Hey guys,
So now Dermo and I are traveling across the country, which has been incredibly fun, although doing anything here is incredibly expensive. We are essentially getting screwed by all of the rich european tourists who are willing to lay down huge sums of money for everything and the corrupt Tanzanian government who charge fees upon fees for anything in the parks. So what we have done so far.
We left Kigoma and the rest of the group and took an incredibly painful 4 hour bus ride to the last town before wilderness. If you know Tz at all, it was essentially a huge Dala-dala and the seats were about 8in wide. Dermo had people sitting on his face, punching him in the face, and leaning on him the entire ride, while sit ting on about 4in of seat. fun fun. The cool thing is that Hotels (guesti) cost around 5-10,000tsh a night ($4-8) a room. The next day we hitched a ride in the back of a truck carrying Bananas and pineapples to mpanda, which is 8 hours through the bush. From there we went to Katavi national park. We stayed at this place called the Hippo Garden Hotel, which is aptly named because there were about 50 hippos hanging out in the river 40ft. from our tent. A little exciting because you would walk around at night and have to be on the look out for hippos walking around - and they are incredibly dangerous.
There were two cool european couples there as well, and on day we shared a game drive with an austrian couple and saw amazing animals, including 5 lion cubs and the rest of the pride and a group of 19 giraffes. The next two days we went on Walking Safari, which was wicked cool. Highlights include Catching poachers (I have one of their hats now and our ranger shot at them), seeing hyenas up real close, and camping on the shores of lake Katavi and seeing tons of animals from our tent.
From there we took the train up north to katavi. Basically everything you do in Tanzania, you get owned hardcore. The train was 8 hours late. So we sat in the train station for about 10 hours, but the ride was pretty cool even though there were cockroaches and a rat in one of the compartments. And then we had the exhaust from the aging diesel engine wafting right into our room... Ha fun.
from there we went and climbed Mt. Hanang, the 4th tallest mountain in Tz. It was a gorgeous hike. 11,000 ft stand alone volcano (not active) starting from about 3,000 ft. with an awesome ridge line and incredible views above the clouds. Again though, it was about $50 a person just to be allowed to walk.
We are now in Arusha, and tomorrow we start the main attraction - Mt. Meru. It is a fucking gorgeous mountain just under 15,000 ft. Then to walking from village to village in the jungled Usambara mountains and then a few days in zanzibar.
Times are good, we are always on the move and it is unfortunate that most everyone who you talks to starts off real nice, and then tries to get money from you. Its pretty ridiculous in Arusha. I don't know how many times I have heard, "hello my friend, do you need a safari" in the past 2 hours. Unfortunately Dermno and I have a pretty grim view of the Tanzanian people because of all the people who try to screw us constantly. Fortunately people don't seem to understand words like, Douchebag, asshole, shithead, etc. So we spend a lot of time talking shit about people in their faces in pleasant (or not so pleasant) tones of voice. A habit I am definitely going to have to break before life in america again. We got off the bus here and about 20 people immediately surround us when we were trying to get our bags - pushing and shoving us and I almost punched a guy who repeatedly tried to pick my pockets (he was incredibly horrible at it)
that being said, once in a long time you meet a tanzanian who is legitimately cool and we have had many really fun conversations with people in swahili. Everyone else really brings down the experience a lot. and the fact that we are dropping $100 or more for all of the cool things that we are doing.
word gotta go. Can't wait to see you guys again (and america for that matter)
Monday, August 31, 2009
Friday, August 28, 2009
Jake - In Ecuador
Hey everyone! I have been in Ecuador for nearly 2 weeks now, and all is good. Here's the scoop:
The first week consisted of staying in a pretty nice hotel with all the other new hires, going apartment hunting and appliance shopping, and hanging out. They had veteran Ecuadorian teachers take us around to see apartments, and after a few days I sealed the deal on a 1 bedroom place in an area called El Batan. It's pretty nice - the neighborhood is quiet-ish and residential, mostly 2-3 story houses, and it is up a hill out of the downtown area. It's a 15 min. walk to the mall and restaurants and supermarket, it's right next to a huge wooded park (biggest in Quito, really nice trails), and since its up on a hill its got a pretty sweet view of the city and the 14,000 ft. volcano on the other side. I'm living by myself, but there are nearly a dozen teachers within a couple blocks, which is really nice. At 9,500 ft., its a pretty comfy home.
Monday we went into school for the first time, and all week we have been having meetings, orientations, workshops, and planning time. My classroom is pretty sweet - lab tables, desks, big sliding whiteboard, projector, windows with a view, computer, not too shabby. The school is pretty nice - all the hallways are outside, so all the classrooms are open to the outside. Nothing is really enclosed in a building. The school bus picks me up right outside my house, and its about a half hour to school. I've been working a lot this week with planning and curriculum and setting up my classroom, but the starting date of school just got moved back! It was supposed to start on Tuesday, but got pushed back to Monday, 9/7. So now I've got lots of time to get settled and plan and be ready, which is pretty sweet. I have 3 different classes to prep for, which is a lot, but those are the only classes I have, so my schedule is actually a lot lighter than most. I think I have about the same amount of free time as class time on most days, which is really nice.
The other teachers all seem really cool. I'm definitely the youngest teacher, and the oldest new hire is probably around 60. There is a good-sized group of teachers in their mid 20's though, and everyone is really nice. We've gone out to La Mariscal, the main nightlife area in Quito, a few times. There are some fun bars, and there is even a microbrew in town, which we went to for the first time yesterday. Their porter isn't exactly Stovepipe quality, but its better than the shitty cheap bottled beer they sell here. A few of the teachers are climbers/hikers or interested in climbing, which is also really cool. I've been to the climbing gym a couple times, its huge! Really long bouldering wall that is steeply overhung, and a tall (75 ft ish) lead wall with fixed draws and big overhangs. I haven't roped up yet, but the bouldering is pretty powerful and there are a lot of surprisingly good Ecuadorian climbers there. And, at $1.50 its not too bad a price. Hopefully I'll get out and try some of the smaller volcanoes soon - most are like 15,000-16,000 ft and scrambles, although the big ones are glaciated. I can see Cotopaxi, one of the more famous glaciated mtns, on the bus ride to school, which is sweet.
This weekend I'll probably just hang around here and get settled, although I might try a volcano or travel to a little town called Mindo that is warmer and has rafting. So yeah, all is good. So far I haven't gotten mugged, sick, or married, so I'd call that a success. Keep me updated on how yall are doing, and I've got floor space for when you wanna come visit! December break is prime climbing season for the big mountains.
The first week consisted of staying in a pretty nice hotel with all the other new hires, going apartment hunting and appliance shopping, and hanging out. They had veteran Ecuadorian teachers take us around to see apartments, and after a few days I sealed the deal on a 1 bedroom place in an area called El Batan. It's pretty nice - the neighborhood is quiet-ish and residential, mostly 2-3 story houses, and it is up a hill out of the downtown area. It's a 15 min. walk to the mall and restaurants and supermarket, it's right next to a huge wooded park (biggest in Quito, really nice trails), and since its up on a hill its got a pretty sweet view of the city and the 14,000 ft. volcano on the other side. I'm living by myself, but there are nearly a dozen teachers within a couple blocks, which is really nice. At 9,500 ft., its a pretty comfy home.
Monday we went into school for the first time, and all week we have been having meetings, orientations, workshops, and planning time. My classroom is pretty sweet - lab tables, desks, big sliding whiteboard, projector, windows with a view, computer, not too shabby. The school is pretty nice - all the hallways are outside, so all the classrooms are open to the outside. Nothing is really enclosed in a building. The school bus picks me up right outside my house, and its about a half hour to school. I've been working a lot this week with planning and curriculum and setting up my classroom, but the starting date of school just got moved back! It was supposed to start on Tuesday, but got pushed back to Monday, 9/7. So now I've got lots of time to get settled and plan and be ready, which is pretty sweet. I have 3 different classes to prep for, which is a lot, but those are the only classes I have, so my schedule is actually a lot lighter than most. I think I have about the same amount of free time as class time on most days, which is really nice.
The other teachers all seem really cool. I'm definitely the youngest teacher, and the oldest new hire is probably around 60. There is a good-sized group of teachers in their mid 20's though, and everyone is really nice. We've gone out to La Mariscal, the main nightlife area in Quito, a few times. There are some fun bars, and there is even a microbrew in town, which we went to for the first time yesterday. Their porter isn't exactly Stovepipe quality, but its better than the shitty cheap bottled beer they sell here. A few of the teachers are climbers/hikers or interested in climbing, which is also really cool. I've been to the climbing gym a couple times, its huge! Really long bouldering wall that is steeply overhung, and a tall (75 ft ish) lead wall with fixed draws and big overhangs. I haven't roped up yet, but the bouldering is pretty powerful and there are a lot of surprisingly good Ecuadorian climbers there. And, at $1.50 its not too bad a price. Hopefully I'll get out and try some of the smaller volcanoes soon - most are like 15,000-16,000 ft and scrambles, although the big ones are glaciated. I can see Cotopaxi, one of the more famous glaciated mtns, on the bus ride to school, which is sweet.
This weekend I'll probably just hang around here and get settled, although I might try a volcano or travel to a little town called Mindo that is warmer and has rafting. So yeah, all is good. So far I haven't gotten mugged, sick, or married, so I'd call that a success. Keep me updated on how yall are doing, and I've got floor space for when you wanna come visit! December break is prime climbing season for the big mountains.
Friday, August 21, 2009
Twende! Kazi imemalisa. Sasa, tutacheza!
(lets go, work is finished, now we play)
Parker here in Kigoma
So today marks the end of the HELP portion of my travels in Tz. Lisa Adams and Ken Yalowitz (sp?) from the dickey center came out for two days to Kigoma, which was fun. Kigoma being the booming metropolis that is our link to the real world and where we catch the 3 hour lake taxi boat to get to Mwamgongo (the village we are working in). We ended up hiring a boat with them and then going to Mwamgongo for the last day of the project. Funny story. Ken and Lisa went on a little stroll in Gombe and Ken fell down the hillside and about 7 men who were bathing (aka stark naked) came to rescue him. Everyone was wicked excited to get out of there, we did a lot of work, like working all day and then getting buckets of sand from the beach and carrying them up to the latrine site until 11 at night. That night we finished up the work and had a presentation to the village and then peaced the fuck out. It was great.
Phew
Anyways yesterday Dermott, Louis, and I went to Sustainable Harvest to go hang out with our friend Stephen. Its a coffee exporter that deals in the villages that we are going to be working in next summer. We learned everything there is to know about coffee, which was awesome. Then we got to cup, which is the process in which the coffee is rated for quality. Essentially we just drank a lot of some of the best coffee that I have ever had directly from the source. Real cool.
We also have been staring at a gorgeous lake all summer long, that we haven't been able to swim in because the water is so dirty in Mwamgongo and we would get shisto, and probably run into a few turds, or the remains of a baby's diaper. Not to mention the spectacle that 7 partially clad Wazungu would cause. We would have probably attracted about 50 naked boys. So we went to this beach outside of kigoma and swam and free soloed/jumped off some pretty sweet rocks.
The group flies out in an hour and dermott and I are now on our own, for just under a month. Which is exciting, but also a little bit a long time. It would be so nice to be in a developed country again, water that works, electricity, you know the good stuff. Things will get exciting again once we get to see the natural beauty of Tz instead of just Hickville that is mwamgongo. Seriously everyone is actually related to everyone else.
Right now we are in Kigoma and want to go south to mpanda to get to Katavi national park. Its a pretty big park that no one really goes to because it is so hard to get to. We have to find a ride, the UNHCR (UN refugee people) hopefully will pull through for us, otherwise it will be hitching in the beds of big trucks. Hopefully we can find one of the mattress trucks to take us there, that would be luxury.
The plan:
To kitavi for a few days, then making our way across Tanzania hiking some really cool volcanoes, Most of which we have to hire armed guards to protect us from the wildlife that we will run into. Like elephants, cape buffalo, and maybe even leopards. So cool.
We are going to have to do a huge photo sesh after everyone's trip this summer.
if you want to send me a text message, the number is (255)755325957. or if you have skype, that is the number you can call me at. We get infinitely better service in most of tanzania then we do in Hanover (except mwamgongo)
-Parker
Parker here in Kigoma
So today marks the end of the HELP portion of my travels in Tz. Lisa Adams and Ken Yalowitz (sp?) from the dickey center came out for two days to Kigoma, which was fun. Kigoma being the booming metropolis that is our link to the real world and where we catch the 3 hour lake taxi boat to get to Mwamgongo (the village we are working in). We ended up hiring a boat with them and then going to Mwamgongo for the last day of the project. Funny story. Ken and Lisa went on a little stroll in Gombe and Ken fell down the hillside and about 7 men who were bathing (aka stark naked) came to rescue him. Everyone was wicked excited to get out of there, we did a lot of work, like working all day and then getting buckets of sand from the beach and carrying them up to the latrine site until 11 at night. That night we finished up the work and had a presentation to the village and then peaced the fuck out. It was great.
Phew
Anyways yesterday Dermott, Louis, and I went to Sustainable Harvest to go hang out with our friend Stephen. Its a coffee exporter that deals in the villages that we are going to be working in next summer. We learned everything there is to know about coffee, which was awesome. Then we got to cup, which is the process in which the coffee is rated for quality. Essentially we just drank a lot of some of the best coffee that I have ever had directly from the source. Real cool.
We also have been staring at a gorgeous lake all summer long, that we haven't been able to swim in because the water is so dirty in Mwamgongo and we would get shisto, and probably run into a few turds, or the remains of a baby's diaper. Not to mention the spectacle that 7 partially clad Wazungu would cause. We would have probably attracted about 50 naked boys. So we went to this beach outside of kigoma and swam and free soloed/jumped off some pretty sweet rocks.
The group flies out in an hour and dermott and I are now on our own, for just under a month. Which is exciting, but also a little bit a long time. It would be so nice to be in a developed country again, water that works, electricity, you know the good stuff. Things will get exciting again once we get to see the natural beauty of Tz instead of just Hickville that is mwamgongo. Seriously everyone is actually related to everyone else.
Right now we are in Kigoma and want to go south to mpanda to get to Katavi national park. Its a pretty big park that no one really goes to because it is so hard to get to. We have to find a ride, the UNHCR (UN refugee people) hopefully will pull through for us, otherwise it will be hitching in the beds of big trucks. Hopefully we can find one of the mattress trucks to take us there, that would be luxury.
The plan:
To kitavi for a few days, then making our way across Tanzania hiking some really cool volcanoes, Most of which we have to hire armed guards to protect us from the wildlife that we will run into. Like elephants, cape buffalo, and maybe even leopards. So cool.
We are going to have to do a huge photo sesh after everyone's trip this summer.
if you want to send me a text message, the number is (255)755325957. or if you have skype, that is the number you can call me at. We get infinitely better service in most of tanzania then we do in Hanover (except mwamgongo)
-Parker
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Palmer - back in Ceuse
Hey 3d,
So me and Scottie are back in Ceuse now after a couple of weeks in Rodellar, and it's good to be back. Spain was a lot of fun though, so here goes:
The night before we left, this guy Arjan from South Africa asked us if we could give him a ride to Spain with us. He was working on Realization, but his belayer gave him a hard catch when he fell off the crux and he basically shattered his heel against the wall. So a one-hour uphill hike wasn't really doing it for him. He's a really fun guy to hang out with - his last name, no joke, is 'de Kock,' and you can probably imagine how many terrible jokes that led to.
So we showed up in Rodellar, and pretty quickly ran into 3 other Americans from New England One of them was Mike Foley, who I think a lot of you know. He's the ridiculously strong kid from Rumney who did China Beach before he could drive. We spent the whole time climbing with them, which was an awesome addition to the crew and a whole lot of fun. At one point, Mike's friend Magnus Midtbo ("meet-boe" aka "meatwad") showed up and went on a spree onsighting everything to train for the World Cup in Barcelona. I got to watch him onsight this thing Geminis, an 8c/5.14b up to the anchors, where, with his hand inches from clipping, his foot popped and he blew off. It was heartbreaking, but a pretty cool show nonetheless.
The camping in Rodellar was super-plush; the sites were flat, with plenty of trees for shade, a restaurant/pub nearby, and fully-stocked restrooms centrally located. Unfortunately we weren't staying there, we were staying 5 minutes down the road in a gravel parking lot we affectionately referred to as "The Chateau." The Chateau was nice too - it was a garage, bedroom, kitchen, living room, and dining room all in one, with a great view of the mountains and even better view of the sky. The plumbing was a little rustic, and the roof leaked a little bit when it rained, but otherwise it was perfect and we saved like $200 in the process.
After two weeks or so, we left Rodellar and drove to Barcelona to watch Mike and Magnus compete in the World Cup. Mike ended up taking 50-something out of 60 something, which is saying a lot about the competition. Another one of our friends, who has done a couple of 14d's, took 40-something. Watching finals was amazing - the route was probably 14b or 14c, and a lot of the bigger names (Adam Ondra, Patxi Usobiaga, Ramon Julian) got really close to onsighting it.
After that we dumped Steveo and Kiff off at the airport, picked up Mike, and took off back for Ceuse. Mike's working on some new project with Dave Graham - not kidding - and Scottie and I have found our own, slightly easier projects to work on for the next month. We've started training on a woody in a barn at camp, and last night we got to train with Daniel Woods - probably one of the strongest people in the entire freaking world - while Joe Kinder and a few other pro climbers hung out with us. Pretty ridiculous. And Joe's looking for a car, so we might end up selling him ours - funny how things work out.
I guess that's it - it's been awesome, but it's crazy that the trip is starting to wind down already. C'est la vie.
So me and Scottie are back in Ceuse now after a couple of weeks in Rodellar, and it's good to be back. Spain was a lot of fun though, so here goes:
The night before we left, this guy Arjan from South Africa asked us if we could give him a ride to Spain with us. He was working on Realization, but his belayer gave him a hard catch when he fell off the crux and he basically shattered his heel against the wall. So a one-hour uphill hike wasn't really doing it for him. He's a really fun guy to hang out with - his last name, no joke, is 'de Kock,' and you can probably imagine how many terrible jokes that led to.
So we showed up in Rodellar, and pretty quickly ran into 3 other Americans from New England One of them was Mike Foley, who I think a lot of you know. He's the ridiculously strong kid from Rumney who did China Beach before he could drive. We spent the whole time climbing with them, which was an awesome addition to the crew and a whole lot of fun. At one point, Mike's friend Magnus Midtbo ("meet-boe" aka "meatwad") showed up and went on a spree onsighting everything to train for the World Cup in Barcelona. I got to watch him onsight this thing Geminis, an 8c/5.14b up to the anchors, where, with his hand inches from clipping, his foot popped and he blew off. It was heartbreaking, but a pretty cool show nonetheless.
The camping in Rodellar was super-plush; the sites were flat, with plenty of trees for shade, a restaurant/pub nearby, and fully-stocked restrooms centrally located. Unfortunately we weren't staying there, we were staying 5 minutes down the road in a gravel parking lot we affectionately referred to as "The Chateau." The Chateau was nice too - it was a garage, bedroom, kitchen, living room, and dining room all in one, with a great view of the mountains and even better view of the sky. The plumbing was a little rustic, and the roof leaked a little bit when it rained, but otherwise it was perfect and we saved like $200 in the process.
After two weeks or so, we left Rodellar and drove to Barcelona to watch Mike and Magnus compete in the World Cup. Mike ended up taking 50-something out of 60 something, which is saying a lot about the competition. Another one of our friends, who has done a couple of 14d's, took 40-something. Watching finals was amazing - the route was probably 14b or 14c, and a lot of the bigger names (Adam Ondra, Patxi Usobiaga, Ramon Julian) got really close to onsighting it.
After that we dumped Steveo and Kiff off at the airport, picked up Mike, and took off back for Ceuse. Mike's working on some new project with Dave Graham - not kidding - and Scottie and I have found our own, slightly easier projects to work on for the next month. We've started training on a woody in a barn at camp, and last night we got to train with Daniel Woods - probably one of the strongest people in the entire freaking world - while Joe Kinder and a few other pro climbers hung out with us. Pretty ridiculous. And Joe's looking for a car, so we might end up selling him ours - funny how things work out.
I guess that's it - it's been awesome, but it's crazy that the trip is starting to wind down already. C'est la vie.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Jake
Hey everybody,
I’m doing good! I’m currently at home, packing, taking care of final errands I’ve gotta do, and buying fancy clothes to make me look like a respectable adult. I took the GRE’s on Saturday after studying my ass off for a month or so, so it was nice to get those over with (although now I’m faced with grad. school apps, uh). Sunday night I went to a Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal concert with my parents. Yeah, you better believe it. Turns out old people dance at concerts, so that was awkward. But it was a really good show, somehow we had great seats which was sorta cool. For the rest of the week I’ve got a plethora (yeah, gre taught me how to use big words) of doctors appointments and errands to do, but hopefully I’ll sneak in some time for a quick trip to see Lily in NYC and maybe a day climbing with Davenport at the hometown crag before I leave predawn on Sunday morning.
The past few weeks have generally been good. After I last posted, I snuck up to Cannon for a day with Davenport, Shapiro, McCauley, and Rebecca Strickfaden for a run on MG, which was quite pleasant. McCauley seemed to be doing well, but he probably isn’t posting cause he has no communication with the outside world. Apparently internet time is rare at the lodge, and the only place he has cell service is the top of Mousilauke (goddamn chubbers). The end of school was busy but we still had time for some fun stuff. We studied simple machines like pulleys, so I set-up a 3 to 1 pulley system and had the kids haul me up into a tree. Then I told them to go back to class while I cleaned the gear, and I ended up getting stuck in the tree for a half hour. Luckily our classroom, and all the classes in the science building, looked right out at the tree, so they got to watch me flailing around for an eternity trying to get myself unstuck from rappel. That was cool.
I had a weekend off from school, which was just enough time to go home and get my wisdom teeth out. It was alright though, pretty quick surgery and pretty easy recovery. It was also parents weekend at Dartmouth, so I went up there with my parents to see Ben and some other folks. Peter was in town too, so got to hang out with him before he flew off to the Central Pacific.
After school ended, Deirdre came up to visit. We spent a day in Boston (boston science museum is the shit) and then hung out in Southern VT for a few days, enjoying the nice weather, hitting up swimming holes, and hiking a little bit. It was really great, really nice to see her and to have an actual vacation after being owned by prep school life for 6 weeks.
That’s about all that’s new and good for me. After Sunday, I won’t be using my cell phone, although my number will still exist so feel free to leave funny messages for me to hear in 10 months or 2 years. But I do have gmail (Jacob dot Feintzeig at gmail dot com) and I might try to figure out how to use skype, so lets email or videochat! Or, I’ve got a snail mail address too:
Jacob Feintzeig
C/O Colegio Americano
Box 17-01-157
Quito, Ecuador
South America
And I’ll try to keep y’all updated! Hope you guys are doing good!
Jake
I’m doing good! I’m currently at home, packing, taking care of final errands I’ve gotta do, and buying fancy clothes to make me look like a respectable adult. I took the GRE’s on Saturday after studying my ass off for a month or so, so it was nice to get those over with (although now I’m faced with grad. school apps, uh). Sunday night I went to a Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal concert with my parents. Yeah, you better believe it. Turns out old people dance at concerts, so that was awkward. But it was a really good show, somehow we had great seats which was sorta cool. For the rest of the week I’ve got a plethora (yeah, gre taught me how to use big words) of doctors appointments and errands to do, but hopefully I’ll sneak in some time for a quick trip to see Lily in NYC and maybe a day climbing with Davenport at the hometown crag before I leave predawn on Sunday morning.
The past few weeks have generally been good. After I last posted, I snuck up to Cannon for a day with Davenport, Shapiro, McCauley, and Rebecca Strickfaden for a run on MG, which was quite pleasant. McCauley seemed to be doing well, but he probably isn’t posting cause he has no communication with the outside world. Apparently internet time is rare at the lodge, and the only place he has cell service is the top of Mousilauke (goddamn chubbers). The end of school was busy but we still had time for some fun stuff. We studied simple machines like pulleys, so I set-up a 3 to 1 pulley system and had the kids haul me up into a tree. Then I told them to go back to class while I cleaned the gear, and I ended up getting stuck in the tree for a half hour. Luckily our classroom, and all the classes in the science building, looked right out at the tree, so they got to watch me flailing around for an eternity trying to get myself unstuck from rappel. That was cool.
I had a weekend off from school, which was just enough time to go home and get my wisdom teeth out. It was alright though, pretty quick surgery and pretty easy recovery. It was also parents weekend at Dartmouth, so I went up there with my parents to see Ben and some other folks. Peter was in town too, so got to hang out with him before he flew off to the Central Pacific.
After school ended, Deirdre came up to visit. We spent a day in Boston (boston science museum is the shit) and then hung out in Southern VT for a few days, enjoying the nice weather, hitting up swimming holes, and hiking a little bit. It was really great, really nice to see her and to have an actual vacation after being owned by prep school life for 6 weeks.
That’s about all that’s new and good for me. After Sunday, I won’t be using my cell phone, although my number will still exist so feel free to leave funny messages for me to hear in 10 months or 2 years. But I do have gmail (Jacob dot Feintzeig at gmail dot com) and I might try to figure out how to use skype, so lets email or videochat! Or, I’ve got a snail mail address too:
Jacob Feintzeig
C/O Colegio Americano
Box 17-01-157
Quito, Ecuador
South America
And I’ll try to keep y’all updated! Hope you guys are doing good!
Jake
Monday, August 10, 2009
Hi 3D
I keep telling Ben to write a post but he is slacking and doesn't love you all so I guess I'm going to have to step up.
We unexpectedly got three days off in a row this weekend so we came up to the front range to go climbing in Boulder Canyon, hoping to get in better shape for Yosemite. Today we climbed in Dream Canyon. According to our guidebook it's a popular spot for nudists and/or homosexuals, but all we found was some nice, clean granite trad and sport. Our nearest option for climbing is called Penitente Canyon. I'm not a huge fan as it has slabby climbing on volcanic rock and rattlesnakes. The most prominent feature is a portrait of the Virgin Mary, painted halfway up the wall.
On the way up, Ben met up with some Dmouth alums and ran Bailey's Canyon. It was so sick that he reopened the hole in his creek boat. One of the alums had Steinberg's CPOESAD tshirt! I think we need to reprint that shit.
On other days off we've done other cool stuff. Over the July 31/August 1 weekend we went up to Montezuma Basin, which is near Aspen, and found some snow for some summer turns. We hiked two 14ers, Castle Peak and Conundrum Peak, and even got caught in a blizzard. The whole area was really beautiful, we camped in an alpine meadow full of pikas (watch this video... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7066578568747223192&ei=M_aASrn4NoHEqAPKn7DqBA&q=pika&hl=en) and had our very own camp marmot who devoted most of his energy to trying to get at our food, which we hid from him under a huge pile of rocks.
We've also spent some weekends in Buena Vista (pronounced Byoona Vista..) boating on the Arkansas river, and hiked Mt. Yale, another 14er, with the rest of the Dartmouth crew working at the ranch. (There is no Mt. Dartmouth)
Work on the ranch is not terribly exciting, but also far from terrible. My secondary X chromosome makes me uniquely suited for jobs such as housekeeping, laundry, and "watching the office"... I still don't really know what that entails, as nothing ever happens in the office. Ben does "boy jobs" like painting, fixing fences, washing windows IF and only if they are on the second story and a ladder is necessary. All of us work in the kitchen occasionally, which can be a lot of fun as I've learned a lot about cooking. For example, if you squish anything into a sawed off PVC pipe and call it a "stack," it is automatically gourmet. Mashed potatoes? commonplace. Mashed potato stack? four star dining. Working in the kitchen can also be terrifying, because the chef is completely and totally bipolar. Seriously, she yelled at me for sitting on a stool once. And then had the stool removed from the kitchen. Every day she acts as if guests arriving for dinner and requesting food is a completely unreasonable demand on her time, and preparing elk with asparagus for four people is the most difficult task anyone has ever undertaken. After work, she becomes our "auntie" and buys us rounds of shots at the local bar.
Hmm. I am sure there is more to add but this has been a little random and scattered. If you want to see some photos, mostly from skiing, check them out here: http://picasaweb.google.com/bowmankf
There's tons, so I won't be offended if you don't look at them all
Glad to hear everyone, including the intruder Greg, is alive and well!
Kate
We unexpectedly got three days off in a row this weekend so we came up to the front range to go climbing in Boulder Canyon, hoping to get in better shape for Yosemite. Today we climbed in Dream Canyon. According to our guidebook it's a popular spot for nudists and/or homosexuals, but all we found was some nice, clean granite trad and sport. Our nearest option for climbing is called Penitente Canyon. I'm not a huge fan as it has slabby climbing on volcanic rock and rattlesnakes. The most prominent feature is a portrait of the Virgin Mary, painted halfway up the wall.
On the way up, Ben met up with some Dmouth alums and ran Bailey's Canyon. It was so sick that he reopened the hole in his creek boat. One of the alums had Steinberg's CPOESAD tshirt! I think we need to reprint that shit.
On other days off we've done other cool stuff. Over the July 31/August 1 weekend we went up to Montezuma Basin, which is near Aspen, and found some snow for some summer turns. We hiked two 14ers, Castle Peak and Conundrum Peak, and even got caught in a blizzard. The whole area was really beautiful, we camped in an alpine meadow full of pikas (watch this video... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7066578568747223192&ei=M_aASrn4NoHEqAPKn7DqBA&q=pika&hl=en) and had our very own camp marmot who devoted most of his energy to trying to get at our food, which we hid from him under a huge pile of rocks.
We've also spent some weekends in Buena Vista (pronounced Byoona Vista..) boating on the Arkansas river, and hiked Mt. Yale, another 14er, with the rest of the Dartmouth crew working at the ranch. (There is no Mt. Dartmouth)
Work on the ranch is not terribly exciting, but also far from terrible. My secondary X chromosome makes me uniquely suited for jobs such as housekeeping, laundry, and "watching the office"... I still don't really know what that entails, as nothing ever happens in the office. Ben does "boy jobs" like painting, fixing fences, washing windows IF and only if they are on the second story and a ladder is necessary. All of us work in the kitchen occasionally, which can be a lot of fun as I've learned a lot about cooking. For example, if you squish anything into a sawed off PVC pipe and call it a "stack," it is automatically gourmet. Mashed potatoes? commonplace. Mashed potato stack? four star dining. Working in the kitchen can also be terrifying, because the chef is completely and totally bipolar. Seriously, she yelled at me for sitting on a stool once. And then had the stool removed from the kitchen. Every day she acts as if guests arriving for dinner and requesting food is a completely unreasonable demand on her time, and preparing elk with asparagus for four people is the most difficult task anyone has ever undertaken. After work, she becomes our "auntie" and buys us rounds of shots at the local bar.
Hmm. I am sure there is more to add but this has been a little random and scattered. If you want to see some photos, mostly from skiing, check them out here: http://picasaweb.google.com/bowmankf
There's tons, so I won't be offended if you don't look at them all
Glad to hear everyone, including the intruder Greg, is alive and well!
Kate
Parker wasn't eaten by lions (yet)
Hey 3d! So I'm still alive. I've gotten about and hour's worth of internet the entire time that I've been here, and usually its wicked slow. Two nights ago I was just about ready to post, and then the power cut - horray disel generators!
Anyhoo, Drew Wong, our token freshman, got malaria a while back - pretty fun.
My fam came out to visit for a bit and stole me away to go on safari. Which was amazing. Serengeti national park is the coolest place. In the span of about 2 football fields, we saw a leopard in a tree, three lions chilling, and a momma cheetah and her 4 almost grown cubs hunt gazelle. We also say lions almost kill a zebra and a warthog (Pumba). My vegetarian sister was not very excited about that, but I was stoked. We had a toyota land crusier with a removable top, so you could just stand up and see all the way around you. Pretty cool - and something that dermo and I are definitely not going to be able to afford when we go off on our own and travel at the end of the summer.
Phew - 5 minutes of internet left. The computers here as a rule are horribly slow. I met a Chimp researcher (or mzungu swahili for european) and she is letting me use her computer.
Lets see - other notable highlights.
The kids in mwamgongo are really cool and fun to hang out with. We have developed a sort of gang of regulars who hang out by our house a lot and we practice swahili with. Minini, canaa and ghali are the main ones. Unfortunately when the village leader heard that kids were bothering us aka peering in windows and throwing rocks in our house, he went straight for our friends for more informtion. Unfortunatly we wittnessed his interogation methods, which was a pretty painful experience. He publically flogged minini for information - not cool. Thankfully our translator knew what to do and told the leader that we didn't want kids beaten on our behalf....
The project is wrapping up, only a week and a half more. Soon a few of us will head to Kalanzi and Mkigo (the coffee growing communities) to check them out for next year. It also looks like Louis, Zach, and I are going to be doing a 190/290 project in the fall and the winter for this project.
Tanzania is an interesting country and there are many things about america that I can't wait to go back to. The first being the concept of respecting someone elses time aka showing up to meetings on time (or at all).
We have been owned so many times this trip. Like the luxury bus that my family and I took coming back to dar. The Ac was broken and most of the windows didn't open. Also it was so luxury that it had a TV, but no headphones. Also everyone who has a TV on in their place is really proud of it and turns the volume up so loud that the speakers distort. So we were treated to 11 full hours of Tanzanian TV and an amazing Soap opera about a man who is engaged, but meets a rich lover in the big city. She then Blinds his fiancee with acid and they then imprison her in her house, don't allow her out of her room, beat her, and don't feed her. Eventually she runs away home and the lovers get married. Then you find out that the woman is really a prostitute, and they brake up and yeah its a messed up story.
best part was that most of the sound track was the same two measures, and they were played over and over again.
ok have to go
I'll try to write a more coherant post soon.
Ana, Mccauley, Jake, Ben? Are you alive?
-Parker
Anyhoo, Drew Wong, our token freshman, got malaria a while back - pretty fun.
My fam came out to visit for a bit and stole me away to go on safari. Which was amazing. Serengeti national park is the coolest place. In the span of about 2 football fields, we saw a leopard in a tree, three lions chilling, and a momma cheetah and her 4 almost grown cubs hunt gazelle. We also say lions almost kill a zebra and a warthog (Pumba). My vegetarian sister was not very excited about that, but I was stoked. We had a toyota land crusier with a removable top, so you could just stand up and see all the way around you. Pretty cool - and something that dermo and I are definitely not going to be able to afford when we go off on our own and travel at the end of the summer.
Phew - 5 minutes of internet left. The computers here as a rule are horribly slow. I met a Chimp researcher (or mzungu swahili for european) and she is letting me use her computer.
Lets see - other notable highlights.
The kids in mwamgongo are really cool and fun to hang out with. We have developed a sort of gang of regulars who hang out by our house a lot and we practice swahili with. Minini, canaa and ghali are the main ones. Unfortunately when the village leader heard that kids were bothering us aka peering in windows and throwing rocks in our house, he went straight for our friends for more informtion. Unfortunatly we wittnessed his interogation methods, which was a pretty painful experience. He publically flogged minini for information - not cool. Thankfully our translator knew what to do and told the leader that we didn't want kids beaten on our behalf....
The project is wrapping up, only a week and a half more. Soon a few of us will head to Kalanzi and Mkigo (the coffee growing communities) to check them out for next year. It also looks like Louis, Zach, and I are going to be doing a 190/290 project in the fall and the winter for this project.
Tanzania is an interesting country and there are many things about america that I can't wait to go back to. The first being the concept of respecting someone elses time aka showing up to meetings on time (or at all).
We have been owned so many times this trip. Like the luxury bus that my family and I took coming back to dar. The Ac was broken and most of the windows didn't open. Also it was so luxury that it had a TV, but no headphones. Also everyone who has a TV on in their place is really proud of it and turns the volume up so loud that the speakers distort. So we were treated to 11 full hours of Tanzanian TV and an amazing Soap opera about a man who is engaged, but meets a rich lover in the big city. She then Blinds his fiancee with acid and they then imprison her in her house, don't allow her out of her room, beat her, and don't feed her. Eventually she runs away home and the lovers get married. Then you find out that the woman is really a prostitute, and they brake up and yeah its a messed up story.
best part was that most of the sound track was the same two measures, and they were played over and over again.
ok have to go
I'll try to write a more coherant post soon.
Ana, Mccauley, Jake, Ben? Are you alive?
-Parker
Saturday, August 1, 2009
LILY's back
That was an amazing guest post by our friend Greggles. Mostly amazing because I didn't have to write that all out. I think he will be my designated blogger for the rest of the summer.
Also, just want to clarify -- i was not off-my-ass drunk as greggles claims. I was drunk, but only because any little bit of alcohol really gets to me because i have never slept this little in my life. Egan and I went drink-for-drink and we tied. Wasn't hungover in the least bit Friday morning, just a little more exhausted than I was the day before. In addition, Greggles was literally harassing me to blog about his visit - now I think I know how Dom feels when people are trying to get points :-)
But Greggles visit was very much needed; it's great seeing people that actually know you and getting introduced to new dartmouth people. I can't wait to make new friends in the fall! I've met a lot of new dartmouth people this summer and we've all had really different Dartmouth experiences - it's really interesting to hear about them. One night, my apartment's living room was full of girls and everyone got to talking about girl stuff. 2/3 of them had been sexually assaulted at some point in their lives. I remember in the spring when that whole AD and Psi U thing happened, and my reaction was like "oh my gosh, I know approximately 0 people who have ever been sexually assaulted, they are making a pretty big deal out of something I don't think is that large of an issue." I think I was wrong, and I think there are a lot of other things I don't know about Dartmouth and will only find out if I get to talk to more people.
Finally got a load of laundry done. We had this bullshit washer that is also a dryer that flooded our apt after the first use, and doesn't really dry because how could it? Literally the entire bucket is full of water, and it thinks its going to be dry? So I dropped off my laundry and Mr. Sak's (hehe he's asian) and it was a very clean place with nice technology. I was impressed.
Anyways, I will blog about the last 3 weeks of my life some other time. It's been real. And at least I've learned a lot about myself. Which sounds really cliche but is true.
LET ME KNOW HOW YOU'RE DOING. I miss you all.
PS. I definitely do not dress like that barbie greggles had on his post. I'm asian first off.
Also, just want to clarify -- i was not off-my-ass drunk as greggles claims. I was drunk, but only because any little bit of alcohol really gets to me because i have never slept this little in my life. Egan and I went drink-for-drink and we tied. Wasn't hungover in the least bit Friday morning, just a little more exhausted than I was the day before. In addition, Greggles was literally harassing me to blog about his visit - now I think I know how Dom feels when people are trying to get points :-)
But Greggles visit was very much needed; it's great seeing people that actually know you and getting introduced to new dartmouth people. I can't wait to make new friends in the fall! I've met a lot of new dartmouth people this summer and we've all had really different Dartmouth experiences - it's really interesting to hear about them. One night, my apartment's living room was full of girls and everyone got to talking about girl stuff. 2/3 of them had been sexually assaulted at some point in their lives. I remember in the spring when that whole AD and Psi U thing happened, and my reaction was like "oh my gosh, I know approximately 0 people who have ever been sexually assaulted, they are making a pretty big deal out of something I don't think is that large of an issue." I think I was wrong, and I think there are a lot of other things I don't know about Dartmouth and will only find out if I get to talk to more people.
Finally got a load of laundry done. We had this bullshit washer that is also a dryer that flooded our apt after the first use, and doesn't really dry because how could it? Literally the entire bucket is full of water, and it thinks its going to be dry? So I dropped off my laundry and Mr. Sak's (hehe he's asian) and it was a very clean place with nice technology. I was impressed.
Anyways, I will blog about the last 3 weeks of my life some other time. It's been real. And at least I've learned a lot about myself. Which sounds really cliche but is true.
LET ME KNOW HOW YOU'RE DOING. I miss you all.
PS. I definitely do not dress like that barbie greggles had on his post. I'm asian first off.
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