he would do my shoes. My hiking boots came back spotless on the bottom and as good looking on the top a year around the world warrants.

I had cleared the area and it was 1:30. I rechecked my bags for my connecting flight, just out side the customs area and then rode the train to my terminal. Security in the new terminal was the longest one yet. Take off all coats, shoes off, plastic baggie full of creams, take out the ipod and computer. I had cleared security at 1:50. (I would not have made my flight if I had stayed on the original ticket.)

NOTE FOR TRAVELERS – Even with the airline says it is a legal connection, if you don’t feel that you can comfortably make the connection, do yourself a favor and change the connecting flight. This is especially important if you have to go through customs.

I have been cogitating about the next phase of my life at times with anxiety. I have found when I talk about my experiences, I become alive and very excited about my year. When I am by myself, I become inward and anxious. HMMMM! Guess I just have to stay in action and talking about my amazing year.

At lunch of chicken caesar salad and pear, I sat with a couple returning to Miami and told them about my trip. Mr. and Mrs. Firestone were very cute and enthusiastic and thanks to Jack, I have a name and address for a woman who works for the Attorney General’s office in women’s affairs as a possible contact. See what staying in action can do for you!!!!

In my sack that accompanied my lunch, besides the plastic fork and knife, I had 8 napkins! I still have 3 of them and they will go in my napkin display about my trip.

Annie had requested a current copy of the London Review of Books, a periodical very similar to the NY Times Book Review. The paper has reviews of current books as you might expect, ads for properties both domestic and foreign and usually a small number of interesting personal ads. In London, I found a book that compiled the best of the personal ads into one small volume. The book had wonderfully funny and clever ads, but none that were currently active so you can’t reply to those that sound interesting. I read the book on the plane between England and Chicago. My favorite one was from a lisping Rogers and Hammerstein woman who was looking for a man to share ‘thome enthanted evenningth’! Hysterical!

Today, I sent an email to an ad I found in the British Magazine called The Lady about a wooden yacht that would be circumnavigating the globe starting on Feb 2007 from South England. They indicated that they needed a diarist. By the time I had made Chicago, I already had a reply with some details about the trip, (may be a crew of 5, expect to land in Australia by 2010, no pay but some expenses paid while I am on board, no previous experience needed but helpful, crew will be asked to cook and share night watches, etc) asking for a CV. Hmmmmmmm?

We were delayed taking off from Chicago due to air traffic over Philly. I ended up landing 1.5 hours later than I had been expected, but my wonderful sister and brother-in-law were waiting for me. It was lovely to see them again and to be back in Philly.

I was in the upper bedroom with the window open as it had been 70 degrees in Philly lately. I suspected that I would sleep very well tonight.

Tuesday, January 2, 2007

Right after breakfast – LAUNDRY !!!! YAAAAAAH! One of the things I am looking forward to is clean laundry on demand and the ability to change clothes as many times as I like during the day. I am very much looking forward to my favorite fuchsia fleece tops that I have in storage in Denver.

Reading the Absentee American – Wonderful**

I unpacked the boxes that I had sent to Annie to extract the Xmas gifts that I had sent for the family. It was fun to open the boxes and remember where I had bought stuff and whom it was for. I had also sent a fair amount of my clothes to Annie, usually as packing around fragile items. I will need to fit them into my luggage as I go home.

I will be mailing one more box to myself from here with clothes and heavy things that I don’t want to put in the luggage. I will also mail back to Denver some things from Mom’s estate including three paintings and a set of nesting tables.

Tonight we had our Christmas celebration and Tony had made wonderful roast chicken, rice with cherries and pistachios, gingered carrots and salad. YUMMY!

Xmas – My family has done it again with wonderful, thoughtful gifts and goodies. Some of the many things that I received were coupons for clothes at Urban Outfitters and a massage tomorrow. YAAAH! Zack also received an Urban Outfitters coupon so we have a date to go and spend them on Thursday night. I am committed to clothes that fit me instead of engulf me and in colors other than black and beige!! The gifts that I gave were also well received including the LROB’s book for Annie, Marzipan from Harrods for Tony and the T-shirt for Zack with Nelson Mandella’s prison number.

Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Breakfast is usually at our own pace and includes fruit, tea, toast or cereal and a very leisurely morning.

Our next routine is to walk Charlie Darwin (the geriatric beagle cross) every morning to the end of the block to buy the paper. His main goal is to find and eat, before Annie can stop him, any bit of food (especially KFC chicken bones). After the walk, we arrive home for Charlie’s small dog bone. Quantity is not an issue for Charlie, just that he ALWAYS gets a biscuit after his morning constitutional.

Today was my massage with Danielle at a health club just around the corner from Annie’s office. It was wonderful. There were lots of little knots in suspected and unsuspected places. I am very much looking forward to getting to Denver and working with Toni Guinn on the various kinks and knots from this year and what they are saying.

Shepard’s Pie for dinner, ala Tony.

Annie trimmed the driest of the dry ends off my hair – Still a little scraggly and dry, I will wait until Denver to see what the dry air does to it and determine how much more needs to come off or be shaped.

After that we began the photo journey of my year in reverse order.

Thursday, January 4, 2007

Doodle day – The bedroom I have is at the very top of the house with a big comfortable double bed.

Having finished the Absentee American, I moved on to Jared Diamonds’ book, Collapse, about how different societies thrived or collapsed when faced with various situations. Very Interesting. Diamond also wrote Germs, Guns and Steel.

Scanning through the NY Times Book Review, I came across 2 personal ads that sounded interesting.

I had an email back from the contact about the yacht asking if I intended to send back my CV. Cogitated about it before bed and had a marvelous dream.

In the dream I was going to my various medical practitioners at the completion of my trip. I was feeling scattered and out of sorts and indicated to Toni Guinn that I had left a part of my heart in each of the places where I had visited. I illustrated the fact by miming taking a bouquet of flowers and taking out one blossom for each place that I visited, leaving the vase very sparse and empty. Toni made me draw in flowers on a landscape to recapture them. As I moved on to my next practitioner, Dr. Kramer, I woke up but I ended the dream feeling that I needed to write back to the yacht group and to take more command of where I was going after my trip. THANK YOU ANGELS!!!!

Friday, January 5, 2007

Up at 5am to begin blogging and working out what to write back to the yacht people.

Face masks – Annie and I cut our two different masks into two and shared the experience.

The orange mask ended up burning my face a bit, so I won’t be using the other one I have in my luggage. We are planning a tea party today to try the new tea that I was given for Christmas and eat cookies.

We also went to the UPS store to get my box, the paintings and nesting tables mailed to Denver.

Annie said it would be a short night for me, as the Annual Mummers Parade will be held tomorrow on Broad Street with car towing beginning at 5am. Normally held on New Years Day, it had been postponed due to rain last weekend. While it is raining today, I feel that they will hold it whether it rains or not.

The mummers are troops of men, primarily, that work all year on their routines, dress in exotic costumes and parade into historic Philly down Board Street. They go right past Annie’s house so they have a bird’s eye view. Luckily, I have an early flight, so we should be able to get me to the airport before all the hoopla begins.

Lana called me to tell me that my car is buried in her garage due to the third snowstorm in so many weeks and it most likely won’t be available tomorrow. Not a problem, all I need is my mail, my keys, some food and the babies and I will be good for a while.

Saturday, January 6, 2007 – 366 days from when I left last year – Back in Denver

Up early to get to the plane and I logged on to the web and Annie also checked the status of DIA. The Denver airport was open and my flight was scheduled to leave at 9:05.

I had a marvelous time with my Sister, as I always do, and stopping in Philly on my way home was EXACTLY WHAT I NEEDED TO BEGIN THE TRANSITION FROM MY TRIP TO HOME. THANK YOU ANNIE, TONI AND ZACK FOR YOUR HOSPITALITY!!!!

At the airport I had no problem at check in, but found that my departure was delayed by 1.5 hours because the crew had arrived late last night. There is a mandatory (and I am very thankful for it) 8 hour rest period for crews before they can fly again.

A very full flight, I had an aisle seat and the movie was The Queen. As I had already seen it, I focused on my book and some meditation to prepare for my return to Colorado.

The smoothest landing I had all year long, probably due to the quantity of snow on the runway, I landed back in Denver, 366 days after I left on Jan 6 last year. I was ready to be home.

Miss Lana met me at the baggage claim and she took the final official photo from the trip.

As we drove to Elizabeth, we missed the exit onto E-470 as we were chatting. I did not get a clear view of the mountains, mainly Longs Peak, which has always been my check in view when I return to Colorado after a trip. When I lived in Broomfield, Longs Peak was the mountain that told me that I was home. I may not feel totally back until I get a good view of my mountain.

Thanks to Kris and Lana’s efforts, the car was ready to go home with me. They did a marvelous job storing Amber for me. She was in a comfortable garage with the battery disconnected and they even had rodent control put around the building so that no little critters moved in while I was gone. She looked wonderful. After a year of only driving twice and on the other side of the road, I admit I was wondering how it would feel to drive again.

(I found out why the Brit’s drive on the left side of the road. According to AAA, during the times when people traveled on horse back, people chose the left side of the road as most people were right handed and were better able to draw their sword when attacked by highwaymen. Interesting!)

Lana had reloaded all the boxes that I had left in her care including my electronics and my valuables, so after a quick house tour and a hello to Reggie, we were ready to go. (Rocket was at the vet’s overnight with a mysterious illness). Amber started right up and my first test was to get down the very rutted driveway piled high with snow and out onto the main road. Amber and I did a fine job and soon, Lana was in front of me leading me out to the highway where I could make my way home.

I think I have finally learned to live in the moment as there are lots of things that I used to have right on the top of my head that are now either gone or in cold storage. I still know my way around Denver, but some of the road names are gone.

We had a short stop at Chick-Fil-A for a kid’s meal. Yummy, my first and probably last chicken nuggets for some time. They tasted yummy. As I drove towards Lakewood and Karen’s to pick up my keys and mail, it was fun and amazing to see what still looked identical to when I was in the state a year ago. I am sure that over the next few months, I will be struck by how much has changed and how much things have remained the same.

Karen was wonderful and welcoming as where her two older dogs, Mercy and Grace, and her new-as-of-6-weeks-ago, Hope. Elsie, her sweet kitty with the striped tail, was very interested in all the smells that I emitted and her old guy Cade, was asleep on the couch. Geriatrics are allowed to sleep as much as they want. Karen has been my anchor and was a Godsend. She handled all my mail, mailing my regular bills and paying things as they came along. She accepted all my boxes that I mailed home, stored some of my personal items (Dad’s wood carvings and my photo albums) and worked with Shane on all matters financial. She mailed me my ballot for voting and was a key member of the cat wrangling team. She was also instrumental in helping Tamera with the management of my town home and facilitating the tenant’s logistics. My year would have not gone as smoothly without the friendship and marvelous support from Karen. Karen sent me out the door with my keys, two milk crates of files that I had left in her care, two plastic boxes with misc supplies and checks, and two accordion folders with all my mail from last year.

Driving to my house, I was very present to how blessed my life is in so many ways. A few things had changed between the short distance between Karen’s and 10879 W. Dartmouth, mainly a new bridge that had been out of service for months before I left. The old neighborhood looked the same, even to the number and type of Christmas lights at the entrance to the community. The house looks the same from the outside. I also remembered that I have new neighbors to my right to meet and old ones on my left to reconnect with and become reacquainted.

It was 6pm and the lights were on to welcome me home. Once inside, it looked the same but I noticed it seemed very quiet. After numerous trips to get all the mail, boxes and luggage in, I locked the door and began to explore my house.

The carpet had been newly cleaned and it generally looked the same. Some of the furniture was in a different location, which I decided to leave until later. I walked through every room to see where things were. I found a few lights that needed new bulbs and several items that need to be repaired, but nothing major. In the kitchen, the fridge was very clean, the oven and stove were very dirty and the dishwasher door would not latch closed. As I walked through, I found some things that seemed to be missing. I decided that I would make a complete inventory tomorrow and contact Tamera.

I had no phone service, so I would try to get to Qwest first thing on Monday and see where we are on getting it reconnected. I hoped Tamera had the reconnect order already in place.

I found that the tenants had put all of my supplies that I had left out for them, back in their original place. As I found a little bit of laundry soap, I stripped and washed the bedding and went through all my mail. With Karen’s wonderful organization and filing system, I managed to get through a year’s worth of mail within 1 hour. Karen is a wonder!!!

I unlocked the closets and peeked in and everything seemed okay. I did not want to get the step stool to open up the attic, so I left it locked. (NOT MY WISEST MOVE AS YOU WILL HEAR LATER!!)

By this time, it was 10pm and I had had a long day, having gotten up at 6pm EST. The cats would be home tomorrow and I was a little anxious but looking forward to seeing them.

Generally, I went to bed feeing a little out of sorts, not totally grounded, but ready to be home and get settled for a while. Everything looks brighter after a good nights sleep.

Entry 34 - Philadelphia with Annie remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Sunday, December 24

I got up early despite not much sleep, as I wanted to see what I could find to do for the next few days. From reading the brochures in the lobby and my LP, it appeared that most things (museums, monuments, theatres, restaurants, etc) would be closed Dec 24-26. Luckily, some shops were open today just before Xmas. I took a collection of maps with me and began walking to get my bearings and found several shops including Marks and Spencer’s. I remembered Marks and Sparks from my previous trips and even have some clothes from them. Did a little looking and found several things that might be fun to try on later in the trip. I decided to wait until later to make any personal purchases, but did some Xmas shopping.

I also found an organic food store and bought some Emergen C, fruit and food for tomorrow (as the restaurant at the hotel would be closed) and some fantastic gluten free cookies.

Still feeling the effects of the travel from yesterday, I found the Café Masala and had a wonderful Indian Birani before I went back to the hotel for an early evening of blogging and tv.

Monday, December 25

Slept late and ate the wonderful muffin I bought yesterday, had lots of tea and cookies and basically, stayed in all day bloging and resting.

It was quiet and calm holiday, just the way I like it.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Tuesday, December 26 – Boxing Day

Today, I had lots of exploring to do to get my plans settled for the rest of my time in Britain. I called and reserved two nights at a B&B in Salisbury. The next order of business was to get an Oyster card for 4 days of travel on the tube system. Wonderfully easy and off I went to see about theatre ticket availability.

I went to Waterloo Train station, which is above ground over the Waterloo tube station, to see about my reservations for my train trips within England beginning tomorrow. The train station was still closed for the holidays so I will have to get my reservations settled tomorrow.

I had four shows I hoped to see; Spamalot, Mary Poppins, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, and possibly a drama, hopefully with someone interesting as the main character. I got off the tube at Leicester Square, right in the middle of the theatre district and it is known for the half-price ticket booths. There were many booths and after looking at my proposed travel schedule, I realized that my availability for evening or matinees would be limited, so I focused on tonight. I decided on Spamalot, the Tony winning musical based on Monty Python and the Holy Grail with Tim Curry. I got the cheap seat $50 for the balcony and decided to stay in town until the show at 8 pm.

While I waited, I opted to see two movies that I had heard so much about. The Queen and Eragon. The Queen stars Helen Mirren portraying Queen Elizabeth II and is about the week leading up Diana’s funeral. Helen was fabulous. Not all of the Royals come out of the movie smelling likes roses. During my trip, I had read the book Eragon, a child's book about a dragon. The book had been very interesting, but the movie was not that great.

I also did a lot of walking through the theatre district and found most of the theatres. Then I treated myself to a coffee at Café Nero, which is a chain in England. I was given the LARGEST MUG OF COFFEE and it was fabulous with my mincemeat tart. I can honestly say that it was probably the best coffee I have had in over 5 months!

Spamalot was showing in the Palace Theatre. Different theatre sponsors have purchased many of the older theatres in London or conglomerates and they are refurbishing many of them. (I don’t think they have gotten to the PALACE yet, at least not in the balcony). My seats were on the 4th level in the rafters with a serious pitch in the seating. Legroom was not very generous and as I sat with my knees next to my ears and I listened to the accents around me, I determined that we were all Americans. Further discussion found that they were from Chicago, Fresno, and Seattle. I guess all the low price tickets are bought up by tourists like myself from the daily half-price ticket booths.

Wednesday, December 27

After a morning of blogging and packing, I took a cab to the train station, as I did not want to fight the crowds in the tube with my twin suitcases, Big Gray and Little Gray.

At the ticket counter at the train station I was told that I would need to get the train to Basingstoke and change to Salisbury. The challenge was that there were no trains currently scheduled for Basingstoke. There had been some delay up the line and while they expected one today, they could not give me a specific time. I had an appointment to check in with Sue in Salisbury at 3pm. As you may remember that I had purchased a first class, 4-day flexi pass on Britrail and while I did not need a specific seat reservation, I preferred to have a definite seat. I asked the agent for reservations for Friday to Sheffield and for Saturday from Sheffield back to London Kings Cross Station. That took a few minutes and by the time those reservations were completed and she had validated by pass to begin today, the Basingstoke train was at platform #8 and ready to go any minute. I had intended to leave Big Gray in checked luggage until I got back, but the ticket lady advised that I run and get on the train before it left. Off I trundled with the twins in tow.

NOTE TO TRAVELERS – The day after a three-day break in service for the British Rail System will tend to be a very busy travel day. Be prepared for crowds and possibly interrupted service!

As it was, I probably would have had time to get off and check the bag, but as it turns out, it ended up being more convenient for me to have the bags with me. The ride was only 40 minutes to Basingstoke and it was wonderful to be back on the trains in England. I did not realize until this trip that since my last visit (29.5 years ago), the trains have been privatized and no longer had the coaches with the side aisles and the compartments. Today’s trains are very similar to the ones I rode in New Zealand and Australia.

As I was exiting the train in Basingstoke, I overheard a woman and her adult son discussing needing to make the connection to Salisbury. I decided to approach them to see if they had a better idea of the schedule. The platform was very crowded. While James, the son, went off to search of information on the timing and platform for the Salisbury train, I went off to buy coffees and treats for Jude, James and myself (I was very hungry as I had intended to eat at Waterloo, but did not have the time). Luckily we only had a 20-minute wait and the platform was the same one that we had been on. We ended up leaving at 2:10 and I calculated that I would be in Salisbury close to 3pm when I was supposed to check in with Sue at the B&B. As the entire platform entered the train, it was obvious that seats would be at a premium. Jude found a pair that she saved for she and I, James took a bumper seat in the entrance chamber and I left my bags in the care of a lovely Scotsman named John who was sitting next to his bags in the space between the cars. I sent cookies back to James and he sent candy bars up to us. I gave my candy bar to John as a thank you for watching my bags. Now I have a wonderful friend Jude (Judith) and her son James who live in Cardiff. I love British Trains!

I got off the train in Salisbury and remembered that this would be my third trip to this beautiful little city. The driver of the taxi that I found to take me to Griffin Cottage had only been driving a cab for 5 days after a 20-year career of farming. I made it to Griffin Cottage at 3pm and met the wonderfully engaging Sue.

Griffin Cottage, owned by Sue and Mark, is absolutely charming and in the middle of a block of similar cottages. Low ceilings and deeper rather than wide, these white washed cottages were cute as a bug. The staircase was steeper and narrower than I expected and I got off on the second floor with two bedrooms and a shared bath. The room was beautifully decorated, had a sink and THE MOST COMFORTABLE BED!!!! I told Sue that I wanted to take it with me and she said that while Mark or she were happy to help me with the luggage up the stairs, I would have to get the bed downstairs by myself. Sue offered me the menu for breakfast, as she makes meals to order off her menu. After all she says if you are traveling and staying mainly in B&B’s, back-to-back days of the standard English breakfast would leave you cholesterol laden and hardly able to move. I selected eggs and salmon, juice, decaf tea and fresh fruit.

I decided to do a little shopping as I needed a baby gift for Erika and Hana and I had managed to loose a glove yesterday. You may remember that I had lost one Isotoner glove in NZ three years ago and had brought the remaining glove and it’s new mate with me on this trip. (I had not intended to take the mismatched set, but that is what I found that I had the first time I used my glove this year!!) Luckily, the one that I lost yesterday was the mate of the one that I lost in NZ three years ago, so I should still have a good glove back in Denver waiting for my return.

I was looking for a cute outfit for Hana, but all I could find was pink or blue and having not seen her closet, I wasn’t sure what would fit her. I opted for a classic for her library, Peter Pan, the 100-year anniversary edition. Fish and chips for dinner.

As I returned to the cottage, in the cozy sitting room was the fireplace with a fire lit. It was wonderful and just what I expected to see. THIS IS THE ENGLAND THAT I REMEMBER! Mark is an avid reader and we exchanged names of favorite authors. With a keen knowledge and interest in history, Mark lead me to another author, Malleson, similar to Bernard Cornwell and his Sharpe series. OH BOY! Another author to look for!

NOTE TO SELF – SPEND TIME IN LONDON AND SEE THEATRE, BUT GET OUT AS SOON AS YOU CAN TO REALLY SEE ENGLAND!

Thursday, December 28 – Trip to Avebury

Lovely breakfast from Sue, who is delightful and fun to talk with. Sue has a secret ambition to have a hat museum and laments that the current milliners lack the imagination and boldness found earlier in this century. I told her that I would be happy to be her international delivery service if she would just tell me what she was looking for and supply me with the necessary budget and traveling expenses.

On my way to the bus station that was just around the corner, I had several errands – laundry and internetting.

The laundry cleaning service was not available until after 1/1 and I did not want to spend the time in self-service, so I took the clothes back home. Not urgent, but I would like to get them done before I leave England.

The internet was also closed until after 1/1, so I went to the Tourist Bureau to see if they had any other suggestions for internet in Salisbury. They allowed me to use their free computer in the lobby, so I was able to alert Erika of my scheduled arrival time tomorrow.

Bus to Avebury – I had misread the schedule and while I thought it would only take 1 hour, it was closer to 2 hours – I made friends with a pair of backpackers who helped me to locate the place to get off the bus.

Avebury is a small town in Wiltshire that is relatively close to Stonehenge. The town also has stone circles, but not in a close configuration as Stonehenge. Avebury is in fact two large stone circles that enclose two smaller circles and the entire area is surrounded by a bank and ditch. Many of the stone are gone, but markers indicated where they were and much of the current village is built within the circles. The main benefit over Stonehenge is that you can actually get up next to the stones and touch them. The main draw back is that you because you can get close to the stones, people are all over the place doing things such as flying model airplanes, children shrieking, running and whinging and getting between you and the stone you are photographing and generally cluttering up the landscape. Not quite the quiet, spiritual visit I had hoped for, but there were several places were you could feel the wonder and power of this amazing site. I tried to circumnavigate the site on the high bern, but one quarter of it was closed for erosion control. I still made it to all four quadrants and by the end, found that I liked the South East section the best.

From the recent wet weather, there was lots of mud and walking on the bern was tricky in places. Thank heavens I still had my boots, as my suede shoes would have been sodden by the end of the day.

There were two museum galleries that had admissions that I opted not to see but I did pop into the gift shop. In the gift shop, I bought books about the site and discounted Xmas cards for next year. Next I went to the little cafe for lunch. I opted to a cheese sandwich with pickled onion relish, tea and a cookie. Next to me was a woman, who at first was just eating her lunch, but she struck up a conversation with me and she turned out to be an angel named Kathryn. A true kindred spirit, we moved quickly from 1st to 5-7th chakra conversation. My gift from her was that she reminded me that I was unique with a wonderfully powerful brain and equally giving heart. It is up to me to determine the best balance between head and heart. We parted earlier than necessary as I had misread the return bus schedule and thinking I had only 10 minutes until the next bus, I found that I had 1.5 hours to wait. It was the last bus and I knew that I did not want to miss it, so I did a little more looking and then spent the rest of the time at the bus stop, next to an antique store.

By the time I got home to the cottage, there was another lovely fire and Sue, Mark and I, watched Fiddler On the Roof and I wrapped the gift for Hana. It was a wonderful evening.

Friday, December 29

No dramas meeting the train and this time, the train had a buffet car with free tea. The weather was unfortunately rainy for most of the way, but I did get to see the twisted spire on the cathedral in Chesterfield just before we arrived in Sheffield at 12:51. I spotted Erika immediately. It was lovely to see her and to hear all about her year since I saw her in Thailand in February. Most of her year was consumed with the birth of little Hana, 6 weeks early in June. She will return to work part time in February.

We went to her house and I got to meet Charlie, her husband, and little Hana, cute as a button and 6 months old. She truly is the most beautiful baby in Sheffield and very happy and gurgly. This was my first visit to Sheffield and due to the clouds, I was not able to see the hills that surround the city. Known for the steel that it still produces, Sheffield is a city that climbs up the hills that surround it. I hoped the weather would clear so that I had a chance to see it before I went back to London.

Another first for this trip, I went to a proper country pub, The Grouse, for cider and a late lunch. Yaaaaah! I had not felt comfortable going into pubs by myself and it was lovely to go with company.

We went back home with very windy conditions and curled up in front of a lovely smokeless coal fire with modified coal for a quiet evening of tuna steaks, cous cous, salad and photos from my trip. Avid travelers, Erika and Charlie have been all over including Nepal where Charlie did Everest. I think my photos got them thinking about their next adventure. While Hana may not be able to go on the extreme adventures, I feel sure that they will get her passport moving so that they can begin traveling soon.

Saturday, December 30

Another VERY COMFORTABLE BED that I wanted to take with me but it was up early for breakfast with Hana. The weather was improving and I knew I would have a clearer view of the city before I left. From our stop for coffee near the Sheffield Council Buildings at another Café Nero (GREAT COFFEE), I know that I will put Sheffield back on my list for a longer stay the next time I am in England.

Another nice train to London and let me tell you, the first class train was some of the best money I spent on this trip. The seats in regular class are fine, but the ones in first are larger, better legroom and less people per carriage. I love train travel in Europe!

I braved the tube with the twins and did not find it too difficult. This has helped me decide how to get to my Heathrow hotel tomorrow night. Much cheaper than the taxi, I take the tube to Heathrow, catch a hotel shuttle bus to the hotel and arrive at my hotel well before the parties begin.

The Comfort Inn was very close to the Earls’ Court Tube station and just around the corner where I had stayed before. It is in a refurbished older building and the heating was on high. Luckily I still have my summer pjs with me, so it should not be too bad.

I had made an appointment to meet Kirsty, whom I had met in New Zealand, for tea at 4pm near Trafalgar Square. Before I met her, I procured the last ticket for the performance of Mary Poppins that evening. This time, I would be in the stalls in row Z (zed) seat 1. YAAH!

While it had been nice in Sheffield, London was having rain and lots of wind, so I bought an umbrella and went off to wait for Kirsty at the National Gallery facing Trafalgar Square. It was bombing rain during my wait and crowds of us were huddled on the elevated porch at the entrances to the museum. I had misread her email and Kirsty was waiting at the National Portrait Gallery, at the adjacent building. 30 minutes after our appointed time, I found an internet café and saw my mistake and rushed back to the correct location but missed her. I felt like a fool! Went back to the internet café and wrote her an apology email and went off to find dinner.

Mary Poppins at the Prince Edwards Theatre was wonderful! One of the refurbished theatres, it still had the charm of an older theatre with modern touches. I was right next to the wall and had a slightly obstructed view due to the overhang, but I had been told that all I would miss would be some of the stuff high on the set. The play was essentially the Disney Movie with a few new songs and a much bigger part for Mrs. Banks. Bert was a very large part as well and he was an American Actor through Actor’s Equity. Mary was lovely and efficient with a Julie Andrewsesque voice and look, but the song that I looked forward to was Feed the Birds. Just as lovely as in the movie, it had me in tears both times. Wonderful! The dancing cartoon penguins were replaced with dancing live statues from the park. There were three scenes not in the movie including Mr. Banks old Nanny who was very scary, a lead in scene to Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious with a funny store where you buy letters and created words and a scary song where the Jane and Michael were threatened adult size nursery toys. I must consult the original story to see what else I missed. It was a wonderful evening and I was so pleased I had chosen to see the show.

Sunday, December 31 – My last full day abroad!

My room was very hot all evening, so that meant no covers and summer pjs. There was only 1 battery in my remote, but a quick review of the offerings showed me I would rather read any way.

After a quick breakfast and internetting, I packed and left my luggage to try and see a little more of London before I left.

I took the tube to Covent Garden to see the theatre museum. It was free, there were some video clips of current actors that I recognized, but most of the exhibits were about older theatres that did not interest me so I left after about 45 minutes.

The other museum that I really wanted to see was the new Winston Churchill Museum that opened late in 2005. It was FABULOUS! It was housed in the bunker rooms where Churchill had spent most of his time during the war conducting meetings and following the progress of the war. Very informative and interactive exhibits so if you are at all interested in the history of WWII and Churchill, an absolute must see in my book.

I asked a very nice man on the street to take a picture of Quen and I with Big Ben in the background and he advised that I not hand my camera over to too many people in London. I knew that I had picked the right person!

My last stop on the way back to pick up my luggage was to Harrods to try and find marzipan for Tony’s Christmas gift. Harrods was an absolute mob scene because most of the London stores are offering major sales to try and boost the end of the year earnings. I got excellent directions to the food area, which was mobbed. As I made my way around the room that had four entrances, I located the marzipan. Although they had both fruit and vegetable shapes, I opted for the fruits. Watermelon, cherries, fig, orange, apple, peach and the most marvelous pear with a slight imperfection in the skin were some of the treats that I bought. The entire transaction took 30 minutes from entrance to exit, and I was happy to leave the crowds behind and get back on the tube.

The twins and I made it to the tube station and took luckily there was a lift down to our platform on the Piccadilly line. I had already scoped out my route so that I knew that I would have no stairs to lug my bags over.

From my reservation for the Premier Travel Inn at Heathrow, they advise taking the Hoppa Bus from the airport to the inn. I went to the tourist information office to check on my Oyster card, as I thought I owed some money on it. I still have 3 pounds and as they are good for life, I kept it and will use it the next time I am in London. I bought a round trip ticket on the Hoppa bus and was at my hotel and checked in by 6pm. I treated myself to a lovely dinner of olives, wine, soup and salad and then had a HUGE FANTASTIC COFFEE at Costa Coffee in the lobby where I finished reading The Historian.

I went back to my room to rearrange my luggage, blog and to complete the international portion of my wonderful year abroad.

Thoughts as I close the international part of my year on Dec 31

No firm plans once I get back to Denver at this point other than to go back to Thailand in February.

While I would like to know exactly where I am headed with work so that I can neatly tie up this trip, I am not there at this point. I just don’t feel that my trip is really ended until I am back home in Denver.

I am planning to respond to an advertisement that I saw in The Lady for a diarist to accompany a woman sailor who is planning to circumnavigate the globe in her wooden yacht.

My mind is still active with many possibilities and I know that I need some down time to just be quiet and think of my Hearts Desires, goals and objectives, and what parts of me do I want to accentuate in my next phase of my life.

I have list of people I want to see when I return including Dr. Kramer (health check for EW), Toni Guinn, Dr. Cortini and beauty people such as Sasha, Natela, Sarah and Bev as I feel rather hairy and out of shape. Parts of my body are speaking to me like my left hip, the little and ring finger on my left hand, and my neck

My plans are to eat more simply and organically, and do daily walking and exercises.

There are lots of things that need to happen to get the house back in order, but I don’t want to unpack too much to give me flexibility and mobility.

My three cat children are very much on my mind and I need to plan appropriately for them as well as myself as I go forward.

The dreams that I have had this year including the wedding with Hal madly wrapping gifts and the moths eating all my business clothes signal me that I am still searching for a male partner and non-conventional employment.

MAYBE FOR 2007

Might there be a roommate in my bottom apartment?

Will I sail for the year?

What about season employment in different locations in either the US or International?

Only time will tell.

Entry 33 - England remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Three stops is morning on the way to Tutova – 1) bank with Bernice’s newly working ATM Card, thanks to a phone card that we purchased last night (her bank had seen her first withdrawal at the beginning of the trip and blocked other transactions) 2) Berlin market for yoghurt, chicken and #3 diapers, 3) the stationary store for notebooks on the 4 newest arrivals at the clinic.

Bernice and I plan to spend time on Friday night between packing to update the journals of the individual children that we have spent time with.

Bernice’s 4 had not eaten much of the early bottle, so it would be a long and loud session for her before the noon bottles arrived. Little Paula is still pretty red, but not very complainey. I got the mobiles in to the toddler room and spent a little time with each on the way in. Mirella has become quite a whinger. As soon as any of us go past her door and she is ALWAYS ON THE LOOKOUT, she begins to cry and insists of being the first one held and taken out. That worked earlier with me, but I felt that at times others needed their special time as well. My wish would be that they move all the mobiles into one room so that once you get one, you get them all. With the non-mobiles mixed in, I may be trying to get the other room settled first, but am constantly bombarded by the mobiles. If it were a perfect world!

As I went down the hall with the first mobile, I noticed that all the little walkers did not have their cloth seats as they had been to the laundry. (Very much needed laundry, I might add). This told me that the afternoon session would most likely have to be in the bigger room once the toddlers went with their teacher. In the mobile room this am we only had one major melt down with Mihaela and I put her back in the crib.

I had a good session with Sylvia standing between my legs. She is getting bolder and even making a few steps. I am encouraged that she is on the brink and it will simply take consistency to get her mobile. We learned today the next team arrives in Romania on Saturday and will be with the kids on Christmas Day, next Monday. I will make sure that my diary entry for Sylvia encourages continuation. Marian also did a few walk steps. He was feeling a little fragile (along with the rest of the group as most of them have runny noses and coughs are becoming more prevalent). Maybe tomorrow. I will ask Bernice to come into the Mobile room with me and get pictures with me and each of the guys!

Bernice is feeling a little low herself, so lunch of wonderful warm soup with lots of veggies and oranges was most welcome. As we were heading out for our walk, Dr. Delia was entering the clinic on her rounds. We stayed for a few moments in order for her to tell us some of the backgrounds on the children. Denisa and Larisa (the 2-month old preemie twins) are from a gypsy family with 7 children about 80km from Tutova. Little Denisa has clubfeet and will most likely have to have an operation. Dr. Delia will try to get her to see the specialist in Iasu in January or February. Crina (the 4 month old – that looks a lot more like 6 months to us) has a sister in the clinic in the toddlers and was abandoned by her young mother. Paula the 3 months old that we called Elf, will be tested for genetic conditions after the first of the year. She also was abandoned. I am sure Bernice will follow up on each of these little girls. I told Mihalla (the country manager) that she would need to check Bernice’s luggage as she leaves Tutova on Saturday morning.

Lots of new stuff this afternoon. Ramona, the former translator, arrived with lots of goodies for the staff, toddlers and the clinic. Thanks to her, there is now a wall mounted TV and VCR in the largest playroom that was playing animal videos by the time we left today. The kids were thrilled with the fresh bananas and the staff also received little goodies. The walker’s cloth seats were back and installed so the mobiles could exercise in the hall. As I was moving non-mobile around, I notice an Orthodox priest (with a parka on over his vestments) entering the building. More apples for the toddlers. He met me in the hallway and pushed an icon at my face. I looked at it and Lily said I was to kiss it. Bernice told me after the fact it had happened to her as well and she was not sure what to do so she kissed it. She wasn’t sure if she was supposed to kiss his hand or ring as well. Being a Buddhist, she was afraid she had offended the priest. The staff told her that to kiss the icon was respecting their religion. She was relieved that she had not offended anyone.

Non-mobile room was pretty quiet except for the snuffling noses and the little coughs. I so prefer to be in this room with the music droning and the overhead light off to allow the natural light in through the window. Even though it is cloudy, it gives a nicer light than the fluorescents high above.

Hard to believe but we are low on diapers again. We will make one more stop tomorrow and hope that will last until the next team arrives.

We met Mihalla at the travel agency. I had the perfect finale to today when I found that I had the later fight on Saturday and therefore did not have to leave a day early! YAAAH! We also learned that we would be taken back to Bucharest on Saturday so we don’t have to take the train. I am sorry to miss the train, but am pleased that I don’t have to hassle the taxi from the train station to the airport. THANK YOU ANGELS!!!!!

We went to pick up Gabriella at Myosotis and found that Santa had left a little gift of each of us, lovely Romanian Milk Chocolate. We thanked Gabriella and asked her to pass the message on to Santa for us.

Tonight we had dinner with Helen, her husband Alexandru, sister, Tantsa, Gabriella and Nastasi. It was a wonderful evening full of laughs and good food. Just WAY TOO MUCH FOOD. We even had a special cake with three sparklers and a sip of champagne to celebrate the finale of the team.

One more day with the kids.

Thought for the Day – Spend so much time improving yourself that you have no time left to criticize others. – Creed for Optimists

Friday, December 22

With sleepy eyes and neither of us feeling 100%, we left for Tutova for our last day. It was grey and very cold and I thought I saw the odd snowflake here and there.

We decided to try and catch Dr. Delia first thing as her day tends to accelerate and get away from her. We dropped off a small token of our appreciation from the team and also some donations to be used to help the clinic purchase car seats for transporting the children to the hospital. The traffic laws have changed recently requiring child seats in vehicles. Mihalla said that the law has been in place for a long time, it is just that the seats are so expensive, the police have not insisted or given tickets if there were no seats. Dr. Delia may be feeling the needs for the seats as the children are no her own and are being transported to and from the hospital.

Bernice then went into the room with the four that was blessedly quiet as we entered the building. A first! I got Marian, Mirella and Mihaela in the toddlers’ room but Sylvia was having a bit of a lie in. Bernice joined us with first Larisa, then Denisa and finally Paula and we took picture of each other with our favorites. Sylvia was finally awake and was happy to be removed from her crib.

Sylvia walked today! Not totally on her own, but she was definitely taking steps towards Bernice with me supporting her around the chest. Unfortunately, Mihaela and Marian were at war at the same time, so our exclamations of praise for Sylvia were drowned out by two howling children.

Yoghurt time for three with Bernice working with Marian and I with Mihaela and Mirella. I think Bernice now appreciates how distractible he is as she inadvertently smeared his forehead and ear with yoghurt as he head whirled around.

After our walk, we loaded all the non-mobiles into the room. They had not had a chance to get out at all this am and were anxious for their time. Ramona allowed me to give her the bottle again and it went very smoothly. What a thrill! I spent time with my first lover boy, Samuel who yesterday and today has finally remembered how to smile. He just captures my heart. Bernice helped with Daniel, Andrea and Daniela. Within 15 minutes, Daniela had thrown up her entire bottle onto her chest and rocking chair.

As I diapered the entire herd of mobile and non-mobiles for the last time, I spoke to each of them and asked that they receive the best Christmas present I could imagine - to go home or to be put in a fabulous foster home as soon as possible.

As we left for the last time, we hugged the three staff available and presented them with some yummy cookies to celebrate the holidays. Although we left with sadness, it was wonderful to know that on Monday, the next team of 13 will be visiting and picking up where we left off. With such a large team, more children should be given more individual time. The most wonderful thing about Global Volunteer is the 17 teams a year come to the clinic so that the children never have a week without people who want to hold, kiss, play and love them.

What will we remember most about our time at the Tutova Clinic? Florin and his little-man ways, traffic cop attitude and happy smile and wonderful hugs? The incessant banging of the wooden cribs with toddlers who weren’t being let out fast enough? The dogs that waited at the door any time we exited for goodies and treats? The yummy soups for lunch from P. Giani?

I know that I will always remember the little song in the non-mobile room, Sylvia’s happy screech, Mirella’s insistent wail if she spotted you and you weren’t immediately picking her up, Marian’s impish grin, Mihaela’s shy way of playing with me and her dancing and of course, little Samuel’s raspberries.

Thank you Global Volunteers for your ongoing commitment to making a difference for the children at Tutova.

Thought for the Day – When volunteering and you are not sure where to help, pick an agency and just do something.

Saturday, December 23 – To Bucharest and flight to London

We both had a very quick breakfast and there was some confusion about if we had to pay for breakfast. Because we weren’t sure, Bernice paid.

We loaded into the bus and went to pick up Mihalla for our 5-hour trip to Bucharest. We arrived at the airport at 12:45 for my 3:40 flight on British Airlines to London. There was no indication of which check in desk to use until 1:30. There was a long queue of people using the only line that indicate BA, and another one for AA at the same time. A pair in front of me jumped the queue and went directly to the AA line, which irritated a young Romanian man in front of me. There was an unpleasant conversation between them that left a lot of emotional vomit in the air. I was pleased I was next so I could leave the area soon.

By the time I got to the front, I was concerned about the weight of my luggage. They seemed more concerned with number of bags instead of weight. My ticket was concerning to them as it was an open ticket and did not indicate the specific flight I was on. They had my name in the system, but they had to take my tickets and speak to the supervisor. It only took 15 minutes, but it seemed longer. Finally, no problem and off I went to the gate, having thanked the supervisor who assisted with my ticket. I had my window seat and I was at the gate at 2:40. There was a 30-minute delay due to fog in London. This wasn’t’ too bad considering that the previous three days, London had major delays and cancellations. By boarding time at 4:15, we were still delayed with no plane at the gate. When we finally boarded, we had a completely full flight. After 30 minutes on the tarmac, they told us that that we had engine problems and we should know within 40 minutes if the engineer could fix it. He did and after another 15 more minutes on the tarmac, we were finally in the air at 6:20 for a 3-hour flight. I must say that BA and the pilot in particular were absolutely the best in keeping us advised as to what our status was and when we would know our next information. WELL DONE BA!

We arrived in London at 7:20 local time and finally at the gate at 7:45. As I sat there looking at the airport, I remembered that the last time I was in Britain it was 29.5 years ago. Our bags took a while, so I took the opportunity to change both my Romanian and South African Rand into Pounds. (I had come across a stash of 1100 Rand in one of my bags that I had forgotten to exchange!)

Tired after a long day, I opted for the fastest way to the hotel, a Black taxi. The Premier Travel Inn is one of a chain and is very clean, modern, and very basic. No cute little soaps and stuff, but there was soap and shampoo containers attached to the walls. There will also be no meals on the 25th,

I opted for a pizza for dinner as I didn’t want to go to the restaurant and the bar would be closing soon. The pizza tasted fine, but was undercooked, so I ate all the good stuff off the top. Typical when I have been away from TV too long, I spent way too much time watching telly until the early am hours.

Entry 32C-2 - Romania - Orphans - third week remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Saturday, December 16

Slept in until 10:30 and left the room at noon.
Walked to Banca with Bernice at 2 and we were accompanied by strange, short man who kept clutching Bernice’s arm and talking a mile a minute. My vibes told me that I was feeling uncomfortable, so we turned back and took our walk in a different direction
Back by 3pm for a white hot chocolate and more PD James.
Bernice knocked at 5:30 and said that Helen and her husband had arrived and invited us to dinner at their apartment. I had hoped for a quiet day, but went and had a good time. Helen’s sister, Tantsa, is a hoot and recited all of her English words for us. Her best response was after being complimented on her marvelous cooking, she would get the cutest look on her face and said “Nothing” meaning it was nothing.

Home by 8:30 and the finale of PD James. Lauren’s room was occupied and they had found the music station on the TV and had it turned on high. Luckily, they turned it off at 10:45 just as I as getting ready to go to sleep. THANK YOU ANGELS!

A lovely day, not thinking too much about the kids and spending a lot of time by myself.

Sunday, December 17

Slept until 10:30. Thought about putting henna on my hair, and then decided that the drain system might not be up to it. Henna may happen in London.

I was internetting in the morning and it is amazing how within 24 hours, I can end up with 58 spams. Luckily I am on apple and not Microsoft as it would most likely be worse.

Gabriella arrived in a cab around 12:15 and we went immediately back to Barlad and her apartment for a wonderful lunch.

All of the apartment buildings are high rise (4-6 stories), grey concrete with minimal ornamentation or distinguishing marks. Some have little porches and occasionally there are bow windows, but not often. Someone from Romania told us that Ceuachesque?? had only one design he liked and during his 25 years, all the construction took on that look.

I have been in two different private apartments during my stay and their exterior look and inner staircases and floor hallways were the same. Most people begin to decorate their apartments by adding a marvelously carved wooden outer door. Upon entering, you are in the hall with a short walk to your left to the very small kitchen. Behind you and to the left is the living room with one window. Gabriella’s had a marvelous plaster ceiling plate around the central light and it really made the room look nice. Back in to the hallway, the bathroom was immediately ahead of you and to the left next to the bathroom, the entrance to the bedrooms. Small and cozy, the apartments are usually purchased by their owners and tend to be within walking distance to work.

Gabriella’s two children were at the apartment and had lunch with us. Her daughter, Reluca, is a second year college student in Iasu studying psychology. It is a three-year program for bachelors, but you cannot practice after that, you must go on for a 2 years masters program. She thinks she will specialize in corporate psychology, I believe that means that she will work within HR and possibly be the EAP person for the company. Gabriella’s son, Sergiau, is in 11th grade and wants to be a pediatrician. Both spoke wonderful English, as does Gabriella.

They showed us pictures of international trips to London and Denmark. They are very well traveled, as Gabriella always took one or both of them on international trips.

Gabriella had dinner with us last Thursday and everything that was unavailable on the restaurants’ menu was on her table. She made not only the stuffed cabbage rolls, but also the stuffed grape leaves. We had marvelous beet salad with fresh horseradish and fabulous sour cream. That would have been enough for me, but she also made chicken schnitzel followed by a fabulous cream cake for dessert. In addition to all this, there was white and red wine and crusty bread. Both Bernice and I were stuffed when we left at 3:15.

We stopped by the ATM as we both needed an influx of cash. Neither of Bernice’s cards worked, so we planned to go to the bank during office hours tomorrow and exchange some money. Luckily, mine worked for me and I was ready to loan Bernice cash if it became necessary. It sounded like her problems might have been a combination of the ATM being out of funds on Sunday, her magnetic strip or also that her bank is very cautious about her cards as her purse had been stolen recently.

We had called Helen, Bernice’s friend from last night, and had made an appointment to visit one of her husband’s friends who carves wood. We went in Alexandru’s new Opal again, this time without crippling fog, and went into a small village with dirt roads close to Barlad. The man Ion, had played rugby with Helen’s brother and is a self-taught craftsman. He likes to find natural wood in the forest and then carve what he sees from it.

We entered his gallery that he had built himself with a beautiful tiled floor. Every piece in the room he had made by Ion down to the rolling wooden bar cart, central glass topped table with 4 different and unique stools, shelving for his items and even the two bulb light fixture above our heads. So many of the pieces maintained the natural flow of the wood with a little bit of carving to bring out the image that he saw. My eyes went to a small piece on the center table that looked like a lizard. He told us that this was his first piece that he did when he was 17. None of his items were for sale as this is his private gallery. There was one piece that was in a special handmade glass case that was entitled the Holocaust. It was a twisted pile of bodies all made out of one piece of wood. He had been recognized by the local arts council with a certificate. He had been asked to display his art both locally in Barlad and also in Bucharest but he refused. He said that people who wanted to see his art could come to him as many of his items were delicate and he did not want his pieces damaged.

He is a wonderful craftsman and we both signed his visitor journal and had Helen translate our messages to him.

Our final visit at his place was to the small upstairs bedroom and balcony made entirely of wood that his 7 kids use when they come home to party with their friends.

It was dark by the time we left the workshop and we made our way to Helen’s for hot wine made by her sister, Tantsa. It was good, but half way through my cup, my head was beginning to pound. Not sure if it was the quality of the wine or the added sugar, but not a good combination. Alexandru very generously offered to drive us home. He is feeling much more confident with his new car.

After a quick dinner, we both retired early.

Monday, December 18

After a wonderful restful weekend, I think both Bernice and I were looking forward to being back at Tutova. I know that Bernice goes to sleep dreaming about the twins, Denisa and Larisa, and is always wondering how they are doing. The staff was disappointed when Bernice said she would not be back until Monday, because weekends are very busy for them and the children do not get much time out of the cribs. As much as she missed them, I think Bernice was glad she took a little break.

Mihalla, the country manager from GV, should be back in the country today after two weeks in Minnesota for Team Leader training. We expect to hear from her soon.

Nastashi was early, of course, and we were out of the building by 8:30 as we needed to make two stops, Penny Market (after all we hadn’t been there in 2 days!!) for diapers #4 and #5, and then to the bank as we had some difficulties with the ATM’s over the weekend.

Penny Market accomplished, Bernice exited the car at the bank. She arrived back at the car with both she and Natashi giggling. Bernice had just entered by, mistake, the car behind us without looking at the driver. Nastashi had watched the situation in his rear view mirror. Imagine the look on her face when she turned to the driver and it was not Nastashi!

We arrived at Tutova and the dogs were nowhere to be seen. Bernice had to go back out after we had unloaded all the diapers into the clinic to find Donna, the mother dog. Mission accomplished.

We knew our work would be increased today with only two of us and three different sets of kids to keep track of. Bernice went off to visit the room with the 4 littlest and found a red bottom on her Larisa. Larisa is so sensitive that with even a short time in a wet or soiled diaper, her bottom is red. We found several others today, though not truly terrible, and determined that some of the kids have been put into diapers that may be a bit too small for them. We will try to make sure that all the sizes are always available.

The toddlers had the largest room this am again, so I loaded the mobiles into the hallway walkers and let them fly around, as Bernice and I moved the non-mobiles into the playroom. I am afraid that I did not do as complete a set of calisthenics with the non-mobiles as Lauren accomplished the previous week. I found that by the time we got everyone up, changed diapers, kissed, and put them in the room with some type of amusement in front of them, and then got the rest of the group settled, it was time to feed yoghurt. After yoghurt it was time to change diapers and put everyone down for the midday nap. The room with the smallest four was relatively quiet today, which meant Bernice was able to assist me with the mobiles and non-mobiles. I felt sorry for the smallest as they normally get a lot more personal time with Bernice. Hopefully tomorrow that will be easier and she can spend much more time with her 4 babies.

As I was moving around with the groups, Bernice told me that Sylvia had managed to pick her nose all by herself. Well done Sylvia! She does not walk yet, but has accomplished nose picking. We will work on the walking later today.

After our traditional lunchtime walk, with lovely sunny skies and mild weather, we were back for round two. Bernice and I did a little walking with Sylvia. She is 18 months, a little chunky and a rather placid baby. She seems to really not trust herself to walk. I have been working with her to stand between my legs, supported by my knees until she is distracted and then I can take my legs away and she rests lightly on the chair behind her. Luckily, earlier today, she was very interested in a book with a pink elephant that makes a noise when it is pushed. Maybe this can be used as an inducement to encourage her to move.

Sylvia is a very content little girl and is happy to sit or scoot around on her bottom. She is not overly stressed when Marian comes over and steals her toy. When she is offered a toy, she reaches for it slowly and tentatively. She is amused with mirrors for long periods of time and hesitantly fingers new things. It may be a challenge to get her enthusiastic enough about anything to make a real effort to walk. She needs to start soon as she is large and heavy. As with so many of the children, what she needs most is someone to have consistent time with her to build her confidence, to gain her trust and to encourage her repeatedly to walk.

While we were in the non-mobile room, the staff came and took Beatrice away. Her mom, dad and a set of grandparents had come to visit. It is lovely to see that at least some of the children do have visitors. Our fondest wish it to see one of our babies go out the door and back home while we are here. We will keep our fingers crossed.

We ended the day a little late as I found that it took us longer then 30 minutes to get everyone changed and back into his or her room. On the way back to Banca we stopped at the pharmacy, as we ended the day totally out of #3 diapers.

It was good to be back to Tutova. I know that this last week with absolutely fly by and that soon we will both be home wondering about our special young friends at the clinic.

Thought for the Day – “If not now, when?” Talmud

Tuesday, December 19

Not a great nights sleep for either of us last night so we both started the day a little tired. We had a stop at the bank for Bernice to change some of her larger bills into smaller currency and I was after more #3 diapers. We almost had another repeat of entering the wrong car. As I approached the car, there was a woman in the passenger seat that was not Bernice. I did a double take and it was Nastashi’s wife that we had met the previous week at dinner. Another giggle for all of us.

Meals this week have been becoming a bit sparse as compared to the previous weeks. We have not seen Oneta this week to see if we can straighten it out. Lunch today consisted to two foil wrapped sandwiches. While we had asked for a reduction in quantity and especially the size of the dessert, we weren’t expecting such an abrupt change.

It was a rainy day, the first for us, and there are hints that it might snow. I am not even thinking about it! No dogs as we arrived and just as well as there were no delicious scraps for them from breakfast.

I spent some time with the mobiles this morning as they had gotten the short end of the stick yesterday with personal time. I had them in the toddler’s room and we danced and hummed along to the cd. No meltdowns, not even at snack time, which was mashed potatoes today.

Bernice juggled the twins and took a small number into the non-mobile room today. We are missing Lauren and the kids keep looking for her. Samuel has hardly smiled at all since her departure. Just as we were getting ready to go to lunch, I saw the nurse go into one of the toddler’s sleeping rooms with a shot. From the loud cries that came out, I found the little girl who had been on the receiving end. I patted and rubbed her back until she settled and managed to go to sleep

Lunch was small and short today, which allowed us more time to get the non-mobiles into their room for the afternoon session. By the time the 2pm bottles were passed out, I had 7 kids in the room. Little Crina was howling so Bernice took her back to her room. I kept rotating who I was helping to eat by supporting the bottles. I was sure glad when Bernice came back into the room. We continued with baby exercises and alternating tummy, left side and right side time for the twin boys. I changed tons of diapers and most of the kids were prolific today with a completely full diaper every 45 minutes. What have they been feeding them lately?

The kids were diapered and ready for bed a little early and we caught Nastashi mopping out the van as we arrived. Within a few minutes, we climbed in and put our newly muddy shoes all over his nice, clean, wet floor. We were meeting a driver at Myosotis (the family planning clinic where Gabriella works) to be taken to a local wood carvers workshop. As it turns out, Gabriella was there to introduce us to Micci, a nice young man who is the youth volunteer coordinator for the foundation that runs Myosotis.

While we chatted she helped us to understand why we were having difficulty mailing a package that had been left by a previous team member. All packages are only accepted between limited hours on Tuesday and Thursday. This is because the customs man has to be present to inspect all the contents before it is accepted for posting. After it has been inspected, then the package can be sealed. Our package was sealed and addressed and on top of that, we didn’t have a detailed list of the contents. Bernice will contact the person who asked for it to be mailed and will ask them what they want done with the package.

Micci drove us down the backstreets of Barlad and into a heavily rutted street not far from the center of town. The craftsman, named Grigetzou?, has been sponsored in setting up his business by Carol, the British woman who founded Myosotis. He makes lovely hand carved wooden spoons and statues. Some of the designs are based on the Welsh spoons given at weddings, but he has also expanded the line to include Romanian designs. His business is young and we were pleased to see him in his workshop with his brother who is his apprentice. We made some purchases as we heard about the plans for expansion into a shop, a web based advertising and the satellite shop in Wales.

Micci was kind enough to run us home to the Giani. He told us along the way that he had been away in Europe when all the traffic lights were installed in Barlad. There is one intersection that is very confusing. It is a main street that connects to the highway with a T intersection. There has been no signal until this week and everyone just sort of ambles through it, but there have been no wrecks or honks that I have heard.

Dinner was welcome as we were cold and hungry. Internetting and early to bed tonight for both of us. Only three days left with our special babies.

Thought for the Day - I am the only unique me that will ever be. I have the power to make a difference in this world. I look forward to taking on the grand adventure of life, living and always remembering to be myself. I love being me. Catrinka

(I have just found out that I don’t have a reservation between Philly to Denver! I am not happy with my travel agent. To be fair, I have a vague memory that he mentioned this would be an issue. I just wish he had not let me forget this until 3 weeks before I am going home. The upside is that I have found a direct flight instead of a connection in Chicago.)

Wednesday, December 20

I got lost in my book again last night until late and when I turned off the light, I was so wound up I couldn’t sleep. It may be another long sleepy day for me today.

Bernice and I made a direct trip from the hotel to Tutova, one of the few for this trip. The day showed promise with damp streets but no sign of snow, rain and the sun even came out.

A repeat of yesterday, I got the mobiles set in the toddler room and we had the addition of Florin who commandeered all the best toys. At least there was no fighting. Bernice was back with the twins and poor little Paula has a very red butt. Lots more full diapers this am.

We had a complete lunch today including lovely little tarts for dessert and Bernice and I managed our usual lunchtime walk.

We got back in time to help with the 2pm bottles. I had 4 in the room and luckily one of them could hold the bottle by herself (Alexandra) and one would need more assistance but she wasn’t fussy (Ramona). This left me with a bottle in my left hand for Daniela (formerly known as Sandru which is her last name) and a bottle in my right hand for Beatrice. It was a lovely quiet room with everyone drinking and the little baby music machine droning along. Both Bernice and I hear the music and our eyelids droop. Too bad it doesn’t have the same soothing affect on the babies!

I had a chance to give Ramona her bottle. You may remember that she is the little girl that needs to kidney transplant and is delayed and slight. She is difficult to feed and does not take any cereal at this point. I held her close and put her right arm under my left arm. With gentle persistence, and a quiet room that was wonderful, she finally settled and took the entire bottle. I felt so blessed.

We had a lovely surprise during the afternoon when we were both in the non-mobile room when the nurse and Lily came and collected Daniel and Vasili because their mother had come for a visit. Bernice went out with her camera and I followed a little later. The mother is very young and has three other kids at home. Vasili is the spitting image of his mom with their lovely light colored eyes. The babies were so happy to see her and it is obvious that she comes to see them and that they know her. Our second mom sighting this week.

Also during the afternoon, I saw a policeman in the hall. Lily said that it was the one that brought Crina and Paula last week and he had returned hoping to speak to Lauren. Unfortunately, she had left on Friday.

Bernice had lots of crying from her room of 4 today and we tried to sooth them in the vibrating baby holder with the musical mobile. Not a roaring success today.

Today I had a chance to watch the staff work directly with Andrei, the oldest and most challenged on the children. He is often left alone in a room with the 5 bunks and not much else. He is pretty good at amusing himself such as climbing into the sink and up on the radiator to the windowsill. Not the safest occupation, but he seems to know his limits at least in these instances. Several times a staff member would intervene to keep him out of harms way. At one point, Lily went in with an assortment of toys to keep him occupied and he instantly began playing when given the toys. Late in the afternoon as I was finishing diapering the non-mobiles, I looked in to find all the cribs pulled away from the wall. As I looked closer, at times I could see the artist at work. Andrei was moving behind the cribs along the wall placing one here and another there. He does manage to amuse himself.

We left and had to make a stop in Barlad. SURPRISE!! I went to the travel agency to see about arrangements to get back to Bucharest on Friday for an early Saturday am flight. I will find out tonight if I need the arrangements and then will go back to the travel agent on Thursday night to lock in the details and pay. If a car in not available, I will have to take the earlier train on Friday.

We confirmed that Gabriella would join us tomorrow for dinner at the hotel. It will be nice way to say goodbye and thank you for all their assistance and hospitality during our stay in Barlad.

Thought for the Day - We need more light about each other, light creates understanding, understanding creates love, love creates patience and patience creates unity.

Entry 32C-1 - Romania - Orphans - third week remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Saturday, December 9 – Transylvania – Sunny, just as I had hoped!

Out of the hotel by 9:30 to begin our walk to the Black Church. Currently an active Lutheran Congregation, this church survived a huge fire in the 1600’s that pretty much decimated the city of Brasov and turned all the statutes on the outside black. They are currently housed inside. This site is also known for having over 120 Ottoman carpets that are hung from the balcony and in front of the banks of pews. Very Lutheran, the pews have wooden back supports that completely separate people sitting next to each other.

Post cards bought, we ambled down the pedestrian walkway and did a little more shopping. We had purchased some of the wonder cream, Gerovital, from the pharmacy last night and arose refreshed and much younger looking (at least to ourselves). Having tested the wonderful stuff, we bought more as gifts.

I also happened across an accordion band on the sidewalk and bought a CD as my Romanian music sample. I found a small coin purse and a Romanian flag, so all I have left is to find the Romanian photo album. Lauren found several antique stores so we both had several bags, or rather Marius, gentleman that he was, had several bags to carry.

We went into the Star Market – the largest department store in Romania, where Lauren bought a wonderful brown hat and I found a towel for my last henna treatment on the road. Outside the store was a large fruit market where we bought a pomelo, pomegranate and this large (apple could be pear, might be something else) yellow fruit that we will eat next week. (The yellow fruit turned out to be an apple/pear that was not completely ripe and therefore, not very sweet).

Lauren and I wanted some more soup so we ended up at the same restaurant as last night for meatball soup and beet salad with freshly grated horseradish. Yummy! On the plaza outside the restaurant, we found several kiosks where I bought a pretzel and Lauren found large, freshly made and decorated gingerbreads.

Then it was time for us to get in the car for our short trip to Bran Castle (commonly called Dracula’s Castle). In reality, he never lived in this castle.

Bran Castle was the summer residence of Queen Marie of Romania in the early 1900’s and straddles a mountain pass. It was key for guarding the pass and being perched up on the mountain, it had excellent views on both sides. It was quite a climb up the hill to reach the front door. The Castle was filled with small rooms, each with open fireplaces or stoves. The many winding staircases and inner balcony and walkways made it very interesting to see. It had been restored to the time when Queen Marie was in residence.

We stopped for a brief coffee before we got back in the car that was wonderfully hot, but very strong for me. Not sure why I am so surprised that it was already very dark by 4:45, therefore, we didn’t get to see much of the countryside.

The Alexandros Hotel had good reviews in the LP book and was MUCH NICER than our hotel from last night. Very clean and modern, we looked forward to our evening.

We went to find the internet, as we have not had it available lately at the hotel. We found an internet café and by the time we exited, my stomach was not feeling well, so I decided to make it an early night. Marius and Lauren gallantly walked me back to the hotel (which was not necessary, but they insisted) and they went off to dinner. I spent a quiet evening reading and listening to my Ipod. Upon later review, Lauren and I decided that our stomach fuzziness might have been due to the amount of cabbage or root veggies that we had eaten in the last two days. I think mine was also off due to the coffee I had late in the day. I have been drinking nothing but decaf tea since South Africa.

Our room was very hot, but thanks to quick thinking Lauren, she opened the door to our balcony and we both had a good nights sleep after that.

Sunday, December 10 – Transylvania – More sun, thank heavens!

7:30 alarm
First stop – Peles Castle (Pronounced pell esh) The former residence of the monarch of Romania – Carol I – in the 1900’s, the first castle with central heating and electricity. Very nice, magnificent staircases and the inlaid wood paneling absolutely AMAZING. Lauren felt it had too much wood, but there cannot be enough real wood for me in a castle. With a staff of 100, it might be doable. When you come to Romania, Peles Castle s a must see in my book.

After the castle we had coffee or hot chocolate on the patio of another complex of buildings in full view of the castle. There were several 3 star hotels on the same grounds and it would have been nice to stay there.

On the outside of the gates, we went through another gauntlet of kiosks. At the completion of this shopping trip, Lauren asked that I get ready for a chotchkie intervention with her to prevent further shopping forees.

The last official part of the tour was to take a cable car up the mountain in Siniea. It only got us halfway up the mountain and to the bottom of a chair lift for a ski area. NOT A SPECK OF SNOW at this point. We did have greats view of Peles Castle on the way up and down. I could have missed this part and not felt slighted.

We began our 5-hour trek back to Banca at 2:45. As none of us were very hungry, we had decided to possibly stop for coffee once and maybe some soup. I Ipoded again and rested and when I opened my eyes, found that we were surrounded by very dense fog. At some points, Marius was driving very slowly and keeping close to the side of the road. I was pleased that he was driving.

We made it home by 7pm just in time for dinner with Bernice. It was lovely to be home and back in my own room.

On the whole, the tour was fun, but we both felt that we paid more than we received. It was a new experience to have to pay for the room for the driver/guide and also cover his meals and admissions to the sights. I will ask more questions before booking a tour the next time.

Bernice told us that she had gone to the clinic both days from 9-4. The babies spent most of their time in the cribs, as the staff was busy doing the once-a-week deep clean. Sunday had only a skeleton crew so the babies were pretty isolated all day. Bernice finally took the loudest criers out for an airing and a portion of the toddlers got out for a short video session. Not as we would prefer, but it is what probably happens frequently when the volunteers are not around. None of us feel that the staff neglects them, but it is a fact of their limited staff, space and resources.

Monday, December 11

Up at 7:45 to leave at 8:30. Tired, as I knew I would be, but we were still looking forward to the little faces and I planned to spend as much time as possible with the mobiles.

The toddlers had been put in the room that traditionally is used for the mobiles so I joined my troop of mobiles with Lauren and her non-mobiles. The morning went pretty well without too many crying fits.

By lunch we all were feeling our weekend especially Bernice with her 7 day straight of time at the clinic. Lunch turned out to be cold soup, huge sandwiches and pomelo that Lauren had bought at the market in Brasov. The pomelo was amazingly sweet and in good shape. Lovely to find that, as most pomelos I have had outside of Thailand have been small, tasteless and rather dry.

I took the mobiles for the afternoon into their regular room. There was one toddler (one of the numerous Andreea’s) that had not been taken into the toddler room, so I took pity on her and brought her in with us. She was definitely a toddler who had spent a lot of time with boys, so she was pretty aggressive and threw things. Everything was fine until she chose Marian’s head to repeatedly pound her toy. I scolded her loudly by saying NU (no in Romanian) and put her back in her crib for time out. Poor Marian had huge tears by the time I got back to him.

When I went to check in with Lauren at 3:40, she looked exhausted and rather pleased to get ready to leave for the day. We changed diapers and most of the pampers and supplies that we had brought last week had been used up over the weekend. We would make another trip to the Penny Market tonight for more diapers. I also intended to buy an electric kettle for the staff/volunteers. While they have a wonderful kitchen, the kettle will help people, both staff and volunteers, get hot cups of coffee.

In addition to going shopping, we stopped by to see Gabriella, a nurse in the city who has facilitated volunteers who want to send money to Romania to sponsor one of the kids. Lauren was interested in helping the 6-month-old twins, Vasili and Daniel, at some level, but also wanted to know that the money will go to whom and for what it was intended. More information was needed from the Dr. at the hospital, because children when are at the clinic, it usually means that they cannot be placed with either their family or extended family for some reason.

Lauren was a godsend with her Italian because it meant that we could ask questions of the staff. Lauren had found out that the staff could use a dish washer (possible her friend Robert from England can help on this one). Other Romanians have said that to really help a child or young person in Romania, sponsorship of their education can make a huge difference in their lives. Previous volunteers have sponsored schooling and in one instance, paid for eye operations for a pair of sisters with crossed-eyes.

We got home exhausted and went to dinner early. Thank heavens we did because by our traditional eating time was, every table was full.

Tuesday, December 12

Still feeling the result of our weekend, rising and shining was difficult again this am. Lauren ended up leaving her prescription glasses on the breakfast table and I found that I had left my water at home.

The toddlers were still in the mobiles room, so I took my kids into the toddlers’ room briefly in the am. I didn’t feel that we could invade Lauren’s non-mobiles again. During the am, several men arrived with cement and tools to clean up around the windowsills and doorframes from the newly placed windows and doors. The windows and doors are all metal construction with very good insulation. I imagine they have made a huge difference to the warmth of the rooms and keeping the weather out. Soon the toddlers came back into their regular room, so I put my mobiles in the rolling seats and they drove up and down the hallway.

Lauren had a chance to speak to Ramona, a former country leader and interpreter for Bernice when she led a team in Iasu (pronounced Yah sh) 5 years ago. Ramona is a lawyer who is currently living in Brussels with her Romanian husband. She was home on vacation, but says that she always comes back to the clinic to see the orphans. As I had mentioned, Lauren is interested in sponsoring a child/children from the clinic. From various conversations we have had, it is obvious that sponsorship can be done, but it takes planning and the help from a local person in Romania. In the past, some volunteers have gone through a foundation, which is no longer an option. Others have gone through private people who will accept the money on behalf of the family and if necessary, will make sure that the necessary supplies are purchased and given to the family.

So much of the sponsorship depends on if the family or foster family will be able to be located once the child leaves the clinic. While the family or extended family is always preferred, some are so poor there is no way that they could take back the child. I had heard before I came that it is not uncommon for some of the gypsy families to pick up their last child from the clinic and drop off the new one. The children also come to the clinic with some medical reason, sometimes only malnutrition, but usually with multiple problems. Anemia is the other main cause for entrance to the clinic. Until the child is well enough and of a certain weight, they are not eligible for either placement back home or into a qualified foster family. The irony of the situation is that if the family takes the child back, they only receive a small amount of money from the government, where as, if a foster family take the child, they receive money for the food, clothing and other support for the child.

According to Ramona, adoption is not a common practice within the Romanian community. Fertility is not a problem and therefore, most families would rather have natural children than adopt. Usually, adoption only happens when a family who has had a child, loses the child and the woman is beyond childbearing age. The EU insists that countries take care of their own and therefore, Romania no longer allows international adoptions. Many of these programs in Romania have already been shut down, and while there are no plans to close this clinic, there is no guarantee that this program will continue either.

For the last two days, we have been lunching late to accommodate the noon bottles for Bernice’s the two-month-old twins. I helped feed one of the little ones, Denisa today and I could tell how tired I was by my level of impatience. Grandma Bernice clued me in to the technique she uses with Denisa, the smaller of the twins, that keeps her eating and not drowning in the milk.

Today when we arrived in our dining room, the soup had been placed in our bowls as had the coffee and it was totally cold. As I entered the room, I could tell we were probably having cabbage soup. The first bite told me it was fish soup. Both Lauren and I took it outside for the dogs that also turned their noses up at the offering.

During the afternoon, Lauren and Bernice had an appointment to see Dr. Delia to find out about the specific children and to learn about the sponsorship opportunities. I was on mobile duty again with the little racecars in the hallway. Even little Sylvia, our weight challenged little pumpkin, was racing up and down. I always find her standing in her crib and yet she is reluctant to walk on her own. This week, I have been putting her between my knees with her feet on the ground and quickly, I can open my knees can open because she is standing on her own. Little faker!

Two stops on the way home for more pampers for the little twins and supplies such as toilet paper, milk for the cereal for the non-mobiles and baby wipes for little bottoms.

I admit, prior to arriving at this placement, I was not looking forward to changing diapers. After 10 days, I am not finding it that bad not even the real poopy ones. I guess when you have been pooed on by so many things during the year, a dirty diaper does not appear so daunting.

Wednesday, December 13

Slept well and felt refreshed for my day. Today the new things included an intake of two new babies, one 3 months (Paula) and one 4 months (Crina). The 4 month old has a sister in the clinic, but we are not sure who it is. The 3 month old seems very small and underdeveloped and probably has some inherited genetic disorder.

Today we also had hot soup and coffee for lunch. We brought the items with us from the kitchen and because we waited to bring it with us, the temperature was better.

Lauren only has two days left at the clinic after today and was beginning to feel the pull of her life in Italy, but also a profound sadness about leaving the twins, Vasili and Daniel.

During out time together, Lauren (42), Bernice (76) and I have been having wonderful single women discussions and Lauren is teaching us flirting 101. Ladies, you will know what I mean!

Lauren is fascinating and living a life that most of us can only dream about. At 42, she is living in Tuscany and finishing the editing of her first book. A former NJ State Police officer for 15 years, her book chronicles her life as an officer, the death of her only son, and how she made the transition from the US to Italy. She is currently dating a handsome Brit who has a villa in Tuscany and she travels extensively in Europe and back and forth to the US.

Her life in Italy sounds intriguing and foreign at the same time. A great conversationalist and interested in human nature and everyone’s story, she has shared so much about her life with us. Lauren is totally integrated into the village near Lucca and spends time helping her neighbor who owns and runs the local animal shelter. Village life in Tuscany goes at a slower pace than most of the world and she finds time to share coffee with the gasman when he comes to deliver her propane, bikes into the village for her staples and up until recently, every three months had to go to the immigration office to extend her visa. She has finally been granted residency, which has allowed her to buy a car. Without residency you can buy a house, which she did, but you have to be a resident to buy a car. She still travels back to the US 2-3 times a year to catch up with family and friends. Her friends ask if she will return to the US permanently, and she indicates she will probably stay in Tuscany. She says that her standard of living is higher in Italy than it would be in the US.

She has opened my eyes to many things that I had not considered. She says living in the foreign country sort of turns you upside down, but once you become used to it, you seem to be able to take on anything. HMMMMM? Is it time for me to be upside down?

Thursday, December 14

Off to a late start today as we stopped by the Posta (post office) for post card stamps for all of us and to mail a package for Lauren. My stamps were about $1 each and the post cards are on their way. The package acceptance office would only be open between 10-12 two days a week, and since we were there at 9am, we chose not to wait.

Bernice (76) of Japanese/Hawaiian background is amazing. May we all look that good and have that much energy at 76. Bernice lives in San Francisco, one of my most favorite cities in the entire world, is a retired community college teacher and comes from a grape growing family in Lodi, California. She is very active as an international volunteer and life long learner. She has two grandsons whom she has taken on Elderhostel trips and has led GV trips in Poland, Greece, Romania, Tanzania, South Dakota, Minnesota, Montana….

She loves all things baby, but especially the twins Larisa and Denisa (premature and only 2 months old), and within two weeks has brought them from fussy babies with diaper rash and irregular sleep patterns, to a pair who both take their entire bottles, clean bottoms and good sleepers. When awake, however, they scream until Bunica Bernice (Grandma Bernice) picks them up. As soon as they feel her hands, they quiet. As soon as she puts them down, they wake! What clever babies!

The immigration officials will need to check her luggage as she arrives in the US, as there may be two little stowaways among the dirty socks!

Bernice now has the other two new babies to contend with as well, who are taking precious time away from her first loves. Paula, little elf baby (the one that we think might have dwarfism or some other genetic condition) is taking a lot of time as she is so small, has not settled since the move and has difficulty breathing, eating and sleeping. Corina, the other baby, is doing better and may even be ready to go into the non-mobile room, as she is so accomplished and alert.

I admit it! I love the mobiles the best at this placement. Funny, I thought it would be the tiny babies, but I love the concentration with which they play and their attempts to walk and crawl. Sylvia, Marian, Mirella and Mihaela have my heart and most of my attention. I am not sure how I will accommodate all the other kids that I may need to share my time with next week and not spend my entire time with my 4.

Each day I try to get one of them up first and have some special time with them. With the exception of Marian, my only boy, who is highly distractible and possibly a little ADD, the girls seem to like the special attention and get frustrated when I have to put them down to assist someone else. Today, I spent time with Sylvia. She is the pudge, 18 months old, stands in her crib, scoots on her butt and can race up and down the hall in a supported rolling walker chair, but has not made the leap into free style walking yet. When you grasp her hands and try to assist her to walk, she sags to the floor in a sit. This week I have been holding her between my knees while I am seated in a chair, with her feet on the floor. After she gets settled, I can spread my knees and she is essentially free standing with some leaning back on the chair. Bernice and I have a commitment that we will work with her next week to see if we can’t get her ambulating under her own steam.

Part of her issue is that she is so passive, that there is nothing that entices her to stretch herself. When offered a toy, she reaches for it very tentatively and slowly and examines it minutely and quietly. When a toy is whisked out of her hands (usually by Marian), she doesn’t stress about it and waits for the next toy to drift into her perimeter. She like to come to me, so hopefully, if Bernice has her and I call to her and am in close and comfortable proximity, she will take that important first step. Expect a report during the final week.

Marian is also at the brink and where it is simply a matter of time before he puts it together and begins to tear around on 2 instead of 4 appendages. He will be an easier walker and we will try to get him up and moving next week.

Tonight we had our usually stop at the Penny Market for diapers that should last through the weekend. Lauren also stocked up on candy for all the aids, and special treats of cheese, sausage and bread for a little celebration with the staff tomorrow.

We also had a final dinner with Lauren at a new restaurant, ARCADIA, with Gabriella, Nastashi (our driver and his wife, Sofika) and Manuela as our guests. We have found that most likely due to the time of the year, restaurants don’t always have everything on the menu. Tonight, we had decided on our favorite beet salad with horseradish, stuffed cabbage with meat and rice and papanash donut for dessert. The beets they had, but the others they did not. We did not find out all at once that our desired dishes were not available, so the poor waiter had to keep appearing to tell us that we had to select again. His final time, he slunk up to Gabriella and admitted that he hated to tell us, but our dessert option was not available.

We had a wonderful time hearing from Gabriella about the health and childcare systems in Romania and her work at the family planning clinic and as an advocate for the children at Tutova.

It was a fun evening and a lovely celebration to see Lauren off. We got home late and the morning found us all slow to get to the breakfast table.

Friday, December 15 – Last work day for Lauren

A late start again after a short night and then a trip to the bank so that Bernice could exchange money to pay the first two weeks of transportation costs. Bernice says the budget part is the hardest thing about being a team leader. The budget is in US Dollars and the Euro (which Romania is not currently using) and we are paying in RON – The new Lei for Romania. While Romania will enter the EU on 1/1/07, they will hold on to the RON for another seven years and then make the conversion.

We arrived and I had a list of pictures that Lauren wanted taken with her favorites, the twins Vasilei and Daniel, Andrei and Ramona. I had the mobile 4 in the walkers in the hallway and Bernice had her twins. Crina was being impossible and was not willing to stay in her crib, so we brought one of the little baby chairs that vibrates for her to try. It worked like a charm and then Bernice only had potentially three fussy babies to contend with instead of 4.

It was a short morning as we were so late. We were all surprised to see Zorin and Abel, the two little boys who had eye surgery yesterday, back in their cribs today. Other than the one red eye each, neither of them looked or acted like they had been in surgery yesterday.

At lunch Lauren cut up all the goodies and she invited the staff to come and join us. She also worked with the nurse on duty to label a box of chocolates for each aid, nurse or teacher who helped at Tutova in the clinic. As you might imagine, all of the treats were very well received.
Lauren and I had our last lunch time walk and Lauren told me all about the foundation called Wade’s Heart that she will set up with the proceeds from her book sales. The foundation will fund projects/workshops or camps that will give kids that aren’t normally heard an opportunity to express themselves. The aim of the foundation will be empowerment, networking, brainstorming to increase confidence and self-acceptance in young people.

Our afternoon sped past as we got the last pictures that she requested. The mobiles again were rocketing in the hall way and I spent some time with each of them in my lap. At one point, as I went past Andrei (the 4-year old with aggressive issues) who was alone in a room, I saw that he had managed to remove the carpeting and was proceeding to lift the tiling underneath.

In the past few days, I have also been around Annamaria, the little girl with some mental problems and learning disabilities, who has the habit of sticking her hands down her throat and regurgitating her last meal or two. At times she is in a walker and you know what she has been up to by the smell. She shares a room with 5 of the non-mobiles and occasionally when you go in to get someone, the smell overpowers you. The staff members are saints! They efficiently work with these two children who might well be neglected because their behavior problems, with grace and kindness. There are kissed and cuddled and a gentle when they handle them. We look at them and try and imagine their future and the lessons they bring to us.

A day to go down in history!!! We did not stop at the Penny Market on the way home! We had massages waiting. I took the pre-dinner one, as Bernice wanted to shower ahead of time and Lauren prefers the last one so she can go right to bed.

Lauren accepted the offer of a ride from Natashi tomorrow to get directly to the airport. The only rub is that she must be up and ready to leave at 4:30 am! She probably won’t go to bed and will sleep in the car.

Bernice and I will miss her tremendously next week. All the babies and the staff love her and she is so lively and engaging, she can speak to anyone and it truly interested in them. It will be a quiet week. I will attempt to keep up her exercise program for the non-mobiles and promised to keep her updated on the progress being made. I will also be in charge of writing the daily journal for the team (of 2) for the week, as Bernice will be doing the weekend entries.

I have decided to take my full weekend away from the clinic. While I will miss my special babies, I know that I need a break, a sleep in, and time to catch up on my blog. Bernice will most likely go to the clinic on Sunday and I know that the aids asked if she was coming.

Entry 32B - Romania - Orphans - second week remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Breakfast 8am
Left 8:45 – Lauren in the arms of Memory of a Geisha until 3am was a little slow to arrive
Arrived at the clinic at 9:15

Worked with the mobiles early and we were joined by Andrei and Lauren. Within a few minutes in the room, Andrei had pulled Sylvia backwards which caused many tears from the bumped head. John and Sandy then came in and I went into the Toddler for 50 minutes. Lunch for the toddlers consisted of liver pieces, scrambled eggs from our breakfast followed by cream of wheat. We have noticed that the kids are a little hesitant with any new taste or texture. They seem to love the cooked liver that is great as most of these guys still have some anemia.

Our lunch was watery soup, not very tasty pasta, apple tort and bread. None of us ate very much of it so it went to the local dogs and the leftovers of soup and pasta to the kitchen for the kids.

We continued our pattern of the after lunch walks and during this lunch, we found a small store for Lauren to buy a hat.

Afternoon was the non-mobiles with a special visit from Alessandra, the brittle bone baby who has the loveliest smile.

After work we went into town to find the train schedule (looks like a 7am train for Bernice and I on Saturday the 23rd which will get me in by noon). That should give me plenty of time to get to the airport for my 3pm flight. We also tried to find an internet café as our server is still down at the hotel. We went to three different locations, including the local gambling establishment where Bernice approached two young boys who we suspected would know. No luck. We will ask Manuela when we see her next.

Penny market with Bernice for juice for our entire time, more diapers, diaper wipes and chicken for the kids.

Dinner at Alona restaurant again with Manuela and Stella a student at her HS and her father to discuss the Orthodox Church in Romania. We arrived and had to walk through a St. Nicholas Day party complete with dj and keyboards.

Manuela was going to meet us at 7pm and luckily she sent Helen (the English teacher at the HS) to tell us that the student and dad would not be available tonight. Helen stayed and ate an orange and assisted us with ordering. Lettuce is not in season in Romania so salads usually only have cucumbers, tomatoes and the other ingredients listed. Most of the ingredients are listed separately so it is almost impossible to come close to what the US calls a salad. I found one that I like that has eggs, ham, cukes, tomatoes, onions (not my favorite) and parm cheese on the top. After lots of back and forthing, we finally ordered.

The wines that we ordered came with the entire bottle that was unexpected but not too expensive. The red Lauren and Bernice shared was not well received, as it appeared to have turned or have been stored at the wrong temperature. The white ordered was wonderful and most of the table switched from red to white.

Manuela arrived after her last class and helped me finish by 4-cheese pizza (2 slices of each of the 4 cheeses – rather a fun way of eating 4 cheese pizza). We had not ordered dessert as we had the previous lunch so 3 of us ordered fruit salad. What we got this time was the confection with lots of whip cream, caramel sauce and fruit cocktail chunks. Not at all what I expected, and after a bite, I left the rest. Not my proudest moment of the trip. (I admitted I was tired, cranky and that all I wanted to do was go back to the hotel). I realized that we had ordered fresh fruit the previous meal and what we received was delightful. I now know to order fresh fruit.

We finally left and upon arrival from the dinner unloaded the bus and went up stairs in hopes of internet connection – no luck. May not be able to find it again until I get to London. Manuela said that she would take us somewhere tomorrow.

We did a little more searching in the journals for some of new favorite babies. Most of them were preemies and many from young parents.

Thursday, December 7

What a great day!

Still gloomy and cold when we woke for breakfast, we all benefited from a good nights sleep. Today we were making a special stop on the way to work to pick up treats hosted by John and Sandy for the adults in the wards. Lauren had purchased a Santa suit at the Penny Market that would also be making its debut. Our Romanian failed us again, but Lauren made our desired known in Italian and for a mere 25 RON (around $12), we walked away with 5 bags of little puff pastries.

We then picked up Manuela who was looking very exhausted. Her hours lately have been 7-9, an entire day with us and then classes between 5-8 pm. Plus we found out today that not only does she teach, but also she is the science curriculum lead for all of Barlad. Not to mention she has a family and young daughter and a life outside GV. What a woman!

Next we made an unexpected stop at an office supply store of sorts to see if we could find paper, crayons or other art supplies for the toddlers. We all went in but as the other ladies had it well in hand, I looked around and then left. The store had 4 counters, two that most definitely specializing in office and stationary and the others across the way had items from batteries and clocks, through hair supplies, toys, cosmetics, laundry soaps and ended up with nylons and bras in the final case. Sort of a modified Office Depot/Ultra/Victoria Secret all under one roof!

We were late arriving and also carried dog food purchased by Lauren and last night’s pizza remnants for the dogs. Lauren has become very popular. The dogs were appreciative as you can imagine.

The toddlers were all waiting for us as we were later than usual and John and Sandy jumped in with the art supplies. Lauren and I started collecting babies, changing diapers and putting them in their exercise rooms. I am again with the mobiles that are quickly becoming my favorites. I began with Mirella, our lady in purple, who has been rather needy lately and wanting lots of attention. A little whingey during diaper change, she was happy to be picked up.

Next was Mihaela, who also not pleased with diapers, began her day with two balls in her hands. Next was Sylvia, who is always pleased to see anybody and smiles and gurgles. Finally, my little frog, Marian entirely in green as if you could not guess. All of this took over 30 minutes besides getting all the toys lined up and the equipment in the room. I met John in the hall and he said that unhappiness reigned as they closed up the art class and that the toddlers were wild today. OH GOODIE!

I went in with the group and everything was fine until Mihaela melted down, threw down the two plastic beads she had been playing with and had a glorious tantrum complete with circles on the floor on her back, arching upwards and grimaces of absolute rage. Peace returned after a short cuddle and setting her in the bouncy swing. In her rage she had clunked Marian in the head and also Mirella, so I had two others who needed hugs and cuddles that continued until I left the room. Little Marian needed lots of attention and his head would whirl around nearly at 360 to find me if I was out of his sight. Mirella was also needy and finally I had both of them in my lap, Mihaela in the bouncy and Sylvia bumping her back against the wall. As I left them down to get her, both dissolved into tears. SIGH!

Sandy came in to relieve me so that I could go and relieve John in Toddlers. More melt downs by Marian as I left.

I entered the room to see John telling Florin he had to stay in the room that caused Florin to lift a chair over his head to throw it. I took it from him and turn him to face me to tell him that was dangerous and that he could choose another way to seek attention. Not happy with being disciplined, he took his anger out on the tv. At least it wasn’t someone else’s head. Lots of tears and tantrums as I would put one down to get to another and two didn’t seem to fit in the lap without positioning and pushing. Toddlers are exhausting to me and without Romanian, hard to negotiate with.

Finally it was time for treats. First was the gourmet cooked chopped liver and chicken breasts that Bernice had supplied. Nearly all ate the liver with relish, but the chicken breasts only got limited play. Followed quickly by the cream of wheat and yoghurt soup which lead to food fights with the spoon and upended bowls on the floor. The children were not spanked for the behavior just scolded and cleaned up. Next came the juice bottles, cut up oranges and little bits of cookies. By this time, half the herd had becoming disinterested and was removing their bibs, tracking through the gruel and racing up and down the hall without their socks. Naptime was just around the corner.

We had a good lunch of sandwiches, soup that had been pureed, bread and fruit. Both Lauren and I also supplied sweet treats for snack. By the time we were finished, it was sprinkling but Lauren and I still took our walk. Both Sandy and Bernice stayed back to feed the little twins who are hungry more often and needing lots of attention. They found that one of the babies had diarrhea and now bad diaper rash and they were very upset that the staff be notified to the seriousness of the condition. We are now in search of newborn pampers to try and rectify the situation as soon as possible.

I am in charge of daily supplies. Usually I bring one roll of toilet paper, one roll of paper towels, 4 cartons of juice and two packs of diaper wipes. We will add 2-3 packages of diapers, and two tubes plus one pot of AD diaper cream for tomorrow. We were told today that the kids may not have chocolate, but can have slightly sweet treats or pastries with jam or cheese in them. They also said that they only use 1-2 cartons of juice a day, so I will cut back on the number.

We were to have a short afternoon as we had to visit the adult wards with the treats supplied by Sandy and John before we left a 3:45. John was a hit in the Santa suit and the ladies were charming. The men were a little taken aback when John arrived, but took their share of the treats and smiled. I think the hospital director was happy that we had made the effort.

We left early, as we had to find the pharmacy for the diapers, then to the internet café for our correspondence and finally, meet with Stella for a trip to the Orthodox Monastery and her father, the Priest of the local Greek Orthodox Church. The pharmacy had plenty of diapers, so we all bought at least one pack. The internet café only had 3 machines available, but we all were connected within 5 minutes. All the other machines were loaded with teenagers playing games.

We picked up Stella and then had a 30-minute ride into the woods to the Monastery. It began to look like the woods from the Blair Witch Project and the longer it took, the more we were convinced that we would not make it home that night. The monastery is undergoing a major face-lift and they were laying cement even in the pitch dark. The monastery was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and was lovely and ornate on the inside. The chandelier was absolutely magnificent and the twin candle sticks with the double eagle amazing. Apparently, the double eagle has been used in Romania for the local kings for years. We learned about the legend of how the monastery was founded which included a local peasant and his donkey. Apparently, every evening the donkey would disappear at a certain tree. When the man cut it down, on the stump was a replica of Mary so on this site the monastery was founded.

Only 10 minutes away was the little village for the church. We got out of the bus and walked through a dark graveyard on the way to the church. Stella’s father is the priest and is a friendly rotund man similar to Friar Tuck. This church had two styles of paintings the Byzantine (more two dimensional) and the Catholic (three dimensional). This church was dedicated to St. George (of Dragon fame) and we saw the painting of him being drawn and quartered. The church had the steepest set of stairs leading up the pulpit on the wall I had ever seen. The congregation stands for upwards of 4 hours every Sunday at the services.

The priest showed us the books they use to pray with, the chalice and their special hosts that are actually bread and the special way that they cut them to represent Christ, Mary and all the angels and special people to pray for. After receiving a dried herb that will be used tomorrow to bless the holy water, being anointed with special oil from Greece and some wonderful white wine, we took our leave. It was a wonderful church complete with a painted picture of the current priest on the balcony looking at the sacristy.

Back on the bus, we were very late for dinner and our massages that had been arranged by Ionata for us. At dinner we were told that Bernice would receive a free massage because she was over charged for the last one. She went first, I was second and Lauren last. IT WAS WONDERFUL! I have never had my elbows massaged like that. I sit sleepy eyed to finish about today before I go off to sleep.

I am partially packed for our trip to Transylvania for the weekend. YAAH!

DREAM – moths ate all my business clothes. No problem in my mind and I was happy at the end of the dream.

Friday, December 8 – Last work day for John and Sandy

We have been taking our lunch daily from the hotel restaurant to the clinic in a plastic blue and red box. Today, there was a misunderstanding about our lunch. We were a little delayed in our departure and this would already be a short day for Lauren and I as we were to be picked up at 1:30.

I assisted Lauren by helping deliver non-mobiles to her room and then I played with the mobiles. We had a very quick lunch and then it was time to say goodbye to Sandy and John. It is nice to know that they are just up the road in Boulder once I get home.

At 1:30, Marius in a silver car arrived to whisk us away to Brasov. We left Banca in mist and I suspected that we would not have good visibility until we had climbed to the mountains. We had been told that we would have a driver and guide, but we found out that we would only have Marius. In addition, he had not done this tour is several years, so we were not surprised when he had to ask several times for directions to our hotel. At one point, we were at an intersection and the name of the town we needed had two signs, each pointing in the opposite direction.

The ??? hotel looked okay from the outside and inside it was clean, if a little outdated. The LP was not very complimentary, but then again, they didn’t highly praise any of the lodgings in Brasov. We were at the front of the building with lots of Christmas lights. We left the hotel to walk to dinner along a pedestrian street.

There was a central plaza with a huge lit tree and lots of character. Both Lauren and I ordered a salad and a stuffed cabbage with meat and rice. Both tasted great!

LP had spoken of a miraculous beauty cream that was supposed to take 20 years off you. The founder/creator had died at 90 and looked only 70, or so the story goes. As it was sold in all the pharmacies, we suspected that we would be able to find it. Of course, as with any good miracle cream, there was more than one to use. We made our selection, I with a night cream and hand cream and Lauren with two others plus a shampoo/conditioner. I did a sample test before bed with one side of my face with the new stuff and the other side with the old stuff. We will see how much younger we look tomorrow

Life in Romania

Daily, we pass horse drawn carts with young colts in tandem with their mothers learning to drive. The carts may have a huge load of cabbages, twigs, possibly several people and one day, there was a full-grown cow being pulled by the wagon. (My question – why can’t the cow be walked down the road like the horse?) While cars are everywhere, there will most like be a large percentage of the population that will never be able to afford a car.

Boots and babushkas – We are in the country and not close to one of the major cities. Many of the people live on small farms and grow their own crops – cabbage, cows, pigs, sheep, corn, etc. It is not uncommon to see a little lady in Wellington rubber boots and a scarf or babushka on her head.

Gray skies – winter is here for sure and we have had 95% gray skies and mist. We are in a low valley, probably with lots of streams and rivers. I have remarked that it reminds me of Anatevka from Fiddler.

Smoking – EVERYBODY SMOKES IN ROMANIA from what I can tell. My clothes smell and I don’t feel I will be able to totally loose the smell until I get to England.

Right side of the road – They drive on the right-hand side of the road like in the US. It sort or shocked me to find that I found being driven on the right hand side of the road rather foreign to me. I guess after 8 months in the other lane, it would seem strange.

90% Greek Orthodox - the main religion is Orthodox (and while they say Greek, other people say it is a blend of both Russian and Greek Orthodox)

2% of population Gypsies – This portion of the population is still looked down on by a lot of the Romanian people. Not as nomadic as they once were, in some areas, they have formed a settlement with houses.

Generally small in stature with strong noses, magnificent bushy eyebrows – the first thing that I noticed about the Romanians is that they have wonderfully strong noses and abundantly bushy eyebrows. Seriously, some of the men have eyebrows that could be groomed.

Dark hair/dark eyes – The babies have the most wonderful dark hair and eyes. While I have seen many hair and eye colors, the dark/dark combinations are the most prevalent and are wonderful.

Delicate drains – euphemism on how you do not put your toilet paper down the toilet. That is what the little lidded trashcan is for!

Language – As a former Roman province, they consider themselves Roman, hence Romania. The language has so many similarities to Italian that Lauren managed to be understood in over 90% of her interactions with the Romanian people. Some things were different, but the similarities far outweighed the differences.

Entry 32A-2 - Romania - Orphans - first week continued remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Saturday, December 2

Up at 5:30, with crowds of people still moving about the streets having not gotten home from last evenings parties. The taxis were all taken, so I asked the angels and within 10 seconds, my cab arrived. I did not know my terminal so the driver called on his cell phone and confirmed I was to go to terminal #2. I was at the airport in 20 minutes.

I found after I arrived that I was in the wrong terminal but as my flight wasn’t for 3 hours, not that big of a problem. (Just a well I got there early, as you will see). I walked to Terminal 1 with the twins (my luggage) and found a line for Air Madrid. After one hour in line, I noticed that all the people were really short and Spanish looking. After another hour in this line, I determined that I was in the line for Ecuador instead of Bucharest.

Made it into the correct line where a huge crowd had gathered in a disorderly mess. Luckily, I did not loose my place in line as they asked everyone to back up and form one line. Made it to the front. My baggage was 5 kilos over so I had to go pay an excess baggage fine. ($45 dollars, which was cheaper than if I had mailed it home). I think I will carry the stuff from now on and risk the fine, instead of running around trying to mail stuff home. Also if I load my other backpack with the heavy stuff, I may still be okay.

When I was going back to pick up my boarding pass, after paying my fine, I saw a sign for a US Air flight to the US for Filadelfia. I wanted to take a picture of it, but they wouldn’t let me. The closer to the US I get, the more rules there are for air travel.

I had the row to my self until Barcelona, and then two Romanian men next to me for the 3-hour flight to Bucharest. Crowded but okay.

Looked out at one point and I could see snow on the mountains. As we landed, there was quite a haze, partially because it is cold and the weather has settled and partially because there is quite a bit of pollution in Romania.

Before landing, I noticed lots of farming communities with houses only along the roads. It appeared that the farms were in very narrow strips with no outbuilding other than those that were clustered at the roads that border the farm plots. I will see if I see the same pattern when I am on the ground.

Landed at 4:20, which was just about dusk and 1 hour late due to air traffic hold ups in Madrid. No issues with exchanging money or immigration. Found the Global Volunteers who had been waiting 4 hours in the airport. They some how had my arrival time wrong, but luckily my team leader was coming in close to my delayed arrival time. One volunteer, Lauren, was arriving outside the pick up window and would need to make her own way to the hotel.

We will be a small team of only 5 for this week, 3 the 2nd week and only 2 the final week.

Hotel Caro is very nice, very modern and lovely.

Dinner at 6:30 with Bernice (team leader from SF), Manuela (Country assistant for Romania), John and Sandy from Boulder, and finally Lauren from NJ, but currently residing in Tuscany, Italy who arrived late and had an adventure finding us.

Saw pictures of the children and have already spotted a real cutie. Tomorrow, an early breakfast, meeting and then a 5-hour bus ride to our town, Banca near Barlad our major city and on the far side of Barlad is Tutova, where the hospital and clinic are located. We will be working in a failure to thrive clinic. The children are not technically orphans but have been removed from their families or released by the families, as they cannot care for them. The children tend to come in underweight and malnourished. They are then placed in foster care (one of the EU requirements before Romania joins the EU on Jan 1, 2007) as soon as they are healthy enough and a suitable home is found. Several of these clinics have closed around Romania, preparing for the EU transition.

Sunday, December 3

The alarm rang way to early this am (7:10 am), but as I had already packed, I was at breakfast at 8 for a 9 am departure. The first one in the restaurant, it had an amazing spread of yoghurt, cereals, eggs plus all the trimmings and wonderful pastries. In the middle island were cold cuts and a wonderful selection of cheeses. I restrained myself based on the weight I put on in Spain.

Long story short, we all had a hard time getting up and by the time Lauren made it to the lobby, it was 9:20. We left close to 10 in very foggy, damp cold conditions and headed northeast out of Bucharest.

We chatted for the first hour of the trip. Lauren is writing a book about her former career in the NJ State Police for 15 years and her decision to quit and subsequent move to Italy. This is her second GV placement.

John and Sandy own several small resorts in Estes Park and live in Boulder. They have done many GV trips in Eastern Europe and China.

Bernice our team leader is from San Francisco and has taught college and is currently leading up to 3 trips a year and taking care of her 96-year-old mother in between.

Manuela is our local coordinator while Mihalla is in Minnesota for country manager training. She lives in Barlad the closest major city to Tutuva that has our clinic. 27 children between birth and 5 are resident in the clinic.

We stopped at a McDonalds for lunch mainly because it had western toilets. I managed to get locked in the toilet because I was unaware of the system. In order that only paying clients have access, you have to buy something and at the bottom of your ticket is the access code. You punch it in as you enter the stall and then when you use the button to exit. I had just entered the stall when the last women exited. I found out later the code was 1001.

I had ordered my standard McD meal of double cheeseburger, small fry and orange drink. I added a coffee latte that was okay, but pretty tepid. We all went to the ATM to withdraw some money.

After we left lunch, the sky cleared slightly and we could see the fields we had been passing. Mainly grapes in this region, we began to see little stands on the roadside with plastic jugs full of juice. It was local wine and we asked to stop so that we could buy some. The driver knew of a good place so we ended up stopping and pulling into a compound. A rag tag assortment of dogs met us including a husky, two young puppies and a poor mother dog that looked the worse for wear. The tasting room had large plastic containers for white or red wine and some bottled cabernet, merlot and pinot noir. We were given completely full glasses of wine as our samples. The group ended up buying a 5 Liter jug of both white and red for a whopping 30 new Lei (about $10).

Along the side of the roads, it was not uncommon to see horse drawn carts and we passed a farmers market with local grain grower displaying their grains in piles on burlap sacks on the ground.

The buildings I have seen so far are a varied assortment of very old, some built around 1940-50’s and some very modern. The small villages remind me on Anatevka from Fiddler with little yards behind low fences.

I have seen a number of cats and dogs all outside and looking cold and hungry by US standards.

The people that I have seen are well protected from the cold, usually with hats or bandanas. After months in the tropics/temperate areas, the moist cold is as expected. I definitely did not bring enough warm clothes. We will definitely do a little shopping on the way back to the hotel tomorrow. Lauren did what I did at the start of my year and left her shampoo and toothpaste at home, John and Sandy need an alarm clock and I need the standard Kleenex, washing powder and now for Romania, sweat pants and shirt and possibly another shirt or two

The clinic is in Tutova that is farther South than Barlad, the major city, and our hotel is on the other side of Barlad. We will have about a 15 minute ride each way to get to the clinic where we will work from 9-4, with 2 hours for lunch.

Our Motel Gianni appears pretty new and we each have private rooms. In addition to the GV supply room with two computers and a separate meeting room, they have a sauna and Jacuzzi ($5 for 15 minutes) and they also offer a massage service. They also have laundry services that are economical and a full service restaurant and bar. We are rather isolated at the hotel, but I think we will be able to get cabs into Barlad if we want some evening entertainment.

Tomorrow, we will get a list of excursions offered by the local travel agency for weekend trips. John and Sandy leave next weekend, so it will only be Lauren, Bernice and I. After the first weekend, it will only be Bernice and I.

When we finish up our time at the clinic, we will take the train back to Bucharest. That will be a fun bonus, as I love short train travel.

We had an early dinner with the tv in the restaurant blaring above our heads. I asked Bernice if it would be possible to have our table moved to the opposite part of the room for all of our future meals. It will be done as of breakfast tomorrow.

Off to an early bed time for blogging and very welcome sleep.

Monday, December 4 – Angels all around me!

I had spent a little too much time with my new book last night, the Historian (about the Dracula legend) so 8:00 am came a little early for me.

Did I mention that my bed has pastel, plaid seersucker sheets? The texture is very strange to sleep on and under.

I sent 5 pairs of socks, nightclothes, 2 tops and 2 pants to the laundry, asked the housekeeper for a new bulb for my bedside lamp, and to see if they could fix the strobe light in my bathroom.

What a busy day we had! Breakfast at 9:00 and then we went up stairs for the traditional GV exercises of what are our team goals and what makes a good team. Mine were to spend time with the children, to make a difference and to learn more about myself. (COTU strikes again!)

Then we had a Romanian language lesson with Manuela. As we started, we needed some supplies from the resource room and as I was searching for white board markers and large paper, came across a dead mouse where the oatmeal was stored. The motel was very apologetic. Later discussion resulted in us tossing out any of the zip locks that had any mouse teeth marks at all. We can’t have the babies eating tainted oatmeal! We made a list of the office supplies we still needed and the recommendations from the previous team was to bring juice, yoghurt or boneless chicken breasts to the clinic as the children don’t normally get these treats. (The note said it made a change from boiled chicken livers! As most of them are anemic and malnourished, I guess liver is good for them, but YUK!)

Before we left the motel, we prepaid for our massages for tonight. Only 28 RON (new lei), we were looking forward to our hour on the table. We were told that the masseuse was able to speak English.

After our lesson, we loaded into the bus for lunch downtown at the Alona Cafe. The menus were in Romanian, and as we had not discussed any food words, we had Manuela order for us. I ended up with a great veggie soup and a ham and cheese salad. (Salad in Romania does not include lettuce, simply the other ingredients listed.) It really was very tasty. We ordered fresh fruit salad for dessert. YUMMY!

We were finally going to go to the clinic that we had heard so much about. Similar to Peru, these children are not orphans as most of them do have parents. The parents simply cannot take care of them. The clinic is associated with a small hospital with 70 beds, 30 for the failure to thrive children, 20 for pediatrics and 20 for adults.

We met the director, Dr. Delia, who was a lovely woman and who had good English, but felt more comfortable with the translator, Manuela. We saw the emergency room, about 10X10 with three beds including a delivery table that the Dr. admitted should be in a museum. They see anywhere from 5-10 births a month, and the mother and child are moved via ambulance to the 900 bed hospital in Barlad (about 5 minutes away) within an hour of the birth.

Then we saw the lab and while they have some of the machines, they do not have the necessary supplies to complete all the tests. (i.e., they have three one-step blood machines for monitoring blood sugar, but they cannot afford the strips at $1.50 each.) There blood work machine has the capacity to run up to 100 tests, but they only have the ability to run 16 different tests.

Next we saw the men’s ward, with three patients, 12X12 room with 6 beds. The woman’s ward had 12 beds and 20 patients. Doing the math you will find that this means that 8 of the bed has two occupants sleeping head to foot. They were in for chronic diseases such as high blood pressure, arteriosclerosis, diabetes, pulmonary issues, etc. I asked her to tell them for us that we hoped that they would get better soon, and she said that they would as they would all want to be home for Christmas. The ladies were sad to see us go and asked us to come back.

Next, the land of the children. We walked out of the adult wing across a yard and past a nice fenced playground with swings and outside toys that had been funded by GV money. We could hear them before we saw them. Through the door we could see a very small room with about 12 toddlers and one nurse. Sweet faces through the door and at the first sight of opening, Florin was out into the hall way like a rocket. I can tell he is a little monkey and was very happy to see us and anxious to touch hands and play.

Next we met a pair of twin boys who had TB and toxic hepatitis. I am assuming Hep C that has no inoculation. I am not sure if we will get to play with them.

Next we saw the newest babies, twin girls who were less than 2 months old. Very sweet.

We visited several rooms, each with about 5 wooden cribs approximately 2X3, with one child each. The children are separated into several groups including mobile (they can crawl or walk but are smaller than the toddlers), the non-mobiles (self explanatory) and the special needs children.

There are 6 special needs cases. Alessandra has brittle bone disease and although she is 3 years old, is no bigger than a non-mobile. Ramona is a pale 2 year old that needs a kidney transplant. The clinic can only afford one dose a month and she needs a dose twice a week. Samuel is a lovely downs syndrome baby of about 2 years. Zorin is a toddler, has crossed eyes and probably some other brain injury or learning disability. Andrei, a 4 year old, has some brain disorder and while not intentionally mean, due to his size and weight causes considerable damage to the littler guys. Abel, under two years old with crossed eyes, otherwise appears fairly normal. Matiste (not sure of this spelling) is a toddler-sized girl who cries a lot. She is often by herself.

Most of our hearts melted with at least one of the children and my current favorite is Samuel, a downs syndrome baby with a delightful smile. A little shy are first, but as soon as you touch him, he beams and giggles.

We finished our tour and walked past the largest toddlers including another Andrei who is 4 and potentially quite a handful. The hospital had recently received money and they totally redid the kitchen that is wonderful to behold. With the next grant, they will most likely destroy the two sections of the hospital that was hit the hardest during the last earthquake. (Romania seems to suffer every other year with earthquakes of varying severity.)

Our time was limited today so we had only a few minutes to go back to any of the rooms. Both Lauren and I went in with the babies for a few minutes of cuddles. We had to leave too soon and there were some tears as we left. I promised Samuel that I would see him tomorrow.

Most of us had a little something that we needed at the store so we stopped at the Penny Market. This seems to be a chain in Europe and is similar to our Target. We had noticed that the clinic did not have toilet paper or hand towels at the sinks. We bought juice, but held off on the yoghurt and chicken until we can clarify with the clinic. We had to get back as Bernice had a massage scheduled at 5pm. Lauren and I are scheduled for after dinner.

Lauren and I went to the restaurant for coffees. Most of the group has found the coffee to be uniformly weak and usually tepid. We found out that even when you ask for cappuccino, you get a powdered coffee packet and possible hot water from the espresso machine. I opted for hot chocolate, but they only had white chocolate.

We then went up to the GV resource room to read the journals left by the previous teams. Each child has a folder with their diagnosis and progress reports, but a separate book with entries from the last teams telling us where they left off with each child. Most books have a picture of the child as well so that we don’t arrive totally ignorant about the children. Most of the volunteers have left their email addresses in the books asking future teams for updates.

Samuel has not only downs, but also anemia and rickets. He is not sitting up very well yet, but continues to make progress. The little face that won my heart last night we thought was Dimitri, but it turns out that his real name is Marian. I can’t remember all of his specifics, but will make sure to meet him tomorrow.

Finally dinnertime, we met John and Sandy in the restaurant. Bernice was late, due to the massage, and the waiters brought out our salads (tomatoes and cukes) and a wonderful procuitto pasta dish. By the time we were finished, still no Bernice.

Just as dessert arrived (chocolate and mint ice cream), here came Bernice. She had had a lovely massage, but was a little confused as the masseuse did not speak much English and she had asked Bernice to pay an additional $30 in US currency. The hotel owner had been adamant that we prepay for the massage and that she would pay the masseuse. It was up to us if we wanted to tip any extra. Considering we paid $15 for the massage, a $30 tip was a bit high. Bernice was not bothered about it. Lauren and I requested further clarification from the owner who returned to help us from her house behind the property to investigate.

20 minutes later, she came back to say that the masseuse had said that Bernice offered the money as she was so pleased with the service. At this point, my heart was not feeling good about this situation. The owner was in a bit of a delicate situation and did not press the issue. She did confirm that no more money was to be given to the woman and Lauren told Bernice that we would split the tip with her. The owner left and we discussed the matter between us.

Lauren was still game and knowing what to expect, she indicated that she would most likely give her a good tip. I told the ladies that my heart was not feeling good about this situation and said that at this point, that I would happily forfeit my money but that I no longer wanted a massage. I asked Lauren to let the masseuse know when she saw here. Lauren went to tell her she would be a minute or two, and I went back to my room. I was feeling a bit like a coward, as I did not plan to go to the woman myself and tell her that I would not take the massage. I checked my vibes to see if I was to go out and approach her myself and was told no. I checked to see if I was being a coward and was told yes.

Lauren knocked at my door within 3 minutes and told me that she had also decided not to go on the massage. As she entered the room, the woman, in perfect English said that the price was 28 lei for 15 minutes and that the hour price was higher as she would be doing 15 minutes of energy work and 15 minutes of other things. The long and the short of it was that neither of us felt that the woman was being honest with the owner or us. It seemed to me that the woman had taken advantage of Bernice’s kind heart and innocence. Lauren said during the exchange, she felt that the woman was shaking her down. As I look back on it, I can tell that my angels were helping me in this. Had I been the one to go into the room (which was the original plan), I probably would have ended up feeling bullied and might have ended up giving in to a massage that I did not want with a person that I did not trust. THANK YOU ANGELS! I am complete with this.

Lauren and I decided to take a sauna instead and we spent a hot and steamy 15 minutes in the box that helped me get over the last of the cold that I developed in Spain. During this time, Lauren regaled me with tales of her experiences in a Turkish bath in Istanbul where a woman with naked, pendulous breasts and a towel around her waist, exfoliated her with a rough cloth and basically stripped off her bra and undies. (It is so hard to know what is the appropriate attire in these cases!!). Considering that Lauren had been unaware of the exfoliation process, and had assumed that she was only going in for a steam, you can imagine her surprise. Apparently, the woman’s breasts swung around a lot as she worked and at one point caught Lauren in the face. I am amazed she did not leave with bruises.

I ended the day with a lovely shower in my bathroom where I no longer have the strobe effect, and then typed my blog in bed with my new bedside lamp illuminating the scene. It was a good day and I am looking forward to tomorrow.

Tuesday, December 5 – First day on the job

Up at 7:00 for breakfast at 8:00 for departure at 8:45. We had to pick up Manuela at 9:00 after her two classes in the morning. School in Romania is from 7am until 8 pm with two rotations,
7–1 and 1-8. A very long day for teachers who may teach early and then late in one day.

Orneta the hotel owner had heard about our massages and wants to arrange for a different masseuse to come later this week for free massages for us. We appreciated her going this extra distance for us.

We arrived at 9:30, just as everyone was getting the second bottle for the day. Apparently the daily schedule at the clinic is:

7am first bottle
baths
9:30 second bottle
11:30 – oatmeal
diaper change
nap 12-2
2 third bottle or cream of wheat
4pm we leave
4:30 second meal
6pm fourth bottle
8 pm fifth bottle

John and Sandy with limited time are trying to get to every group as much as possible. They took the first shift with the toddlers and had them until 11:30. We heard that they are very exhausting and should only be done in 1-hour shifts. I started with the mobiles, Bernice went with the new 2-month old twin girls and Lauren was with the non-mobiles.

My group began with Mihaela – quiet dark eyed little girl who enjoyed walking around with a plastic ball in each hand. She liked it when I picked up a third ball and touched mine to hers. Not wanting cuddling and content on her own, she only had one major meltdown in my first 30 minutes.

Next was Slyvia – a large eyed, light brown hair, square headed pudge who was dressed in a blue suit that had huge pantaloons that made her look like a blue pear. While she stands well in her crib, she seems to have a weight in her butt and shoots and crawls a little bit, but make no effort to walk or even pull up on your fingers. She also is very vocal, will make a fine addition to any opera chorus she goes for and most of her vocalizations are happy and shrill. Only one melt down with Slyvia, but it brought the stork like bespectacled nurse to my room to see if I was abusing the children.

Next came Mirella – a petite, sylph-like dark eyed charmer who will be a great actress. She has the pouting lower lip look down, but had a good day with me in the corner in a bouncy swing with music and light when the right button is pushed. Very sweet and a very good walker when she is not in the chair.

Finally – little man Marian who has a smile that will melt any heart. Crawls like a fiend and zeros in on any interesting toy currently in the hands of any other occupant in the room. Very happy and lovely smile. This was the face that I saw in the camera that won my heart. What a cutie!

At 11:30 I exited the room and assisted briefly with toddlers before we went to lunch.

This morning the therapists were working with most of the special needs babies so we did not have the full range today. There are several children who appear to have some autism, one with some cognitive delays and possible brain damage in addition to the others that we saw yesterday.

The nurses and aids that work with the children all day are also the ones that warm up our lunch and cart it over the hospital where there is a lunchroom. Lunch today was huge sandwiches, a very tasty veggie soup with carrots, bread and fruit. We had also bought coffee and asked them to make it strong, as most of the coffee we have had has been pretty weak. I augmented with biscuits and more fruit. Traditionally, any part of lunch that is left over is taken back to the clinic if it would be appropriate for the children or staff. Any other left over go to the 5-6 dogs that live in the compound. Both John and Lauren did a little feeding and when they were too slow, the black and white dog helped himself to the food and little bit of their hands.

We had some time, so Lauren, Bernice and I struck off down the road for a short walk. The sun had finally come out and we decided to take advantage of it, as it may not come up again. I realize that we are in a valley with rivers so the amount of fog we have been experiencing is not unexpected.

The afternoon, the toddlers have a teacher most days, so the volunteers can focus on the other kids. Both John and Sandy and Bernice each try to spend some time with the TB twins with hepatitis and the tiny girl twins that were born about two months ago. Lauren spent time with 4-year-old Andrei, who is probably autistic and usually sequestered from the other children due to his erratic behavior. Several of the kids have scrapes or bites from Andrei. While large and a little hard to follow, he is not mean and really responded well to the individual attention from Lauren. She even got a hug and kiss last thing today. She will repeat the time with him tomorrow.

It is hard for us to understand at some level why many of the things are done at the clinic. Our American can do attitude and let’s fix it becomes frustrated when things don’t flow, as we would like to see them. We try to ask questions, but our Romanian is far from adequate. While we understand that the staff is limited in their time and ability to make real changes, the group had lots of suggestions on how things could be done. There are 6 rooms with cribs with high bolt locks on both sides of the door. The doors are glass fronted (not plexi-glass) so that you can see in and see 95 % of the room. At times, a child may be locked in the room by themselves, especially in the case of Andrei. As babies are being brought into the mobile ward, they may be alone for a while as another child is being collected. Twins are housed in separate cribs from each other and cannot even look through the bars at each other. Babies are not held when they are bottled, bottles are propped on towels or blankets next to the baby. Babies aren’t changed when the diaper is wet, only when it is poopy. We brought disposable diapers that will allow the urine into the next layer and help relieve the diaper rash, but the aids still diaper with two cloth diapers, rubber pants and two pairs of pants. The longer we stay the more we may learn, but I think when all is said and done, the staff is doing a marvelous job with these kids under difficult circumstances and inadequate money and assistance.

Diapering is done on a table in the hallway in a production line. First, unwrap the kid from the onezie, unsnap the top and remove the plastic pants. Take out the two diaper pins that hold the double folded diaper onto the kid. Drop the soiled diapers into a large bin. Clean the bottom. Many have diaper rash and we have A&D Vitamin cream and also some Desitin lotion. Lay out one diaper open once and put the still folded second diaper in the middle of the first diaper. Put the two diapers under the back of the kid and fold the tails of the diapers into a point. Bring them up through the kids’ legs and fold the tail over to form the waist. Pick up the open diaper pin and run in through the splotch of AD ointment on the wall to ease the pin through the 6 layers of diaper. Repeat on the other side. Put on the plastic pants and tuck them into the diaper on the back and around the legs. Redress the baby, kiss it on the head and send it on its way to either its crib or into the play room.

My afternoon was spent mainly with the non-mobiles including little Samuel the downs baby. He is so placid and sweet and watches you with light brown eyes. He has the cutest smile and loves to blow raspberries.

At the end of the day we tried to help with our last set of diapers and delivering the babies back to their rooms. There is no way around it, we are not as good at cloth diapers and I believe, one of the little escape artists had managed to loose one of the cloth diaper that one of us had just put on before we had even left the building.

Tonight we stopped for Lauren and I to make our deposit for our trip this weekend to
Transylvania. The price is high as it is only two of us and we will require a car, driver and guide for three days and 2 nights of lodgings for the 4 people. But after all, how often am I in Romania? I was also interested in buying some inexpensive sweat clothes to wear to the clinic. Most of the people today were urine soaked within the first hour. Somehow, I managed to stay clean and I intend to stay that way if at all possible.

Manual took Lauren and I to a shop next to the travel agency and I bought the find of the century - hooded sweat shirt and pants sets that were long enough for me for a mere $9 each. Olive green, but cheap! I bought 2 sets.

Dinner was chicken and for dessert, they only delivered three chocolate pancakes. We asked them to cut in half the number of desserts so instead of smaller portions, we only had 3 pancakes for 5 people. Not a problem, we cut them in half. (An example of our words not quite conveying our meaning in Romanian. More to come on this lesson, I am sure).

I was in my room early and found that my laundry was not back (HMMMMM?) and that my wonderfully constructed warm nest in bed had been dismantled, folded and the two top layers (the bedspreads) had been removed. I had asked for a second blanket, but it had not appeared before I went to bed. I donned by fleece and left my socks on, (I know, the fashion statement of the year) and went to bed.

I SLEPT WELL and did not rise until the alarm went at 7:20!

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It was lovely to sleep in a little later and arrive for a 9:30 breakfast. This day would end up being very light for us and we were going on an excursion to the village. The rain was a bit of a worry, but we caught the buses at 10:00 and after 4 trips, we had all arrived.

First we had a tour of house built somewhere between 1100 and 1500. It had been turned into a museum and was a tribute to the current owners grandparents who lived in the house. In the bottom level, all the animals were housed. Concealed in the horse manager, was hole about the size of a bowling ball where the valuables would be hidden.

PHOTO OF WALL SAFE

After the war years, when many families returned to the village, a fair number of them found considerable wealth had been hidden in the walls of some of there homes. Some villagers are still living off the proceeds from the finds. The next level had the grandparents’ bedroom complete with chamber pots and tiny or at least very short, double beds. Before electric lights, it was all candles. Even when lights were installed, there was one light that straddled the wall and covered both the hallway and this bedroom.

Down the hall was the best bedroom where you only went for three reasons - your birth, your death or if you were sick. Next to the room was the larder. Up the stairs to the next level, we found the kitchen, an insulated room that acted as a fridge, the outside porch where bathing happened and the butcher room where the pigs were slaughtered (Yes! Two stories up the pigs were butchered). Up the last set of steps to the attic area that housed the workshop and the oven for baking bread and food storage. Fascinating and especially poignant as the grandson of the house was leading the tour.

Next a little time for shopping before we met in the square for lunch. A funeral procession was coming through the square and based on the mourners, we could tell it was for an elderly man.
I found a few little things that caught my eye including the Christmas specialty of Turron, nougat only made in Nov and Dec.

Back in the square and then down the lane to the bodega (wine shop). If you didn’t know where you were going, you would pass most of the locations as they blend so completely into the row of houses/shops. We were treated to wonderful red wine, bread, salami and hams and a fabulous hard cheese. During this stop, we all participated in pouring red wine down our own throats from the wine skin. The aim is to get a thin stream of wine into your mouth, they pull the bag further and further away and count how long you can drink. Early people achieved 8-12 seconds and Pam was the first person and Anglo who broke 20 seconds. The first Spaniard with a high number was Miguel with 25. I accomplished a 7 second drink. The outstanding winner was Bernardo with 52 seconds. Most of us were just a little light headed as we went back to the square for lunch.

Lunch was paella, which I avoided as it may have been the culprit for my runny tummy earlier this week. I ate the bread and dessert that was a lovely ice cream confection. I exchanged interesting book names with Ros from England, Jesus L. and Shannon. We had a fantastic discussion about knowing when you have met the “one”. Two of the four of us have found them. Shannon and I are still looking.

As we had worked and partied so hard the day before, we were treated to an extended siesta time between 3-6

6 – Pedro – Phone session – We worked through 2 scenarios in 20 minutes - Wake up and Throw in the towel
7 – Jesus F. – Pass Out and Scratch the Surface – We had a fascinating discussion about his police work and suicides.

Both these men had wonderful English and great comprehension. It made the time just fly by.

8 – Entertainment – Groups 2 and 3
Group 2 – Fortuneteller –Dani as the fortuneteller with balloon breasts and mysterious ways was the hit. This group tied together many of the facets of PI including taking a toy boy home from Spain, the psychological damage done by too many one-on-one sessions and the birth 9 months after the fact of a very large baby girl named Phil.

Group 3 – What men and women say and what that really means – 4 cross-dressed couples described what the sexes say and what they really means. You can imagine.

As there was time to spare before dinner, Shannon entertained the group with the guitar. A talented guitarist, he played a wonderful melody by a Spanish composer and then a blue composition from a personal friend. Finally, we tried a sing-a-long to a Beatles song, Shake it up Baby. We all started fine, but after the first verse, it was determined that the lyrics off the web were incomplete so we died out.

Dinner – James, Pedro, Jesus L. – We discussed many the wonders of Australia as both Jesus and I had both visited recently been down under. Slight disconnect with James regarding my perception of the inconsistent wildlife laws between the various states in Australia. Once again, my opinions seemed not to be based in fact, but that didn’t stop me from airing my views. I was encouraged to review the US laws that cross state lines before I begin to comment on other countries perceived inadequacies. Thank you! Point well taken.

Tonight is the beginning of the Secret Friend campaign. I am the secret friend of Tracy, who is James’ wife and in my presentation group. We have been encouraged to do nice things for our secret friend from now until Thursday evening. We are encouraged to not spend more than the price of beer. My brain is whirling to see what might be nice for Tracy.

During dinner the other night, Tracy and I sketched out the outline for our performance tomorrow night, a game show based on Jeopardy with all the questions using idioms. Jez had said that if I type it out, we could make copies. I spent some time working on the order of go, stage directions and who would say what. We will have a moderator, tv host, Vanna White, three Spanish contestants and one over enthusiastic stage mother (me). Went to bed late, but had the script done for the group to review tomorrow. We had heard that one of our Spaniards, Jesus F., might be leaving tomorrow, so we may be one short. We will see tomorrow.

Wednesday, November 29

9 – breakfast – received a lovely glass of orange juice with little orange sections decorating the plate. My first gift from my secret friend. It is going to be a great day. Christine caught me and said that Pedro’s secret friend had requested that most of the women go up and give him a kiss on both cheeks from his secret friend. He received all the kisses with appreciation and calmness.

Also during breakfast, I printed off the script that I had developed the night before. After circulation to the group, they decided that they liked the concept and that we might make minor changes during our rehearsal. We were definitively going to loose Jesus F. from our group, so we enlisted the assistance of Rafael or Rafa, who is a true card for our third contestant. He will be a welcome addition to the group. As we will not have him at rehearsal, we will try and have lunch with him later today.

10 – Juan Jo – Catch on, Twist my Arm
11 – Phone session with Jose – Check out, Drag your feet. Our phone session went fine, I was making reservations at his pretend hotel. As we discussed the phrasal verb and idiom, I could tell we were not connecting. As we walked back to the meeting room, I did a pantomime of drag your feet, which I think, finally led to comprehension.
12 – Walked to town with Paloma for our session – clear up, a hard nut to crack – This was my first walk to town, the weather was fine and it was good to move. We discussed her three kids.
1 – Free time – Post cards and delivery of my note to my secret friend.

Lunch was good as usual with more little squeals of delight or clapping as another gift was delivered. As you looked around, you would see people disappear around the corner together whispering frantically. I had been requested to make some deliveries of drinks or notes to different people. Just as dessert was being served, a delegation arrived at my table and all the Spanish men at my table stood up. Suddenly, I was being serenaded by 4, then 6, then 12 of the Spanish men, as men from all the other tables leapt up and made a semi circle around me. It was absolutely charming and luckily, I have a little bit of it on video. The song was Cabrellitos. The basic gist of the song is - I bring to you flowers, flowers of my heart. If I don’t bring you flowers, it is not that I don’t love you, it is because they are not available. (Apparently this is a popular song to sing while you are at University and go to various dorms and serenade the young ladies). I felt truly touched. I have a suspicion of who my secret friend is, but I won’t know the real name until tomorrow. Based on the song, I suspect it is a Spaniard. Time will tell.

At 3:30 the vast majority of our group went into town, mostly to shop for our secret friends, but also to enjoy the fabulous weather and to see the village in sun. I walked with Roy, James and Tracy the back way into the town avoiding the highway. It was charming with country lanes, cats, moss covered rock walls and alleyways and beautiful colors as most of the leaves are still on the trees. One surprising sight was Chinquapin Chestnut trees, just like we had in our yard in Virginia. How well I remember the spiny seed coats that resemble brown sea urchins with nasty spines. My job in Jr. and Sr. High was to collect the green or brown seed pods amidst the fall leaves so that Dad could rake or mow the leaves. Never my favorite job, but seeing them brought back many happy memories of VA.

Roy and I wandered around the village and he showed me many back roads that I had not explored. I picked up some throat lozenges because more and more of our group is succumbing to the cold and I know that someone will need them before we leave. On the way back, I saw more cats and a lovely black Iberico sow that was very cute and posed for a picture. We arrived back just minutes before we were needed at the group activity.

5 - group activity – Write an alternative ending to the Hockey Sweater using random words that the group had developed. Each member of the group was supposed to contribute at least one sentence to the ending, which had to be 10 sentences long. Our verb- piss off, our adjective – cute, our noun - leopard (that I supplied to the selection of words). Our revision of the story went as follows - Our young boy after telling the curate in the story to piss off was sent to a reform school in Brazil where he was trained as a leopard handler. He took a nasty bite in the rear and was nursed by a cute Brazilian girl who later became his assistant. They became world famous and he always performed wearing his favorite Hockey Sweater.

6 – 8 – Group 4 rehearsal for our performance. We had a fun time getting our play staged and collecting all of our props. The three contestants were very excited to don their partial costumes, Cuti with a camo hat, Gerardo with a Mexican hat, apron, maracas and wig and our final contestant, Rafa as our Japanese entry, complete with camera and Japanese/Spanish accent. After 45 minutes we were very ready and relaxed.

8 Entertainments – Groups 4 and 5

As we had had the performance room to rehearse and prepare and the other group had only the last 30 minutes to rehearse in the room. As they were last in the room, they were the first to perform. They were also doing a game show, but they had chosen the dating game. Very cute and amusing, they incorporated many of the inside jokes including the typical Spanish pronunciation mistake for breakfast, (Breast – f**k) and the now expected and requisite Spanish man-dressed-as-a-woman (Nando) with huge balloon breasts and outrageous purple long wig.

Our presentation went very well, but the longer the play went, the more actor improvements showed up during the show. Two of our performers got more and more exaggerated in their movements and expressions, and our 10-minute show was closer to 20. Well received, we trooped back down stairs for dinner.

More secret friend gifts appeared during dinner including sponsored massages by James (who is a sports massage therapist), beautiful serenades by Shannon, huge wrapped gifts including small bottles of champagne and pate and the best the PEDRO poster with every letter followed by a superlative about Pedro. I have a feeling that the Anglos are spending the money and the Spanish are being ultra creative. All will be revealed tomorrow night so we only have another 24 hours until we know whom to thank.

Thursday, November 30

10 – Jesus L. Walked to town for shopping – Run into, Under the Weather – Health administrator - Lovely man
11 – Omar – Lawyer - Sign up for, Weather the storm – a fan of the US, we had a political discussion on the US’s role in the world.
12 – Free time
1 – Miguel – Turn around, Once in a blue moon – Took the back way into town and found a little old man, who told us he used to be a bullfighter and gave us wormy apples

During lunch today, we had several people leaving, one of them was Pedro, who turned out to be my secret friend. I knew my friend was a Spanish man! After lunch I walked back down the lane between the pastures to take pictures of the waterfall that I had visited with Jose Santos.

5 - group activity – Read the last of the revised Hockey Sweater stories. Then Christine had all the Anglos do musical chairs. During the game if you had not found a chair, you were either given a tongue twisters or a difficult word to spell. If you got them right, you could take someone else’s chair and continue in the game. Christine’s point is that even Anglos have difficulty with pronunciation and spelling. I managed a complicated tongue twister but went down my misspelling Samurai. (I forgot the second a)

6 – Conference call Magali, Raquel and Rafael – Radio interview PI/Sex Education/Lonely Hearts club – This was a scream! Magali was the Master of Ceremonies of PI, Raquel a Spanish participant who wanted to find a nice Spanish husband, and Rafa was from the US (Oklahoma where he had lots of cows). I was the radio interviewer on a live talk show and soon we took a turn from our assigned mission. During my interview it was determined that PI in addition to a language school, also a sex education center and lonely hearts club for people seeking a mate. Rafa was hysterical with his love for his cows and complained that PI didn’t have many cows, Raquel looking for a Spanish husband was encouraged by one of the three callers to the radio show to widen her search and consider other men. Magali kept giggling into the phone, but it ended up that Magali would be changing the housing arrangement so that Rafa and Raquel could be in the same house and both of them promised to keep me posted on the progress of their budding relationship. It was very good fun!

7 – One on One – Rafael, but we also added Hazel and Magali for a 4-way conversation.

At this point in the week, some people were repeating who they had one-on-one’s with as we had lost several Spaniards. There was some thing going on for the Guardia Civil and several of them had to leave before the week was over, including Jesus F. I never had a one-on-one with Raquel, Bernardo or Magali, so I tried to sit next to them at one of the final meals to get a chance to talk to them.

8 - Entertainment – Groups 6 and 7 and the entire group of Anglos singing leaving On a Jet Plane. We had been warned that there are usually many tears on the last day of the program and this had some of us a little misty already during the song.

We were bused into La Aberca for our final dinner in town. We were in a lovely room and after dinner, all the Spaniards sang a wonderful good-bye song during which Lourdes danced.

Best Smile – Cuti
Best Laugh – Trudi
Best Dancer – Lourdes
Best Actress – Paloma, I was awarded a 2nd place tie with Nanda (Fernando in his cross-dressing role)
Best Actor – Nando and Dani
Best Improv - #2 – Fortune Teller
Most entertaining Anglo – James
Most entertaining Spaniard – Omar
Most Improved English – Jose Santos

They had opened the town disco for us and we arrived at Midnight. There were several ladies dancing as a group. (I have noticed as I travel around the world that in many countries people dance in groups, without specific partners. I have also noticed that a lot of the world whistle or sing their way through the day. Does that happen in the US?) I was pooped so I was on the first bus back to the lodging and we left the Disco just before 1 am. I was in bed by 1:30 am.

Friday, December 1

We lost a lot of Spaniards this morning during breakfast so our ranks were dwindling. Lots of hugs and goodbyes.

10 – Group Photo and course evaluations
11 – One-on-one with Fermin
12 – Graduation ceremony – we all received certificates.
1 – Lunch – Jose Santos, Sally, Magali

PHOTO _ GROUP

Can you find me?

We loaded on the bus by 2:30 and the ride turned out to be very hot with most of us napping. I spent some time chatting with Shannon and Phil and then after our stop, with Jose Santos. His English has improved exponentially since our first bus ride and he very much deserved his award last night. As we were getting close to Madrid, I looked at him at one point and said that I time was almost over. He said but it is only almost. What a lovely energy he has.

Our party arrived at 7pm in Madrid and many taxis refused our group, probably due to the amount of luggage. Shannon and I shared a cab. Shannon and girl friend will be in Philly in Jan. Hopefully we will be able to meet up at Annie’s

Info from Spain

Spain drives on the right hand side of the road.

The right hand ring finger is the wedding ring hand except for Catalan where it is the left hand.

Common English pronunciation mistake by Spaniards – beaches and b**ches, also sheet and sh*t.

i.e. Da b**ches en Spain r berry berry nize.

What I learned at Pueblo Ingles

What a wonderful experience! It was fabulous to be around such diverse and interesting people. These people were working hard to be better at something and everyone was interested and anxious to help them, while having a good time of course. It was fun to be back in a larger community, and yet have the opportunity to remove myself when I needed.

I had a few surprises during this placement both physically and mentally. Getting sick could have been just a build up from 5 months straight of work with limited breaks, but it was also a signal to me that I might not be seeing things clearly. I have had the beginnings of feelings of inadequacy and nervousness about not knowing exactly what I will be doing when I get home. When I have a moment, I try and look ahead and envision what I want. Nothing is coming right now, which tells me my mind is not quiet and ready to accept input from the universe.

I had several disconnects with people over the last few weeks not only in communication but also in the flow of the trip. In my tired state, they seem bigger than they probably are, but again a signal to me that I am not creating positive experiences for myself.

I leave Spain feeling that I am very much the same person that I was when I left the US 11 months ago. Currently I can list many of the things within myself that I had hoped would grow and mature, but what I see are the judgments and smallness that still remains. I don’t feel I am being down on myself, but I am looking at what is currently in front of me. It is my choice how to view it, and when I don’t select the highest level of self-love, then I get what I create.

Just another example of wherever you go, there you are!

Thank you Spain and Pueblo Ingles. I had a marvelous time and I will be back again!

Entry 31B - Pueblo Ingles part 2 remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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31A – Arriving in Spain and Pueblo Ingles

Wednesday, November 22

I did my typical procedure when I arrive in a new country early in the morning - customs, immigration completed, I found a free map from the tourist information desk, exchanged money and went off to find breakfast.

I decided that I would most likely get a better deal exchanging my money in Spain as they would need Rand, so I waited until I got to Madrid. During breakfast of yoghurt and coffee, I consulted my map and found the three locations I would need in the next two days; my lodging, the welcome lunch and the bus pick up location. Luckily, I was within walking distance for my lunch and a quick taxi ride for the bus pick up.

I don’t remember the Madrid airport from the last time, but it appears very new, very clean and full of the color green. We walked for miles as we exited the plane through vast walls of pale green glass.

As I exited to find my taxi, I was met with a line of at least 200 people all queuing for a cab. I timed myself and within 10 minutes, I was in my cab a heading into Madrid

PHOTO – taxi queue

Madrid is very clean, spread out and has lovely balconies on most of the buildings. It really reminds me of Paris, except it is missing the tower and the river through the middle of it.

My lodging at the Hostal Lido is basic and clean and on a side street. As I got out of the cab and into the lobby, after I confirmed that this was the correct location, I approached the elevator. It was tiny and would not fit my bags and me at the same time. I proceeded up the stairs, when I nice Spanish Man stopped me and helped me with my bags. My Spanish is coming back quickly and I feel much more confidant about speaking it now.

I took a wee nap as I was bushed after two days of late nights and not much sleep and went out at 3pm to see what I could. I opted for the double-decker bus and took both routes to get the lay of the city. The city is currently getting ready for Christmas and every plaza (and there are lots of them) and main street has people hanging lights or decorations. I decided after my bus ride to see the Palace Real (Royal) tomorrow and go back to the Plaza Mayor where I had visited last time.

I was cold after the ride on the top of the bus and found a Starbucks. I mainly went in to see if they had WiFI, which they have had in other counties. No Wifi, but I did get a latte. On the way back home, I located an internet café just around the corner from my place and went in to check in with my mailbox. The café also has business supplies and DHL, so I will use them when I return for one night to clean out my luggage before I move on to Romania. I also bought a pencil as I have had difficulties with my suduku when using a pen. After the fact, I realized that I had bought a pencil and a sharper, but my pencil has no eraser. ????

Thursday, November 23 – Happy Thanksgiving

As I began walking to the Palace and the Plaza, I was keeping a lookout for a store that I spotted from the bus yesterday. It had lots of purses and luggage and I was hoping that it would have a little leather wallet similar to the one that I am carrying that is falling apart. The Plaza Major is not as large as I remember it, (Ah, youth and your eyes) and the center was loaded with trucks unloading decorations. Not the picture I remembered. I walked the perimeter and found an incongruous Ben and Jerry’s store at one of the corners. I also found breakfast of coffee, juice and the mandatory churros. Fried bread in little sticks that had my stomach rolling within 3 hours. Oh, well, it is tradition, so I had to try them.

I found a wonderful music store on the way to the Palace that had a marvelous display of all types of instruments in their windows. Did you know that a form of the bagpipe is traditional in some Spanish music? Neither did I.

The Palace Real is large, white and the official residence of the King and Queen of Spain, but they don’t live there. They only use it for state functions. I rented the audio phone and wandered through the rooms. Beautiful and brightly decorated, I bought post cards instead of trying to capture them on my camera. In addition to the official apartments, there was a temporary art display (not that interesting) and a wonderful display of old jousting equipment and suits of armor. I left the Palace in drizzle and began walking to lunch.

Casa Patas is where we would meet for lunch and a flamenco show. The group is made up of Canadians (8 from the same book club), Brits, Aussies, Welsh, and the US. There will be 25 Anglos and 24 Spaniards. The staff is Scottish, British, and Canadian and they are all former volunteers that so loved the project after their week, they decided to stay and work in Spain. Lunch was Paella, the national dish, and it was wonderful. I told someone that the last time I was in Spain, all I ate was arroz con pollo (chicken and rice) because that is all I knew how to order. I was determined to eat more widely this time. Our Flamenco show turned out to be a guitarist who was amazing. I sat close enough so that I could watch his hands as he played. It was lovely. I will definitely try to find a CD with flamenco music before I go.

After lunch and the show, a group of us went out to a bar and I got a chance to spend more time with some of the participants and staff. Trudi, her brother Phil and Phil’s son, Shannon are originally from Texas. Trudi and I found out that we have the 1300’s of Logan Street in Denver in common in that she is a consultant for Starkey International, the butler school right next to PERA. Small world. She is lovely, vivacious and will be good fun. Phil is a card and has done Pueblo Ingles (PI) 5 times before. I think he likes it. Shannon, who is living in Alaska and was a former rock band artist, fire fighter and currently is a university guitar teacher and works during the summer for Alaska fish and wildlife counting salmon. Others around the table were Luke and Jez (both staff from England), Richard (former volunteer and currently a makeup artist for the Lion King in Germany), Christine (staff from Canada), Enya (staff from Scotland) and two other people that I can’t remember. Very smoky as Spain still had lots of smokers and most of the staff also indulge, but good fun and lots of lively conversations.

I got back to my room by 8 and turned in early, as I need to be up, showered, packed, checked out and breakfasted by 9:00 am tomorrow.

Friday, November 24

Check out and found that my wonderful sister had paid for my hotel room. Do I have the best sister or what? Found a taxi to the Plaza Chamberi where we were to meet the bus and I appeared to be the first one there. Finally located other PI volunteers and left my luggage with them to find coffee for Sally and myself who is from London. Found a local café for coffee and located the rest of the herd swilling coffee. It was overcast and a little drizzly.

We loaded on the bus and found that we had 6 Spaniards who were also coming with us. My seat partner was Jose Santos, a young man with beard and long hair that sort of looked like Christ. His English comprehension was very good, but he was shy about speaking and a little slow to begin. I found out that he is a computer programmer and a Madrid Rat, meaning he likes the city over the country. Our bus stopped at 11:30 in Avilla for our only rest stop and a light lunch. Jose bought me a coffee and I bought him my new favorite candy, Kinderjoy (the chocolate egg with a toy surprise). From our stop, you could see a small monument with 4 columns, which is where St. Teresa of Avilla had her visions. The wind was fierce so most of us huddled inside until it was time to get back on the bus.

After our break, the Spaniards were encouraged to talk to someone new, so I was by myself for the rest of the trip. LOTS OF RAIN as we approached Salamanca and lots of standing water in the low-lying areas. The countryside was lovely and rolling with lots of trees and farms that mainly seem to be free-range pigs and bulls. I learned later that they are called Iberica Pigs, they are predominantly black and are fed on acorns. The pork from these pigs is considered a delicacy and is more expensive that the Serrano pork, which is usually commercially fed.

2pm we arrived in La Aberca to lots of RAIN RAIN RAIN. We all took our luggage and waited outside on the porch trying not to get wet until they called us to go to our rooms. As I watched the pairs of people going off to the different cottages, I asked the universe for a room next to the main meeting area and a room to myself, as I could tell that my cold was progressing. I was the last one to be given my key and I was placed in cottage number 24, right across from the meeting room with my housemate, Fermin (50’s business man), who had been on the bus with us and who would be living upstairs from me. I did not know until I got into our house that everyone has his or her own room. Thank you universe!

There are 25 cottages in the hotel complex. Each little house has two floors. The Spaniards are upstairs and the Anglos are down stairs. Each of the bedrooms has its own bathroom with showers and lovely hand made bedspreads on the beds. There is a common living room and little kitchenette, tv and phone. We will be called at 8:15 on the phone every morning for a wake up call and again at 4:30 in the afternoon to bring us back after our siesta.

Next came lunch and based on the room arrangements and the quality of our food, I could tell that this will be my most luxurious of all my placements. We had a welcome siesta session until 6pm. When the phone rang to call us to dinner, I was a little disoriented. We found that the phone rings about 6 times, not quite enough time for either Fermin or I to get to the phone to listen to the automated recording. If you don’t answer in time, the phone system waits about 2 minutes and tries again. If you don’t catch it, it rings louder the next time it calls. We plan to try and get to it at the first ring from now on.

We met back at 6pm and had a session of human bingo, where we had to find someone in the room who fulfilled the question in each of the squares. Some of the people we had to find included someone with a tattoo, had bungee jumped, was a Libra, did not own a cell phone, played a musical instrument, or spoke more than two languages. It was a fun 30 minutes getting to talk to most of the people in the room. We had several people with the same first name (i.e. we have 3 Jesus, so they are labeled Jesus F., Jesus L., and Jesus S. We also have a Susan, Sue and a Susie. During this time, we were all given a Pueblo Ingles fleece jacket which most of us donned immediately as it was still raining and cold. We also received the blue Pueblo Ingles exploding pen. When you go to write with it, the spring is so strong it rockets the top off the pen and all the contents fly through the air. If you are lucky, you can find all the little pieces that are required to make the pen work.

The one challenge to some of us will be our meal timings - Breakfast 9am, not bad, lunch 2pm, okay and dinner at 9pm. They claim we will be so busy that the time will just fly by. We will see.

My stomach was rumbling most of the day and I had my second-for-the-year case of diarrhea. Not as catastrophic as the one in Peru, I had several trips during the night to the little room, but managed to sleep in between. I was also on the way to developing my first real cold for the year. Probably a combination of exhaustion, 4 nights with poor sleep and the change of temperature and from summer to winter within 2 days.

Saturday, November 25 – Rice, I will have Rice, Thank you.

Runny stomach and cold in full glory today. Carried Kleenex wherever I went and felt ookey. We received our general normal schedule for the next few days.

9 – Breakfast – first conversation of the day – tables of 4 with two Anglos and 2 Spaniards
10, 11, 12, 1 – One-on-one with a Spaniard, with some hours of free time depending on the day. Some of the sessions might be a telephone conversation or a conference call with three Spaniards and one Anglo.
2 - 3:30 - Lunch – more conversation – tables for 4
3:30-5 – Siesta – YAAH!!!!!!
5 - Group activity
6,7 – One-on-one sessions
8 – Group activity or evening presentations
9 -10:30- Dinner – more conversation – table of 4
10:30-1:30 - Liquid English – social time, party or off to bed

During each of the one-on-one sessions, we were asked to explain and use in a sentence an assigned phrasal verb and idiom. Formal English lessons were a very distant memory for me, and I honestly did not remember ever being taught phrasal verbs. In the blog to come, after the Spaniards name, there will be the phrasal verb and idiom that we worked one.

My specific schedule for today was -

10 – Jesus S. – Read between the lines and Ask for - Very vivacious and funny guy.
11 – Free time - rested
12 – Maite – Blow Out and On Edge – Worked for the truck division of Volvo now owned by Ford – discussed the loss of her husband and her child.
1 – Gerardo – (sorry can’t remember the phrasal verb or idiom) - Auditor for Deloitte – discussed our mutual admiration for the LOTR Movies

5 - Group activity – 2 truths and a lie – 4 Anglos, 3 Spaniards – we had to come up with 2 statements about ourselves that were true and one that was a lie. My three statements were I had one brother and one sister, I had lived in Thailand and that my father was in the Navy. The others in our group would ask us questions to see if they could tell which one was not true. When the other Anglos were talking, I totally missed guessing on all the other Anglos and every one missed my lie. We never even got to the three Spaniards.
6 – Fermin (my roommate)– Think Ahead and Think on your Feet – We discussed the history of Salamanca
7 – FerNANDO - Blow up and Crack a Joke – Guardia Civil, Environmental issues

8 – Entertainment - Car problems in Spain, Shared Birthdays, Rain Storm

The entertainment was a humorous play acted out by several of the participants about the dangers of pickpockets in Spain. As they moved so quickly, we could not see the true action, so they kept rewinding and redoing it in slow motion. The actors were fabulous. (We would see a lot of the actions, costumes used, and key phrases and words over the next week).

The rainstorm was another group activity and was amazing. Jez lead us through four different movements done in unison and if you could close your eyes and listen, it very much sounded like a rainstorm approaching, in full bloom, and then moving away.

Due to my head cold, I have been asking that the one-on-one sessions be at my house in the living room. It is much quieter and I don’t have to shout to be heard. The group rooms can become very noisy with 24 couples trying to talk. Many groups opt to take walks in the neighboring countryside. Until I feel better, I will remain inside.

I ate rice all day and tea, which was fine and all I wanted.

Sunday, November 26

Stomach settled and I decided to eat the meals today. During the breakfast hour, the menus for lunch and dinner are posted. There are two options for both starters and mains and you indicated the letter of your selections next to your name. Then, at the meal, you pick up the colored tags for your selections and put them at your place setting.

10 – Telephone Session – Cuti – Guardia Civil – Put Away and Raining Cats and Dogs – We each had a little script and he phoned me from his house. Our topic that we selected was that I was calling about finding a place for my daughter, Felicity in the summer Spanish language course. He was excellent and would volunteer information and expand on the topic without nudging. Very fun.

11 – Jose Santos – we walked and talked – Put off and In the Dog House – A self proclaimed computer nerd, we discussed his culinary abilities, dating and family logistics. It is fall in Spain and when the sun comes out, it is beautiful with lots of orange and brown hues. We walked down a back lane along stonewalls that separated the pastures to a small waterfall. The water was not too cold.
12 – FREE time - took some medication and rested. Felt much better
1 – Lourdes – Put on and Shake a Leg – Fire Station Administrator – Evolution of Spanish Language and English slang for going to the bathroom. I.e., when is it appropriate to use the word pee?

5 - Group activity – Book Club – The Hockey Sweater – Lead by Sandy, we went through questions about the Hockey Sweater Book, and then the group moved into a political discussion about Quebec in Canada (and its hopes for independence) and the similarities to the Basque region of Spain in relationship to the rest of Spain.
6 – Dani – Call on/off and Down the Drain – Accountant – Continuation of the political discussion, he recommended the book, Cathedral of the Sea, a novel about Barcelona
7 – Rafael – Call up/back and Jump the Gun – Security Royal Family and Bomb Squad – This man had not spoken English in over 3 years and was amazing. He has had the most incredible serious of jobs as the chief of security for the Spanish Royal Family, international business man in South America for multiple years and chief of the bomb squad in Madrid. Rafa, as we all began to call him, is a HOOT, very lively, always ready with a smile and a joke and an absolute pleasure.
8 – Entertainment

Group 1’s presentation was a news program about Pueblo Ingles, very good. Thinking back, I wished I had been in group one, if only to get the presentation over with early.

Bob, a returning PI Anglo lives in London and is a balloon artist and talked about his work and passed around photos of his more elaborate works of art.

I had told Christine, our Master of Ceremonies, that if she was stuck for entertainment, I would be happy to do a monologue. I did Annie from Quilter’s, and I am sure most of the Spaniards found it very difficult to follow, but the Anglos enjoyed it.

Jez lead us in another group activity that had us on our feet doing weird movements and chanting a rhythmic nonsense verse - A Tea Ta Too

After dinner – the Quemada Ceremony – Grain alcohol, sugar, coffee beans, lemon rind and incantations from two Spaniards and one Canadian (dressed up and reciting poetry) to drive off the witches. The lights were turned off as the stuff boiled in an open skillet with a blue flame. Very strong stuff, I took 3 sips and went to bed. Apparently I missed the dancing that happened before they closed the bar at 1:30 am.

Monday, November 27

Stomach fine – cold has progressed and is now a dry cough

10 – David – Boil it down to and Hard Pressed - Guardia Civil
11 – Enrique – Break Down, Come in Handy - Banker
12 – Free Time !!! – catch up on the blog and tea
1 – Free Time but I went to the presentation of some of the Spaniards. Jose Santos (Mafia Game), Jose (Shopping Center development), Fermin (Toledo) and Jesus S. Jesus did a fabulous PowerPoint that incorporated the book, the Hockey Sweater and one of our idioms Read Between the Lines. Brilliant. I hope to get a copy of it.

3:30 – Short meeting during our siesta time for Group 4 to discuss our presentation for Wednesday night – rough start but we ended up with the plan to develop a jeopardy game parody using idioms and phrasal verbs.

5 – Group Project – Each group had to Invent a new product and then present it to the group complete with product, slogan, jingle, poster, and 30 second advertisement. Our group developed the magical PIG Hat – Pueblo Ingles Gorro – Gorro is another name for pig that is the emblem for the region. A fun project
7 – Luis – Take Care of, Spread Like Wildfire - Chemical Engineer – Formerly from the Basque region, he is very hard on himself and is rather a perfectionist and kept consulting his Spanish/English dictionary. He has a heart of gold and once he lightened up, his conversation really flowed.
8 – Free time to get ready for Miguels Birthday party

Dinner – sat in our group and Tracy and I roughed out our sketch for Wednesday night - Idiomepardy

Miguel’s birthday celebration – Miguel from the Guardian Civil turned 29 today and we had a small party for him. He received some presents, including a dancing partner made totally of balloons from Bob. I danced until 12:30 including line dancing, pasa double, disco and group boogey. Fun, loud and highly entertaining. Some of the group did not make it to bed until very early!

Entry 31A - Pueblo Ingles - La Aberca, Spain remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Monday, November 20 – Last day in Joburg, maybe! Strange energy in me today and lots of little obstacles that showed me that I was to slow down and chill out!

I woke early in order to get my laundry dry and found that even at 7am, the dryer was in use. I have been frustrated by the automatic key gremlin both last night and today and every time I left my room, my key no longer worked. This meant lots of trips up and back to the office (usually in the rain) to have the key remagnetized or replaced. Finally the manager came with me and the key would behave itself. (Little Creep!)

At this point, I decided to take myself to breakfast (yes the potatoes had the little faces again, and no I did not get a picture) and then sit with my laptop in the laundry room in order to be there when the dryer stopped.

After an hour of proofing my blog entries and still no stopping of the dryer, I asked the housekeeping staff member who was ironing in the room how long the dryers took. She said that the towels were most likely dry and unloaded the machine. I loaded my little bit in and she said come back in 30 minute. I took my shower and was a few minutes late getting to the laundry and found her folding my dry laundry. What a nice lady.

I packed up and was ready to check out and leave my bags at the desk until my shuttle at 3pm to the airport. Just as I was checking out, the power failed, so they were not able to process me out. I sat on the couch and read my LPSpain book and drank tea. After an hour, still no power. I decided to walk across the street in hopes of power and lunch and to do a little last minute shopping. Power was on, shops had what I needed and I had a fabulous last lunch at Kauai, the wonderful health food chain that I first found in Cape Town. YUMMY. I hope we get them in the US soon.

Back to the hotel to find the power restored and my bill waiting. I blogged a little more and then it was time for Nigel, in his wonderful silver Camray, to whisk me off to the airport.

I arrived by 4pm and immediately went to the VAT inspection area. I handed him a huge pile of receipts that I had organized the night before and figured out all the VAT. He asked me to show him several of the things in my luggage, all of which I found with no problem. He kept finding all the candy and ice creams that I had on the bills and asking if I still had them. I said, no not even the sticks.

Then I went off to find the post office that was in the basement of the international terminal. I bought 5 of their mailing boxes and proceeded to unload my second daypack and my smallest rolling suitcase into the boxes. Within two hours, I had all the boxes mailed and they began moving slowly across the globe to the US. I find I am still running around madly my last day doing posting things, but with the tax refunds needing to see the items before you leave the country, there is no way around it.

I could not check in my bags until 6:45, so I had some time to kill so I ate a late lunch and then got in line. This will be my first time on Iberia Airlines, the official airlines of Spain. My two bags were 27kilos, which was over, and there was some hushed discussion about me needing to pay extra, but as the trainee did not bring it up immediately, they did not charge me. I left with my stuff and then found I could not find the gates. I had to go back and found that the hallway to the passport control was directly behind the ticketing desks. Using your eyes can be a good thing.

Passport control, no problem, security, no problem, passport stamping, no problem and I had 2.5 hours until I had to be at my gate. In the JoBurg airport, you don’t go to the gates until you are ready to board. At least that is what the sign said, but when I followed the sign, I found that everyone else was already at the gate. One busload had already gone to the aircraft so I stood with my Suduku book and waited. We were told that there would be a 15-minute delay. After a short time, people began filing back into the waiting area from the debarkation doors. They had unloaded the plane because there were mechanical difficulties and because I was close to the door, I heard that we would not be flying tonight.

The time was now 11pm. We followed the staff person back through the convoluted terminal and had to go back through passport control. There was one lone person at the booths. I was number 2 through the line. The first woman was an American, Marla aged 41, who was making a connection. There was some confusion at the passport desk and they asked us all to come back. At one point, the man said that even though we had been stamped back in, because the immigration man had not received written notification from Iberia about the problem, we would have to be unstamped and them stamped again. A woman went off like a siren and the arguments and angry voices began. Marla and I pulled away from the group and continued to discuss her mother’s cancer and her years as a Big A women’s basketball coach.

Finally, our luggage arrived and we took our trolleys with luggage back into the ticketing hall to wait for hotel vouchers. The time as 12:15 am.

As the delays continued and no formal announcements were made to the group as a whole, tempers were short and patience was stretched. At one point, they had not found any hotels that were willing to take any of us. I asked if there was anyplace in the terminal where we could at least curl up or spread out over seats. None available.

Marla had an in at the Intercontinental at the airport that she was going to try and I stayed in line.
At 1:30 am, I was given a voucher for the Durial Grand hotel – which sounded like it would be a very nice hotel. A group of us that had just received our vouchers were lead by a staff member on a convoluted walk to where the shuttle vans would pick us up. Thank heavens a staff members escorted us because in our blurry state, we would have not found it.

At 2am, I arrived at the D’Oreale Grand at the Emperor’s Palace Casino and hotel complex near the airport. It looked wonderful and we would also be given dinner, breakfast and lunch and soft drinks.

PHOTO ROOM IN D GRAND
My room had a king size bed and all the niceties, plus WIFI in the room. I logged on and contacted my hostal in Madrid and told them that I would be late. I went to bed, exhausted.

Tuesday, November 21

I woke at 6:30 and got back to sleep until 8:30. When I called the desk, they had no news from Iberia so I took a shower and went off to breakfast. WHAT A FEAST! A luscious buffet with fresh fruit (including guava), breads, juices, eggs and all the fixings, cheese and deli meats, cereal and even a sushi option. I sat outside and indulged. YUMMY!

I went back to my room to read and fell asleep until the phone rang at 1:30. They said that we could get back to the airport and Iberia would try and reticket us. If we choose to stay, as we had missed the check out time, we would have to pay 100 rand an hour to use the room until this evening. I was packed so I went back to the airport.

I was reticketed for this evening, but still no guarantee that we would fly. I found a café and drank two iced coffee/chocolate shakes and internetted. I finally got my hotels straight for England.

I saw a line forming near where I was to check in at 6:45 so I joined it. I was behind a wonderful Spanish woman, Alice, who is a PhD, who had a hard night and was being given special consideration. She and I got an early check in which was lovely and we didn’t have to even stand in the line that was forming. She left to go back to the hotel and collect her hand luggage and have a nice dinner. I found that we will be sitting in the same row and as she wanted a window and I had it, I agreed to change with her. If possible, I may also ask for a window but I didn’t want to approach the line that was ever growing. If not, I will be happy with the aisle and my sleeping pill.

New EU rules for flying include putting everything from your carry one luggage that has any liquid in it in a large zip lock bag so that they can inspect it. The bottle of water that I had before I went through security was taken, but I can buy another one on the other side.

Alice had already rearranged so that she had a window by the time I met up with her at the gate. As we boarded I saw that we were in a 2 seats, 4 seats, and 2-seat configuration. I still had my window seat but with the plane absolutely full due to two days of flights in one airplane, there was no hope for more room to spread out. I got to my seat and found that the fabric panel that holds up the magazines was broken so that kept hitting my knees. The movies were the second pirate movie, 65 Minutes and something else that I missed. Dinner was fine, I took my sleeping pill and tried to get comfortable. It didn’t work, so I watched most of the pirate movie and then must have dozed off. We landed after our 10 hours flight and I was back in Spain, having not been there since 1977.

Thoughts as I leave South Africa

I am really glad I came. The information on South Africa had made me rather wary of what I would find. Generally, the literature is correct that you can go through South Africa with no problems. One of the reasons that I feel that I was successful is that I was ultra vigilant with my property and that I have the most amazing contingent of angels guiding and protecting me. As you read in some of my blog entries, not everyone that I met or lived with had the same experience that I did.

South Africa is probably one of the wealthiest and most western of all the African countries. That being said, there is still a lot of poverty, not nothing when compared with other African countries so I have been told.

I found the people to be a little standoffish at first, but friendly if you make the first move. I don’t feel that I really had a chance to get to know many South Africans, as almost all of the people that I stayed with were expats from other countries. Most of the staff at CARE was foreign, the staff at SANCCOB was Afrikaans, and the people at the lion park a mix of both.

The thing that I have mentioned before and what impresses me tremendously is that South Africa is growing and changing now that Apartheid is gone. Still young in their development, they are working very hard to do what is best of the country, with the understandable stumbles and lurches as they move ahead. The new government is doing its best and working to build houses for the poor and to bring some basics like water and electricity to all.

With unemployment over 40% within the black communities in the urban areas, there is still a need to help the people find work that will allow them to make their own way. Numerous college graduates aren’t able to find jobs within the country and there is large emigration from South Africa to places like Australia. I have seen people doing very small jobs like sweeping the street, selling things on the corners just to have some income. I heard stories of people being able to make more begging and panhandling than with a real job. We had been told to not give money to the kids on the street or in the townships as that encourages them to skip school (which is mandatory up until you are 18) to try and earn money.

The landscape is amazing and from the areas that are remaining of the bush that I saw, wonderful and exciting. The animals, of course, were the main reason for my coming, and they are as magnificent as you have heard. Many of them are making a comeback, but more still needs to be done to preserve their habitat and at the same time giving the people living off the land a chance to make a living. Not an easy situation to comprehend or solve, but necessary nonetheless.

I learned that the true natives in South Africa were the San and that all other tribes moved into the area within the last couple hundred years. The Bushman (formerly the San, I believe) are being shuttled between South Africa and Namibia. They are being paid to do nothing and live in little villages for tourists to see how they live. As most of the land is now “owned” by some concern or another, so that the Bushman can no longer be nomadic, therefore their livelihood is dependent on government handouts. The governments find them a financial burden and restrict their movements. One South African woman, of Afrikaans descent, said that they go every year out in the bush and try and meet with them. They are told by officials that they cannot see them without an appointment and some of the Bushman individuals will be brought in closer for the tourists to see. Going to the actual village is not allowed.

As I mentioned before, it is a country that is young and changing. There is so much to see and do here and the exchange rate is VERY favorable to us in the US. I know that I would like to rent a car when I return, but I also know that I will not drive in the cities.

Recommendations if you are planning to come to South Africa.

• Read as much as possible about South Africa and the Apartheid era that you can.

• Go on a township tour with a private guide if possible in order to spend more time there. The package tours tend to limit the amount of time you can spend at any one location.

• Go to any site that has history about the Apartheid time, Apartheid Museum, Hector Pierterson Museum, District 6 and Robben Island.

• If you want to see animals in the wild, go to one of the big national parks (Kruger or Addo). You may not see as much, but the animals will be native to that area and not brought in from other areas to lure tourists.

• If you go on a wildlife drive within the National Parks, make sure that you will have unlimited time at waterholes or at lookouts. If possible, stay overnight near one of those areas, which is where you will see the most animals at dawn and dusk.

• Try the African cuisine when you can. It is fabulous and varied and not as hot or spicy and you would think. There are plenty of options for western food as well, but treat yourself.

• GIVE YOURSELF PLENTY OF TIME TO ENJOY ONE SITE AT A TIME. I don’t recommend the Jane way where I had booked myself so tight, I had no opportunity to linger or retrace my steps. I WILL NOT BOOK MYSELF SO TIGHT AGAIN.

• I came in the late winter going into spring and summer. The summers are hot and rainy. The winters are cooler, windy and dryer. CAPE TOWN IS A WIND TUNNEL. Bring layers and dress appropriately.

• You will need malaria medication in Kruger.

• You should be able to drink the tap water all over. That being said, bottled water is available everywhere.

• Come and enjoy the best of South Africa and learn about these amazing people with their incredible capacity to forgive and move on.

Thank you South Africa, especially Nelson Mandela, Rev. Tutu, and all those that made the difference, sometimes at great personal sacrifice to move the country forward. I will return with more time to spend and lots more film in my camera. Keep up the good work and I look forward to reading of your advances and successes in the future. Best of luck on the UN Security Council and please help all of us understand and remember what it took for South Africa to change from a nation of oppression to one of freedom.

Entry 30C - leaving Africa remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Sunday, November 12

Overcast all day –

Our team began in the cub world and cleaning out the pen of 6. They were all wound up and we had not even half way finished cleaning when the lines began to queue for the lions. Given, said we were to open the door to them. I said I was surprised that they were let in before they were fed and settled. He said people came first. The other two volunteers escorted the first group in and I went next door to begin the pool for Kumara and Kiango who would be coming down soon. I did not see it, but apparently, a little boy was scratched by a tooth during the first set of visitors. After they left, no additional groups were able to go in until they had eaten. Hmmmmm?

Luckily the food arrived soon after that and the people got to watch them eat. Immediately following the food leaving, the guests went back in. I would have given them at least 15 to settle, but no incidents happened. The group may start 30 minutes earlier next weekend in order that they can be finished cleaning and feeding before the guests arrive at 8:00 am.

We got to bottle feed the babies again. I got Nia and she polished off her bottle with pellets in record time. Some of them still have a runny tummy, mainly due to change in diet, teething and not quite enough exercise.

HUGE THUNDERSTORM EARLY EVENING AND ALL NIGHT. We had no power for most of the dinner preparation and luckily, the meat was being done on the bbq. We ate dinner by tabard insect candles and head torches in a tent with a dry table and chairs. The wind was howling and we were freezing, but it was fun all the same. We were happy to get into our tents.

I am reading The Jane Austin Book Club – okay.

Monday, November 13 – DAY OFF YAAAH!

Funny, on my day off, getting up early and out of bed by 6am was not a chore. I was also rewarded because when you get up that early, you get to see the zebras and impala on our side of the fence so that you can get really good photos.

Zebra Photos

I spent the morning getting organized for my day off including what I needed to accomplish at the internet. Erin and I had a 10 am pick up for our trip to the mall.

Lots of internetting and logistics to complete. I bought a BritRail Pass and got reservations for my last two days in JoBurg at a nice hotel. After 3 months of roommates or having to cater my own meals, I feel I deserve a little luxury and fun things like sample shampoos and lotions in the bathrooms.

Zahra and Karen joined us at the mall as they were on the shopping crew. I was still getting my logistics set, so I had to pass on lunch with the group. Just a well as I needed some alone time to clear my head. My vibes card today was Clear A Path – let go of all the redundant stuff I am still hanging on to.

We got home to find yet another flood in our tent and temp very cold. It had bombed rain literally all day and as we were waiting to be picked up, the rain fell in sheets.

Dinner was late as the ingredients had come from today’s shopping and I went to bed with my new book.

During the night, both Karen and I made a pilgrimage to the bathroom. Unbeknownst to me, she slipped and fell and scrapped her right side. This brings injury to all my tent mates so far – Amanda and her ingrown toenail, Karen her slip and bruise, and Zahra her tumble over a log in the cub pen. They invited me to join the injury club and complete the tent and I told them that I had a wonderful team of angels watching over me and that I as happy not to play that game.

We did manage to find two space heaters that we used to heat up the tent which help immensely. I still went to bed in my long sleeve shirt, my Robben Island fleece, my fleece hat and socks. Very sexy I know

Tuesday, November 14

I began the day by moving all the still damp laundry out to the line where the sun could make a difference.

Started the day a little grouchy, the day-after-the-day-off syndrome again. Everyone seemed to be moving in slow motion with no map or compass of where they were headed. I asked for and received a different view and things improved immediately.

Most of the occupants in the pens had shifted so now we have Kumara and Kiango in touch-a-cub, the cheetahs next door, the six including the hyena immediately behind touch-a-cub and the old cheetah pen empty. The larger lions that had been behind touch-a-cub are now in the pen that we cleaned last week to be ready for mowing and they have moved the wild three out there as well. Apparently, the transfer and introduction of the wild cubs into the other group went without a hitch and they acclimated into the clan with no problem. Ian knows his lions that is for sure.

We had lots of giraffe activity today with both of them coming up for pellets and lots of kids got to feed them. We only made 210 rand, which is lower than the all time high of 480, but still respectable for a Tuesday. Obviously with the torrents of rain yesterday, there were no giraffes to feed.

I happened across Ian today and every time I do, he calls me Denver and asks how I am doing. I said fine. He asked if I liked the lions and I said yes, but that I preferred the giraffes. I do, they have lovely eyes and eye lashes and you don’t have to worry about their teeth and claws.

We did a little weeding, helped in touch-a-cub, giraffe duty, moving the cubs around and some feeding. The three littlies are now on bowls of kibble drenched in milk and everyone is doing pretty well with it. Even little Swazi is eating although he is so ADD, that he keeps being distracted and walks off. As long as you keep moving his bowl, he thinks he is getting something new. It was a good thing that we got to bottle feed the cubs over the weekend, as Princess has moved them on to pellets. They really are ready for them.

During lunch, I organized my dinner plans as I was cooking baked potatoes for a baked potato bar. Considering that we don’t have a functioning oven, I planned to use the microwave. The toppings would include chili, frozen veggies, baked beans, cheese and salad. The shopping crew has misinterpreted that I asked for sour cream and chives, not sour cream and chives dip.

Amanda went back to the Dr. about her toe and he gave her more pills. Cutting it out is the last option. They were supposed to go to the store to pick up the few things that had been left out yesterday, but forgot. Therefore, no sour cream and we still only have one bag of cereal. Oh well, I leave on Saturday night, so only 4 more days of breakfast to contend with.

During dinner preparation happened when everyone else was on a walk and I was listening to Secret Garden. I found that we were loosing water pressure. Sure enough, when they all returned we found that indeed, no hot water. Investigation found that the tank was dry and we were told it would refill in about 2 hours. No shower tonight for most of us.

After our days and nights of rain, we are happy for the dryness, but it has also caused an absolute explosion of flying ants. Most people were complimentary about dinner that was nice and most of us ate as fast as possible, because the ants descended on our dinner. My plate was blissfully devoid of bugs. DON'T I HAVE GREAT ANGELS? I went to bed to blog and finish the Jane Austen Book Club. It has turned out to be a pretty good book.

Wednesday, November 15

Incredibly slow day, so much so that I took a two-hour lunch and sorted through my luggage of things that I will leave behind in Africa. As I had every piece of luggage open and strewn, the gang came by in a car on their way for trash picking in the lower pasture. I decided not to go, and finished my sorting. I came up with bag of stuff that I will leave with Ornica to distribute as she sees fit.

As the group was delayed in getting back, I got to feed the three cubs their lunch with Kara. They are doing very well and eating like champs. Grandma would be so proud of them.

It was very hot and we all sort of drifted through the day. I am now reading Eragon (book about a dragon rider) and am having a hard time putting it down.

Water is still limited but I did get a shower tonight that was lovely. Bore water so we are not drinking it.

Most of the group is going on an excursion tomorrow so we will be only three. If there are as few people as yesterday, it will be no problem. Alex said that we would be getting the cubs and giraffe’s ready for a photo shoot with model tomorrow. If the giraffes aren’t up at the fence, we have to go lure them up. SURELY YOU JEST? Just what do they think we will be able to do if they decide to not follow us?

Just as we were about to leave work for the tents, I heard my name and it was the lady from the travel agency with my hotel reservation and Brit Rail Pass. Yah, I don’t have to remember to go the gate at 6pm on Thursday.

I woke up in the middle of the night with a start thinking that we had forgotten to bring in the giraffe money.

I also had a great dream where I was at a wedding rehearsal as a bridesmaid and went down the aisle with a pink and orange bouquet. Then I was in a marvelous house/museum with a staircase that would do justice to my Victorian dress. The next thing I was at my wedding with my original bouquet and as I was ready to go down the aisle, I came across other bouquets in purple and white with tags indicating it was for the Stanfield wedding. I took the brides’ bouquet and went down the aisle. On the brides’ side of the aisle, I saw friends that I recognized with wrapping paper around them. The funniest ones were Hal and Ron from Denver who were frantically wrapping individual presents. From the number I saw, when I said hello to them, I indicated that I thought they would be a salad set. Hal’s face just fell because I had guessed correctly. It was a lovely dream and I felt happy all day.

Thursday, November 16

The morning duties were combined as we tried to prepare for the models. Sure enough, we had forgotten the giraffe money, and it was all of 20 rand. I turned it in and got my drawer for today. We cleaned the pens and by the time we were done, the models arrived. Casey and Erin went with the cubs to the bottom of the pasture for the shoot. I stayed behind, not unhappily, and did giraffe duty and earned the park 130 rand. Both giraffe’s were up at the fence today and happily eating pellets. Gambit ate 8 bags before he stood back and allowed Purdy her turn.

When the models were done with the cubs, the staff drove up in a truck to lure the giraffe’s back down the hill. I loaded into the truck and with 6 bags of white bread, we went down the hill with Purdy in hot pursuit. Anytime we had to slow down for an obstacle and she would get close to the drivers side, he would hand a slice of bread out to her. It was a stitch and we finally got to see them run in all their glory. My biggest piece of gold from his placement is my new adoration and affection for everything giraffe. Gambit followed as well and ended up being the giraffe in the shots. The photographer was using three models to represent a family in an advertisement for a local shopping mall. Alex, the staff member, kept putting slices of bread into their hands or in the crooks of their arms to get the giraffe’s head in the shot.

Kara, Erin and I had two bags of white bread to keep Purdy occupied higher up the hill. We ended up taking out one slice at a time, holding most of it in our hand and gradually allowing her to have more of the slice. Between the two of them, the giraffes had 6 bags of bread gone within 10 minutes. We had a few slices left, so Alex put some on our head for the giraffes to eat off our hats. Silly but fun.

Photo – Purdy and hat

The afternoon was very slow so I did some litter picking and went into the pen with the 6 with Kara. She adores the hyaena, Keto, and it is reciprocated. When it came time for us to feed in the afternoon, we ended up with all six of the animals in the air lock and us in the pen. Finally, Angie lured them away from the air lock with an additional bowl of food along the side of the fence.

Zahra made an authentic curry for dinner and it was pretty hot. I fished all the chilis out so that it won’t be absolutely blistering tomorrow.

We had a bit of an incident at the camp today. Ornica, the staff member in charge of the tents, has been off for the last two days. The last time she was off, the phones went missing. Even when she was around, there has been some food disappearing from the kitchen when no one is there. We have had workman in camp for the last two days and we would try and appear at unexpected times just in case. Today, the workman ended up waking Erin and Casey from naps to ask for access to the kitchen that appears to have the only power point in the area that they can access. They finally agreed to open the kitchen but would not leave it open, as they had to go back to work. They finally locked up and left with the men shouting insults and trying to pull the cord from under the door.

There have been several instances of misunderstandings and hard feelings between the volunteers and some of the workers. There are plans a foot to speak to Ian before we go with some ideas of how to ease the conflict.

Based on the lack of guest volume over the last two days, I feel that the volunteers are truly redundant at this volunteer placement. We walked past 5 staff people today who were standing and chatting while we were being called to clean a pen that could easily have been done by the staff. It is our understanding that after the current set of volunteers leave, that no new ones will come through the end of the year to make room for paying guests in all the tents.

Friday, November 17

Spent most of the day revising the documents that Given uses to train the volunteers. I was pleased I could help and Given printed off the documents so that the entire volunteer team could proof them.

Went out of pizza at 4Ways Mall with Given and had a really good time. I think Given heard lots of things that he did not need to know about women during some of the side conversations.

Got back to find the neighbors, 3 couples in the tents next to us. Whooping and drinking, they finally button holed Erin to ask for the key to the kitchen. When it was denied (the guests are only to use the bbq area and the outside sink) they became abusive.

Later in the night, I heard Casey speaking to them about not going under the fence into the park for their own safety. Again, more abuse and rocks thrown at the tent. At one point, I thought I heard Given’s voice and the next day found out that he had been summoned. Poor Given. One of the problems with living on site, you get called at all hours to handle things. This is a difficult situation as you have two groups of people with totally different orientations sharing the same living space, but not all the same amenities. The guests are there for a good time and to party and the volunteers are there to work and get enough sleep for the next day.

Saturday, November 18 – Last day of work for me

LOTS OF RAIN TODAY!

As this was my last day, I was trying to do a little of everything and to say good-bye. My main goodbyes were to be with Purdy and Gambit, my new loves in Africa. I fed them each a bag of pellets and every time I left the platform, Purdy would follow me down the fence looking for more pellets. She was finally distracted by several groups of people with bags of pellets.

I was asked to help rearrange Ohno’s cage to give him leopard enrichment. This meant untying all the ropes and repositioning his tire swing, suspended barrel and ramp log. Luckily, Kara is very good at knots so we had it done in no time. Ohno seemed to like it and spent some time investigating his new space.

Next, I took my computer into the back office and used the desk to type in the revisions from last night. During my typing the rain descended in sheets and pretty much continued the rest of the day.

As I exited the office, Angie said we were all going on a game drive. It was continuing to bomb rain with 5-minute gaps, but the new tour guide needed to practice so we all went. Same route and species as before but we got to see several new things. First, we finally got to get close to the Black Wildebeest that we had not seen up close before. Not the one’s that you normally think of when you hear wildebeest, but wonderful just the same.

We also saw a new little Springbok, probably only 5 days old. A one horned Oryx who, for whatever reason, did not want them on his piece of land was herding the baby and the mom. The other thing we saw was two-day-old Blasbok, very cute and tiny. We also got to see the 4 lion camps again and due to the rain and chilly weather, all the cats were active and up. We saw two lovely male lions and roaring and proclaiming their territory. The young male that had been sequestered in camp 3, is now within the pride. Time will tell if the big girls in the Chinese take-away will accept him. The lionesses were just a big as I remembered and as we lined up to exit the camp, one of the lioness was chewing on the rear bumper of the car ahead of us. I wonder if they will be able to claim lion chew marks from their auto insurance?

NOTE TO SELF – when offered a chance to go on a drive that you have already done, DO IT as there is always something new to see

Over the last two days, we have had the trio of smallest cubs in an outside pen and in view of the public. They are doing really well with their bowls of pellets in milk and little Swazi, who had been such a poor eater with the bottle, is going great guns. He is still ADD and needs help remembering where the bowl is. I have fed him the last two days and as long as you keep a vigil for him and keep bringing him back, he feeds fine. I even scrapped the last little bits of kibble up for him and let him eat out my hand. Very nice. During the last feed, Nia and Zam, while I was feeding Swazi, kept upsetting their bowls and it spread all over the floor. Not a problem for the cubs, they just ate it off the floor and as soon as Swazi had guzzled his down, he went over to help them. There are angry little faces and little paws that strike out if any cub comes too close to someone else’s feed bowl.

I went by all the animals’ pens one last time and asked Francis to take special care of all these special animals. I know that they are in good hands with him. Little Jake the Jackal has grown over the past week and really has a personality and looks more like a little fox, than a kitten. We keep telling him to drink his milk so that he can become big and strong.

After the game drive, the sky really opened and it poured. This gave me the opportunity to finish reading my book Eragon (about a dragon) so that I could leave it for the others.

Princess gave me a certificate to show that I had worked at the park and a color photo book of the animals at the park. I said goodbye to Ornica and thanked her for her assistance with our tents.

As I got ready to leave, I was a little sad, but was also looking forward to two days in a nice hotel with a double bed, wireless connection and little bottles of things in the bathrooms. It makes a change from tents and little frogs sharing my shower.

Ginnie was right on time and I was at the Courtyard by 7pm. Right across from a mall that has a huge African market every Sunday, it is a good location for my last two nights in Africa. Well, for this trip anyway.

ANIMAL FACTS

Giraffe’s, as a ruminant, have the four chambered stomach, are called bulls, cows and calves as appropriate and have no vocal cords and make no sounds. Sexually mature at 7, they can live to 30 years. Gestation is 14-15 months and it usually only 1 young. The baby can be 6 feet at birth.

Cheetah’s – while they look like cats, they do not have retractable claws making them closer to dogs. They are probably a distinct group to themselves with characteristic of both. The two distinguishing characteristics include the black lines from their eyes that look like tear lines and their sleek body and tucked up waist. They are also the only large cat that purrs. Litters from 3-7 are common.

Hyena – while they look like dogs, their closets relative is the mongoose, which is a member of the cat family. They are not hermaphrodites and both sexes carry a penis and scrotum. The females’ phallus is more of an external birth canal and there is nothing in their scrotum. Apparently, female hyenas have a high level of testosterone causing the dimorphism. They are very loyal and remember their special trainers and friends, better than the lions. Usually a pair is born and if they are the same sex, the stronger one kills the other. The pups are sighted and with teeth and can be left in the den immediately after birth.

The term black panther is really a black leopard. When you look at them in the light, you can see the faint rosettes of pattern under their black. The other big black cat is the black jaguar, and again, you can see the jaguar pattern under their black.

Lions – the females hunt and a pride can have more than one breeding male. The females are amazingly large, almost the size of a couch in length. Their nails are retractable.

Deer in general – if their habitat is in the trees or forest, only the males will have antlers, if they are plains animals, both male and female will carry horns. While this was told to be about Africa, I can almost guess this is the same for deer on all continents

Sunday, November 19 –

Lovely breakfast including eggs, bacon, croissant, juice and potato cakes that had a little mouth and two eyes. If no one is at breakfast tomorrow, I may take a picture.

Spent the time after breakfast finishing up the last post cards. It suddenly hit me the size and scope of this trip. It made me feel humble and proud that I had been given this opportunity and I took it. Some tears that I think surprised my nearest neighbors.

Today was spent at the market looking for those last minute things and trying to get my tax receipts in order to tomorrow at the airport. I will also ship most of it home, probably at quite a cost, but at least I won’t be carrying it.

I did a little laundry but am still waiting for the drying to free up. Two washers and only one dryer. Every time I left the room, the key would not work again, so it was another trip to the office. Hopefully, that will end soon as I want to go to sleep soon.

I should be loading my blog but all I want to do is watch tv and sleep. Tomorrow morning will be blog time and I will go to the airport extra early in order to get more blogging done.

Entry 30B - Second week with the Lions remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Monday, October 30

VIBES CARD – Be Flexible.

I was supervisor of pen 8 with 110 birds. During our first tubing session, I noticed that there were some penguins with new feathers, but when you touched them, all the new feathers came off in your hand. I told Nola about them and she said that they would be cold and suggested that we bring the worst ones up to ICU for care. There are now 7 or 8 baldies in a pen in ICU. Hopefully, with quieter and warmer conditions, their new feathers will come back.

There were lots of opportunities to practice flexibility today. As we were walking out the door to rain, our guesthouse mate asked if we wanted a ride to work. YES! As I got to every hose, the sprayer mechanism was missing. Most of the people that I had assigned to help in the pen had their own ideas about how things should be done. We had to completely clean pen 8 as it had not been done in a while and we had 6 pens of birds to work around. The fish was not thawed at the time that morning feeding was supposed to begin. As we got to the afternoon fish feeding, most of the fish had been taken leaving some pens with none.

There was a huge delivery of fish today that will help. Even though we take daily counts of how many boxes we used yesterday, it is still more of an art than a science. Some boxes yield fish that is way too soft or too damaged to feed. As the birds get healthier, they eat more (a good thing for them, just hard to calculate how much each pen will eat on a given day).

The weekly schedule (which changes daily according to the number of birds, volunteers, staff, etc) is;

Monday – grade, bleed and weigh the pens. During this chick time, the team is getting through about 2 -3 pens (of the 6 major pens) on Monday.

Tuesday – normally a release day. – Normal duties including cleaning the extra pens of other birds.

Wednesday – alternate release day if Tuesday had bad weather. – Normal duties.

Thursday – second day a week to grade, bleed and weigh if needed. During chick time, the team tries to get to the pens that were not bled on Monday.

Friday – normal duties.

Saturday & Sunday– unless it is chick time, these days are considered lighter. Normally only one staff person is on duty, another on call and the volunteers simply do feeding, treatments and cleaning of their pens, no extra duties. It is a time to catch up on mats if we are behind, but generally, it is pretty light.

The Daily schedule – which again changes according to pen number, (age, weight and condition of the birds) and day of the week.

8:00 - meeting and assignments are put on the board

8:15 – begin morning treatments – usually darrows for the group – 30 to 45 minutes before the birds can have any other treatment.

9:00 – clean the pen – if you have a swimming pool, you may also have to clean that or help get the fish ready.

10:00 - fish feeding – One hour after the last one is fed until they can swim or have any other treatment

11:00 – clean or general maintenance

Noon – additional medical treatments as needed or same as 11:00

1:00 – lunch?? And get fish ready

2:00 – afternoon fish feeding

3:00 - see 11 am

4:00 - final fluids and medical treatments

5:00 - home?

All this can change when you have three sets of fluids and two feeds.

Tuesday, October 31

VIBES CARD – Share a Breath

Pen 7 with Senta as supervisor. We have had teams of helpers from Nature Conservation to help with the birds. Some have experience with feeding and tubbing, but most do not. Raymond is one that can help with feeding. I spent some time being plugged in with him today but had a breakthrough and realize, just because it isn’t my way, doesn’t mean it doesn’t work or get done on time.

Birds were very hungry and for the am feed, we had tiny fish in comparison that what we normally have. I called them minnows, but they weren’t really that small, it just took 2-3 three of them to make up a decent size fish. We are trying to limit fish in the am to only 4, as if we fill them up, they have two sets of fluids on top of that and they tend to start regurging. Even so, if I had a starving one in front of me, they got extra fish.

In the afternoon when we fed, they were taking 7-8 normal size fish with no problems.
Nola had the opposite problems to our am-sized fish as she said she had whales to feed the baldies in ICU.

Bleeding with Nola and Vanessa and a whole new batch of bites, bruises, nips and scratches from the little tykes!

Helped hold for water treatment for a cape gull (felt like a feather) and a cormorant (even smaller and lighter). Someone else put the tube down the throat. I didn’t feel up to holding and tubing for the first time. I learned something as I worked with these other birds – birds that fly have hollow bones, birds that don’t have heavy bones. The penguins feel like ironing hams compared to the gull and cormorant that feel as light as marshmallows.

Ride home with Senta and then cab to my last massage – During the back massage, I inventoried the entire body, organs and joints and thanked them for their participation in this year.

French Facial with Marta that was fabulous and left me wonderfully drowsy. Was a cool evening so put on the winter pj’s and slept very well!

Wednesday, November 1 – My last day at SANCOOB – Release?

VIBES CARD – Seek Solitude

We knew the day before that there might not be enough volunteers who could feed and tube so that it would be a heavy work day for the rest of us.

I was assigned to assist Karen in Pen 1, 140 birds, most that needed medications in additions to the 5 daily handling. In addition, we had the 45 skinniest who are on 6 treatments a day instead of the usual 5.

Today offered me lots of breakdowns and breakthroughs in very short cycles including stop forcing issues and my opinions, by adjusting my position during struggles they ease up, what is wrong with someone else is a mirror of yourself (have a little patience, tolerance and generosity), and one that I still struggle with - when a person talks non-stop, does not pause for my response and therefore hands out the wrong medication, they are to be understood not judged and complained about.

There was a boat release today of 16 birds including #200 and the gannet. This would allow more room in one of the pens that has access to the pool. The team is trying to get birds into these pens as soon as possible as that means they are more mature and it cuts down on the number of fluids that they need on a daily basis. Any reduction in the number of times they have to be caught and handled is always a good sign.

Late in the afternoon, I was passing pen 10 with the smaller pool and got to see the Penguin parade as they made their way into the pool that was being filled. Very cute as they stood in the low water waiting for it to get high enough for them to swim. They were so cute, I went for my camera and got to them on video. Film at 11

I rushed around saying goodbye and ran home to shower and catch a cab to the Africa Café for dinner with Nicole. It offered dishes from all over Africa. After you had sampled the entire menu, you were allowed to request as much as you wanted from any dish that you especially liked. We were both so full from our samples that we only asked for more bread, dip, appetizers and spinach. We ate so much that we sat feeling like ticks as we watched the drumming and singing. It was a wonderful way to celebrate my last day at SANCCOB and the final act of my time in Cape Town.

Thursday, November 2 – blog and do da day

I had thought I wanted to see a few more things in Cape Town, but by Monday of this week, I knew that I needed to back away from more on my list and take it easy for 2 days.

Slept in, doodled around and organized my stuff to get ready for packing. Will probably mail a few boxes home tomorrow. Had a lovely nap, and then joined Sasha and Theresa for a trip to the grocery store for supplies for our braai (bbq) tonight.

We began at 7:00 and I excused myself at 9:00, just as the karaoke machine was being fired up.

Friday, November 3 – Pack, packages to mail, voted, lunch and dinner desert out

More packing today and off to the Postnet to send off my boxes. When she totaled all my boxes, it was over $800 in courier charges. They could not go cheaper from this location. I opted to take the largest ones to the P.O. After another taxi ride with my boxes, I finally got them sent for only $225.

Walked through the grocery store to buy goodies for the workers at SANCCOB and stopped at work to get a few last photos. I few more hugs and goodbyes and then off to lunch with Nicole.

My ballot was delivered today via FedEx thanks to Karen Stickland and I voted and called for a pick up within 1 hour.

The rest of the day was packing, blogging and dessert and coffee with friends from work.

Saturday, November 4 – Fly to JoBurg

Raining as we drove to the airport.

No problems on the flight – full flight 2 hours

Picked up by the Pretoria Backpackers for a 35-minute drive. Hostel is in an old mansion. I had thought that I would begin at the park on Sunday, but I was told that I would be picked up on Monday. With a day off, I investigated the two tours I was interested in – Soweto or the Cradle of Humanity – a paleontology site in the Northern suburbs. Only the Soweto tour was going, so I signed up. I had the afternoon to explore so I got the local map and found that the art museum was only three blocks away. I had been told that Pretoria was safe enough during the day, but not a night. I knew that I would be home in time as I was still pooped.

The art museum was very good. I went to the local shop and picked up some snacks and stuff for a light dinner and finished reading the Shadow of the Wind. It was excellent. I can’t wait to discuss it with the book group in Spain.

Sunday, November 5 – Day off – Soweto Tour

Guide Sam from the hostel was in his 40’s, very jovial and worked hard to keep us on schedule.

Our tour began and it looked like we would be only 4 of us. During our drive, we had a call and it turned out we had to pick up 6 more. On the way to pick up the 6, it turned out we had to pick up 8. Therefore, we had to move into an even larger vehicle. We were very delayed in starting, as we had to wait for an ever increasingly larger vehicle.

There was a lovely couple from England doing a year away, Eve and Antosh and we exchanged ideas on places to visit and where to stay in London.

Highlights of JoBurg – drove into the city proper, saw some historical buildings and the Mandela Bridge. Frankly, this is the part of the tour that I was the least excited about and that it went quickly, I was fine with that. The city is surrounded by former gold mines so there are huge piles of sand. Although some of the mines still have gold, they are no longer allowed to blast, as they are concerned about the stability of the tall buildings in JoBurg.

Soweto – (The South Western Townships) home to about 4 million is actually 61 different townships with 4-5 different levels of housing - informal settlement, original building form the 50’s, hostels, civil servants housing, Beverly hills. Some of the neighborhoods looked like what we would find in the US in the suburbs.

We only had 15 minutes of a stroll into one of the informal settlements with a guide, Sydney who has lived there in for 11 years. They recently added taps in the area and chemical toilets. They do not have electricity and cook on Parafin stoves and use candles for light.

Hector Pieterson Museum – June 16, 1976, Hector Pieterson was the first casualty in the student’s peaceful demonstration against having Afrikaans as the official language in schools for all secondary students. The museum was amazing and in combination with the Robben Island and Township tour, helped to understand the apartheid era. As our time was so limited as we started the tour so late, I bought books at most of the museums in order to fill in the gaps.

Noble Prizewinners street- The former house of Nelson Mandela is now a museum (which we did not have time to visit) is on the same street where the intersection where Hector Pieterson was killed. Just down the road, is also the huge house of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Someone asked why as they were black and living in Soweto, why did they have walls around their houses and alarm systems. Sam indicated that before democracy, although Tutu was never arrested or charged, he was highly controversial and he did what he had to to keep his family safe.

Lunch – Nado’s chicken – took a long time, but it was good. I had a sweet peri peri chicken wrap.

Apartheid Museum – Another amazing museum that was very powerful. One pictorial section based on a photographers book the House of Bondage, was especially thought provoking. The book was not available in the bookstore, but I will try and find it once I get home. The most compelling display was the one after Apartheid that showed the first election and the determination on people’s faces to cast their ballots. Put’s the US election percentages to shame.
Again, the most amazing fact that has come out of the evolution from Apartheid and before the democracy is that there was no recrimination, no revenge on the white South Africans. F.W. DeClerk (sp?) , the PM that freed all the political prisoners and negotiated with Mandela for the end of Apartheid, wanted to hand him the reins when he was elected. Mandela said that DeClerk would train him and he ended up with DeClerk as one of his two deputy presidents. The more I learn about Mandela, the more amazing I find him.

Botha, who was the PM during the Apartheid era, died this week so the flags were flying at half-mast. The article in the paper said that the Monster is Dead.

I got back to the hostel at 5:00 pm and had been told that there was a braii for the ItoI volunteers at 7:00pm. As I arrived, I was told that I had missed orientation. I had never had an ItoI orientation at my other placements, so I looked around to see if they could fill me in.

We leave tomorrow at 10:00. I went to bed and set the alarm for 8:00. The power kept going off in the mansion and I suspected that my computer might be overloading the system. I unplugged it, and the power continued to fluctuate.

Entry 29F - Sixth week with the Penguins remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Monday, November 6 – 10 months on the road today!

We had a 10:00 pick up and we arrived at noon. I won the award at the park of having the second most luggage from any one volunteer. I can’t wait to be able to mail most of my stuff home!

Given – the Staff member who will be our main supervisor, tour guide and orientation host sent us through our paperwork and facts about the park and the different animals we will handle.

Animals at the park – lion, white lion, leopard, cheetah, wart hog, black-sided jackal, side stripe jackal, ostrich, giraffe, brown hyena (very rare) and spotted hyenas.

Our Group – Casey – Magnetic Island, Aust, Erin – NSW, Aust, Zara – Nottingham, UK, Karen – Nottingham, UK, Angie – Birmingham, UK, Nick –???, UK, Amanda – Birmingham, UK, Goeff – Melbourne, Aust – Most of them are first time ItoI’ers, although Casey and Erin have done three. I am staying for 2 weeks, and most of the others are staying at least 3 and two will be staying for 4 weeks. We just have to tell them the day before you want off. We can take off days between Mondays through Friday, but Saturday and Sunday’s are the biggest days at the park so everyone is on duty.

The Lion Park was established in 1966 as a retirement community for former circus animals. Now they are an education center (not zoo or private game reserve) for native wildlife. They have changed management as of 1998 and have just established a second company for filming with lions and carnivores. It is a 208 hectares enclosure, separated into 5 different camps within a residential area on the northern suburbs. You can hear not only the lions but also the highway not that far away.

We are housed in tents that sleep 4 with proper beds. I am with Amanda, Karen and Zara.

Our days will be split with ½ in the nursery and ½ in the touch-a-cub enclosure in Cub World. In the nursery there are four pens. Currently they house three wild white lion cubs that are going to a zoo in Mexico, 3 three-week-old cubs (Swazi, Nia and Zam – named for African countries), 2 four-month old cubs (Kiango and Kumara) and the young leopard – Ohno. Ohno is an 8-month-old leopard and he is very handsome. He came up to us in his cage enclosure and seemed very social.

Apparently, all the lion cubs answer to kip kip kip and the hyenas answer to woozie, woozie woozie.

I spent the early evening unpacking and blogging. We had a braii for dinner and were in bed by 9:00 pm. Up by 7:00 to be at work at 8:00.

Tuesday, November 7

First day on the job. My group of Zara, Angie and Amanda began in the nursery.

Inside the nursery there are 4 cages that house animals overnight. There is quite a smell, probably a combination of the lions, leopard and the horsemeat bones that had been fed to the trio of wild lion cubs.

Our first job was to clean out the outside enclosure for the 4-month-old pair, Kumara (female) and Kianga (male). They spend the night inside and the days outside. Their enclosure has lots of trees and rocks and is surrounded by a fence with the top layer is electrified. We were warned to be aware of the fence as it is constantly electrified and people had stood up unexpectedly and got a bit of a shock. I was on the rake, Zara was on clearing the pool and Angie was on collecting up the piles of leaves that I raked up. During our cleaning, we heard a screech from the cub world pen where the other team where cleaning. Erin was hugged and bitten from behind by Miasha.

Then we went back to the nursery and prepared bottles for the three tiniest cubs. The milk is Esbilac (puppy formula similar to Similac that we used on the kittens). They are only 9 weeks old and very cute. Zam and Swazi are the males and Nia is the female. Very cute and yet their little teeth are quite sharp and their claws prominent. We were not able to bottle feed, Princess, who is now in charge of the nursery said that we would not be able to bottle feed until we had been here for two weeks. I guess I may not be able to feed as I only am here for two weeks. I will ask Princess closer to the time I am leaving if she would please allow me to bottle-feed someone once.

Next we got the bowls of food ready for the two little cubs and the 6 guys in the outside pen, the pen in cub world where you get to touch the cubs. The bowls included a cup of cat kibble and a layer of horsemeat.

The horsemeat is always donated from local people. There was a problem as we arrived, because the pen in cub world that houses the 10-11 months old cubs had been given meat from a horse that had been euthanized. Apparently the horse had been sedated and the people who picked up the meat did not know to ask how the horse had died. Yesterday, two pens of cubs were very lethargic and had been administered charcoal and liver injections to counter act the sedation. Today, one of the 11 months old females was still in a bad way and was sent to the vet for additional treatment. All the other cats were but still got more liver injections and charcoal today. A lot of the staff were used during the treatments and were pretty exhausted from the ordeal. Luckily, the female that had been to the vet is doing well and has returned to the park.

We got to take the dishes to the two cubs and I had one of the bowls. They were waiting for us, were very excited to see the food and sort of jumped at me. I ended up drop/throwing the bowl in their general direction. I was told that I could place them on the ground the next time. It was an adrenaline rush to have that little cub approach and it was a bit scary.

Next we got to the take the 6 bowls to the pen with the 6 months old touch-a-cub guys. Maisha, Thando, Kookai the girls and the boys, Cochise and Duciele and the hyaena Keto.

Cohise and Maisha are siblings, Kookai and Duciele are siblings and Thando half sibling to Maisha and Cochise.

These guys up to your knee and VERY PLAYFUL!!!!. I told Amanda that I was not up for taking in the bowls to the bigger cubs, so she did it with the others. We ended up waiting for them and Amanda collected all the bowls with one of them continuing to try and get into the bowls. Left feeling a little shaken and unhappy with my first interactions with them.

Next we had a meeting with Ian, the owner/manager of the Lion Park. He told us all about the history of the Park. He shared with us about their experience with breeding the lions including that has never been a successful artificial insemination in lions. Lions are induced breeders and when the female is in heat for 5 days, the male breeds her every 7-15 minutes for the entire time. It is the frequency that causes the female to ovulate. The Lion Park is a member of the PAZ???? and the World ????? They do relocate or sell to other members of these groups and also receive other breeding animals in order to make sure there is genetic diversity.

The cubs are removed from their mothers for various reasons including first time mothers, to reduce crowding in the pride, if the cub is weak or the same sex as the twin, or for educational purposes. The mother tends to have a pair of cubs at a time. If there aren’t enough resources and one of the cubs is weak, it is not uncommon for them to kill weaker one.

After the meeting, we went to help clean out a vacant enclosure of rocks and sticks as one of the staff members was mowing all the pens.

Then we went out to cover the giraffe feeding area. There are two giraffe’s Gambit the male and Purdy, the female. There is a platform so that you are up at their head height so that you can feed them. We try to feed them on the platform instead of on the ground, as they tend to challenge the fence with their chests. We make up bags of giraffe nuggets that are basically alfalfa pellets for 10rand (around $1.30). It is lovely to feed. They have a 45 cm tongue that are blue black and they extend their tongue and you pour a few pellets on to it. I went up to help a family who was a little tentative about the feeding and getting giraffe slobber on their hands. The kids were lovely.

I then went to lunch and did a little hand laundry and then went back to help in the cub world area. The volunteers switch half way through the day so we went to the other area. In this area, we were back at the giraffes. There wasn’t much going on, so we packed the giraffe nuggets up and went to take the three cubs for a walk. We had three cubs and 9 staff and volunteers across the field to the airstrip for a ramble. Erin ran ahead of them and the three cubs gambled after her. They were pooped and we had to keep collecting them out of the grass and keeping them on the airstrip. They were wonderful.

Our final task of the day was to cut up the horsemeat for tomorrow. It was huge hunks of meat with lots of bright yellow fat. Angie and I cut up the meat.

We also got to meet Jake, the Side Striped Jackal is in the nursery and about as large as a large rat. One week old, he is cute as a bug’s ear, this little guy had a bottle with a tiny little nipple

Wednesday, November 8 – Big Feed Day

Today we started in the cub world area that meant our first duty was to go into the touch-a-cub cage with the 6 within. I was a little apprehensive, but we had a plan of how to approach the task including working in pairs, watching each other’s back and when all else fails, distract them by letting them play with a rake or the broom. Amanda tackled the pool and had 5 of the 6 of them amused for quite a while. I had the rake and my back to the fence. After the pool was emptied and the rakings gathered up, we assisted Amanda with the pool while Zara held off two different sub-groups with two rakes.

PHOTO – ZARA and the rakes

We ended up without any mishaps and I think all of us felt better about working in this pen.

Next, we raked around the perimeter of the cub world pens and finally opened up the giraffe food stall. I was not there at the time, but the actress Jane Seymour and entourage including bodyguard fed the giraffes and then spent a lot of time in the pen with the 6 cubs. No photo, but I could see she was petite, slight, with lovely reddish hair. Just as I had imagined her. After Jane had gone, I was on duty at the giraffes and could not resist buying a sack of pellets and feeding them. First I fed Purdy, the female and she is lovely. (I am having an attack of the lovelies again!) Angie got a video of Purdy and I. After that group had left, I bough another bag and fed Gambit. He is also lovely, but only hangs around as long as you have food. No food, and he is off. The staff was fixing the fence immediately underneath the feeding platform, so the giraffes went away and did not return for the day. Only 50 rand today, 20 of it from me, compared to 300 rand yesterday. Maybe more tomorrow.

At 11, we all loaded into the truck and did a drive around the park including the lion camps. Along the way we saw Springbok, Blasbok, Burchells Zebra, Black Wildebeest for a great distance, our giraffes, Impala, Gebok, Spotted hyena, Brown Hyena, Cheetah’s. There are 4 lion camps where there an existing prides with different societies.
Camp 1 has a single male and only two females. I didn’t get a very good look at these.

Camp 2 had about 8 females, two cubs and a lovely male lion named Sly. He posed very nicely for our cameras. This camp is full of split lions, they appear tawny, but all carry the white recessive gene. One of the cubs was definitely white. When the offspring of the male are about ready to breed, they are removed from the pride.

Camp 3 is called the Chinese Takeaway camp. They are currently without a male, but they have a small enclosure set aside for a younger male with 3 of the prides’ females. The main pride females were HUGE and very well fed. When they introduce the male to the rest of the pride, the three females will protect him from the other females until he has assimilated. They are called the takeaway because in 1998, two Taiwanese tourists ignored the signs about staying in their car and got out in order to take pictures of the sleeping pride. They must have gotten great pictures, but they also lost their lives. Just as we were leaving, the young male lion was showing that he was indeed trying to increase the population.

Camp 4 we found the gate wide open and the pride well within the cage. This camp has two male lions that are brothers. When a conglomerate of males enter and take over a pride, all the males share both the females and the food. We now know that not all prides have a single male.

All in all, we probably saw about 70 lions all together

We were pretty pooped after our ride so most of us went directly to lunch. After lunch, we had been told to clean up the playground area, but as it was currently being mowed, that was not an option. I ended up going on cigarette patrol around the cub world area. While there were things to pick up like cig butts, ice cream sticks, lolly pop sticks and bits of plastic candy wrappers, it really was pretty clean. At one point, I looked over and saw one of the white cubs that had the bad meat stalking me. I approached her closer and looked her in the eye and she stopped. I went back to my picking and as I was finishing, she was doing it again. So I approached her like I was stalking her and told her that I knew what she was doing and she went all cute on my and rubbed up against the fence and wanted to be rubbed. It is a pity that we can’t interact with them, but if I am afraid of the littlies and middles, I can’t imagine going in with the teenagers.

As I went to Amanda asking for my next task, she told me to hurry and catch up with the group as they were going to the wild side and were hanging up fly traps. These cages are the animals over 2 years of age who are being trained for the film unit or are not ready for viewing by the main public.

First and the most spectacular were two black leopards. They are brother and sister and are absolutely magnificent. These are what most people call black panthers. They may try a breeding program with them and Onho, who appears as a normal colored leopard, also carries the black gene and he may be able to be used. These animals most probably came from India, as they are not native to Africa.

I also know now that the other black cat, that people sometimes call panther is the black jaguar. They are from South America. None here at this time.

We made up flytraps that are a cone of plastic filled with powder that smells like rotting fish, mixed with hot water and then hung on the fences. They last 2-3 months and are only needed during the summer months.

PHOTO OF FLY TRAP

Along our trek we also got to see lots of male and female lions, several brown hyena’s that look like the werewolf in London monster, and the most beautiful white male lion named Mr. Whitey. Next to him was a perfectly marvelous jaguar named Jade who is trained, comes to her name and loves women. We have lots of pictures of Jade.

It was time to get back to the nursery, but ended up with not a lot to do. At one point, we had to corral the two younger cubes back into their outside pen as one of them escaped when two volunteers went in to visit them. We also brought in the laundry and got the pens ready for the night quarters, just in time for Ohno to be brought in. He is becoming used to Princess and was a stitch this morning as he was being moved. He did a lot of lying down and having to be physically moved or lured with toys.

We let the littlies in for their bottles and we watched as Princess pottied them with cotton wool and warm water. They are beginning to learn to do it by themselves, but not 100% of the time.

I am blogging at the pasture fence behind my tent as the sun fades and the crickets begin to sing. It is cool, but not too bad. I was hoping that my friends the giraffes would come by, but no such luck.

Day two completed on this placement. There is a definite feel of Africa time here where there are long breaks between duties. Nothing is written down as to work roster and people just sort of float through the day. As I look at it now, this is the one placement where they have the least need for volunteers from what I can see. There seem to be enough staff to get things done, and at times, they stand by and watch us work. It could just be that there are 8 of us currently and 6 of us aren’t up to speed yet.

I was told by Princess that tomorrow we spring clean the nursery, which should be good and will most likely use all of us for the entire morning. I am looking forward to that.

Thursday, November 9

I had some thoughts last night during the night about cutting this placement short and what I would do with the time. My main thought is that with 8 and soon to be only 7 volunteers, we are falling over each other to do our work and spending vast amounts of time together watching as someone else works. This is the first time that I have volunteers for a for-profit concern and they seem to have enough staff to do just fine without us. I will wait and see what unfolds.

Today we started back in the nursery and we knew that today we would be doing spring-cleaning. Princess is newly appointed as the supervisor over the nursery and is still feeling her way with the new responsibilities.

We saw little Jake the Jackal and found out a little more about him. The parents had a litter of three but they killed the other two. Apparently this has happened before. He is growing and doing okay. When I consider that the pen where the Side Stripe Jackals are housed is right up next to the car park, is the first pen to receive the public and all the large buses, I don’t find it hard to believe that the parents are hugely stressed and did not feel that their cubs were safe. Poor babies.

After we cleaned the two cub external pen, I spent some quality time searching for Easter eggs (litter) again in the area between the nursery and their pen. Remember in Australia where I turned poo picking into an Easter egg hunt, well I am doing it again in South Africa but this time it is litter. Cig butts, lolly sticks, flip tops, bits of paper and candy stuff and the odd chicken bone were all going into my bucket.

At one point, Angie came out and said that the terrible two were coming out. Sure enough, in fits and starts, two cubs and three volunteers rounded the corner. Mostly the cubs went in the wrong direction and kept getting side tracked at trees and under benches. After about 5 minutes, they were safely ensconced in their outside playground. While Zara and Angie spent time with them and gave them cub enrichment time (soccer ball), Amanda and I tackled the Easter egg hunt in the picnic/playground area just behind our tend enclosure. There had been two busloads of school kids there the day before, we did not really find that much trash. Just as we were heading back to the nursery for spring-cleaning, two more busloads arrived.

Spring cleaning consisted of power washing the four pens, even with the three wild cubs, defrosting and deblooding the meat freezer, pulling out most of the counters and appliances and cleaning behind them, removing and replacing the spiral sticky fly traps and organizing the shelves. There was insufficient equipment for all of us to do the tasks and the supervisor did not communicate the entirety of the project so that we could be effective in different areas. We finally hit our groove with the freezer, but unfortunately, got a little carried away with the power washer and ended up chipping up the paint from the floor and splattering it on the walls. It took us 2.5 hours, and I must say, it was probably the most work I have done since I have been here. Princess was very pleased when it was done, and I think she feels more at home in her new location and has a handle on where everything is. As we began the work, I noticed that she had a large tear in her shirt on the back and I asked if it was new or old. She said that Ohno had tried to bite her right breast during the am transfer, so she was wearing her shirt back to front.

We decided to buy lunch instead of making our own as a treat, so I ordered savory mince sandwiches, chips and salad and mango juice. After I had ordered, I went back to the tent for more money and to hang out the laundry that Amanda and I had done this am.

Our afternoon was spent in the cub world area where there was not a lot to do as the men were still working at the fence near the giraffe feeding station. I began to rake all the recently mowed grass in the alleyway surrounding the cub enclosures, Zara and Angie went in to help tourists touch the cubs. Soon, the giraffe’s appeared so Angie went to the feeding station. No celebrities today. When I finished my cleaning, I joined Amanda and Angie at giraffes and found that today only Gambit was at the platform. I could see Purdy but even when I went to see her with pellets, she preferred to prickly acacia trees. On the way back to the enclosure, I went past a clutch of ostrich eggs. Amanda said that they were aware of them and that the female abandoned them a while back. They staff just hasn’t been by to pick them up.

During our giraffe afternoon, we helped a couple of Japanese tourists, the lady who was fainting and a group of Chinese tourists who were a stitch when it came to feeding the giraffes. Poor Amanda has been suffering with what she thinks in an ingrown toenail. I told her I would look at it tonight and suggested Epson salts baths.

We ended up in the cub enclosure and assisted people with photographs. One man with lots of things hanging around his neck turns out to the face on Animal Planet who does all the wildlife segments. He is coming back tomorrow to get some photos.

While we were in with the bunch of 6, Princess, Ohno and another staff member where having their twice-daily procedure to get Ohno from one cage to the other. At least they had the purple harness on him this time, which is tighter and allows for better control. There were lots of people around who so much wanted to get close, but Zara kept telling them that they had to stay back for everyone’s safety.

We had done a little list of what we would eat until the next shopping day on Monday and tonight would be tuna pasta stuff. As we arrived back at our tents to begin dinner, it was found that in the other tent, two cell phones that had been buried in luggage had been lifted. In that tent, the cell phone that had been on the bed in the open was not taken. They tent was padlocked, but we found out that each of our tents also has a back zipper entrance which had not been locked. Add on top of that, the entire zipper mechanism for both the inner bug netting and the external canvas are only attached to the tent by Velcro. One hard pull and the entire panel comes away rendering the padlock useless. The entrance to this tent faces the pasture and is therefore is less obvious if there is someone lurking. My tent backs up to this tent and an alleyway in between. Our tent faces the kitchen. In the next tent are some contract workers who have been tiling the bbq area and the new handicapped bathroom up near the nursery. Amanda had her cell phone taken from that tent earlier in her stay when the tent was not locked and the phone was in plain sight.

During our discussion with Ian, he had said that we should use their safe for our valuables. When we finally met the woman who could help us with that, she indicated that her safe was not accessible during the weekends and she sent us to the lady who runs the curio shop. Angie had hoped to store her extra money and documents. The lady said she would only take passports and paperwork. At this point, there was no location for most of us to store anything. I have been locking my computer, passport, money, wallet, plane tickets and ipod up daily in my luggage, as well as the front part of our tent being locked up with one of my padlocks.

NOTE TO TRAVELERS – Suggestion to carry at least one additional padlock when you travel. You never know when you might buy an additional piece of luggage that needs to be secured.

As I exited the shower tonight, the group was heading up to see Given, to alert him to the problem and to see about going to the police tomorrow. Amanda’s toe does not look good, so she will approach Ian tomorrow about seeing the local doctor. Hopefully, it will respond to medication and possibly a procedure that won’t lay her too low.

Friday, November 10

Small contingents of us was going to the police department and then taking Amanda to the Dr. (I nearly said Vet), therefore, we were with reduced resources this am.

Zara and I began to clean the touch-a-cub pen and we knew to expect that the cubs would be interested in our tools. Luckily, Angie joined us for a time that helped and we had managed to poop scoop and rake and get the pool drained before things disintegrated.

Princess brought Ohno by and he promptly leapt into the alleyway between the tourist walkway and the pen. This got our pen going. Princess got him out and he did it again, further down the line. By this time, our guys we shooting past us and running back and forth. At one point, I was being circled and pursued, so I gave the cub two sharp raps on the nose. At this point, the vibes said get out of the pen before I get more frightened. I told my team that I was leaving and they also came out with me. At this point, there was no reason to stay in the pen. We knew that they would settle when their breakfast arrived and at this point, Angie had to join the group going to the police so Zara and I did the outside raking. They had settled, but we waited until the food arrived to finish the pool and do the final perimeter check.

Once that was finished, we opened the giraffe feeding. Today we were hosting a corporation sponsoring teams in a “great race” competition, so we had about 7 teams of people doing several events at the Lion Park. As they approached the giraffe’s, they wanted a group photo and several teams also wanted individual shots with the giraffe. Gambit was the celebrity of the day. Some of the teams had money with them and bought a bag of pellets. Other teams just had their photo and quickly moved to the next station.

Nick approached Ian about the thefts yesterday and he was a little stroppy about having told us not the have any valuables in the tents. We explained that when we had inquired about the safe options, they did appear viable as one would not accept our money and the other option was not available to us over the weekend. What the other tent has opted to do is to carry small backpacks with them all day, which is a bother because you cannot safely leave them unattended and are constantly worried about where they are.

Today was also the day that the Wart Hogs were going to be film stars. We did not feed them in the am as they were supposed to be moved. We switched to the nursery at 1pm. In the pm, the crew arrived to pick up the hogs. It was determined that their pen did not have a proper gate and therefore, they had to destroy part of the fence. Next, they had to construct an alley for the hogs to move from the pen. At one point, I looked over and there were at least 10 people around the pen. We kept hearing things dropping and the saw people running. At one point, there were several pig squeals. After 2.5 hours, the pigs were finally loaded.

I did a few hours in the touch-a-cub when they were rather sedate and sleepy. Another hot day with clouds gathering for an afternoon storm.

After lunch, we had nursery duty, but there was nothing to be done until 4pm. For short time, Zara and I and finally Angie played the three tinies in their inside pen. It had begun to rain and Princess moved them indoors. Immediately, Nia showed us that she had a runny tummy and Princess said that the vet was already on the way. After about an hour, we were a little tired of deflecting little claws and mouths and the vet arrived so we left.

In the afternoon, Angie and Casey had a meeting with Ian about their missing items. It sounded like they felt the contract laborers were to blame and when the staff approached their foreman to discuss it with them, he said he would not as it would cause too much trouble. They had cleared off by 2pm, with most but not all the work done and we are not sure if they will come back. Interesting fact is that the theft also occurred on the day that Ornica, the staff member who supervised the tent village, was off. Hummmmm?

Kiango and Kumara had been moved into the outside pen next to touch-a-cub, where they will be this weekend. Next week, the wild guys move to the pen we cleaned the other day, the big 6 move into a different pen and Kiango and Kumara become the touch-a-cub stars. That should be easier for all of us, with fewer animals and smaller ones as well.

I took an hour off and went to tent and then we joined up in the nursery. We made bottles for the little guys, got the pens ready for the outside cubs to come back and then went and got K and K back into the nursery. They were tired from their afternoon in the sun and were stars and made a beeline for the inside pen.

We had several rain showers today and by the end of the workday, the clouds were rolling and lots of thunder could be heard. Most of the crew went off for walks and the sat on the back porch and watched the herd’s move, the wild dogs play and the rainbow form. It was lovely

Nick made a fabulous dinner of a wraps with curried chicken, honey mustard chicken, grilled veggies, salad and tortillas. The best meal we have had so far.

Saturday, November 1

VERY HOT TODAY and LOTS OF SUN!

Our first weekend and we had been warned that there would be bigger crowds. Touch-a-cub was the main draw and the giraffe’s accepted some of our pellets, but many of the kids did not get to see them up close.

Bottle-fed the babies briefly – Quite a thrill. Hopefully the other team will also be able to bottle-feed later today.

Montecasino for dinner – Think of a film set with fake facades and when you look past the upper story you see the lights and the black ceiling. Dinner was good and we were hungry. The table separated into three different discussions. We did a little wander through the shops and Angie found a wonderful story called RailWoods, where all the items were made out of recycled railway wood. Lovely. I would have indulged but I wanted things that were huge and very heavy. Maybe next trip. I did find a great baboon book at the bookstore, which is now in my possession. We separated and a few of us came home at 11. The rest arrived back at 4am.

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Entry 30A - First week with the Lions remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Monday, October 30

VIBES CARD – Be Flexible.

I was supervisor of pen 8 with 110 birds. During our first tubing session, I noticed that there were some penguins with new feathers, but when you touched them, all the new feathers came off in your hand. I told Nola about them and she said that they would be cold and suggested that we bring the worst ones up to ICU for care. There are now 7 or 8 baldies in a pen in ICU. Hopefully, with quieter and warmer conditions, their new feathers will come back.

There were lots of opportunities to practice flexibility today. As we were walking out the door to rain, our guesthouse mate asked if we wanted a ride to work. YES! As I got to every hose, the sprayer mechanism was missing. Most of the people that I had assigned to help in the pen had their own ideas about how things should be done. We had to completely clean pen 8 as it had not been done in a while and we had 6 pens of birds to work around. The fish was not thawed at the time that morning feeding was supposed to begin. As we got to the afternoon fish feeding, most of the fish had been taken leaving some pens with none.

There was a huge delivery of fish today that will help. Even though we take daily counts of how many boxes we used yesterday, it is still more of an art than a science. Some boxes yield fish that is way too soft or too damaged to feed. As the birds get healthier, they eat more (a good thing for them, just hard to calculate how much each pen will eat on a given day).

The weekly schedule (which changes daily according to the number of birds, volunteers, staff, etc) is;

Monday – grade, bleed and weigh the pens. During this chick time, the team is getting through about 2 -3 pens (of the 6 major pens) on Monday.

Tuesday – normally a release day. – Normal duties including cleaning the extra pens of other birds.

Wednesday – alternate release day if Tuesday had bad weather. – Normal duties.

Thursday – second day a week to grade, bleed and weigh if needed. During chick time, the team tries to get to the pens that were not bled on Monday.

Friday – normal duties.

Saturday & Sunday– unless it is chick time, these days are considered lighter. Normally only one staff person is on duty, another on call and the volunteers simply do feeding, treatments and cleaning of their pens, no extra duties. It is a time to catch up on mats if we are behind, but generally, it is pretty light.

The Daily schedule – which again changes according to pen number, (age, weight and condition of the birds) and day of the week.

8:00 - meeting and assignments are put on the board

8:15 – begin morning treatments – usually darrows for the group – 30 to 45 minutes before the birds can have any other treatment.

9:00 – clean the pen – if you have a swimming pool, you may also have to clean that or help get the fish ready.

10:00 - fish feeding – One hour after the last one is fed until they can swim or have any other treatment

11:00 – clean or general maintenance

Noon – additional medical treatments as needed or same as 11:00

1:00 – lunch?? And get fish ready

2:00 – afternoon fish feeding

3:00 - see 11 am

4:00 - final fluids and medical treatments

5:00 - home?

All this can change when you have three sets of fluids and two feeds.

Tuesday, October 31

VIBES CARD – Share a Breath

Pen 7 with Senta as supervisor. We have had teams of helpers from Nature Conservation to help with the birds. Some have experience with feeding and tubbing, but most do not. Raymond is one that can help with feeding. I spent some time being plugged in with him today but had a breakthrough and realize, just because it isn’t my way, doesn’t mean it doesn’t work or get done on time.

Birds were very hungry and for the am feed, we had tiny fish in comparison that what we normally have. I called them minnows, but they weren’t really that small, it just took 2-3 three of them to make up a decent size fish. We are trying to limit fish in the am to only 4, as if we fill them up, they have two sets of fluids on top of that and they tend to start regurging. Even so, if I had a starving one in front of me, they got extra fish.

In the afternoon when we fed, they were taking 7-8 normal size fish with no problems.
Nola had the opposite problems to our am-sized fish as she said she had whales to feed the baldies in ICU.

Bleeding with Nola and Vanessa and a whole new batch of bites, bruises, nips and scratches from the little tykes!

Helped hold for water treatment for a cape gull (felt like a feather) and a cormorant (even smaller and lighter). Someone else put the tube down the throat. I didn’t feel up to holding and tubing for the first time. I learned something as I worked with these other birds – birds that fly have hollow bones, birds that don’t have heavy bones. The penguins feel like ironing hams compared to the gull and cormorant that feel as light as marshmallows.

Ride home with Senta and then cab to my last massage – During the back massage, I inventoried the entire body, organs and joints and thanked them for their participation in this year.

French Facial with Marta that was fabulous and left me wonderfully drowsy. Was a cool evening so put on the winter pj’s and slept very well!

Wednesday, November 1 – My last day at SANCOOB – Release?

VIBES CARD – Seek Solitude

We knew the day before that there might not be enough volunteers who could feed and tube so that it would be a heavy work day for the rest of us.

I was assigned to assist Karen in Pen 1, 140 birds, most that needed medications in additions to the 5 daily handling. In addition, we had the 45 skinniest who are on 6 treatments a day instead of the usual 5.

Today offered me lots of breakdowns and breakthroughs in very short cycles including stop forcing issues and my opinions, by adjusting my position during struggles they ease up, what is wrong with someone else is a mirror of yourself (have a little patience, tolerance and generosity), and one that I still struggle with - when a person talks non-stop, does not pause for my response and therefore hands out the wrong medication, they are to be understood not judged and complained about.

There was a boat release today of 16 birds including #200 and the gannet. This would allow more room in one of the pens that has access to the pool. The team is trying to get birds into these pens as soon as possible as that means they are more mature and it cuts down on the number of fluids that they need on a daily basis. Any reduction in the number of times they have to be caught and handled is always a good sign.

Late in the afternoon, I was passing pen 10 with the smaller pool and got to see the Penguin parade as they made their way into the pool that was being filled. Very cute as they stood in the low water waiting for it to get high enough for them to swim. They were so cute, I went for my camera and got to them on video. Film at 11

I rushed around saying goodbye and ran home to shower and catch a cab to the Africa Café for dinner with Nicole. It offered dishes from all over Africa. After you had sampled the entire menu, you were allowed to request as much as you wanted from any dish that you especially liked. We were both so full from our samples that we only asked for more bread, dip, appetizers and spinach. We ate so much that we sat feeling like ticks as we watched the drumming and singing. It was a wonderful way to celebrate my last day at SANCCOB and the final act of my time in Cape Town.

Thursday, November 2 – blog and do da day

I had thought I wanted to see a few more things in Cape Town, but by Monday of this week, I knew that I needed to back away from more on my list and take it easy for 2 days.

Slept in, doodled around and organized my stuff to get ready for packing. Will probably mail a few boxes home tomorrow. Had a lovely nap, and then joined Sasha and Theresa for a trip to the grocery store for supplies for our braai (bbq) tonight.

We began at 7:00 and I excused myself at 9:00, just as the karaoke machine was being fired up.

Friday, November 3 – Pack, packages to mail, voted, lunch and dinner desert out

More packing today and off to the Postnet to send off my boxes. When she totaled all my boxes, it was over $800 in courier charges. They could not go cheaper from this location. I opted to take the largest ones to the P.O. After another taxi ride with my boxes, I finally got them sent for only $225.

Walked through the grocery store to buy goodies for the workers at SANCCOB and stopped at work to get a few last photos. I few more hugs and goodbyes and then off to lunch with Nicole.

My ballot was delivered today via FedEx thanks to Karen Stickland and I voted and called for a pick up within 1 hour.

The rest of the day was packing, blogging and dessert and coffee with friends from work.

Saturday, November 4 – Fly to JoBurg

Raining as we drove to the airport.

No problems on the flight – full flight 2 hours

Picked up by the Pretoria Backpackers for a 35-minute drive. Hostel is in an old mansion. I had thought that I would begin at the park on Sunday, but I was told that I would be picked up on Monday. With a day off, I investigated the two tours I was interested in – Soweto or the Cradle of Humanity – a paleontology site in the Northern suburbs. Only the Soweto tour was going, so I signed up. I had the afternoon to explore so I got the local map and found that the art museum was only three blocks away. I had been told that Pretoria was safe enough during the day, but not a night. I knew that I would be home in time as I was still pooped.

The art museum was very good. I went to the local shop and picked up some snacks and stuff for a light dinner and finished reading the Shadow of the Wind. It was excellent. I can’t wait to discuss it with the book group in Spain.

Sunday, November 5 – Day off – Soweto Tour

Guide Sam from the hostel was in his 40’s, very jovial and worked hard to keep us on schedule.

Our tour began and it looked like we would be only 4 of us. During our drive, we had a call and it turned out we had to pick up 6 more. On the way to pick up the 6, it turned out we had to pick up 8. Therefore, we had to move into an even larger vehicle. We were very delayed in starting, as we had to wait for an ever increasingly larger vehicle.

There was a lovely couple from England doing a year away, Eve and Antosh and we exchanged ideas on places to visit and where to stay in London.

Highlights of JoBurg – drove into the city proper, saw some historical buildings and the Mandela Bridge. Frankly, this is the part of the tour that I was the least excited about and that it went quickly, I was fine with that. The city is surrounded by former gold mines so there are huge piles of sand. Although some of the mines still have gold, they are no longer allowed to blast, as they are concerned about the stability of the tall buildings in JoBurg.

Soweto – (The South Western Townships) home to about 4 million is actually 61 different townships with 4-5 different levels of housing - informal settlement, original building form the 50’s, hostels, civil servants housing, Beverly hills. Some of the neighborhoods looked like what we would find in the US in the suburbs.

We only had 15 minutes of a stroll into one of the informal settlements with a guide, Sydney who has lived there in for 11 years. They recently added taps in the area and chemical toilets. They do not have electricity and cook on Parafin stoves and use candles for light.

Hector Pieterson Museum – June 16, 1976, Hector Pieterson was the first casualty in the student’s peaceful demonstration against having Afrikaans as the official language in schools for all secondary students. The museum was amazing and in combination with the Robben Island and Township tour, helped to understand the apartheid era. As our time was so limited as we started the tour so late, I bought books at most of the museums in order to fill in the gaps.

Noble Prizewinners street- The former house of Nelson Mandela is now a museum (which we did not have time to visit) is on the same street where the intersection where Hector Pieterson was killed. Just down the road, is also the huge house of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. Someone asked why as they were black and living in Soweto, why did they have walls around their houses and alarm systems. Sam indicated that before democracy, although Tutu was never arrested or charged, he was highly controversial and he did what he had to to keep his family safe.

Lunch – Nado’s chicken – took a long time, but it was good. I had a sweet peri peri chicken wrap.

Apartheid Museum – Another amazing museum that was very powerful. One pictorial section based on a photographers book the House of Bondage, was especially thought provoking. The book was not available in the bookstore, but I will try and find it once I get home. The most compelling display was the one after Apartheid that showed the first election and the determination on people’s faces to cast their ballots. Put’s the US election percentages to shame.
Again, the most amazing fact that has come out of the evolution from Apartheid and before the democracy is that there was no recrimination, no revenge on the white South Africans. F.W. DeClerk (sp?) , the PM that freed all the political prisoners and negotiated with Mandela for the end of Apartheid, wanted to hand him the reins when he was elected. Mandela said that DeClerk would train him and he ended up with DeClerk as one of his two deputy presidents. The more I learn about Mandela, the more amazing I find him.

Botha, who was the PM during the Apartheid era, died this week so the flags were flying at half-mast. The article in the paper said that the Monster is Dead.

I got back to the hostel at 5:00 pm and had been told that there was a braii for the ItoI volunteers at 7:00pm. As I arrived, I was told that I had missed orientation. I had never had an ItoI orientation at my other placements, so I looked around to see if they could fill me in.

We leave tomorrow at 10:00. I went to bed and set the alarm for 8:00. The power kept going off in the mansion and I suspected that my computer might be overloading the system. I unplugged it, and the power continued to fluctuate.

Entry 29F - Sixth week with the Penguins remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Monday, October 23 – Nadir of the trip

Challenging day for me full of make wrong on all sides, lots of tears and bad feelings within me and a true understanding how I created this day for me to learn my lessons.

I WILL NEVER AGAIN BOOK PLACEMENTS SO CLOSE TOGETHER WITHOUT AT LEAST ONE WEEK OFF IN BETWEEN! EVER EVER EVER!!!!!

We arrived at work to find that there was NO FISH for the birds until the afternoon. The babies are really getting hungry and are tolerating their fluids but are really enjoying their fish, even the smallest babies. I was assigned to assist Priscilla from the staff with pen 8 – 118 birds that arrived only two days ago. (READ THIS TO MEAN that they are still very wild, stress easily, and are not comfortable with the routine yet.) Two days ago, I was amazed how much I was enjoying tubing. Yesterday, it reversed and I really enjoyed feeding. Today, I was just trying to keep my balance and prayed a lot during my time with the birds for guidance and assistance.

When I got the gentle assistance about changing my position, in my second pen, things flowed easier, although the birds were still stressed. I knew that my stress was aggravating the situation with the birds, and I was trying not to have it affect the birds, but every time they struggled and ended up throwing up fluids, I kept thinking here was another bird that would need extended treatment because of fluid in the lungs and I caused it. I also kept thinking about the bird that had died right after I had handled it. (I KNOW I KNOW! WHAT A DRAMA QUEEN I AM BEING TODAY). I do realize it, but I also know that I need to get this down in writing in order to see all the lessons. If this is boring to you, please move to Tuesday, Oct 24.

Priscilla had been off for two days and procedures had shifted since she last worked. She asked for new mats in all the pens, even though we were not using them all. This seemed like a waste of mats that would not be used. We had been cleaning the pens only once each day as we are still trying to get into a system with all the pens. Priscilla wanted the birds moved back a forth so that things could be sprayed several times. On other days with more help, not a problem, but today with limited staff that could feed and a very off time schedule, this really balled up the program. (Looking back, I realized that I did not in a constructive way tell her about how things had gone while she was away. I did not feel it was my place to insert my opinion when she was the professional and has been working there for several years.)

I find her to be a woman who is used to working on her own and I get the impression that at times she is not included in all the decisions made at the center. Her communications skills are a little confusing to follow and I found that even when I would tell her that I had done things, we would still have several discussions about it. I finally spoke to the universe out loud this afternoon that I felt that no body was listening to me today. (I guess it makes sense, I wasn’t listening or hearing my guides and people were listening to me. HMMMM)

I had planned to speak to Carole, the volunteer coordinator, about shifting my schedule so that I could have Friday off with Nicole and also that I intended to stop working several days earlier than she had me scheduled. The Friday off was not that much of a problem because I offered work on Monday that is a busier scheduled day. She balked completely at me leaving early as she indicated that would not be fair to the other international volunteers. (This was such an unexpected statement that I had no comeback. After the fact I realized that I felt that this was an unfair statement to make to me as my placement is independent of any other volunteer).

When I indicated that while I wanted to help and be effective, the current workload is too much for me physically and mentally and that I am at the breaking point. I told her that if things did not ease up, that while I would like to work, I would quit before I broke. She offered to have me on abbreviated schedules my final days where I would not be in charge of a pen, just a floating assistant. I still negotiated for my final two days that I was supposed to work as off. That way I will have three days before I go to the lion placement.

Carole also said that is was up to me to take care of myself. (I thought that was what I was doing by ending work a little early.) I am to take full hours for lunch and take walks around the block. I agreed that it is my responsibility to take care of myself. I ended the session still feeling out of sorts (not the way to bring out the best in me) and agreed to the schedule as it stands. If I find that is still does not work for me, I will let her know and if there is still an issue, I will simply quit. Not very powerful way to end, but if I feel I must I will.

By the end of the day, my tubing and feeding was much better, I offered my services to other pens that needed help and felt okay with it.

Priscilla asked me to work on getting the little mosquito machines organized for our 4 new pens. There are no electrical outlets near our pen that means that we are running multiple extension cords for our four machines. I needed to ask Carole of an additional cord and had to get on with the final fluids of the day, so Carole evaluated my system. She indicated that two machines should be sufficient so that the existing cords would be fine. More power loss that I had been unable to complete another task assigned today.

By the time we finished with the final fluids, it was after 6pm. We still had the syringes to the clean and the darrows to make for tomorrow morning. I stood there making fluid and feeling sorry for myself and left right at 7pm and cried all the way home. I had a good cry session with Nicole who gave me a hug and I ended up feeling much better again until I started typing this.

LESSON – I am still really tired and this work continues to drain me when I work too many days back to back. I could have saved myself this day of breakdown by speaking up earlier about this situation.

I have the feeling that I am heading for a major breakthrough because I feel that I had a total break down today, in the LM meaning of the word break down. My energy feels erratic and fractured, my intentions not very well grounded and my outlook vaguely victimistic. Today feels like a totally 5th sensory day that frustrates me tremendously. WHEN AM I GOING TO GET IT?????? Where is the peace? Where is the calmness? Where is the serenity that I crave?????

I felt so totally alone today and even though I know that there are legions of guides on the other side that I suspected were all shouting assistance, that I was unable to hear them. I haven’t felt that alone for along time.

Tuesday, October 24

I slept well and woke determined that today would be a better day. I was still tired so I decided to dance slowly through this day instead of my traditional march.

I was pleased to be put in charge of the staging station in the wash bay today. It was a very nice break from working with the birds and I think it went really well. People were very complimentary about how everything flowed, which made me feel good.

I thanked Carole for shifting my schedule so that I could work a little lighter today. It turned out that the back was equally physically taxing, just not as mentally exhausting as the birds. Maybe I will have another day like this before I go.

I woke up in a cold sweat at 3am this morning when I remembered that I had forgotten to prepare the 3 fish that Nola asked for her ICU babies. Sigh!

Wednesday, October 25 – OFF!

Doodle day – Breakfast at the Flamingo Café – lovely egg and cheese panini, walked to Bayside and drank coffee and did a little shopping and then finished the book Island in Chains about Robben Island.

I saw Priscilla in the mall just after 4pm and she said that they had just begun feeding. I wondered if I should pop my head in and see if they needed help, but muscle testing said no.

I went home and organized things that had been piling up and had a restful evening.

Thursday, October 26

In charge of Pen 7 - 109 birds, but 20 were moved my Nola after first fluids – seemed to work really well. Fluids and feeding not much of a problem today as the birds for the most part have settled down, except one little guy, 1083 during second feed. He ended up in the skinnies pen for additional feeds and formula.

Heard today that we have lost 6 so far. As Nola is hoping for at least 70% survival, we are in good shape.

The staff moved some of the larger blues into pen 10 so that they could have access to water. They were very cute for their first swim and did really well.

Pen 2 was graded today and many of them are in good shape. It looks like there may be a release next week after all. I went ahead and formally adopted 364, even though he has been released and sweet #200, who is still in pen 2.

I am thinking about asking for pen 2 for my final day if #200 is still there so that I can spend some time with him. I started there, and it would be nice to complete the cycle and end in that pen. We will see how I feel and what is needed on my last day.

Friday, October 27 – OFF – sightseeing with Nicole – Castle, Cable Car, Tea

Up and on the bus into town for a mere $1. The trip took 1.5 hours as there is a minivan strike going on. Traffic was heavier than usual.

We began our day at the Castle of Good Hope which the only time it might have had to fire it’s cannons in defense of the peninsula, had them aligned in the wrong direction. That being said, the only cannon they have ever fired is the signal guns that sent messages up and down the peninsula. Interesting.

Next we boarded the double decker sight seeing bus to get to the cable car station. Hot and sunny, we sat up top and I kept applying sunscreen to Nicole’s back and neck. We had a 30-minute queue and line to ride with 65 other people to the top of Table Mountain. Our four-minute trip was wonderful and the cable care makes a 360 rotation during the ride so that every one gets to see all the views. We walked around the top and tried to see the Dassie (a small rodent looking animal) that is the closest genetic relative to the modern African Elephant. No luck as we were there between noon and two with lots of screeching children. Our ride down seemed faster than 4 minutes and I took a not so great movie of the experience.

Back on the bus to complete the loop and end up back at the waterfront. I wanted to take a picture of Nobel Square, where there are statues of the 4 recipients of Nobel prizes for South Africa, Mandela, Tutu, De Clerk and ????. Then I had asked Nicole to purchase additional Mandela postcards from Robben Island, but I ended up with the wrong ones. They were fine about the exchange.

Nicole has suggested tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel that is known for it’s marvelous afternoon high tea. We arrived by taxi to a very swank hotel and enjoyed a wonderful 1.5 hours of egg salad, cucumber, salmon and ham sandwiched, marvelous cakes and pastries and wonderful desserts. A lovely ending to our day out.

Home to shower and rest before I start my final 5 days of work with the little guys in tuxedos. I hope to work in Pen 2 before Tuesday in case there is a release as I would like to work with #200 again and see #414 before he goes back to sea. Most of them graded well yesterday, so if there are enough of them to warrant a boat release, it may happen on Tuesday. Maybe I will get to go on the release again.

Saturday, October 28

FLEWWWWWWW! What a long day! I was backstage again and by 11am I knew that we were in for a long day. We had a lot of old volunteers returning after many years that meant while they understood the concept, they were a little slow in the delivery. When the syringes from the 12:00 o’clock water didn’t come back to me until 1:30, I knew that our afternoon was shot.

I ended up not taking lunch and after the first pangs of hunger at about 1pm, my stomach settled down for me. Not that big of a problem, but I was glad that I wasn’t working with the birds. I would definitely have had to stop to eat if I had been working with the tuxedos.

Nicole was in pen 1 – the skinniest and smallest babies that needed 7 treatments over 12 hours. Poor Nicole was the only feeder assigned in the afternoon and at one point, she passed me in tears saying that her kids weren’t eating and that she was stressed.

In the afternoon we had lots of new volunteers, who wanted to help so that we put them on sorting fish and helping with syringes.

Nicole and I left at 6:45. I didn’t want to cook so I ordered 2 large pizzas and I have three lunches as well as dinner tonight.

I will make it an early evening and see what tomorrow brings.

Sunday, October 29

Nicole and I reversed today in that I was supervisor of pen 1 and she was backstage. Liz was my right hand person in the morning with Sandy as our general helper. In the afternoon, Liz stayed until 3pm and we added Maggie and another volunteer as our general helper. We counted all the birds and kept missing one. We finally ended up with 72 birds, most which needed medication at least once a day. Not too hard of a day and luckily, Glenda from pen 2 helped us in the morning when cleaning is an issue. Wastewater from pen 1 runs straight through pen 2, so it is useless to clean pen 2 before pen 1 has been completed.

I actually at 30 minutes for lunch and I think Nicole had lots of help and did a wonderful job in the prep area. We still left at 6:45, but Nicole discussed with Heather and Zita that we change off who stays late and helps with syringes. When Lunel stays late, Zita and Heather will stay late for syringes, when she is off, Nicole and I will stay late and help.

We ended with dinner in and Nanny McPhee on the video.

A good day.

Entry 29E - Fifth week with the Penguins remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Monday, October 16 – Wine Tour

When asked, Nicole and I selected the tour that was classified as the fun tour for our wine land adventure. A large, gregarious Afrikaans man named Stefan was our tour leader and said that our lunch would be bread and water. If we were lucky, we would also be given butter. (This should have been my first clue!). He had 6 different CD sleeves full of disks that he kept changing and entertained us with dancing while driving before we had made it out of the neighborhood.

We loaded into a minivan that had a young couple from Norway in the far back, Nicole and I in the middle and the driver and a silent woman partner in the front. Okay, it was going to be a very small tour. As we were driving towards Cape Town, Stefan received two phone calls that two other sets of people were to be picked up. Not sure where we were going to put them. Before we got to town, Stefan regaled us with poor jokes and had grabbed my knee three times. I was becoming not amused at him by this time. In town, we ended up picking up three young British boys and Stefan said that it would only be for a short time in this configuration and we would pick up another vehicle.

I ended up between the middle bucket seats in the aisle, one of the new guys crammed into the back seat with the Norwegians, and in the front seat, the silent woman sat on the lap of one of the boys. He was not complaining.

We went to the Durban Hills Winery, a large farm with an excellent view. They had the full compliment of wines and we began with the whites. After the first wine, Stefan came by and poked me in the ribs, at which point I asked him to please not touch me again. He apologized at this point and was hands off from the rest of the trip.

Nicole and I decided that as we were stopping at 4 wineries, that if we found something we liked at each winery, we would alternately buy a bottle. I chose our first wine that we tasted which was a Sav Blanc that was nice and dry. The young Norwegian boy had a sticker under his glass, so he received a free bottle from the winery. We crammed back into the van, Nicole and I were in the far back seat for this stretch, and off we went to pick up the other vehicle. Nicole and I agreed that we would prefer the other driver and decided to change vehicles when the opportunity arose. As we arrived to pick up the other car, Stefan told the three boys and the Norwegian couple to get in the other car, which left Nicole and I with Stefan. (Not what I had originally hoped for, but it turned out to be the best for Nicole and I).

We had to drive into Stellenboch to pick up the remaining couple, and it is the second oldest settlement in the Cape Region and the home of one of the few Afrikaans University. It was originally a farm for the first governor who did a really good job establishing Cape Town. Quaint and neat, it looked lovely and very much a college town with cafes and little shops. The final couple was a pair of students, a Japanese girl and a Belgium man, who did not sit together but were a couple. We met the other car at the second winery, Simonsig (again named after the first governor), which specialized in Champagne.

It had the look of an old established winery and the rose brut champagne we tasted was lovely. Nicole bought a bottle. I ended up buying a red (I know, surprise! As I normally only drink whites). I noticed that all of the wine farms also had magnificent stands of roses, so I stopped for a photo.

PHOTO – Jane and roses

It is not uncommon for you to see a rose bush at the end of every row of vines. Stefan said that because they in the same family as the grape vines and therefore, if a pest was beginning to infect the vines, it would show up in the roses first. The technology is so advanced now that they don’t need the roses for that purpose, but they are still planted for tradition. I never knew that fact!

Our Japanese woman was not handling her wine very well, was not feeling great and hung her head out of the window the entire way to the our lunch stop. Lunch was at another winery and we given a plate with some type of pulled meat, rice, mixed veg, pumpkin and a small salad. The meat turned out to be what Stefan called venison, and it was Springbuck. I tried a little of it, and while it did not taste too bad, I was not up for game meat for lunch, especially not very cute game meat.

Back in the van for our third tasting of the day at a family run establishment that had a large barnyard full of animals to admire. One pen offered huge land tortoises (some attempting to increase the number in the pen), chickens and goats, while the other pen had lots of ducks, wallabys (that were in hiding) and two adorable potbellied pigs. Across the pasture were miniature donkeys, and the farm also had a large selection of dogs including Great Danes, Staffies and a very old but very cute dachshund. As they only offered one white variety, there was nothing at this farm that we felt we needed. By this stage of the tour, the Norwegian and British compliment were swilling down every last drop of their glasses, and getting louder and sillier with each glass. Once again, the universe knew better than I did and fixed the cars so that we were not traveling with them.

Our last winery was a wine group that offered 7 different labels out of one tasting room. They had a lovely looking restaurant and I wished at this point, that I had by own car so that I could return on another day. I bought another white and Nicole found a rose she liked.
See what I know now section at the bottom of this week. The younger set were out of control by this time and were singing loudly to the music, breaking wine glasses and spilling (or pouring) wine over each other. As this was our last winery, this would be our final drive and Nicole and I and the Japanese/Belgium couple went with Stefan in the other car and the silent partner got the rowdy 5.

It turned out to be a better day than it looked to be in the beginning and I am glad that I went. The weather had been very windy in Cape Town, but as we were farther north and away from the coast, our day was sunny, cool and very pleasant.

Tuesday, October 17 – Peninsula Tour

I had an 8am call for this tour and I was really looking forward to this tour, seeing the Cape of Good Hope and the penguins in the wild. The wind was fierce and I knew that it would be a blustery day. I took along my fleece and my fleece penguin cap from NZ.

Imma (pronounced Emma) was right on time and I found that I could not get the front door open. The security system had a two handed mechanism where you have to turn one knob and then release the door with other hand. My hands and wrists are still fatigued, but luckily Sasha was home and could help be get out the door. Imma was a charming Afrikaans woman who has been leading tours for 12 years. We had three other people to pick up in Cape Town so we chatted happily until we got there. My tour mates were the cutest three German seniors in their 80’s, a brother and sister and the brother’s spouse. Imma had not problem doing the tour in two languages and I picked up a fair bit of the second commentary when she explained it again in German.

We got out at our first look out in search of whales and the wind was so strong, it knocked my over on my butt. The picture gives you an idea of the strength of the wind.

PHOTO – wind.

During my trip, I had a chance at informal language lessons in German and Afrikaans. I know now that Shurn(sp?) means nice in German and the same word in Afrikaans is Moya.

As we rounded the corner on our coastal road, there were a long line of cars pulled over, a sure sign of whales. Sure enough, there were 4 of them in plain view and one of them was very close to the shore. Imma said that means that they had young with them. I had forgotten my binoculars, so I didn’t get a very good look, but I could definitely tell that there were some flippers and tails in the air, waving as me, I am sure.

As we had stopped to view the whales, we overlooked some houses with charming thatched roofs. Wonderful to look at and very interesting, and Imma said cost 3X the normal insurance if you have one of your house.

As we moved closer to the Capes, we entered the new Table Mountain National Park area. There are still some private holdings on the land and one was an ostrich farm. We stopped and said hello to Gertrude and Herman, a breeding pair. I fed grass to Gertrude and got to see up close her lovely eyelashes. There is a picture of me feeding Gertrude and it reminds me of the one of Annie when we went to Tidbinbilla in Australia when I was young and she fed the Emus. Before we left, a male in the next pen did a lovely courtship dance with a lovely display of his wings. It was wonderful to get to see them up close, even though they weren’t in the wild. They are still on my list to see in natural habitat.

Photogene and Gertrude

We entered the portion of the part going to the Capes and there was lots of signage warning us about the baboons and how they are attracted by food. CARE had told us that any time a baboon begins to eat human food and becomes to depend on it, it is a death sentence for the animal. Sooner or later, the baboon will overstep the boundary and they will be shot, as they will then be classified as a menace.

As we entered the part, Imma said that there was a good chance for us to also see zebra, eland and bushbuck. We kept our eyes peeled.

The tour would end up showing us two Capes in Africa; Cape Point, the southern most part of Africa and the Cape of Good Hope, which is the most southwestern part of Africa. The one thing that we would not see was Cape Angules, the place where the Indian and the Atlantic oceans really meet! (Poop!)

As we got to the Cape Point, we rode the funicular rail up to hill. Then we climbed the 120 steps to the top lighthouse on the point. It was determined after a boat called the Lusitania broke up on the Bellow Rocks, that clouds could easily obscure the light from this lighthouse on the hill. So, they erected another one at the base of the rock. I did get lovely views of both Capes from the lighthouse, but you had to hold on to your hat and camera, as the winds were still very strong.

We had lunch at Simonstown before we went to Boulders Beach to see the penguin colony. I had a wonderful lunch of fresh kingklip fish. My mission from Ditte was to find the key chains made out of beads in the shape of penguins. I had to search three different stores, but I finally found them.

Boulders Beach colony – all the adults are molting which could mean a lot of abandoned chicks (not really abandoned, but chicks that have no one to feed them as the adults do not fish during the month long molt) Very cute, Quen posed with his distant cousins.

PHOTO – QUEN PLUS COUSINS

A surprise on the tour for me was a stop at the wonderful botanic gardens called Kirstenbach Gardens. In the shadow of Table Mountain, these gardens were gifted to South Africa when the Englishman who owned the land died without spouse of children. It runs with only 10 staff and 200 volunteers and was wonderful. The Proteas where one of the main drawing cards and I saw lots of them. To my additional joy, there was Zimbabwe sculpture exhibit on the grounds, similar to the one that was in Denver several years ago. I really would love to have one of those stone sculptures, but until I have a garden to do it justice, I will hold off.

We left the gardens but not before we had a mongoose sighting and Imma and I fed the helmeted guinea fowl. Imma started with just one hen, and then another joined her. Before long, another one came running to her followed quickly by a fourth. Before we knew it, another trio saw the food and hotfooted it over to her. They were lovely and they really liked the peanuts she had brought.

PHOTO – Jane and guinea fowl

I thoroughly enjoyed this trip and would love to come back and do it again. Next time, I will bring my own car so that I can spend more time in some areas.

Today was Ditte’s last day at SANCCOB, so we met at Castello’s for pizza. I forgot the key chains and will have to send them to Ditte via Zita!

I heard all during dinner and from Nicole that the center is expecting the intake of 350 abandoned chick from Dyer Island. Our days will become very busy from now on.

Wednesday, October 18 – left with only 23, returned with over 400!

Since my last visit to SANCCOB, there was in influx of over 400 penguin chicks. With the parents in an earlier-than-normal molt, the chicks were essentially abandoned to feed themselves, which they did not have the knowledge to do. Over 400 chicks between 4-11 weeks of age were rescued from Dyer Island. Had they not been taken from the island, they would have died, as the parents during a molt do not swim and fish, as they are no longer waterproof. The adults live off their fat for the month, but the chicks could not fend for themselves.

I arrived to be assigned a pen with 40 chicks with Jennie, who had helped me so much as I began at the center. They are very sweet looking, all downy with some new feathers emerging, but mainly little bits of down here and there. As our pen was already divided into two pens with different ages, we had to come up with a way to further divide the pen so that we could sort out who had been fed and who had not. The regime for the day would be Darrows at 8 and 4, water at noon and three fish at each feeding at 10 and 3. They were not very glad to see us and did a lot of open mouth breathing to show us how stressed they were. Once we got the first fish into them (which was amazing enough as they were being asked to eat whole fish by the vet), they caught on pretty quickly and were swallowing by themselves. By the time we fed them in the afternoon, they were doing even better and the wiggling had calmed down considerably.

It was a very hot day and Jennie and I were dripping with sweat even though we were under shade. When you are in oilskins and arm protectors of neoprene, it gets a little hot!

It was a good day, even with only a short 15-minute lunch. I spoke a lot to Francis who has a special affinity with birds and I could tell that he was very present with us today. The birds upon intake yesterday were only dewormed. Monday, they will be blood tested and I would expect that there might be shuffling of the pens, as various ones may need medication. They won’t be able to swim until they finish their molt, so we still only have one pen that is swimming. I don’t think I will still be here when they begin to swim and it will be amazing to see how they will manage to get 400 birds to swim several times a day.

They were not able to release the small number of birds yesterday, as the seas were so rough. Today when the sea was calm, the center was too busy and could not arrange for a driver. Hopefully, they can release tomorrow, as there will not a be release next week. I have asked for 364’s armband that I intend to put on my new stuffed penguin from South Africa. Quen will still always be first in my heart, but I must admit that I will always remember 364 and his love bites, bruises, nips. I hope that I get a chance to feed him one last time before he goes back to sea. Maybe tomorrow.

Tomorrow, I work again, but Friday I am off and will go to Robben Island. I am looking forward to it

Thursday, October 19

Same as yesterday with the same amount of work and also cleaning the pens. Needless to say, with the added work, we were behind schedule. We were still going strong at 6pm, but I had to leave for my massage. I had called to see if it was possible for me to arrive a little late, but she had a client right behind me, so I hurried and made it within 5 minutes of my appointment.

My massage was fabulous! I stared with a quick shower, (as I had to come directly from work which had been hot and full of fish), a half leg wax and then a half hour massage. As Marta was working down my back and arms, as she got to my right arm, the crystals were releasing and sending energy up my arms to the top of my head. It was wonderful. Almost simultaneously, my nose began to clog which I thought was just my normal massage nose clog. As we ended the massage, I was on my back relaxing for a half hour as she handled another client. All the time I lay there, my right hand especially, was pulsing like it was breathing or gasping for breath. It was wonderful to feel the energy and be able to acknowledge all the work that my hands have done over this entire year. I kissed each finger and palm and back and thanked them for their previous and ongoing support. My hands are finally awake!

As I got home from my massage, on my bed was a package from my friend Bette in NZ. Inside were my spare contact lenses that I had left with her and lovely NZ apricot bars! YAAAH!

Friday, October 20 – Robben Island Trip

It was a misty morning when I took a taxi in to town for my Robben Island Tour. Before that I went to the VAT tax refund office to understand their rules for receiving a refund of the taxes I paid on products in SA. I didn’t want a recurrence of my OZ experience. I can begin processing the paperwork 7 days prior to departure and must have the items with me at the airport. I will plan to mail them from the postnet just before I leave SA.

My cold was still present so I stopped at Kauai for an apple juice pick-me-up with honey and ginger. YUMMY!

As we boarded the boat to take us to Robben Island, still under overcast skies, we were told that the boats we would take were the same ones used to transport prisoners during the Apartheid years. I found out later that the boat that I took both ways, the Dias, was the one that the author of the book, Island in Chains, had taken to and from the island during his 10-year incarceration.

On the way to the island, I was in search of penguins as we had release them close to the island last week. We came across one, all along in the water. Then within 3 minutes, another lone penguin. This was a little worrisome to me as lone penguins are easy prey for predators. Finally, less than a minute later, there was a fishing party of about 15 penguins in a pod on the water. Hopefully, our two loners found their way back to the group.

As we docked on the island, the sunny had finally appeared and when we looked back at Table Mountain, it had a ruff of clouds midway down the mountain and the top was poking out.

PHOTO – Tmountain with clouds.

We loaded on to busses and our guides were Thado (from the Langa township that I visited) and our driver from Khayteshia Township. They were both very knowledgeable and excellent speaker and the driver gave us a very heartfelt thank you so all that the outside nations did for South Africa and the boycotts that helped end Apartheid in SA.

The island has been used as a prison since the 1600’s and during its time, had different prison complexes in use – the old prison, the convict prison, the political prisoner prison. During Apartheid, it only housed convicts and black political prisoners. Coloreds (Indian, Malay, etc) and female political prisoners were housed in high security prisons near Joburg. On the island, the political prisoners began arriving prior to the prison being built so that they were housed with convicts. The wardens tried to get the convicts and the coloreds to take sides against the black prisoners, (with better meals for the coloreds and convicts and better privileges) but what ended up happening is that most of the prisoners shared what little they had and it built more cohesion between the groups instead of separation.

One of the first stops on the bus tour was the limestone quarry where the black political prisoners worked 6 hours a day for 13.5 years reducing the limestone into gravel for the roads on the island. In 2005, 5 years after the release of all the prisoners (which happened in 2000), there was a reunion on the island at the quarry. Nelson Mandela after the ceremony took a stone away from the quarry and put it near the road. All 1000 people in attendance did the same and now there is a little pile of stones to symbolize that apartied is truly buried. They have all agreed that they will meet on the island every 5 years until the last of the survivors is dead to remember and commemorate their experience.

All of the tour guides on the island are former political prisoners who now live on the island in the former quarters that housed the prison guards and their families. Some of the guards have also returned and work at the museum. People are amazed that both sides can live in harmony, but they do. One of the main topics of his talk was how the authorities at the time assigned different diets to prisoners based on type of crime and ethnic background. The black and all political prisoners usually received the most meager diet called Diet B. See the chart to compare to the C diet of for colored prisoners. While neither is princely, the C diet is obviously greater.

We only had two hours on the island and this being our last stop, we felt a little rushed and would have liked more time to ask questions and go into the individual cells. Nicole who went on the tour after I did said that former inmates had left little messages on the walls of their cells which I wished I had been able to see and read. As they mentioned, the museum is in a constant state of improvement, and hopefully some day they will allow more time per tour.

It is hard to believe, but the feeling from the prisoners and in all the literature that I have read of seen, the prisoners do not have ill will again their jailers. As Nelson said, I am no anti-white, I am anti-white supremacy. As our tour guide later pointed out, they prisoner during their time knew that two wrongs would not make a right, and so they left their prison without much of the baggage that you might expect them to carry. Those that survived the prison left the island and most of them went on to lead productive and active political lives and helped to establish the government that is now SA.

On the way back from the island, I read An Island in Chains, written by Nairoo Indres who had been political prisoner for 10 years. We were on the actual ferry that had taken him to Robben Island in the early 60’s.

When I got back to the wharf, there were 4 African Fur Seals sunning themselves on the steps leading down to the water.

Photo – Fur Seals.

I treated myself to a wonderful shrimp salad and then went to the movie, An Inconvenient Truth. It is a documentary based on the slide show that Al Gore has shown around the world over 100 times. In my mind, it is a must see and clearly and emphatically describes global warming and this it is with us now and not something that will happen in the future. There had been several reviews in the local paper, most complimentary and one rather sour. It does appear as the Al Gore show, but his points about the science behind the existence of global warming are real and compelling.

Still had the slight head cold, which I later determined to be my body shifting energy after the massage from earlier in the week.

Saturday, October 21

I was the supervisor of pen 2, the largest birds, the gannet and also those with medication needs. 36 birds. With a knowledgeable volunteer for the morning and a person who had never been at the center as my general helper we began the day with fluids and medication. New for today, I was asked to give IM injection to a bird. I watch the first one and was ready for the second, but things were moving so fast that a staff member did the second injection for the day. At least I will be ready for the next time. I realized half way through the day that I don’t want to be in charge during my volunteer work. I did that a home and am not even sure that I wanted that.

Oh well, several old friend were still in the pen including 200, the little sweetie that I met last week, and 414 who is getting quite large and should be ready to go on the next release.

We were told first thing this morning that another 270 birds would be arriving today. So I spent some of my day helping Marlis construct temporary enclosures for our new guests. 401 plus 270 in this week and only 7 releases and two deaths (not at SANCCOB but at the nursery residence). With these statistics, we will soon be overrun. Hopefully, there will be a good number to release next week. Let’s hope we have the staff to make the release possible next week.
Marlis is also a baboon foster mommy, so we spent time speaking about our favorites and how much we enjoyed our time at CARE

I have only about a week left and I feel that when I leave, I will be ready and will remember my time at SANCCOB with fondness and appreciation for all that I have learned, both about the penguins and about myself.

Nicole and I opened our first bottle of wine tonight and shared a pizza. An early evening with the book and Kleenex for my nose.

Sunday, October 22

I started the morning with 6 band-aids on my right hand, a record up until today. We will see what the final count is at the end of the day. Our number had increased over night and now there are three new pens with chicks.

I supervised pen 3 today that held 74 birds with Zita as my main helper. Was a little plugged in as Zita was still not tubing the birds as of 8am this morning, so I had to do all of them. This did not help me or my birds, who were only taking about 30 mls of their 60 before they threw up. Nola said it was stress and that 30 mls if fine.

Nola, the vet, trained Zita on tubing at noon, so she was finally a fully trained volunteer. YAAH! Luckily, Heather when she had finished her 35 birds, she would swing by and help us, so it ended up being one pen of about 25 birds for each of us for each of the 5 fluids or feeding times. Thank you Heather.

As it was Sunday, we had tons of volunteers who had come for the day to help. Most of the plastic mats are well under control and are looking much better now that we have the center’s Wap machine back and functioning.

As there have been so many birds taken in lately and they kept running out of arm tags, today in pen 3, were did an inventory of our birds and who needed new or duplicate arm tags. Basically, all of them needed at least one. At the 4:00 fluids, we ended up with three teams working. Step one was to catch the bird and call out the number to the team. Step two, Team member would arrive with scissors and the required number of armbands and cut off the old one and put on the new ones. The clasp was rather tricky and hard on the fingers and the longer it took, the more they wriggled and dug their claws into the holder (me, Zita and Heather). Step three, darrows was administered. My guys again were pretty stressed and some ended up with just a little bit of darrows. Tomorrow will be better as they won’t need arm bands again.

Nicole and I walked to the store for some groceries and then home for dinner. Tomorrow I will ask Carole about shifting my schedule so that I can have one day off with Nicole to go up in the Cable Car to Table Mountain and I will also tell her that I am moving up my final day.

I am looking forward to my Wednesday off where I am not planning anything more exciting than taking myself out for breakfast, a possible movie, and laying outside on the marvelous bed with pillows and reading.

WHAT I KNOW NOW!

I have found lately that most of the tours I have been on involve couples, so having a traveling partner is a good way not to feel like a fifth wheel all the time.

The next time I am offered a choice between a serious and a fun tour, I need to ask a lot more questions. Fun tour can be a euphemism for filled with lots of 20 year olds. That might work on some trips, but not on others, I will most likely have a more pleasant time with people closer to my own age or outlook.

I have also found that I am now wanting to spend more time in places, or have the chance to go back later for a more in depth explore. A car is a definite must the next time I want to tour in South Africa. I will park it in big cities, but it sure makes side trips easier.

Entry 29D - Fourth week with the Penguins remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Monday, October 9

Busy morning grading, bleeding and weighing the penguins in pen 10 to see if they can be released. I got to pick up the struggling penguin and put it in the crate to be weighed, avoiding the beak, pick it back up and hold it while two new people were being trained to take blood from their feet. Not the best combination for efficient production line, but we got is done and I only got one additional slice out of my hand.

All but # 364, partially blind and with a leg wound can be released tomorrow. YAAH! 401 and 408 will be free at last! With 14 birds being released tomorrow, we will be down to 10 penguins. That is one staff person and current foreign volunteer per penguin.

As there are so few penguins and no idea when more might come in, Carole is suggesting that all the volunteers go on the boat release tomorrow, as there may not be another one anytime soon. As tomorrow is my day off, I will sleep in, or probably henna my hair and then arrive at the Center at around 10:30.

During lunch, I walked down the road to locate the house for my massage later this evening. It did not appear far, and I felt I could get home, take a quick shower so I did not smell of fish and then get back by 6:00pm.

After work, I walked to my massage and was 10 minutes early so I rang the bell and waited. No answer and by 6 minutes past still no answer. Finally, an elderly gentleman asked what I wanted and I told him. He said he lived in the house and that there was no person who gave massages in the area. I walked home feeling a little frustrated.

As I got home, Nicole said that Marta had rung twice and she had told her that I was probably lost. I called her and apologized and she was very kind and we rescheduled for the following evening. When I looked back on my notes, I had the correct information, I had allowed myself to be swayed by what someone else, who also was not sure, that I had the wrong information. Looking back, I realize that I had to release some feelings I had before I went into the massage. Another lesson.

Tuesday, October 10 – DAY OFF and Boat Release, Massage

I tried to sleep in late, but it didn’t work. When I called, I was told to arrive at 12:45, so I went to a local market that was supposed to have wonderful fruits and vegetables. It did so I bought a few things, found a health food store and walked home. I was pleased to find that is was closer than the other grocery stores.

When I got to the center, most of the birds had already been loaded into boxes. We were taking 8 boxes, 7 for the 14 penguins and one box for a Cape Cormorant. Nola, the vet, said that number 401 and 408 were in the same box. As the boxes were lined up to be loaded into the bakkie, sometimes a little beak would appear out of the hole for your fingers. Sometimes almost the entire head would appear.

There were 4 volunteers going, so Claude from Belgium went up front, and Nicole, Zita and I crawled in the back with the 8 boxes. I asked Francis and Gabriel to give us a calm drive for the penguin’s sake. We were just on the highway when we did a U turn that sent the cormorant’s box tumbling. We had begun our journey with the wrong driver, so once that was resolved, we were back on the road. To make a long story short, we finally got there after three false turns. We were happy to be there as the penguins were becoming increasingly fractious. At one point we had four boxes with little heads stuck out the holes and stuck for sure. I finally had my baseball cap over one hole and Nicole’s fleece stuffed in the hole of another one.

As we unloaded in the busy waterfront-shopping district, many people asked what we were doing. We had 40 minutes to wait until the whale watching boat came back to the dock. We put the boxes in the shade and waited. There were several people who stopped and looked and some got a little too close for safety. We loaded on the to the boat, the penguins were loaded first, and we were ready to go. Just as we were ready to take off, they told us that the whales were in a different direction than Robben Island where we were to take the penguins, so they unloaded penguins and us. We were going to go on a speedboat instead. After we donned life vests and waterproof jackets we were given instructions on how to straddle the seats, hold on the handles, brace out feet in the straps and absorb all the shocks with our knees.

The speedboat was fun and I soon saw that I would have to take off my baseball cap or loose it for good. On the way out to the island, we slowed to an idle and watched a pod of lovely common dolphins. There were at least 20 playing along side of us. As we left them, we sped off to the island. Along the way, we zipped past a solitaire penguin heading to Cape Town. As we arrived at the island, we pulled up close to the former prison. We did not have landing privileges, but we would put them out over the side close to the resident penguin colony.

We started to open the boxes and let them into the sea. Some of the boxes emptied quickly, other had to be coached out of the box. Some had to be literally poured out of the boxes. At one point, 6 of the little pod were heading out into the open water, away from Robben Island. Most of the blues, the immature penguins were eager to be away and once they hit the water, they did not surface for quite a time and far away from the boat. At one point, I recognized #271 swimming away. He was a large sub-adult who was finally being limited to only eating 2 fish each meal. It was fun to be able to recognize him and to send him off with a good wish and a thank you.

On the way home, we really sped up and did some very fast turns. It was good fun. All in all, our trip lasted 1.15 minutes. We made it home in good time so that I had plenty of time for dinner before I took off to my massage. I was walking up our street as I always do to get to the center and because it was early evening, I got a lovely view of Table Mountain just slightly illuminated and all the lights at it’s base in full glory.

I found Marta’s house and it was exactly where she had told me it would be. #7 Frere St, just as the top of the hill before the road curves. Marta is lovely, very short, dark hair lovely energy and a studio with two suites for massages and beauty treatments.

We had a lovely time and as she was giving me my massage she said that she didn’t feel any stress in my body. Little tensions here and there, but no stress. YAAH! She also said that the tensions in my shoulder and neck are items that I have no control over, but things in my hips and lower back are areas of my life where I have the ability to change them. I had never heard that before. An interesting concept. She offered to take me home, as it was so late. I was a wonderful way to end the day.

Wednesday, October 11 – DAY OFF

Today, I was going on an adventure. I took the local bus into town. Not as fast as the taxi, not as thrilling a ride or as risky as the minivans, but down back streets with lots of local color. I spent the ride with a high school girl who hopes to go to law school in the US. She was reading a local circular put out by the police about local crimes to watch out for. Apparently, there is a new scam here where by unsuspecting people are given toxic drinks at a party or bar. When they wake, they are naked and submerged in ice in a bathtub with a note on their chest and a number to call. As they call the number, the nurse asks them if they have long cuts down their back. If the answer is yes, they are told to immediately get back into the tub with ice. Their kidneys have been removed and their only hope to live is it stay very cold until they can be taken to the hospital and put on dialysis. Not quite the way I had planned to start my day.

As I exited the bus, I had to walk through the train station to get to Artscape, where I was to buy tickets to the ballet for Friday night. It should be lovely and fun to see a dance performance. There have been several articles in the papers about the guest artists from Cuba. Nicole, Ditte and Zita will accompany me.

Then I walked over to the Riverfront again to get information about the tour buss that circulates in the city. I went to a movie called Junebug in the Art House. It was bittersweet, but a really good film. I then went on a circuit on the double-decker tour bus. We went to the cable car station to get to the top of Table Mountain and ended up going back down the backside of the mountain and along the beach into the city. It really is a great way to see the major sites of the city and where you want to go back and spend more time.

I went to bed having had a good two days off and I was ready to go back to work.

Thursday, October 12 – Gannets, dead mosquitoes, cobwebs

Vibes Card – Ask your Angels – I have been calling on them a lot lately, mainly the guardian angel and Gabriel. They have given me a lot more confidence and calmness as I face my life.
We are still at 11 birds and today they would be evaluated to see who would be able to be released next week. 8 passed the test, so on Tuesday, we will be down to 3 birds. Not sure what we will do as there will be 5 foreign volunteers, not to mention the local volunteers and staff.

Today I was assigned to ICU, 5 gulls, 1 gannet and one oiled penguin. As most of the staff were going to be off site in the morning, I was in charge of all the treatments. My first time by myself. First, I had to be taught how to catch the gannet. The size of a large swam, sharp and long beak and the most amazingly startling blue eyes, they are very quick and strong. This one has an injured shoulder. After you manage to capture the head, which you need to do first thing, then you capture the upper part of the wings between our fingers and then clamp the birds and his wings between your knees so that you can administer fluids, medications or fish. I watched the first times for each of the different treatments and after that, I did the treatments under the watchful eye of my supervisors.

The little oiled penguin is very new, very dehydrated and weak and very anxious and angry. He had something going on with him every hour on the hour so I got very good at handling him. Only one bit of skin gone after all of our encounters.

In addition to my working in ICU, Nola was cleaning the surgery area just next door. She asked me to de-cobweb the room and wash the walls, as they were not sparkling. Around all the other things I managed to get two walls and the cobwebs handled, but more is needed tomorrow.

It was a good, busy day for me.

Friday, October 13 – I am ready for my close up Mr. DeMille #2 and Ballet

Pen 2 – lots of medicating and handling. 10 birds, plus the oily in ICU.

Zita was helping in pen 2 with Nicole and I, but is still not comfortable with feeding and medicating. This put most of the work on Nicole and I, but it was nice to have someone recording and running for items that we had forgotten.

Midget would not get out the pool! Took the net in the scoop her out and was scolded about bringing in a net. Lana will be away for a week and she asked Nicole and I to keep an eye on home pen for her and keep up with the spraying, as Midget continues to have ticks around her eyes.

Photos for 10 with Zita catching, Nicole placing them in position and I removing them and putting them in the pool. Went a lot better this week, but the little blues that we thought would not be such a problem, turned out to be escape artists and were more trouble than the big guys last week. Still, we finished in less than 20 minutes. YAAH!

Had ordered a cab for 5:45 and even with arriving early to pick up Ditte and Zita, we were down town and at Artscape by 6:20. Our reservation for dinner was for 6:45, but they didn’t even have that on the list. Luckily, they were able to accommodate us. Our waiter, Lee was charming and hearing impaired, but was by far the best service we have had in South Africa. Dinner was rather delayed and we had already had our drinks and when I mimed that I was starving to death, he worked magic and our food appeared. The others had chicken stir-fry and I had grilled beef salad. Yummy. We all enjoyed desert (cinnamon roll with chocolate for me) and I had a wonderful coffee and then it was time for the ballet.

We were in the first row of the balcony, right in the center, fabulous seats for only $11 each! The ballet was called Ballet Nouveaux and was 5 short ballets. I had been reading reviews in the papers and knew that there were guest artists from Cuba and one of the choreographers was from the US.

The first ballet was the Pas de Six from the third act of Swan Lake, very nice and excellent technique from the primary ballerina. The second one, Like So, was more of a modern, jazzy ballet with everyone on in white. Interesting and fun, I always admire when ballet dancers can take on a totally different form and not look totally like bunheads. The third one was Diane and Acteon with the two Cuban stars and while they had fabulous technique, I must admit I found the choreography a little limp.

The fourth piece, Four Last Songs (based on the poems of Hermann Hesse and Joseph von Eichendorff) was the one that I really enjoyed and was created by a Danish choreographer. It had four couples representing lovers in the various seasons of life and dressed in appropriate seasonal colors and a backdrop that changed its appearance with simply a change in lighting. There was a dancer that represented death and he introduced them and wove himself within the lovers within each season. The end found all of the couples clumped in the back of the stage (it reminded me of an Agnes DeMille ballet). It was charming. I will look to see that one performed again when I have the chance.

The last one, Entre dos Aguas, was a ballet that incorporated Spanish and flamenco themes with the Cuban stars and the entire company and it was bright and colorful. I really enjoyed the performance and was so please we had decided to see it. The other offering is Giselle, one of my favorites, but if I was only going to see one, I am glad it was this one.

Ditte called for a taxi and he was a little disconcerting and kept trying to chat Ditte up and making strange jokes. It ended up being the cheapest fare I ever had from Cape Town and I breathed a sigh of relief when I arrived home.

Saturday, October 14 – Mats day and early evening

Today at work it was Ditte, Nicole and I this morning and all of us exhausted from our day and late night. We had intended to go out to dinner again tonight but we all opted for an early evening.

Pen 2 – now up to 14 birds including 4 newbie’s who are very small. #200 rather sweet and tends to overheat and does not go in the pool very much.

The pelican and the gannet are an item! Such an odd couple

Mats – the new loaner machine is very powerful but you cannot not turn off the hose and leave it, unless you turn off the entire machine, which you have to start like a gas powered lawn mower. With three people working on the mat, we had all four of the bins almost done in less than 1 hour – one on the hose, one turning the mats over and taking them out of the way, one adding new mats to the floor.

Not sure how we got so far behind in our schedule, but we were all running late by the end of the day. The mats must have put us off schedule. Luckily, we were not on a time line, so we could finish our work and them go home for an early night.

Sunday, October 15 – Dinner with Cheryl

Forth day in a row of work and my hands are VERY tired. I allowed it to be a day of making wrong and grouchy

The gannet is finally eating from the pool! YAAH! We hid his med 2 x’s today in fish so if this keeps up, we won’t need to catch him at all in days to come.

1. 364 (Mr. half blind guy) gave me 3 nips over the boots. OUCH! I lobbied Nola to up his food, as most of his crabbiness is that he is hungry. He is now on a 3 fish limit. We also hid his medicine in the fish that was much easier.

I worked today in Pen 2 with Nicole as supervisor and we make a very good team. I also raked in home pen. We had very high winds today and walking home was a bit of a challenge.

Cheryl, one of the other hostel owners that I could have stayed with, had invited Nicole and I for dinner. She has been working with SANCCOB for over 12 years and has a very efficient operation. She told us a lot about the oil spills that they have worked on and with all the experience and training that they have had over the years, during the last spill with over 60,000 birds affected, they saved and rehabilitated 96%. (Earlier spills they only managed to save 50%)

She lives farther away from the center and in addition to handling 2 full time jobs, plus raising all the orphaned chicks for SANCCOB, also rescues and has a household of 76 abandoned cats. Both Ditte and Zita had begun staying with her, but ended up moving for a variety of reasons. They are now happily living at the Endless Summer Backpackers which is within walking distance of SANCOOB, the shops and has a lot more young people staying at the hostel.

The house is in two sections, one with all the cats and her parents’ house that is cat free where we had dinner. As we arrived, Cheryl had just taken in 9 new abandoned chicks between 4-8 weeks of age and all needing to be checked in. We ending up having to eat without her and then we joined to help her admit the chicks and give them their first medications, fluids and food. They are very sweet looking, all downy and dark gray with little tiny beaks.
They all took their fluids and even the smallest managed to get two fish tails down. Cheryl says that this is very early for them to be seeing abandoned chicks, which means that the parents may be molting early. (During the month long molt, the adults live off their body fat and do not go into the ocean to feed, as they are no longer waterproof.) The ocean around Cape Town is a frigid 8 degrees C or 46 degrees F.

South African Vocabulary

Bakkie – small truck, normally with a camper shell.

Pleasure – Your welcome. I say thank you and they respond, pleasure

Shame – Sorry, that’s too bad or that’s okay – I say that I have leave early and they respond, shame

Entry 29C - Third week with the Penguins remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Monday, September 25 – A Public Holiday but my first day at the center

I was pretty excited to start and kept waking up to look at the clock. I was out the door by 7:45 and at the center at 8:00. Volunteers were already moving around and working. As it was a holiday, there were only 2 of the 10 staff and only 3 other volunteers around.

The SANCCOB – South African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds center is on a lake that is only separated from the ocean by a small strip of land. Established in 1968, the centers primary concern is to rehabilitate oiled penguins and assist with the rehabilitation of any other sea bird that come to them. It appears well organized and as I climbed into my green oilskins and overly large boots, I could tell that they seemed to have sufficient equipment in working order to make the tasks much easier.

Buckets, brushes, bleach cleaner, disinfectant, ample water supply, industrial sized washers and dryers, a separate education center, kitchen, bathrooms with lockers and ICU unit were all things that I saw within the first 10 minutes of being there. Apparently, I will get my proper tour and orientation tomorrow.

There had been an oil spill recently and almost all of the birds in the center are still recovering from that. All the penguins that I will work with are South African penguins, called the jackass penguins, based on the braying sound they make. The adults are about as tall as my knee and have pink skin exposed around their beaks close to their eyes. The young look a lot like blue penguins in that they don’t have the distinctive black and white markings or the pink area.

I was asked to assist two volunteers, Marlene and Ditte, who have been with the center for some time. We were assigned to pen 2, with about 32 penguins. The first task was to catch each one, administer Darrows if needed, (not sure what this was but it is in a syringe and is injected into the birds stomach with the aid of a tube), determine if it was in the 20 minute swim group or not and then either put them over the edge into the pool or put then over the fence in the other half of the pen. I was on clipboard reading out what each numbered bird was to receive.

In order to catch the birds, the ladies would don, in addition to their oilskins and boots, neoprene sleeves that went from wrist to armpit and one neoprene glove with Velcro. The technique seems to be that you try and approach the bird from the rear and grab it with one hand by the scruff of the neck and then try and scoop it up with your other hand while avoiding their beak. Then you carry them over to a little stool with a step on it and you sit on the higher seat and put the bird between your legs and hold it with one hand and clamp the flippers down with your thighs. (I am going to have amazing legs after the hill at the baboons and thighareorbics with the penguins.)
With your gloved hand, you open the birds’ mouth. With your free hand, you take the tube attached to a 60cc syringe and send it down the gullet into the stomach. Then you put the base of the plunger against your breastbone and send the liquid into the bird. If it is a juvenile, it only receives one syringe and adults receive two.

From the clipboard, I could see that there are some of the penguins that receive either Darrows or water every even hour. There are others that only receive it one, twice or three times a day. In addition to fluids, they are fed fish (VERY LARGE SARDINES) twice daily. At each feeding, I got to record the fish count per bird. Some of the birds received medications in pill or liquid form 1-3 times a day and two were on nebulizer 3 times a day. At the end of the day, a small number of them were also to receive some type of formula. What all of this means is that some birds are handled at least 8 times within 9 hours.

After we had the group divided into swimmers and not, we began to clean the unoccupied portion of the pen. This involved removing the four large carpet pieces and the 9 plastic mats underneath. Hose down the plastic mats and take them to the mat cleaning area. Hose down the floor and make up a bucket with two packets of white stuff (bleach) and with your scrub brush with long handle, scrub the floor and walls of the pen. Rinse the pen with fresh water. Make up a bucket with a ½ scoop of pink stuff (disinfectant that looks like red Kool-Aid) and scrub with brush the walls and floor of the pen. Rinse with fresh water. Bring in 9 clean plastic mats and then cover them with 4 green carpet pieces that remind me of indoor/outdoor carpeting.

Let the herd back in from the pool. At this point, Nola, the staff vet, was evaluating the swimmers group to see who was ready to move off to another pen. She was checking to see their hydration level and if they retained the water repellent status after their swim. If they did, they moved into the pen that is closer to being released. If not, they stayed in pen 2 for more treatments and a longer stay. During this procedure, I was cleaning the other half of the pen that had not been cleaned earlier.

Then it was time to get the food ready. We went to work at three large tubs with blocks of frozen sardines floating in water. We would separate the ones off the blocks that were thawed and put them in large plastic bowls. As we had around 30 penguins, Ditte took 30 of the fish and put a vitamin down their throat. Each day the pens of penguins receive a rotating type of vitamin. In addition to getting fish ready of our pen, Marlene and I cut fish in half for others pens. There is one pen full of recovering sea gulls that received fish tails and chopped up fish, a pen of cormorants that received two platters of fish tails and the sanctuary pen (called home pen) that is full of an assortment of penguins, cormorants and gulls that will never be able to be released that receives a platter of tails and cut up fish.

Back to our pen for more penguin catching and stuffing fish down their throats. I was fish counter and recorder. After eating, everybody was released for free swim time.

I spent the swim time washing down crates, plastic crates with lids about the size of a footlocker only taller. These are the temporary housing for newly received birds, or birds that must be held separately until they are strong enough to go into a pen. With my two buckets, one with white stuff and one with pink stuff and my handy brush with a handle, off I went. Again the technique is to hose it down to try and loosen the guano, scrub, rinse and let dry. It was very difficult to get into some of the crevices so I asked for a smaller brush. 9 crates done.

At this point, everybody was having a swim and it was time for lunch. I decided to walk home to get the boots that a previous volunteer had left and were considerably smaller than the ones that I was wearing, and a pair of sock to help fill the gaps and keep my feet warmer. Just as I arrived at elements, Remo and Esther were speeding off in the car. The garage was locked, so I ate my lunch and went back with my socks and the quest for smaller boots for the afternoon. Success! Everything looks brighter when your boots are snug!

One of the volunteers I had seen this am must have been a local as she left at lunchtime. This left only four of us to do all the feeding. We were joined by Satoshi (Japanese young man) who was handling pen 10 with 40 penguins by himself. The three experienced volunteer fed fish in pen 2 first with me recording and then we moved on the pen 10.

The rest of the afternoon for me was filled with folding towels, scrubbing the green mats, cleaning pieces of equipment and watching how things are done.

Tomorrow I should receive my orientation and Ditte said that with my experience today, I will most likely be put on bird catching and feeding tomorrow.

I better get home and rest up. I am pooped!

Tuesday, September 26

I am finding the guesthouse a little noisy, mainly because the rest of the guests are on holiday and not working. May need to investigate other alternatives. Or as I become more tired, I am sure sleeping will not be an issue.

Much warmer last night and today promises to be hot. I guess I can stop looking for sweat shirts and long sleeve shirts.

Today will be my first day with all the staff around and I will receive my orientation which I am sure will help to answer all those unanswered questions that I have not even thought of yet.

As I arrived, with my borrowed boots in hand, I waited to for the 8:00 am meeting to be told where I would work today.

I am paired with Lunel, one of the bird rehabilitators in ICU. I am delayed going with Lunel as I received my orientation with Carole, (pronounced Carol – A) volunteer coordinator. Staff of about 12, but only 6 of them work fulltime with the birds, the rest are administrative or fundraising. Authorized by the government since 1968 to do their work, SANCCOB receives not government funding. They rely on grants and donations and many of their items are sponsored by large corporations or individual donors.

Once I had been oriented, I was asked to keep up with laundry all day, in addition to my tasks of removing the crates from ICU, mopping the floor, cleaning crates (much easier today and my plan of attack for cleaning the crates worked much better this time), sorting fish, cutting up fish and chicken for some of the ICU gulls, rinsing down the pool for pen 10, helping to scrub green mats, scrubbing down pen 2 and with Lunel’s help - inserting stomach tubes into the ICU birds and giving them fluids. Lunel did the hard part – catching and holding the bird, and then she coached me on how to insert the tube into the stomach, not the lungs, and then administer the fluids.

I found out what Darrows solution is – it is Gatorade for penguins.

My goal is to make sure that all the laundry is done before I go home every day. Today, I left with two loads to do. The dilemma is that the two washers take 2 hours each to run their cycles. The dryer only 45 minutes. With the backlog from the previous day, it is almost impossible to keep ahead. There will be times when I am scheduled in the office when I will be able to achieve my goal. I plan to get two loads going as I arrive each day to try and make headway. I love having a mission!

To date this year only 413 penguins have arrived at the center. 68 of them came within the last month due oil contamination from some mysterious source. This is a considerably smaller number than from previous years. There will be a beach release tomorrow, and possible as many as 30 birds from pen 10 will go out. YAAh! Many say this is the highlight of their time with the guys in tuxedos. Before they go out, the birds must meet the criteria before they are eligible – They must weigh at least 2.5 kilos, they must be able to swim for at least one hour, their blood samples must show no sign of avian malaria, babesia or any other infection. If any of these three things are not present, they remain at the center for additional care. The birds are evaluated at least twice weekly and are upgraded into the pen 10 as they approach health to be released.

There will also most likely be boat releases once a week while I am here where they load the birds on to boats and take them closer to Robben Island and release them there. Then the birds make their way independently to there nesting beach.

I received my schedule for my entire time and I have 10 entire days off! I am thrilled and now will be able to plan some side trips. Ditte and I will compare schedules tomorrow to see if there are any days that we have off together. We may take the township tour together.

I left work today feeling much more productive and happy and with the warmer weather, went out into the back yard and read on the wonderful double bed with big pillows in the garden.

Wednesday, September 27 – Beach Release

Arrived at work ready to get some laundry done before the 8am meeting and found that the night guard had done all the laundry. My goal is the same, no dirty laundry in the basket when I leave if I can help. It.

Today I was assigned to help in Pen 2 with Jennie and Julie. We all worked hard to make sure that our work was on schedule so that we were able to go on the release. One of the new jobs that I had was to clean the large gray mats in the pen. These are heavy, rubber backed, thick pile mats that were very difficult to clean. I finally was advised to take them over to the high-pressure machine (similar to the landa machine from TMAC) and blast the crap out of them. Once I had finished my mats, I figured I should also clean some of the bottom mats to keep up with the job. I had not gotten very far when they needed me back in pen 2.

Finally it was time to go to the release. The team had put 40 penguins into 25 cardboard carrying boxes and loaded them into 3 SUV’s that are called bakkies in South Africa. I went with Julie and Jennie and two others about 10 minutes away from the center, up the western coast. From where we were, you could see Robben Island in the distance.

Once all the bakkies had arrived, we picked up the boxes and put them in a semi-circle facing the water. All the boxes were opened and on the leaders count, we tipped the boxes over in the sand and allowed the penguins to climb out. All the penguins being released have a bright fuchsia spot on their chest. Quickly they all ran together into the center of the half circle and formed a little unit. They finally sighted or smelled the sea and they were off to get into the water. With camera’s clicking, they kept going faster and faster and finally they there in the water and diving through the swells that kept rolling in. The water was really rather calm and soon, they were this little pod of heads getting gradually farther and farther from shore. As we watched, we noticed that there were also two seals close to the beach to the left of the penguins. Normally a predator of penguins, these two seemed more interested in playing, so the little pod of penguins was safe for a short time. We did a few shots for the press of us in a line waving good-bye to the penguins and then it was back to the center and work.

Photos - boxes, pink spots, in the group, in the water

There weren’t that many spectators and I kept looking for Remo and Esther who had wanted to come.

As soon as we got back, Nola the vet, wanted to grade the penguins in pen 2 to see if any that could be moved to pen 10. She asked if I wanted to help carry them. So I donned neoprene sleeves and a glove on my left hand and was shown how to hold there head in my left hand and support their body with my right hand. Unfortunately, when you graduate from pen 2, it means that you are big and strong so I did not get to start with the easiest of the lot, but I managed to transport everyone without a bite or a drop.

During the afternoon feeds, I got more practice catching penguins. As predators are normally gulls that arrive from above, you crouch down and try and get them into a corner. Then, you try and get hold of one flipper that should cause them to pull away and show you the back of their head. At which point, you other hand comes from behind and try’s to find the grove in their skull to hold them steady and their beak away from you and your arms. Once you have the head, you let go of the flipper and cradle the body next to you with your hand on their belly. Their belly feathers are very soft. I didn’t mind catching most of the little blues, but the adults were on to me. Of the afternoon, I really liked and will watch carefully little blue #305 who is small and a little depressed and big guy #402 who has a considerable beak and the ability to spot me a mile away.

As I was passing Lunel earlier today, she told me the #414 who I saw in ICU yesterday did not make it through the night. He had come in so depleted that he could not even stand. She would tube or feed him yesterday and they lay him in his crate with a V made out of towels to support him.

At the end of the day, while the others were doing other things, I was to monitor the group during their 20-minute swim and I got to watch them and their interactions. Also in the group is a huge Gannet, a bird about the size of a swan with buff colored head, long beak and the most amazingly blue outlined eyes, white iris with a very tiny pupil. You don’t get to see them often as they are usually at sea, so to have a chance to watch is truly a gift. He had an injury that does not allow him to fly, but he tests his wings daily as he sails proudly around the pool with the penguins.

I am Pooped! The work is strenuous and the day is long. I am very much looking forward to two days off!

Thursday, September 28

There was coverage of the release yesterday on the news last night (that I missed) and in the papers this morning. All the papers that were in the Center were in Afrikaans, so I will look for some in English at the shops tonight. The only picture of the event was taken from the angle where you see all the penguins and the 4 bathing beauties that were standing to our left on the beach watching the event. I guess that sells papers.

Today I was back in ICU with Priscilla, the only black South African on staff. As before, ICU involved mopping and crate cleaning, but new today was also cleaning two of the 6 chest freezers. On the inside of the freezer were all these little translucent shiny disks that looked like plastic but turned out to be fish scales. I think you could say that there is probably at least one or two fish scales left in each freezer. They were all but impossible to get off the bottom, but I did what I could. Priscilla had begun to straighten the towels that are stored in ICU. The shelves she had completed were amazingly neat and the towels folded to take up as little space as possible. I spent the better part of the day trying to fold my towels like Priscilla.

Gay, a long term volunteer, is lovely and came by and asked if I wanted more experience with the birds. She was very helpful telling me why we do things to help me remember. I did a little bit more catching and tubing with fluids and formula, lots of scrubbing. I am still very cautious with the tubing because if you get it into the lungs, the bird will not make it. I am still apprehensive catching some of the birds, but it will only ease with more practice and lots of guidance from above. I don’t like that you have to hold them so tightly, but they are wild and very strong and very stressed to be with us. In pen 2, some of the birds have to be caught up to 6-8 times during our shifts to give them fluids, medications or meals. Luckily by pen 10, they are only caught twice and each time, it is for fish. Just as well as this pen have the largest and strongest birds. I haven’t had the pleasure of working in that pen yet. Maybe next week.

After work, Gay gave me a ride to the mall. I had to buy some necessities (baby powder for my work boots) and I treated myself to a new book and my first real dinner since I arrived, Salmon salad for $6. Yes, sports fans, the grocery stores in South Africa already have the Xmas decorations and wrapping paper on the shelves. Buy it now to get the best selection.
On the way home, Remo and Esther with Tequila in tow, offered me a ride to the hostel. YAAH!

Got a recommendation for a massage therapist and may treat myself to weekly massages to try and straighten out my cramped muscles. Between carrying the backpack and pulling luggage, the baboons and now scrubbing the pens for the penguins, I have one or two knots that need to be kneaded.

During lunch at the center, I came across a Time Magazine from 2005 that was talking about ending poverty and the Millennium project to reduce poverty in Africa by 2025. Got me thinking about where I might want to put my energy when I go back to work.

Menu for me for the week.

Breakfast – apple cranberry muesli, low fat yoghurt of FF milk, rooibos tea with milk, fruit

Lunch - peanut butter sandwich on toast, fruit, sometimes a hboiled egg and cheese, buckwheat biscotti and a mini size of smarties (M&M look alikes)

Dinner – Varied – instant soup, crackers and cheese or chips or pretzel, fruit leather – GUAVA!!!!, crackers with peanut butter.

I plan to achieve more nutritious dinners for next week and must plan ahead as I have to buy it and then heft it home on my back.

Trying to decide what I will do on Saturday and Sunday. Probably a bus ride into the main part of town to the waterfront, a possibly a cable car ride up to the top of Table Mountain. I will also investigate the theatre options in Cape Town as there was one listed in the magazine on the plane that sounded good.

Friday, September 29

Today was my fifth day on the job and my third time in pen 2. I must admit that one of the hardest things about pen 2 is you spend alternate hours working physically hard cleaning and scrubbing, followed by a challenging hour catching birds and either stuffing fluid or fish down them. Physically challenging followed by mentally challenging at least 4 cycles during the day.

This was also Satoshi’s last day and Ditte asked if I wanted to go out with them for pizza to celebrate after work. I told her that I would like to, but it would depend on how exhausted I was at the end of the day. This was also the day when any oiled or still dirty bird would be washed. This is a process that takes up to one-hour per bird as they must be thoroughly cleaned and then totally rinsed. Most of the staff and volunteers were pulled from other duties today and they called in experienced local volunteers to help.

Before 9:00am, I had received my first bite on my upper right arm from #398 as I moved him from the nebulizer to the pool. I need to improve my technique and hold the head more firmly and closer to me to avoid this in the future. By the end of the day, I also had other nips on my right hand (the ungloved one) while I was feeding fish and tubing while I was holding the birds. I was told that I was not holding them properly because legs are so long. So many things to remember when you are feeding or tubing.

As you may remember, we were watching #305, the little blue who seemed depressed. He was the first one that I tried to feed, and I only managed to get one down him and them he threw it up within 10 minutes. (In penguins, you cannot pull things out of their mouth, they have to do it themselves. They have little barbs on their tongue and on the roof their mouth, similar those grills that you can only drive over in one direction. If you back up, your tires are toast!) They eventually took him to ICU and gave him an injection. His blood is fine, but he is not right. We will continue to watch him.

On Thursday, an arrested molter bird was brought into the center. As the penguins become an adult, they normally over eat and bulk up and then completely molt over 4 weeks. During that time they do not eat and live off their body fat. If they are in arrested molt, it means that something is not right with them as they get stuck between the two and sort of look a little moth-eaten. Such was #415 who was in pen 2.

During the day, three of staff came into pen 2 to grade the birds for the second time this week to see who was ready to move into pen 10 and therefore, closer to release. They had to catch every bird and check their hydration and feathers for water repellent status. I was recording. I watched a times how the staff would grab a bird quickly and then would struggle with them to get them into a position so that could check them. Sometimes, they would miss, but not usually. 8 birds get to move to pen 10 after we feed them this afternoon.

Late in the afternoon, I was administering Darrows to the two birds that required it and Satoshi and Laure were moving birds to pen 10. I was working with #415 (arrested molter) who had been agitated earlier today and I had to keep the tube in him as I changed syringes. As I fumbled with changing the syringes, he really got a hold of my fingers that made me shout. Satoshi was about to leave the pen, but I asked him to stay with me as I had only been doing this for today. I managed to get the second syringe in the bird and lifted him over the half wall into the other side of pen. As I put him down, he flipped on his back, gasped and struggled and could not get up. I called Satoshi and he and I watched as the bird was still on the ground. I called for Laure and she came back and lifted him up and tried to shake the fluid out of him and patted his back. At this point, I figured I had managed to get the tube into his lungs instead of his stomach and that I had done serious damage to him. Laure took him to ICU and asked us to continue moving birds. I felt absolutely awful. All the birds had been taken so Satoshi and I moved the two from the nebulizer to the pool and then I went into the ICU to return the syringe back to the lab.

I came into the room to find the necropsy in process on #415 who had just died. I began to cry. Vanessa, the manager of the rehabilitation department, said that as she opened him up that she knew something was seriously wrong with him. She said he had died of heart attack from congestive heart failure. His muscle color was very dark, his heart was very enlarged and flabby and his lungs were poorly developed and had some fluid in them. His trachea was clenched shut and as she continued to work on him, she said that the Darrows was in his stomach and not his lungs. The three staff that were at the necropsy were very kind and kept telling me that he was already compromised and would never had lasted the two months it would have taken for him to molt and then recover. I still felt awful, not just for the death (even though they said that I was not responsible), but because his final interaction with me was not gentle and calm. While my brain can grasp that any animal in the hospital is not 100% well and not all of them make it, my ego was working on my big time to make me wrong and doubt myself.

Laure asked me if I wanted to go home and I said no that I wanted to finish my shift, but that I wasn’t up for tubing the final birds with formula that day. As we were finishing up the
final jobs for pen 2, I caught Laure and said that I would like to do the tubing of the formula if she would be with me. I knew that I could not leave the center and not be back for two days without going back in and working with the birds. Laure held and let me insert and the fluids went fine. It is easy to make sure that all is right when someone else is holding. It is not so easy to verify where the tube is when you are holding and trying to insert the tube, and not get nipped or your fingers crushed.

As I look back on it, I realized that I was feeling a little pressured to come up to speed on working with the birds earlier than I felt prepared. While I felt ready to begin to learn the new tasks, I know now that I was not ready to not be supervised for a while. I didn’t realize how stressed and tired I was until the final hours of work today. I also realize how challenging it is for me to move from physical work to mentally challenging work changing between one to the other every other hour. (It reminded me of when I was doing The Women and had to keep switching hats on a daily basis because I was also trying to work at PERA as close to full time as possible).

The thing that keeps coming up for me is do I have a true perspective on today? What is my lesson? Why don’t I acknowledge how stressed I am until it gets bad? Why is it so hard for me to tell people this is not working for me? Am I seeing the situation clearly, am I being too hard or too light on myself?

Bottom line, I always aim to be a calm and balanced presence around animals and when I am not, drama is created and I get down on myself for loosing balance. Right after it happened, I checked my muscle testing to see if I could have done anything else and I was told no. I felt partially relieved but still bad and it was definitely not my preferred way to end my first week with the little guys.

I went home for a shower and then I took a cab and met Ditte, Satoshi and Chanene, the lovely woman who owns the backpackers where Ditte is staying for pizza at Castellos. Chanene has given me a reference for a massage and I may book at least once a week, if not more often. They offered me a ride home, which was very generous and saved me the taxi fare. I made it an early night and planned to sleep in, if possible.

Saturday, September 30 – DAY OFF!

Ended up being a doodle day, as I did not even get out of the hostel until noon. Spent the am on the computer.

Had some insights about yesterday from dreams and reading. 1. Take care of Jane first, if I am uncomfortable, it is my job to speak up and do what I need to make me comfortable with the situation. 2. VIBES CARD – See the Solution – Find positive alternatives and attract them to me to find the best one that fits the situation.

Thoughts for Monday at the Center

Request – all conversations in the pens in English. Helps foreign volunteers to understand what is going on and to ask more questions if we don’t understand

Thought – it may be hard for the staff to remember how physically challenging this work is to a new comer, alternating with anxiety provoking work with the birds.

Request – bird handling lessons earlier in the day instead of later in the day.

Request – staff to be on hand to offer assistance to newbie’s for at least two days before they are left on their own.

Thought – Written procedures for pen 2 and how to keep on schedule – three times in the pen and each day, jobs at the end of the day are rushed to get them all accomplished. NOT THE BEST TIME FOR A NEWBY TO BE LEFT ALONE

Sunday, October 1 – DAY OFF!

Another doodle day with lots of internetting, plane reservations for my trip to Romania, talking to Annie on the phone, blogging and just resting.

Entry 29A - First Week with the Penguins remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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Monday, October 2 – Week two with the penguins

Much better day today than Friday. Amazing what two days of down time and lots of resting and sleep can do for your outlook on life.

Little 305 did not make it through the weekend.

I was in Pen 2 again with 16 birds and Jennie as lead volunteer. She had lovely calm energy that helped tremendously. Still feeling nervous as I handle the birds, but know that I will get better each day.

Carole, the volunteer coordinator, caught me midtask and said that she had heard about my Friday. We talked and she agreed to ask the staff to only use English in the pens so that everyone can understand what is going on with the birds. She indicated that they would always be in crisis mode and that flexibility is key. I indicated that while I understood that, I was having a hard time figuring out the normal sequence of events that occur in pen 2. She said that can depend on the daily supervisor and that I should check in with them during both the am and pm shift to get a feel for the day.

Regarding the death of the #415, I told her that while I was ready to begin the feeding and tubing, that I would not be comfortable for a while and would like more supervision. She again said that I should speak up under those circumstances and tell the supervisor of my concerns. She said that some supervisors go to do other duties when they feel that the volunteers have the pen under control. I will speak up daily from now on.

I went into the home pen today and worked a little bit with Charlie (blind juvenile penguin) and Midget, a diminutive penguin. Both very sweet and easy to work with without gloves. I watched Lana (pronounced LAWNA as in Lana Turner) who normally works with this pen. She is lovely with them and gives Charlie little pets and special attention. She was the first person that I saw really take time to give them special cuddling, not that the rest of the staff is uncaring, they just don’t seem to work with the same birds on a consistent basis. As I realize that birds in this pen are probably the most used to people, I may want to spend some time in there to just get used to being with them and enjoying them.

Penguins, very cute in their tuxedos, are amazing to watch in the water. They use their flippers on either side of the bodies as their main propulsion mechanism. They can float for hours without wasting any energy and it looks very comfortable. Their back feet are webbed and they have three primary toes, and a fourth on the inside of their leg, rather like a dog’s dewclaw. These penguins have almost dark brown eyes and a very small pupil and a nictitating membrane that cleans the eye even when the lid is open. As I mentioned before, they have barbs on their tongues and on the roof of their mouths, making it dangerous to pull anything out of their mouth. They can regurgitate, and they do a lot, sometimes an entire days fish feed all at once. Very messy and smelly.

They have two common postures, standing erect, and laying on their stomachs with their head up. When they are calm and resting, they stand with their eyes shut. When I see them opening their mouths regularly, it means that they are either stressed or hot. Funny birds, they are standing right next to the entrance to the pool and yet letting me know that they are hot. GET IN THE POOL!

I work tomorrow and then I have Wednesday off. Not sure what I will be doing, but something fun I am sure.

Tomorrow Nicole, a zookeeper from Perth who is also staying at Elements, will begin work. It will be nice to have someone to walk with and maybe do dinner with sometimes.

Took my new Sonia book to bed with me and read about asking my guides. What would you do if you were not afraid?

WHAT I KNOW NOW – When I travel and do volunteer work again, I will always make sure that I have at least 5 days between placements. I realize that I started the penguins physically and mentally bankrupt and needed more than 2 days between the baboons and the penguins. Both are much more physical than other placements I had done this year and that takes a toll, especially as we had no days off at the baboons.

Item to bring with me next time – a box to hold bath soap and a way to transport items from my bedroom to the bathroom down the hall. I ended up having to buy both of these in South Africa. I will most likely keep these in my luggage so that I can be ready at a moments notice.

Tuesday, October 3 – I turned a corner today.

The first two hours were still stressful, but suddenly by around 11am, I was calm and not anxious about what would be happening next. Penguin bites, while not fun, are not that bad, but I still have a healthy respect for those little beaks. I think the turning point for me was when Gay was watching me struggle with a penguin during a treatment, she reminded me that I could use both hands to get a the mouth open in order to insert the tube or the fish. EUREKA! It suddenly seemed doable and I had the ability to double-check myself safely for the proper placement. Thank you Gay!

There was one massively oiled penguin in and the team cleaned him up. I took some photos but they are mostly action shots, correction action blurs, where I can describe what was happening, but you won’t be able to see it. I am sure, unfortunately, that I will have another opportunity for more photos during another washing session and therefore, possibly some better photography.

Today, 17 of our penguins were released from a boat near Robben Island. I am scheduled to do one of these releases during my 5th week at the Center. With that number gone, we are down to about 21 penguins in the center. At this point, we now have 1 foreign volunteer for every 5 birds. I am sure this will change on a daily basis. If the center gets too low, I guess we may get additional days off. Time will tell.

Plans are a foot for dinner at the Ocean Basket this weekend with Ditte, Nicole and I and another new volunteer who starts on Thursday.

Ditte and I both have tomorrow off and we are planning to go on a township tour. While it may sound like voyeurism, my understanding is that the tours are lead by people who live in the township and that the community welcomes visitors coming to see them and to understand their situation. I will keep you posted.

Wednesday, October 4 – DAY OFF

Up at 5:00 am for a phone call to Karen to confirm some logistics on the house and mailings. Then, as I was meeting Ditte at her backpackers, 45 minutes away, I started out at 5:45 go be there at 6:30. Made it in plenty of time. Meghan picked us up from Avivia Volunteers, the agency that placed Ditte at SANCCOB. We drove about 40 minutes into Cape Town, my actual first view of the city itself.

Very sprawling and lots of intertwining highways. We were so busy talking that I didn’t get a good look around, but now that I have been in and have seen a little bit more, I am anxious to come back on another day off and take the double decker bus tour to see more. The Aviva House, a backpackers location downtown, is where most of the volunteers stay and are picked up to be transported to their work locations. Aviva has a combination of different type of placements including conservation, animals, scuba school, orphanage, and elementary school to name a few. I met other volunteers who seem to be younger and mainly from Europe. They have invited me to join them for their next braai and I will see if I can work it out to attend.

Godfrey, Sam’s assistant, picked us up for our cultural tour of the townships. He was born and raised in the Langa Township that we would be visiting. I asked him what the people in the township hoped that we as visitors would take away with us from our tour. He said for us to understand about why the townships evolved, the history of events within all of South Africa that shaped them, how they are structured and currently run and to met some actual people within the township. He taught us some San words (the language with lots of clicks in it, but I am not sure how much I will retrain.)

Our first stop would be the District 6 Museum. We would visit, or drive past 3 distinct townships, all within about 15 km from the center of Cape Town. We would visit a Shebeen (illegal pub named for the same entity in Ireland) and see the four types of dwellings typical to the townships (first phase, hostel, informal developments (shantytowns) and the Beverly Hills models (set aside for civil servants). Then we would visit a native herbalists store, go to a nursery school, the world’s smallest hotel, and end up at a nutrition project/women’s education center.

I tried to take notes during our tour, but may not have all the spelling correctly or the dates right. Currently, the largest townships in South Africa in descending order are Soweto (near Joburg) with 4 million inhabitants, Uncantani (sp?) somewhere in the countryside with 2 million, and Khalatshi (in Cape Town) with 1 million inhabitants. In all the townships in Cape Town, there are approximately 2.4 million people living. Current statistic is that 43% of the population within the township is unemployed (almost entirely in the black community), which means approximately 1 million black people are without jobs.

The District 6 Museum – This is a section of Cape Town that had up until 1966 had been a multi racial area where blacks, whites and coloreds had lived since the early 1900’s.

Basically, in the early 1900’s, the white government in South Africa wanted to organize the cities in such a way to dictate where blacks and coloreds could live. Coloreds are different from blacks in that they are either interracial couples or people of Indian or Malay descent. While still segregated, they were given better privileges than the blacks. The supposed reason for the first segregation early in the 1900’s was that there had been an outbreak of plague and they said that the blacks were carriers. At this time, they developed a town ship that was 10km outside of the city center of Cape town and was called Langa (which means Sun).

After the world war, men came in from the countryside for work and at that time they were put into hostels (rooms with three beds for three men) that were laborers in the city. Families were not allowed at this time.

In the 1940-50’s, the government instituted a dom pass (meaning dumb pass) or ID card system that classified all the different races that every one had to carry, whites, coloreds and blacks. All the races’ cards indicated that the people were citizens of South Africa except for the blacks. If you were traveling anywhere even within your district, you had to show your dom pass. If you were in an area where you were not supposed to be, the black men could be imprisoned. There was a card of Muslim man on the wall, and Godfrey said that the man who was working in the museum bookshop was the same man.

In the 1960’s, again the white government of the time had decided that the land where District 6 would be a prime location for the development of a commercial center close to the center of town. They forcible evicted the residents and raised the community, leaving all the churches and houses of religion standing and some of the best housing or business buildings in place. All the residents were moved to a township that was 15 km from the city center. That was the excuse for moving everyone out, but they never developed the land. Most of it still sits empty today.

The museum was once a Methodist Church and in 1994, it became a monument to the former neighborhoods. They displays are full of pictures and artifacts from businesses from all the different races who used to live side by side in peace in the district. Very moving and touching. Apparently, they have allowed the elderly who used to live in the district to buy apartments back in the area. The apartments cost more than most of the pensioners can afford as they are living on fixed incomes. Many have moved back to the country and moved on with their lives. But still, they are encouraged to come back and leave memories of their time that are embroidered on a large white cloth.

Photo – statements from former residents.

I went to the bookstore and bought several books, including the one written by the Muslim man. We would have spent a lot more time in the museum but we pressed on.

On the way to the first township, Godfry gave us Xhosa language lessons. As we would mainly be meeting people in groups, the group greeting for hello is Molweni. The group word for thank you is Enkosi. (Both of these words had clicks and pops in them from the Bushman (San) language but I did not catch them).

We drove and saw the four types of housing. The first phase housing went up in the 1920 and looked like modest 4 room houses made out of cinderblocks. The hostels were two level units that maybe had 4 rooms on each floor and an outside staircase to go upstairs. Most of them were placed in blocks of 4-6 with washing lines in the middle courtyards. The informal developments were as you would expect, tin shacks and communal taps for water. The Beverly Hills development looked like small modest houses, possibly with a fence around the yard and maybe even a carport. The cost of the Beverly Hills houses is 150,000 rand and area available to civil servants who usually make 6000 rand per month. Hmmmmmm? All four of the housing communities had electricity and some type of water service.

Before we got to the Sheeben pub, we were treated to a discussion on purchasing sheep’s heads and how they were prepared for the people to buy as they return from work at the end of the day. 25 Rand for a whole one (a little over $3), 12.5 for a half. They had two piles, white sheep’s heads and black sheep’s heads. The sheep head purveyor had to buy from the supplier early in order to make sure that they still had their tongues, a delicacy to the people. First the head was put into the fire quickly to burn off the wool, then washed and clean, split and the brain removed, then put into a large pot with only salt and cooked. Most of the people in the township seem to prefer the white sheep head and the pile of those was 3 times the size of the black ones. The woman who was going to be doing the cooking was very engaging and happy to have her picture taken and had her hair in a bandana and white lotion all over her face. She said it was calamine lotion as she would be working over open flames and over hot iron drums and she had to protect her skin. Too bad the sheep’s heads were not ready for sampling. Godfrey said he really enjoys them providing they are fresh and he prefers the white ones.

The shebeen was down an alley with elderly men playing checkers or sitting on benches. There were several small businesses that we passed along the way, predominantly run by women. They were little caravans, without water in them, that might be offering staples like rice and flour, or bags of oranges and some canned goods. There were also caravans at multiple locations from the phone company to allow people to pay to use the phones. I also saw the occasional pay phone as we drove around.

As we entered the pub, there was a woman and her not-so-happy-to-see us toddler. Along the wall was a bench for us to sit and watch the festivities and on the other wall was a group of elderly men waiting to taste the local beer. The woman was the beer queen and fermented the beer from corn and wheat. (We had been advised by Meghan to pretend to drink, as it was not very good). Godfrey explained that women in their culture were not supposed to drink, so the woman would only be allowed to sample the beer in order to be able to advise her customers. The beer is used at all social and cultural occasions and costs the men 5-7rand per day. They poured a large container of beer with a considerable head of foam on it. I would say the bucket probably held 2-3 quarts of beer. Godfrey said that the last person in our line had to drain the bucket (that as Ditte who does not drink beer) and that the more we drank, the better our clicks would be. I was third in the line and it wasn’t bad, but I would not go very far to drink some more. Ditte did not have to finish off the beer and by the time the bucket made it back in front of me, having gone down the line of men, it was only 1/3 full. Lee who was had the bucket before me, took her sip and then got up to wretch in the corner. (She admitted that they had a big drinking evening the night before). We took some pictures of the adorable baby and down the street we went.

Godfrey said it was time for us to walk to the next location and warned us that we were not to give any money or anything to the kids in the street. We walked less than a block to the hostel lodging. Inside, we saw the common area where there was running water, the narrow room that had a Bunsen burner for a stove and two the rooms with three beds, and the small number of garments for the men. Today, there is a program of renovation going on in most of the townships to convert the once hostels, into apartments suitable for families and small businesses. Each man pays 20rand per day rent on his bed.

Our next stop was the herbalist/pharmacist’s shop. It was dark in the shop and there were chairs and a few couches with some clients curled up and sleeping. Inside the shop hanging from the rafters were various dried skins, skulls, antlers and other things that the herbalist would use. On the shelves and floor were piles of roots, plants, bark and other things that I could not identify and I saw things like rattles, noisemakers and items such as a baby pacifier that I assume was used in rituals. Apparently you can go to see him for not only physical ailments, but also spiritual or metaphysical problems, bad dreams, good luck, bad luck, love potions and love poisons. Based on your symptoms or condition, he prescribes and makes you the remedy. If your condition is something that he can’t fix, he refers you to other doctors in the area. Godfrey said that you have to believe in the man and the remedy for it to work. He said that he used this man himself and received a white powder from him to basically help him with his joints and flexibility. We took a few pictures and then moved on.

PHOTO – Local pharmacist

We went past our second township called Guguletchu (meaning Our Pride). This township was the source of 7 deaths in 1986 when young men (freedom fighters against Apartheid) were gunned down by the police.

In the same township in 1993 an white US woman who was a student at the Western Cape University who was very interested in helping the black people understand and participate in the first free elections, was stoned to death in the township. Two men were found guilty and sentences to life in prison. They were part of the Abla party –Pan African Congress who do not have any power in the current government. In 1996, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, was instrumental in getting amnesty for all the political prisoners. The white government at the time would not make a determination on the two men. Tutu got amnesty for them and they are out of prison. One is now employed for the Mandela Foundation who is working to improve the townships.

Next we stopped at a kindergarten with darling, well-behaved children under 5 sang us songs and were basically enchanting. Parents pay 5r per day per child and they get breakfast, lunch and a snack just before they go home at 5:00 pm. They were right next to the world’s smallest hotel (a b&b with only two rooms) that has been written up in the local tourism magazines and newspapers. The proprietress was lovely and welcoming, shook everyone’s hand and made us feel welcome.

We next went to the township of Khaletshi, which is so large, it has 6 specific sections. It is here we visited the Phimela nutrition project. It began as a project to improve the nutrition of the babies in the township and has added on a kindergarten and women’s education center for weaving and painting. Now at least 40 women produce products for the shop with 65% of the sale of their item going to the woman and 35% to the center. We all found something in the shop to take away with us. The weavings were of simple designs and were made of discarded fabrics that had been dyed. The pattern hung behind the strands and the woman would sit on a stool in front of the loom. On the painting project, women were working to paint in between the lines of stamped fabric and many of the items were lying on the grass to dry as we went by.

As we finished the tour, Godfrey told us that the schools in the townships are compulsory for students between 6-18, the students were uniforms and that most of the kids attend. There are local fire brigades and governments elected in each and they work with the governmental representative for their area. Godfrey said that there are many housing improvement plans in place and everyone is supposed to be in better housing by 2014 (striving for 2010 when Cape Town hosts the World Soccer Cup), but that they will see. They feel that the government is a government of promises not a government of completion. The hope is there and time will tell.

It was a fantastic experience and one that I would encourage everyone to see. I came away with a clearer understanding on how the townships evolved and a feeling that these were people who were getting on with life and making opportunities for themselves and not waiting for handouts. True most of them are waiting for more appropriate housing with better services. It looked to me that people were making lots of lemonade and doing all they could with a less than optimal situation.

Ditte and I were dropped off at waterfront that is a huge commercial tourist area with shops, restaurants, cinema’s, the ferry to Robben Island, aquarium and lots of street bands and musicians around. We had a lovely seafood lunch and did lots of shopping, eating and walking around. My backpack was already loaded with items from the tour and by the end of the day, my back was hurting. I must call for that massage. I will definitely return for a more leisurely day to possibly include a movie and a trip to Robben Island.

We caught a cab home, for $30 but it was worth it for expediency, safety and convenience with all of our parcels.

I asked for and had a marvelous day.

Thursday, October 5

Today I begin 5 days of work in a row. New for today was Pen 10 with Lana, We only had 8 birds in the am, but gained 7 more for the afternoon. Pen 10 is the last pen the birds are in at the center before they are released, so these are the strongest, biggest, healthiest and hungriest birds. You only catch them twice a day and both times, it is to feed them fish. They seem to know that they are leaving soon and run away from you even more than in pen 2.

We also had home pen (for the birds that cannot be released) where I did Zen gardening and weed picking. There are many planter areas in this pen with plants for shade and landscaping. In order to get around all the planters, I had a little tiny, narrow rake (a Barbie Rake) and dust pan. As the ground is sand with some shells, I was making little tracks in the sand, just like a tabletop Japanese Garden (i.e. Zen Gardening)

As I had not been food shopping in a while, I walked to the shops after work and bought 2 additional work t-shirts, treated myself to a dinner and coffee, food shopped and then walked home.

Early to bed.

Friday, October 6 – Beginning Month 9 away and I am ready for my close up Mr. DeMille!

Pen 10 again today. With so few birds at the center and so many volunteers, we are hard pressed to stay busy and are doing lots of cleaning around the center. Not too bad, but a little boring and most of it could be done with less people. If this continues into next week, I may suggest to Carole that we either have longer lunches or get a few more days off or at least afternoons off as this situation will only increase as we have another volunteer arriving next week.

We had to prepare 12 of the birds of photographs today as they are being released next week. This involved setting up a little blue backdrop on a frame, a yellow section of mat and a system whereby two of us caught and shuffled the birds into and then out of the photo area. The photographer was lying down to get the photos and in addition to trying to position the birds, we had to make sure that they did not get away from us and go and attack him. I got another good nip on the hand that will end bruising but no skin break. Why do those end up hurting worse than the others? Some of the subjects were determined not to photographed and kept their back to the camera, which simply prolonged the experience instead of shortening it. We finally got very good at holding the subject in the approximate position with our two boots forming a wall and them taking out feet away as the photographer snapped away. We had begun the procedure with towels that formed a perfect wall but invariably, were in the photographer’s way. AH, the price we pay for fame!

Three more days of work and then two off. This is my last stretch of 5 days in a row that I am glad of, as the work is tiring and still a little stressful at times.

I have a coaching session with Peter tonight and am very much looking forward to it. I have three months left of this amazing year away and I want to get every last minute of wonderment and excited out of it.

Post session with Peter, I am on the search for how to say “LET ER RIP” in as many languages as possible. Please send any languages that you know with translation of the phrase to my blog reply. Thanks for your assistance!

Saturday, October 7

My first weekend day to work that everyone said would be very relaxing. During the weekends, all you normally do is the pen work and none of the additional projects that the staff always finds when they are in during the week. Ditte, Zita and I were in Pen 10. Zita is still nervous about handling the birds, how well I know that feeling, so she did cleaning and recording for us. Nothing spectacularly different today other than cleaning out the cormorant pen for the first time. This pen has 6 totally black cormorants that are destined for the London Zoo. The only hold up is the avian flu and international movement of birds is severely curtailed until it is determined it is no longer an issue. The birds have been waiting over a year. Not sure when they might see England.

For the second time this week, during my lunch break, I have gone out into the grass area with a towel and my baseball cap, and rested in the sun for a while. Very restful and nice to hear nature and be warm and yet not too warm as a midday break.

Ditte has become our social director and has organized us to go out to dinner at a seafood restaurant called Ocean Basket. It was good, I had sole, one of my favorites, and it was nice to get out and have a good meal. My dinners have been rather uninspiring at home. Bad weather had been predicted to start this evening and continue until tomorrow. Sure enough, just as we left the restaurant a downpour which had us all soaked within 3 minutes. We cabbed home, put all of our wet things up to dry and I went immediately to bed!

Sunday, October 8

Woke to rain this am, but is had appeared to clear by the time I was walking in. I had my rain slicker and my computer as we had discussed looking at photos during the slow parts of Sunday. I hadn’t gone 3 minutes and the downpour started. I spent several minutes under an obliging tree hoping it would pass. It didn’t, so on I went and was absolutely soaked by the time I got to work. Luckily, work has an industrial clothes drier, so I knew that I could at least get my pants dry and wear oilskins until they were ready.

Pen 10 again with Ditte and we took our time feeding today. #401 with a dodgy wing and #408 need to go we told Nola the vet. They are very strong, they are always the last to be fed and are very frustrated with us. I have definitely turned a corner with the birds and am feeling a lot more comfortable with me and with them. I still ask Gabriel to calm me down before I feed, as I went to be effective and as gentle as possible. Monday, there will be evaluated for release so hopefully, most if not all of them in pen 10 will be in the waves on Tuesday. I am off Tuesday and Wednesday, so I will say good-bye on Monday.

Ditte had arranged for us go to McDonalds for lunch today. My one time a year pilgrimage (but in truth, I think I went sometime else this year, I just can’t remember when or where! hmmmmm?) It was fun, I had my usual double cheeseburger, small fry and chocolate shake. It was a vanilla shake, but I was assured it was chocolate. hmmmmm South Africa’s chocolate is a lot lighter than ours in the US.

We went back to the center for a very light afternoon and I got to help with the pelican. We got a pelican in two days ago and it is now in an outside pen with access to the pool for pen 2. It has a hurt foot and is receiving pills and fluids to get it back on its feet. As Lunel holds open it’s amazingly big mouth and throw down 3-4 amoxicillin and I would put in two syringes of Darrows. Today, Lunel came out to the pen exclaiming for joy that the penguin had eaten 7 fish by itself. A good sign, because if it is eating and keeping down the pills and darrows, it has a good chance of being released.

Tonight, Ditte our social director, as coordinated a movie night of the book she just finished, The Devil Wore Prada. Should be interesting.

Entry 29B - Second week with the Penguins remains copyright of the author ladyjanes, a member of the travel community Travellerspoint.

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