The Mind Storms

Africa in a Nutshell Picture

2006-07-31T15:44:00.001-07:00

Slide Show

2006-07-31T15:44:00.000-07:00

More pics!

2006-03-26T18:34:00.000-08:00

London!!!

2006-01-14T12:51:00.000-08:00

So I finished off Africa with a bang and now I'm almost done with England. And I am officially not the man whore of the trip anymore :). I freeze to death (nearly) and eat ostrich.

The LAST DAY of Africa

So our friends who got tickets earlier worked out a deal to get their money back that they had to spend to change their flights. So Paul, Julie, and I went to Kenya Airways to get the money. Well they had no idea what we were talking about. We talked with them for 2 hours, but since we didn't have the reciepts nothing happened.

After that Julie and Paul were tired so we watched King Kong for $3. It really made me think about the concept of tameing love vs. letting love do it's natural thing. The natural thing lost which made me sad, darn beauty always messing with us Taoists.

After that we went to one of the 50 best restaurants in the world: The Carnivore. Here they served us all sorts of fun foods like roasted crocodile and ostrich meat balls. I stuffed myself so full. I also got pineapple pie!

After dinner we headed to the airport for a long wait. In line I met ANOTHER girl from Africa whos working on Computer Science and she wants to own her own business. But then we split up on the airplane. Just amazing how many women who know computers there are in Africa.

IN LONDON

So I have 7 minutes to describe to you some absolutely crazy things.

First off it's freezing cold. There is no sun in London and its near water. That and I did not bring anything but African clothes. But there's a happy ending.

We are staying at this sketchy Hostel for $30 a night next to glouchester street. The people are Syrian I think. They keep telling me to take a whole pineapple for breakfast. "Take it, take it" throwing it into my arms.

I went to Westminster Abbey and spent a good portion of the day there and went to evensong. I talked to an adult tourist during that time. At the end he gave me about $40 and told me to go buy a jacket. So I did. It was so nice, and surprising. (I really wasn't going to buy a jacket otherwise, as they are so expensive). I went to the Modern Art Museum today and saw some freaky stuff. The main exhibit was a bunch of cardboard boxes. Very strange.

I said good bye to Julie and then I'm takeing off to go clubbing at a place that seems to use glow and the dark paint. And then I'm going home. WOw.

The crazy part is I'm all alone in London. I will reflect more on this later.

Oh ya I saw the Lion King on the theatre the same day I was in Kenya :)

The Last Day in Africa

2006-01-11T22:21:00.000-08:00

So leaving has been an adventure in itself.

We get to the Zanzibar airport super early and decide to get something to eat. We go to a coke stand and ask how big the large fries is. The server says its a mountain of fries. We order one. When we get the fries they are not even stacked. We tell the waiter, this is not a Kilimanjaro of fries, its a Sarangeti. He laughs.

Our flight gets delayed to go to Kenya. In the mean time we get to see the chief of the police (Colin Powel for the USA) come into an airport and get greeted. Teju records it, which apparantly could get him arrested. Because our flight is delayed I get a free snickers which rocked. We bought a tanzania joke book which was the funniest thing I had ever seen because it was so rediculous: A man tries to seduce a women to come up stairs with him. She does not respond. He goes down to talk to her, she ends up being a hollow drum. That was joke #1.

After the flight I got a peanut butter and jelly sandwhich from the girls which was AMAZING. I then had to leave BY MYSELF to go to a hotel as I was leaving at a different time. It freaked me out. Here I am in one of the most dangerous cities of the world all by myself. I had to go outside to use the ATM and my hands were shakeing trying to find my debit card. Eventually, I get my money and find a taxi and head off to a hotel that I have no idea where it is (The Nairobi Youth Hostel).

So at the Hostel I met Julie (Paul still was no where to be found) as she was going to bed. She said she had a roomate named Heather. Heather got home real late, but I'm glad I stayed up, she was amazing. She is spending a year traveling all over the world. She has found a romantic love in Ireland who was French and spent a large time skiing the alps and touring france with him. She plans on going all over Africa and the Middle Asia as a graduation thing from college. She's studying Criminal Justice.

The best part is we have similiar philosiphies. She also doesn't believe problems are real, life absolutely rocks, and relationships are near impossible to form. So we talked for ever swapping stories. In this place the walls were really thin so we had 4 people come and tell us to be quiet. At one point the manager knocked on the door, we were scared it was someone scary so we didn't answer it. Eventually, he walked to the window and yelled at us. He said "If you want to whisper go to a club, this is a hotel". But none the less, meeting Heather was a wonderful end to my adventures, and reminded me there are other Elliott's out there, even if they aren't in the CU engineering department.

Paul came home this morning. We have to go pick up $500 for the other guys who got refunds on their ticket switches. We also are planning on visiting a place where water flows up hill today. How exciting. To finish the day we plan on going to CARNIVORE, which is like a circus in Africa. What a wonderful conclusion. And then I'm off to London, to do who knows what.

I can't wait to see all of you.

Elliott Hedman

er I mean

Loserian

Nearing the End

2006-01-10T04:46:00.000-08:00

So lots of fun updates for my relaxing beach portion of the trip. Highlights include Elliott saleing his sandles, a run in with the Tanzania millitary with 4 people questionin g me, a treasure hunt across the beach from the mysterious Captain Shrodinger, sand castle makeing with BJ, and a wooden giraffe. Yey wooden giraffe.

So last time I was reading my Angels and Demons. I was going to read every day, but then something got in the way. It was going to be Teju's birthday. Now I got together with the other guys (The girls are some other random town for the rest of the trip) and asked what we should do. We decided that Teju could use a huge Treasure Hunt. (Remembering his reaction to Ashley's tiny treasure hunt). So I basicly spend an entire day makeing a treasure hunt. I decide to pull some The Alchemist symbology on Teju and hav e him end up where he begins which was at the FAT FISH. So I grab 7 gold business cards from our hotel Amaan and circle a letter on each one. I put triangles and underlines also to confuse Tej u. I then hid the 7 cards all the way across the beach, and marked x's near where they were. I then put clues at these locations wh ere Teju could find the clues and then with the clues find where the gold card was. It was kind of complicated.

Here's a few hints that I laid out for him:

After getting to a lonely tree surrounded by disregards (trash) there is a piece of paper. It says "A short walk from here is a 5 sided shape surrounded by leaves. The warrior within holds your clue". It ends up there was a nearby store called the pentegram with weed leaves on both sides. In the front of the store was a warrior statue. I put the clue in the warriors hand. When Teju did the treasure hunt, he walked right past the warrior and it took him forever to find it :)

Another fun example was on the map I marked an X at Tattered Japan. Which ended up being a torn Japan flag. It then said take the number of countries that can be raised (empty flag poles) and add that to two hundred. Then go to that room to find golden clue number 2.

Anyway the treasure hunt was awsome. I had the waitress put down in front of teju a coke bottle with a letter from a pirate and a treasure map to start off the whole thing which totally surprised him. At one point in time Teju was on the 2nd floor and standing right on top of the clue (litterly) but couldnt find it. Ben took a hilarious picture. When he finished we walked back to the most beautiful sunset ever. Palm trees. Purple. A giant su n. The water had the color of the sunset on the foam next to the sand. Amazing! When we got back to the fat fish we had a cake and candles waiting for Teju.

So I put about 2 days work into makeing the treasure hunt. It was so hard persuadeing people I was doing a "treasure hunt", which apparantly they don't teach in English. I had to tape a clue on a boat and the guy kept thinking I wanted to advertise on the boat with my Amaan clue. The best was when I got to the light house.

The light house was owned by the millitary , and I wanted Teju's last clue to be at the top. So I went over. The first time I got yelled at by some guy so I left. The next day I went over and quickly taped a clue in a rusty barrel ( I had made a mini map that lead to it). Well one of the millitary guys spotted me and ran after me. Then I was surrounded by four of them. None of them could speak Enlish. They asked me if I could read the sign, pointing at that sign that said no trespass that I had walked past. I told them I didn't understand (I'm so sly). They then pointed to my journal I had in my hand and told me they knew I could read. At this point a guy who could speak Enlish came over.

He took my clue and looked at it. He asked why did I tape this Amaan card in a rusty bucket. I told him it was Teju's birthday. I don't think he really understood. I spent like 20 minutes try ing to explain what was happening (I needed to get the card back). Eventually, they let me go for who knows what reason. I then taped the clue on the back of the no trespass sign, which got removed while I was gone.

Another fun story with the treasure hunt was getting tape. Apparantly there was one store that had tape in the entire African village. I went to the grocery store and asked for tape. They tell me to go to the hardware store. The hardware store tells me to go across the street. That store tells me to go up one more. I do this for a LONG time, going to about 10 stores. Eventually, a kid guides me down a back alley and I get totally lost, but they did have electrical tape.

I bought a really cool looking mask (there are hands hanging from the guys ears) and a wooden giraffe. :) That made me run out of actual cash again. But then I realized that I wanted to get my little brothers a checker board. So I barter with the giraffe saler and ask him if he would sale it. Well I didn't have as much as he was asking for $60. He then told me he would give it to me for $30 and my shoes. I tell him my shoes are leather bound and very valuable (now I'm the saler) (they were actually discounted at Garts and killed my feet on this trip, asking to go in the trash at home). I tell him they are near brand new and he'll never see another pair. I get him down to $20 and the shoes. Well I don't have $ 20 so I go to the other stores and now the entire market is interested in my shoes. At the other store I get it down to $15 and my shoes (I only had $5 left). I begin to leave and the giraffe man offers me $10 and my shoes. I tell him no. He then flicks me off in a very strange way with his thumb behind his back. That night I borrowed some money for Teju and got the chess set for $10 and my sandles. It's sweet, hand carved pieces with giraffes as knights.

As you could imagine now my back pack is supre full. I have to carry around my giraffe (it is about waste high). I packaged it really well though for no materials. There is a cereal box between all fourlegs and a water bottle between the two close ones. I used a cookie box to protect a fragile leg and foot. Everything is covered in plastic bags. It really is a work of art in itself.

The rest of the day I spent building sand castles with the group. As a proffesional snow sculpotor (international award 2 times in a row for youth) I knew a thing or two about scultpting. I taught the group how to make huge towers in sand. You put in a little. At 2 parts sand, 1 part water. (avoid the shells). And pound it. You keep doing this layer after layer. Garrett and Hayden know what I'm talking about with our Seattle adventures. Well to do this I needed a bucket.

All the local women seemed to carry buckett to catch fish. Well I went up to a group and asked if I could borrow a bucket. They didn't understand. Eventually a guy came over to help translate. I don't think they still understood but I got a bucket out of it and started scultpting. At one point in time they asked for it back. I then just snuck into a guys "house" which was a tarp and "borrowed" his bucket. Buckets are a rare commodity here I guess.

The castle was pretty sweet but I got tired so I took a nap. For dinner I had steak and lobster for $8. Yummy!

Post-Dinner I stayed up pretty much all night (litteraly) and sat next to the beach finishing Angels and Demons.

I could predict the ending way too soon, so it was a bit dull, but the concepts it represented more than made up for it. Science is blind without religion, but how do we gain faith? How do we create god? Yoga romance. All the good stuff. I don't know what book I'll read next. I'm thinking about borrowing Ben's "How to recieve love" as that would help me out a lot in my life right now.

Walking home from reading I ran into a guy doing Taibo. That scared me. I also ran into my prostitute friend 2 more times since last we met. Once she was on the dance floor where all the group was dancing, I left that scene. The second time she was sitting on the beach. She asked me to come closer. I told her I wasn't going to fall for that again. From what she told me next I'm glad I didn't.

Probably the most fun was post Teju's Birthday, Teju requested that we go skinny dipping together. You are now reading the Olympic Skinny Dipping Hand Stand champion of the world. I came up with this game where you are naked and try to do a hand stand. It's really interesting as a tide goes up and down constantly. Ben MC'd the event. By the way we were doing this right in front of two restaurants. On my turn for round two, I couldn't stay up, but instead of coming up for air I just kept trying. So it was like an on and off flash of Elliott's legendary member for like 2 minutes. It was an event few will forget. Kelso attacked me for ruining his life long goal :) That night we also remembered when it is people's birthdays we put our buts on them. So we chased Teju around in the water and smothered him with our butts. Good tiems. How many people can say they did that in Africa?

We're back in Stone Town now and things are beggining to wind down. Starting to think about how I want to school to look when I get back. There's lots of changes I look forward to implementing. I can't wait to start working on makeing magic eye stuff.

Oh one more crazy fact, all the Denmark people bought tickets for the wrong day, so their Kenya flight is leaving after there trip to England. So they all have to change their flights. I didn't do this however, so I am home free, just Julie Marie, Paul , and I, partying hard in London. If it's Elliott, style, which I'm sure it will be, there will be lots of touring of the science museum and modern art museum. I'm so hardcore.

And that said, if anyone wants to ever go anywhere in the world Elliott style, you should leave a message on this board. I have fallen in love with world travel (it's an open relationship, so don't worry), and want to go to so many more places. So let me know if that sounds itneresting on this blog (if you really read all of this).

Oh one more fun thing: This morning I got a Henna tattoo.

I put a few lines there to freak out my mom. A henna tatoo is from spices and stays on your skin for a few weeks. Well I'm not to good with tattoos. I tell the lady to do whatever she wants. She asks me to write my name. Well I'm like oh cool how about Lo Serian. She's like is that your girlfriend. I told her unfortuantely I don't have a girlfriend. Well I wrote down the name wrong and she put it in my skin LOSARIAN. She then put a heart at the end, apparantly she thought it still was my girl friend. So now I'm in love with myself. But none the less hopping into the van to Stone Town I wipe the stuff all over my shirt and it smears my name. So I now have a semi-pernament tatoo that says LoSSDFD on my arm. Oh the engineers are going to be jealous back home. See you guys reall soon. This could be my last post till I get home. How sad. Then again, only 8 more days till Elliott's birthday. Woo hoo!!!

~Lo Serian

(Coincidently, Lo serian means no problems, makes you think, I also found out it means the one who is always blessed )

2006-01-06T08:59:00.000-08:00

The Ugangi Village Elliott stayed at

2006-01-06T08:58:00.000-08:00

Nema dancing with Elliott at a wedding!

2006-01-06T08:56:00.000-08:00

Elliott attempting to carry mangoes on his head!

2006-01-06T08:54:00.000-08:00

Elliott getting his name LoSarian

Update:Zanazibar

2006-01-06T08:34:00.000-08:00

So I wrote this whole thing and then the power went out, so here is a much shorter version. Elliott goes snorkeling for the first time, he plays soccer on the beach, meats Danish people and talks about legos, finds a stalker family from South Africa and reads 200 pages, and has no more money.

I woke up after my strange night with prostitutes and got an early breakfast and took off for snorkeling. We piled into a a little boat called a dow with 20 other people and set off towards an island off zanzibar. This boat was made out of wood and was very rocky over on the hour long trip. A little girl threw up.

At the coral reef we went snorkeling which was so much fun. I saw schools of fish, fish that were neon pink and green. Those fish had etches on their face that looked eerily familiar to circuits. I saw flounders, eels, and water snakes also. I saw this freaky looking red starfish. The favorite fish I saw was a purple fish that I am calling a flying fish. It's fins looked like wings and they went up and down instead of back and foreth. When I found one of these, I would just follow it around and see where it goes.

Snorkeling was really hard for me as I didn't really get directions and kind of just dived right in litteraly. My snorkel kept filling up with water and choking me. I drank so much salt water. Every 5 minutes I would get my snorkel full of water again.

At one point I resurfaced and an entire South African family was chilling up on the top. I just said outloud that my snorkel was filling every five seconds drowning me. They seemed to think that was real funny (south africans mostly speak English). I then had a friendly conversation of who I was before going back in the water. I asked the guide how much more time I have and he told me 15 minutes. I said, "Good, don't want you to leave me" at this point the SA family (South African) laughed histerically and told me that I should take as long as I want up to 4 hours, they will send regards to my family. On the way into the water, I told them to give my stereo to my brother.

At the end we all came back to get food. The SA family asked why I resurfaced. I told them drowning now would conflict with my desire to be eaten by a lion. They informed me in SA there are lots of lions.

The way home was an amazing trip, we got more than we paid for. The waves were ridicuously high and we seriously thought we were going to capsize. The best part was I was sitting in the front, and I would constantly get splashed with water. The salt water was hurting my eyes so I put on a snorkel mask. In addition everytime the water hit I would say "Argh!!". Amazingly Ben, BJ, and Teju followed suit and we were all dressed hillariously yelling pirate slander.

The boat would rock back and forth continuously, and at one point the boat got so full of water we had to stop and use buckets to get the water out. We saw a pack of dolphions too.

After that trip I took a walk up the beach and saw some kids playing beach soccer. Unlike Kenya, these kids were adults, there was about 30 of them, and they were playing on a field a fourth the size of a regular field. None the less I jumped right in. They kept giving me the thumbs up whenever I did anything good and at one point I almost headed in a goal . They were really aggressive.

At dinner Kelso brought to women from Denmark to eat with us that he had been eyeing. One of them Kristina and I had a very vivid conversation. At one point I yelled really loud "I LOVE legos" as Denmark is the lego capital of the world. Kristina is majoring in day care which socialist Denmark takes very seriously.

Later that night I brought out my stick and I was made fun of in Enlish for the first time. An irish lady asked me if that stick I dance with is a replacement for the women I can't get.

That night I meditated on the beach for a long time and read some more Reconstructing Christianity. My favorite quote:

"You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you weird".

Today I spent as an incredibly lazy person. I just sat on the beach and read 200 pages of Angels and Demons, which is an amazing book by the way. It was wonderful. The SA family litterly stopped by to talk to me 6 times that day. Crazy! And they always ask me to tell them something funny.

Besides that I've been enjoying Zanzibar and totally relaxing which I hope to do a few more times before I get back to my busy life. Which will also be good because I will get to see you again!!! Huzzah!

2006-01-06T08:33:00.000-08:00

Elliott dancing at a wedding. Look at the faces :)

2006-01-06T08:31:00.000-08:00

This should be an advertisement. Coke: it makes you Elliott!

2006-01-06T08:28:00.000-08:00

Elliott after dancing on enw years at a rap concert!

LoSarian in Zanzibar!!

2006-01-04T01:38:00.000-08:00

So now we have 8 days in Africa and its time for my actual break. What better way then going to Zanzibar!

Zanzibar is a small island off of the coast of Tanzania, which is like the Euorpean Hawaii. We first spent 2 days in Stone Town. A few highlights:

Stone Town is this absolutely amazing looking city. A bunch of hold, tall historic buildings and winding roads everywhere. Combine that with palm trees and beach and you have the coolest town ever.

I explored pretty much every part of the town. It was really interesting how the church and the mosque of the town were litterly right next to eachother. There were a lot of cannons everywhere. We went to the local market and bought this really strange looking fruit. There were little things that were fruit but looked like bugs inside. They tasted like onions. Weird. I also stopped by the meat section which absolutely discusting. Bunch of meat slabs hanging everywhere. The salers kept slapping their meet as if I was going to take a cow's thigh back to my house.

We toured a palace turned museum which was very enlightning on the history of Stone Town. At the top was an AMAZING view of the entire town and the beach. We watched the sunset from their in the most amazing cloud cover.

That day I got really good at my bargaining ability because I was really sick of people pestering me to buy stuff. The secret is that I simply would stick to a really low price and never go up, at all. It works wonders.

With that bargaining power, I was able to 50 door decorations for my entire floor. They are bannana leafs glued together to make pictures, all African. I got 50 of them for $50, which was in my budget. So now I'm going to need a gel pen and write everyone's names on them. I'm also going to draw arrow's pointing at parts. So for instance, Dillon won't just have Dillon, he'll have a arrow pointing to a spot on the cheetah with the title Dillon: The 32nd Cheetah Spot. I just love thinking about it.

We went to the fish market afterwards to pick up dinner. I ordered shrimp and lobster for $3. Yummy!!

The others in the group wanted to find hookah, but they tried for about 3 hours, and never got it. It was an impossible struggle.

The next day after a really good complimentary breakfast (eggs, fruit, yogurt, toast, and tea) we headed up for a spice tour. Random trivia knowledge: Zanzibar is known as the spice island.

We loaded 9 people into the 7 passanger van and headed up to a spice farm. There we got to see all sorts of different spices. Strangely enough, I got a runny nose that day. So I could barely smell anything at all. But I definately could smell the lemon grass, that smelled exactly like fruity pebbles. Yummy, fruity pebbles :) We saw a kid climb up a cocunt tree and I got to drink an entire cocunut. I also got to taste a bunch of really good fruits. There was this one fruit Apple something that tasted just like apple pie. We learned how vanilla was produced, and why it is so expensive as well. At the end we got to try some shots of tea, which tasted great.

Then we drove to the north part of Zanzibar. Our guide loved American music all 80's and he sang along on the drive. I decided to chime along as well on my favorite "What is Love?" Ya, I really got into that one.

We saw a really cool squiggly cocunt tree on the way as well.

We got pulled over twice from police because we had too many people in the vehicle. I was sitting in the front, but amazingly, I don't think I messed anything up. Our driver was really upset, and for a long while we thought we were going to be left in the middle of a rainforest because we were an illegal vehicle. Luckily, we were allowed to get to the resorts.

The tricky thing about Zanzibar van and taxi drivers is that they get commisions if they get us to go to specific hotels. Our driver kept trying to get us to go to one hotel, we kept telling him no, but he kept pushing. It was very strange.

We ended up at a bungalo right next to the beach, with a look of the entire ocean. It's amazing.

AT THE BEACH

So I have really dedicated myself to spending some alone time in front of the beach, to cool down. I've had some interesting encounters none the less.

So I walked across to check out the beach and was crossing back to go back to the hotel. I decided to go through all of the buildings. At one point I noticed 5 absolutely amazing looking women. They were all reading (so hot)! So I decide I would walk by that building, as it was in that direction anyway. Well it ends up after I cross them I end up at a dead end fence. There's a tractor on my left squeezed into a very sketchy place and a garden shet on my right, all surrounded by fence. I debate for a minute, and decide to casually, and cooly, act as if I meant to come to this dead end and turn around. Well at that point all 5 women had put down their books and were stairing at me. Then they started laughing at me. I asked them where they were from and they said Germany. And so that was the begging of that meeting. I meet up with them again later.

I sneak into another beach resort and fall asleep on their outdoor beds after going for a swim. At sunset I ordered a milkshake and watched the sun set, it was grand. At one point while I was watching the sunset, a man decided to take a shower right behind me, so I watched the sunset while getting splashed by water from above (the shower) and below (the waves).

Our group ate dinner together and then decided to take a 45 minute break before meeting again. I decided to go walk on the beach at night, with the moon reflecting in the water.

A little ways down the beach, I crossed a women who greeted me. I told her "hello". I told her my name was LoSarian, and she told me her name was Shania. She then told me "I want to suck you". At that point it was very weird. I couldn't figure out if this was a prostitute or a desperately horny person. She asked me where I lived, which I didn't tell her, and that she wanted to go there. I then told her that I do not pay money for sexual favors, it's wrong. At that point she said "No big money, just little money". At that point I was pretty sure she was a prostitute. So I have never really spent much time with prostitutes in the past, so this was something new for me. I sat a few feet in front of her and told her that she was a better person than that. I told her she should try to get money in a more constructive way. I told her that she is more valuable than that. I kept saying you are worth more than that, the whole time she kept saying "I understand" and "I want to suck you". I found out that she is a message therapist during the day, and just wants more money. At one point she asked me whether I wanted a half an hour or an hour. I just kept trying to tell her "You are a better person than that, I don't want you physically, you should do something more". Well, she took this as me trying to get a cheap price somehow and she kept saying back. I'll give a low price. Eventually, she said she would do it for free, seriously. I really am a hard bargainer. But I still told her no, you are more important that and got up to leave. She told me to sit down next to her. I sat down and tried talking to her more. She then put her head on my shoulder and her hand on my knee. I told her, no, you are makeing me uncomfortable. I then told her I am going to leave and began to get up. Then she straight out groped me. It was such a disturbing feeling.

Well I learned more than I wanted to about sex and prostitution that night. I think I will stop trying to instill value into prositutes so much, and if I do, I will definately keep a bit more distance. But it really makes you wonder, how do you define prostitution. At one point she said she would do it for free, but I definately felt that there was still some nasty prostitution going on. (Not that I ever contemplated saying yes, but it made me wonder what is the difference between this and kissing a girl who wants to kiss you and doesn't ask for money)

Back at the restaurant we gave our week and a half late Secret Santa gifts. Ashley was my secret Pal. I wrote her a clue on a piece of paper:

Dear Ashley,

You are a good SPEAKER.

Your secret pal,
Elliott Hedman

So she looked at it and was like um, thanks Elliott. I told her that she really was a good public speaker. And there was like 7 minutes of silent confusion. Ben knew what was going on because he saw me plant the clues.

I told Ahsley, "You can LOOK FOR more meaning in there if you think about it" and Ben told her "You just really need to EXPLORE your thoughts".

Ashley was like, does that mean you think I'm a good singer? :) I told her "If that's what you want to get out of it".

Finally, the group persuaded her that she should look at the music speakers in the building. Behind one of the speakers I put a hint.

Don't have RESERVATIONS, just look.

She quickly found the no reservation sign. The last clue was tricky.

It said Your gift can be found Jubon's Dream.

Ashley had a a very confused look on her face for a second, but then Teju, in his excitement yelled it's in the boat and ran over to it, before Ashley could thing. At the boat there was a rock, and Ashley asked is this my gift. I told her if she wants it to be. Eventually, she found my gift.

I had gotten her close tribal friend Zuwate to write her a letter in English and Swahilli about what she thought about Ashley. I then sewed it onto a blanket myself :) It was a great way to remember such a special moment.

During the Secret Santa a thon, I had put on a cheap plastic crown and was giving everyone christmas crackers to pop, like my family does. I also had one of those blow horns that goes out really far and makes funny noises every time you blow in my mouth. At this exact moment when I was blowing really hard and obnoxiously, the German girls walked by (all 5 of them). They all waved at me. Wow!

After gifts, Ben came up with a game where we wrote down all the things that are worrying us. I had a lot, mainly about unresolved things back at school. (You know who you are!). And then we took those worrys and threw them in the ocean.

I then took another walk on the beach alone. Well Shaquila was still there and she came up to me. She tried grabbing my hands and putting them on her ass. I told her no, I had to get to my friends, and told her she needs to change. She told me that all she wanted was $10. I told her no and walked on. I found a cave spot that was really neat and sat there and looked at the water for a good time just looking at the ocean. And that's where we left off.

I'm going to go spend the rest of the day just sitting on the beach, writing in my journal, and meditating. It's going to be fun.

I hope you all have a fun rest of the break, and I am sure I will see you all soon.

LoSarian at an African Rap Concert

2006-01-01T05:28:00.000-08:00

First of all. Happy New Years. Especially to my family, who I did not spend New Years with for the first time ever. I missed our car nose races. That said I did replace it with me being in a room with over 2000 africans and us. Read on for details ;)

So the last thing I had talked about was me talking to the chiefs of the Messiah village and getting a marriage proposal and a sweet new name.

Elliott and Paul dressed like Messiah warriors gettign jiggy with it. (The purple represents the nice God, the red represents the angry side of god, and the headlamp represents how LoSairan and electricity cannot be seperated).

To see my friends blog about Africa go here: http://www.xanga.com/paulypocket29 If you want a different perspective.

The rest of our Messiah tour involved us riding on camel back which was so much fun. When the camels got up it was a roller coaster in itself as they lift their front legs and then their back legs which are taller than me. Riding on camel in a dessert was such an intense feeling. It felt very natural and freeing, and it hurt my thighs. At some points villagers would come out to greet us and wave at us. It was like I was on a parade.

The other group filled me in with their details finally and witnessed two actual kills on the rest of the Safari which is amazingly lucky (There guide had only seen 4 his whole life before that for 7 years). Imagine a zebra jumping onto a zebra's back. Crazy!!!

So I came back to the Arusha, now with two marriage proposals and a Messiah name and walking stick. Back in Arusha we talked to a man who helped childrens with AIDS that Ben had a connection to. It was amazing how Africa is combatting AIDS. Every meeting for anything has 5 minutes dedicated to talking about AIDS prevention.

We took a 10 hour bus ride to Dar Es Salam. It was fun seeing the miles and miles of small towns. I also saw a movie made in Africa which had some of the worst acting ever combined with the nutcracker music as the background music. It took place in Africa, and the best music they could think of useing was African!!!

In Dar Es Salam we met another man from Ashley's contacts and took him out to dinner below the United Nations Headquarters. It was a quaint little bar that played Enrique Gonzales music. Oh how I loved it when I heard Bailamos. That was when I spilled exactly what happened on Christmas Eve to the rest of the group. If anyone wants to know exactly what happened they are going to have to ask me personally :)

After that, we asked our African friend where we shoudl go for New Years. He told us the Diamond Jubilee, as it had live music. I was thinking it was going to be some traditional live music with some sweet dancing. So of course I ware my gold shorts, and a bright silkish orange shirt with giraffes on it. And take note that my hair is incredibly shaggy, and I haven't shaven yet. (Just look at that picture).

So we get ready, (Teju and I lay around along while as the non-drinkers) and then we head up. We get to this place and it ends up being a giant wherehouse. We buy our $4 tickets and head in. What I am about to describe may never do justice:

Imagine 2,000 black Afircans. And imagine them all sitting in lawn chairs. Then imagine 9 white people walking in. Ya we kind of stood out. Whenever I walked around everyone would stair at me. The good news was that they were all about my age of people and they all wore pretty normal clothes. Except for me. I was the only guy who wore shorts and the color orange.

So basicly this was where the locals really did go. I went to the bathroom and it was FILLED with pot smoke. I could barely see my pee.

So things you should know about LoSarian. LoSarian does not like rap too much (besides this one really cool CD I recieved). On top of that Losarian has never really danced to rap. He doesn't really like dancing to that stuff. Oh and Losarian is really shy around girls and asking them to dance. And finally, Losarian could not speak Swahilli. If you can't figure it out, I'm kind of out of my security circle.

That said the rapping started and it had a pretty good beat and the singers got into it. But the audience was dead. It killed my entire stereotype of black men being really good dancers (Sorry Aaron). They just sat there in their seats and didn't even move except once in a blue moon to wave their hands.

So I was kind of bummed. No dancing, and its rap, yuck. And then I said to myself, hmm, I can take this as a challenge. If I could start dancing with some women here, than I really would conquer my fear of dancing, as everything is against me. And so the quest was on.

So there are three REALLY attractive girls standing next to us, probably more attractive than Neema even, and so I set my goals high. Remeber I'm with a bunch of PLC studs here as well, like Ben, BJ, Paul, and the rest of the hotties.

So I do a few turns and shy away but I start building confidence. But then on one of the songs one of the girls grabs me (I'm calling her Neena because thats what I think she said it was). And so we start dancing.

So Neena was dressed in a pink see through shirt with this small bikini under it. She wore jeans and a red thong.

Now some further notes: Losarian has never really grinded in his life, nor bumped rears, nor really been closer than 8 inches close to a girl while dancing.

Well Neena's danceing style was a little bit different. Her legs litterly went under mine. She would go up and down and we were extremely close. Holy cow that was a new form of dancing I'd never tried. And I also discovered what the concept of grinding was.

Wow!! So I danced with her the whole night from like 12 -2. There was glitter in my hair from when our small group threw it in the air and I was extreemly sweaty. But let me say, it was one crazy night to start the new year.

I tried to get the other group members to join in but they wanted to stay in their own circle so it was just Neena and I.

Looking into Neena's eyes was the best part. She seemed to say so much to me, despite the fact there was no way for us to actually communicate.

Neena also taught me how to holler and say Ye Yo (kind of like He Ho) so we would yell that out loud throughout the night.

Eventually Neena did a crazy head shaking move, but little did she realize I could pull that one back on her.

So eventually Neena and I got our friends together near the end and we all did the train and did a dance circle. Paul poored me with water at the end right before I went into the middle. When I danced with my sandles in the middle, I started slipping and sliding in a very non rap way. I think about 50 people were watching us instead of the rappers. Isn't it strange that African's view of white people dancing came from me :).

So I had to go home with the group as it was really unsafe for me to stay alone at night. I said Asanti Sana (Thank You) to Neena and left. It's weird that was all I ever will say to her and I will never see her again. I had such intense feelings.

On the way out a fight broke out and a man threatened to rob us. I thought he said "You Rock" so I laughed, Eric informed me of my error later on that night.

The group also informed me that while Neena was grinding me her boob had actually popped out of her shirt and she was nipple grinding me. I was not aware about that but it seems to be group consensus.

I took a shower when I got home to get the sprinkles out of my hair. Only the hot water ran.

The next day we took a Ferrienzibar a beach resort island off of Tanzania. I stood on the edge and looked out at the ocean for an hour and half. That was such a great way to start the new years day. I did a lot of thinking about my place in the world.

We are now in Zanzibar ready to relax for an entire week. Maybe I'll start reading the 6 books I brought :). But I'm sure I'll still go find those crazy adventures some more. Paul and I have already decided that we are going to go to clubbing tonight :) I also had the best tasting shrimp ever. It was chinese pineapple prawns. I am a big fan of seafood so it's going to be so fun eating when you can get lobster for $5.

As for what I have been thinking about philisophicaly:

I find that my love for people is stronger than I could have ever imagned. It is so strong that all my fears disapear in an attempt to meet them. I have discovered that my life at home has been tied to so many things that don't really have that much direct importance to me: bussiness, academic fame, girlfriends, pulling amazing things off. I hope when I get back I can start applying more purpose to my actions. And remember that I am doing things for the entire world.

I hope to find more ballance in my life. Seek out some people who I seem to keep leaving behind, despite how important I realize they are (Tyler, Lisa, Jimmy, Hallie, Cameron, and a lot more). I've decided that I need to start going the direction I want to go in engineering. I want to start working on Magic Eyes this summer (those pictures that are 3d if you stare at them long enough) (I know enough prgramming to make them).

I now know that I want to see as much of the world as possible while I am young. I also know that meeting real, actual people is much more important to me than seeing tourist sights. I also know that the natural beauty of countries caputres me as well.

I now know I want to live on an island forest when I grow old.

I now have a role model in Paul and BJ.

I now am looking more towards my passion than my purpose. The Messiah people, across the world told me their purpose in life was to be inter connected with others, just like mine. The question is now, how do I want to do that.

I see that poverty is not of people's own laziness. When there isn't enough water to make crops, nor any jobs to pay money, people are forced to be poor, starving, and homeless.

I see that my school at CU in engineering is shut off from the world. And to remember that the things I learn as an engineer will help these people across the world.

I now know how lucky I am to get an education, as most people my age would do ANYTHING to learn, and value it higher than I ever will.

I now know that the world will become a global community, as that is what every person wants, it's boundaries of social upbringing, "politenes", comfortability that hold us back. I know that these boundaries will be broken.

Looking at the ocean or stars, I know I am free and can do ANYTHING I want. I can change the world as I see fit. And I thank god, my family, community, and friends for giving me that opportunity.

And to think our trip is only halfway done and I've already changed so much. Where else is there for me to go :) By the way Garrett and Hayden, I got you guys some sweet masks that match up together (don't forget about Age of Empires 3).

This trip has been absolutely amazing and thank you all for your comments. It warms my heart reading everyone of them. I look forward to seeing you again in person.

Losarian

2005-12-30T08:12:00.000-08:00

So wow my head is throbbing from all the adventures I've been on since last time. I am wearing an incredibly dirty shirt (mainly from the dust coming off of the camel), I haven't seen a mirror or showered for 5 days (thats called synergy), and I only have 10 minutes again. That said, there are definately some things I want to feel you in on:

We went Safariing. It's like going to a really big zoo. I saw an ostrich poop which is very hard to describe. I also saw monkeys haveing sex. At one point we were litterly riding with a herd of elephents which was really fun.

I split off from the main group with Paul and Julie to go visit the Massai. Before we left, we wanted to do one more safari which we didn't pay for. So the driver who couldn't speak any english snuck us in. That was sweet.

So the Massai village was another best part of the trip. It's impossible to list all of the things we did but here are some highlights. (PS another marriage proposal awaits)

Our guide:

The messiah are cattle herders. Our guide ran away from his home to go to bording school. There he learned Swahilli then English. He is a proffesional dancer and singer, the Messiah way. By the way, the Messiah are like the native american in the USA, just cooler. So he is no on the Tanzania council of the arts and a bunch of other titles. He started this tourist program we went on just so we could learn more about the Messiah culture. (We were the first people to have arrived in a month).

In the village we are greeted by 20 little kids. I call them ewoks because they would always scurry when we look at them, and they made funny noises like ewoks.

The village was amazing. It was extremely dry, but it was so neet seeing their clay houses. No one knew how to speak enlish, and very few actually even knew how to speak Swahilli (Tanzania's national language).

We went to the messiah market which was gigantic (probably 1000 people). There we could see all sorts of produce being sold as well as goats, chickens, and cows. Lots of cows. Paul bought some spears and all the Messiah people followed us around afterwards in awe of the spear.

The whole time whenever we took pictures funny things would happen. The culture is trying to change into a picture accepting. Sometimes when Julie would take a picture the people would start freaking out. And start mouthing off at our guide for about 10 minutes. Also, whenever we wanted to take a digital picture, everyone would want to see themselves afterwards. At one point we would have 50 mossiah around us.

I bought a walking stick which the a few people challenged me to a stick fight. I would just wave it in the air a few times, and they always would retreat.

One night we threw a party. We paid $40, and the whole town sang and danced for us ALL NIGHT. They wore some crazy clothes. There singing used their throat in very strange ways with lots of bobbing up and down.

At one point I jumped in the middle like everyone else. Everyone laughed. Apparantly I am not very good at jumping up and down in the Mossiah tradition.

We then put on traditional Mossiah clothes. (Julie looked hilarious) and danced some more.

Then we all went inside and sang even more. At one point they passed out the food which was the worst tasting thing in the world (actuall milk, bannanas, and maize). I am now OFFICIALLY a man because I drank the whole thing. My stomache still shudders.

At one point in the night I went to see the council. They gave me the name LoSarian (meaning no problems). One council man asked me to stay and offered me his daughter to marry. And he also offered to marry my sister. It was amazing.

Time to go once again.

See you guys soon.

Christmas Eve

2005-12-27T09:54:00.000-08:00

So I have 6 minutes left. So I will quickly summarize what happened, and then maybe later go into great detail. Ask questions.

-Go bathing in waterfall in morning

-Go to a wedding in afternoon

-Dance in wedding precession
-Everyone stares at Elliott's dancing

-Get publicly acknowledged at wedding as a group

-Give some money as a gift

-Dance some more

-The whole group leaves besides me

-I dance some more

-At one point I do the worm in front of the whole village.

-When the wedding is done the MC pulls me into the middle and tells me "Let me show you how to dance African"

-We dance with all the villagers dancing around us. So HOT!!

-She then asks for my contact info which I go to grab.

-When I get back its night outside.

-We go sit on the side of the house to give her information.

(At this point its one of those moments where you got 2 people interested in eachother looking at the starts)

-We talk to eachother about our careers.

-Her name is Neema and she is an English teacher.

-Then things get weird with such questions as:

-"Do you have a fiance, why not?"

-"Would you ask your parents if you could marry someone outside the states?"

-"I want to Marry you Elliott"

-Kind of weird.

-I'm not too good with women, and Tanzanian Islamic women who know a little bit of enlish was definately a challenge.

What happened? Stay tuned, I ran out of time. It's a happy ending.

Catch Up Time Extreme

2005-12-27T08:57:00.001-08:00

So I have been away from the computer for a very long time, and have so much to catch up on. So I'm going to give it in SparkNotes form, so that you can just skim through it. By the way, the marriage proposal day is going to go in its own blog above. :)

So here's my Christmas present to all of you, an updated blog!! Let me know if you want more juicy details on any parts, as I can elaborate thoroughly.

Also, things are red are the stuff that I think is most interesting.

DRIVE TO ARUSHA

-Saw a whole bunch of villages selling food in the center with many people comin by. (Lots of Safarites)

-Had to stop for a giraffe crossing the road.

-Almost got ripped off at a tourist trap. They kept saying "trust us" (shudder)

-People who did not get their passports stamped just gave their passports and $50 to the bus driver who disappeared for 30 minutes. (Sketchy)

Bus Stop in Arusha to Moshi

-Next day we get on the bus to go to Ismilie's village.

-We get to the bus place with a whole bunch of busses and we get surrounded by about 50 people.

-We keep bartering until we get our bus price down to $1 to get to Moshi.

-In the bus all of us sat in the back, so all the white people were in the back (people are scared of us).

-Vendors would hold up giant cardboard displays of the cheapest goods (like toy plastic cell phones) for people to buy on the bus.

-On our drive we saw many farms which were so fun looking and many worn down shaqs that look very hazardous to live in.

-At Moshi there are a lot more vendors and buses.

-One guy was selling Safari hats.

-The man in front of me buys a cell phone, and then right before the trip, he gives it back. So sketchy.

-We head to Mongua

Mongua

-Mongua is basicly a bus stop location with 5 shops around it. We stopped here because we needed a van that went out of its way to get to the remote village of Kyrangia (also known as Ismilie's village).

-I go peeing in the back, and see a giant farm which was very tranquil. I pee on a tree, and I'm pretty sure a guy was watching me.

-With our group of 9 we barter with the bus drivers (who all seem to be in it together) to get the price for all of us from $15-$13. We save a wopping $2, and boy we bay.

-We load into the mini-Bus and sit down. I ask can 9 people really fit in here? As it was pretty crowded.

-By the time the bus leaves there are 30 people in there.

-I get up for Stephanie so she can sit down, then a woman comes in I get up for, and then an old women with a baby comes in that I get up for.

-So by the end I was standing on the bus, with my back against the ceiling in between two babys..

-As we were going up a mountain the road was really really bumpy.

-Some of the group members sat on eachother.

-There was a cliff on one side of the road, but that didn't stop us from going fast.

-We end up going to the wrong secondary school, and have to pay $10 more to get to the right place.

-On the way to the right school we go up a really steep hill.

In Karuga!

-It is an amazing view at this secondary school. Surrounded by green mountains in all directions with mud houses on all sides, and paths leading up to all of them.

-We find someone at the high school, and ask where is Ismilie's house. She doesn't speak English but she waves her finger in a very broad circle in one direction (it basicly covered about 50 houses).

-We let our bus drivers go and start climbining up the mountain with our luggage.

-One friendly man sees us and helps guide us up.
-His wife also follows.

-The people here are so friendly, when ever we walk buy any of them they stop to say Caribou (welcome in Swahili) and our very happy.

Day 2 at Ismilies

-I wake up to the group quoting Monty Python.

-I had slept oustside last night until it started raining on me.

-We climb up a mountain guided by one of Ismilie's grandsons.
-We see the watersource that runs through the village.
-We crawl into a junglish area to a place with a sacrificing alter.

-Drank my first sip of alcohol (called humanjiyana)
-It was made from sugar cane and processed on top of the mountain. (that's my requirement for any future drinks).

-We went further into the jungle and found a sacred crave
-I crawled into the cave

-Really got a feeling of oneness with nature.

The Market

-I go with Ismilie's grandaughter Zawagi (calling her Z from now on) to the market.
-It is a long winding walk.

-I see people batheing in the river.

-Lots of half developed houses, that no one is working on. Including a half developed church.

-Saw a house that had painted on bricks.

-I loved the market place.
-They were saleing anchovies, beans, mangos, bannanas, old clothes, cloths, shoes, and baskets.

-Hundreds of people wearing very bright colors.

-I take a picture of some old guys playing a game and they ask me for money.

-The cool thing was we were not the focus of this market, people didn't even see us as different.

-I buy the most delicious coke and drink it ice cold with sweat dripping over my face.

-So I try to eat a popscicle, but I cant get it open.
-10 kids gather around me, and 3 grandmas, all watching me try to open it.
-They all start laughing at me (including the grandmas)
-Some of the kids start imitateing me, which gets one of the moms upset.

-So the women in this village all cary grocerys on their head, including giant buckets of water. So I decided to imitate them.

-I try to balance 7 mangos in a bag on my head.
-This was completely different than normal culture because:
1. I'm a guy.
2. I'm white.
3. They are mangos (not good for balancing)
-While walking with the mangos on my head people's heads started following me. Everyone's. You could see their necks twist.

-On the way back we had to cross a very old crickety makeshift bridge that freaked me out.

-Z seemed sick as she was coughing.

-I go to a rock, which the night before someone had showed me.

The ROCK

-My friends are there waiting for me a gain.

-We look at the sunset for a while.

-They call me Mr. Hedman

-One of the guys asks me to go get my journal so I can teach him more math.

-On the way to get my journal 3 young women start talking to me in Swahili.
-Not understanding what they say to me, I just repeat to them what they say.
-One women laughs so hard she almost falls down crying.
-Ben says it is because I flail my arms when I talk.

-When I get back to the rock with my journal I teach the kids more math. (The night before I had taught one of them Algebra. Useing pieces of crumpled paper and asking "How many do you need?")

-I try to show them how to do triginometry, but its just not fun to explain. You try to explain to someone why sin(x)=1 works. They give me a 3x3 matrix to solve.

-Back at Ismilie's we talk about light, physics, and dreams.

-For dinner Z made a "special" cupate for me which was really big.

-I sleep in the grass with Teju.

-The next morning I wake up three kids staring at me. Z asks me why I am outside? I tell her that I am lost.

-On our hike of the day all the guys take a nude photo. One of the pictures we are all touching eachothers butts. Shudder.

-We stop by a small farm house, and a little girl about 3-4 years old starts following us. She is more fit than all of us and goes faster than us on the rest of the hike.

-There was a strange breed of what I call Turkey Duck here.

-We visit a man who says he worked for the post office his entire life.

-We stop by the market but there isn't a soul there today. It is eerie.

-At night I go back up to my rock, and see my friend again (his name is Frank).

-I spend the night talking to him about why America is different.

-Here in Tanzania Africans are obssesed with rappers.

-They ask me how Little Bow Wow is so rich.

-Frank then points out how St. John made it big from Africa.

-I tried to explain to him how in America there are record companies, and it is hard to get a record label.

-I told about how we don't many farmers and there are giant farms with machines.

-I explained why there is poor people in America (he could not understand this at all).

-He asked me if Bush was a good president.

-I asked him what would be good for Nigeria.

And that gets us to Christmas Eve, the best day ever in Africa!

Catch Up Time Extreme

2005-12-27T08:57:00.000-08:00

So I have been away from the computer for a very long time, and have so much to catch up on. So I'm going to give it in SparkNotes form, so that you can just skim through it. By the way, the marriage proposal day is going to go in its own blog above. :)

DRIVE TO ARUSHA

-Saw a whole bunch of villages selling food in the center with many people comin by. (Lots of Safarites)

-Had to stop for a giraffe crossing the road.

-Almost got ripped off at a tourist trap. They kept saying "trust us" (shudder)

-People who did not get their passports stamped just gave their passports and $50 to the bus driver who disappeared for 30 minutes. (Sketchy)

Bus Stop in Arusha to Moshi

-Next day we get on the bus to go to Ismilie's village.

-We get to the bus place with a whole bunch of busses and we get surrounded by about 50 people..

-We keep bartering until we get our bus price down to $1 to get to Moshi.

-In the bus all of us sat in the back, so all the white people were in the back (people are scared of us).

-Vendors would hold up giant cardboard displays of the cheapest goods (like toy plastic cell phones) for people to buy on the bus.

-On our drive we saw many farms which were so fun looking and many worn down shaqs that look very hazardous to live in.

-At Moshi there are a lot more vendors and buses.

-One guy was selling Safari hats.

-The man in front of me buys a cell phone, and then right before the trip, he gives it back. So sketchy.

-We head to Mongua

Mongua

-Mongua is basicly a bus stop location with 5 shops around it. We stopped here because we needed a van that went out of its way to get to the remote village of Kyrangia (also known as Ismilie's village).

-I go peeing in the back, and see a giant farm which was very tranquil. I pee on a tree, and I'm pretty

Quick Christmas

2005-12-25T03:21:00.000-08:00

The shop is closing up and I'm going on a Safari tomorrow. That said, I have been haveing an incredible time while I've been gone from blogging. I attended an African wedding, rode in a small van with 30 people, explained why there are thiefs in America, did the Worm in front of an entire village, got a marriage proposal (don't worry Mom, I said no for now), and now I am going to go hang out with the Messih tribe.

Merry Christmas everyone. I really do miss you all despite my crazy adventures. I hope you have a wonderful christmas. And to my family, thank you so much for being in my memories. Have fun in seattle.

Elliott

Oh ya the best part. I taught an African villager who couldn't speak english how to do algebra. x variable and all. He wants to be an electrical engineer. Suweet.

I'm in Africa!

2005-12-19T23:42:00.002-08:00

Favorite quote of the day:

"What do you want Elliott, to ride a zebra or buy a giant giraffe statue?"
Elliott- "Perferably both. While riding a zebra I can pick up a giraffe statue on a drive through. Then I could ride off into the sunset riding a zebra and waveing a giraffe statue. That's what dreams are made of."

Favorite event of the day:

Trying to talk to an African woman who was my same age. And every single thing I said she would just start laughing at me. We were on a bus ride so this lasted for 5 hours.

So yesterday was AMAZING, and it really hasn't even begun. To give you the sparknotes we left for Arusha, saw a whole bunch of things on the way, and now are at Arusha. But then you are missing out on the giraffe crossing the road :)

We started the day off packing and getting ready. They found Teju's luggage at the airport now, so now we are only missing one luggage bag. I sat on the roof of Nairobi one last time which was just so overwhelming. I aslo took my first shower. For lunch we decided to try a fish and chips place down the block. We thought it would be americanized oh but it was not.

Signs everywhere said "Free tomato sauce" How cool is that? All four of us ordered chicken and fries. The place was so busy, that there were no chairs so we all stood around a table. The funny thing was we didn't get any forks. Everyone in the restaurant had a fork, but not us. So we ate with our fingers. And wow we got so many glances. Remember we are the only white people without forks. Everyone in line would always stare back at us once or twice. There was one guy who actually started stareing at us through the mirror. As if we couldn't see his eyes in the reflection :) We had a long conversation on how it didn't bother us that much. And we pondered why being the minority in the USA is so much different. Probably because we are the ones with all the money in Nairobi.

After lunch I went with Teju to go get some vegetarian food now that he felt better (Stephanie is still fairly sick). There I asked for a bottled passion juice. Unfortunately, they poored me one that was from fresh squeezed passion fruit (which I can't drink as the water is bad there). So I asked for one in a bottle. They then poored the juice into a cup. And I was like "no in a bottle" twisting my hands to represent a twisty top. So they then took that mango juice and poored it into an empty bottle of water and put on the lid. I then bought it as it only cost like 30 cents and then threw it away. Sheesh.

We walk outside after ordering and notice BJ running to put our stuff on the bus. He tells us to hurry before the bus leaves. We then load all of the equipment franticly and hop on. But Paul is missing (he went to go buy some malarone). BJ then runs off to find them. Paul gets there just in time and we take off seconds afterwards.

When we left we gave our hotel manager a $45 tip. He was so excited that when he left we could see him dancing in a suit and running into people.

On the bus ride we saw some AMAZING things. We saw the international criminal justice center and the UN building for Kenya. They looked amazing and we decided to make sure we stop by those places when we come back (it was unfortunate that we were all stuck in the dangerous part of town). Eric Kelso sat next to me and had some sever stomache cramps so that was entertaining with his constant comments of "Hold it in buddy"

SIDE NOTE-
So it appears that everyone on this trip is haveing severe stomache problems besides me. And I mean severe. For me its the opposite, my digestion system is actually working better. My theory is that I have been living off dorm food for aa year and a half straight now, and that has done so much harm to my body, that real food is actually a blessing, no matter how foreing. Yah dorm food!

The bus was so hot that we all took off our shirts. Scairly, someone in another car drove by one of the female students and mollested her. That was upsetting to say the least. The bus picked up more passengers and Kelso was able to use the bathroom. I now sat next to a girl named Everly and a man from Norway sat behind us who looked incredibly high.

So I actually tried to have a confersation with Everly which was the second African I have actually been able to talk to. Strange note, both people I have had talked to so far are African women my own age. Strange. So from my conversation I found out that Everly attends school in Arusha and is studying Graphic Design (which uses computers). She hopes to one day make maps. She was born in Arusha but grew up in Kenya. She likes Tanzania (Arusha is in Tanzania) a lot better. I asked her what she was doing in Kenya and she said visiting friends. I asked her what she did with her friends and she started laughing and wouldn't answer. Seems like college kids are all the same on what they do in their free time :) She told me that one day she wants to visit America, but loves it here. Now you know Everly.

Getting out of the city we saw many wonderful sights. We passed through the desert with the strangest looking trees. At times we saw people walking on the roads. Where were they going? We began to see some actual African tribal people with long red blankets and sticks. I'm going to call them Red Sticks for the rest of this trip, as they are always in red and lean on sticks. There were a lot of women Red Sticks hearding either sheep or cows. We passed a bunch of small towns where it was inspirational to see the locals. There would be like two to three buildings and a bunch of items on the ground for sale. It was a local market. Lots of people would be there and it was such a cultural intake.

We got next to the border and I realized how much of my capitalist genes were still in me as we stopped at a tourist attraction. There was some amazingly cool statues of giraffes there and I really wanted one for my room. So I kept bartering with the people and offered them a $100. Unfortunately they had to ship it to me which sounded so shady. So I kept bartering back and forth and eventually decided just to get on the bus. It was so weird though, because I'm not the kind of guy who likes material possesions. Oh but these giraffes were SO cool. SO cool. On that note

I'm in Africa!

2005-12-19T23:42:00.001-08:00

2005-12-18T23:59:00.000-08:00

So if anyone knows what to do in London please let me know. Do you know any people I can chill out with? Any places I should go to? It ends up that I am going to be in London by myself starting January 14 for 48 hours and I have no idea where to stay or what to do? Your comments will be appreciated :)

More Dancing

2005-12-18T21:34:00.000-08:00

Best part of the day: Wakeing up and sitting on the roof of the building. Just listenig to all of the city sounds, looking at the hazy background covered in trees, and trying to remember I'm in Africa.

Quote of the day:

Teju: "I threw up Australia"

So I am typing this paper listening to eminem. Who would of known he came out with a new CD? Who would have known that it would be playing in Nairobi at 8:40 in the morning. This day was very non eventful, but I got to actually meet a few people so that was exciting. Highlights:

I went to a church service this morning. It was so much fun. It was an experience because everyone was stareing at me in the beggining.They just kept singing and dancing for like 20 minutes. And I just joined in with the fun. They were all shakeing my hands and saying caribou (welcome). I had to leave the service before it ended, and I danced out.
Suprisingly, people started laughing at me as I left. It just goes to show that the Elliott Dance is truly unique. It is not just some international rip off. No one is ready for it from any country.

Teju and Paul were not able to find their luggage and they are going again today in hopes of maybe recovering it. Teju got really sick on top of it, so thats a major bummer.

I found a store that sold Legos. I went in, and it ended up being fake legos (Kingdom Blocks), but I was still so close.

We keep eating India food, its really weird that there is so much India food here.

We met one of Ashley's contacts who was a producer for a famous music group in Kenya. He told us all about Kenya, its music, etc. It was much like a PLC experiential weekend. He told us that sometimes the buses can be hijacked so that will be interesting to say the least as we leave on bus to Arusha.

BJ made a friend ( a begger) who followed him throughout today. He just kept saying "can I have some money" over and over again.

I went over to the super market and checked out all of their clothers (I plan on changing my entire wardrobe to African). I kept looking at all the bright colored shirts, but the staff kept laughing at me. Apparantly the bright clothes are for woman. The men's clothes are all Americanized, how boring. I did that 3 times.

I've started reading Reconstruction of Christianity. And writing 2-3 comments on each of the page topics. Thats been fun.

I can't wait to see more natural Africa at this point. As BJ puts it, "we are stuck in a Prison here".

Philosiphically, I am at the crisis of loneliness. When you are surrounded by PLCers who are all at the top of their game socially I realize how seperate I am from the world. It could also be that I am in Africa. None the less a sense of solitude grows within me. I think I want to become part of the African community, but there are many barriers in the way. Hopefully, when we get to Mr. Smilies village this will change :). I need to regrasp my desire for change. As that was why I originally came to Africa. To really understand who I am. We'll see.

We are leaving the hostel today, so I don't know when I will be online again, but please do leave messages. They mean a lot to me. And to answer Tyler's question: Yes, Ben always dresses nice.

2005-12-17T22:49:00.000-08:00

view from hotel roof

2005-12-17T22:48:00.001-08:00

taxi time

2005-12-17T22:48:00.000-08:00

waiting for mysterious luggage

2005-12-17T22:47:00.000-08:00

food

2005-12-17T22:46:00.000-08:00

Sunset

So When you asked me what are we doing . . .

2005-12-17T22:36:00.000-08:00

My favorite quote:

BJ "So I heard some people haveing sex last night" "Man she was loud"
Ben "Are you sure it was sex and not someone getting beaten up"
BJ "No, it was definately sex"
Ben "You're right, people haveing sex is a universal language"

Elliott "Ah sex and math, both Universal Languages, yet another similarity"

Best part today:
Having 10 complete strangers try to persuade us that they own a hostel we were at.

So the place we are staing at has internet, so I am able to put a little time into updateing you on our crazy adventures. And I'd like to emphasize crazy. (If you don't want to keep reading after that, you don't know me)

So we ended with me in England Airport. I take a nap. Wake up an hour before my flight. And wouldn't you know it, no one else is here yet. So I go to customer service and ask what is up? Apparantly none of my group has checked in! So the page gets Teju and Julie Marie. And there we are 30 minutes before take off and no group for Africa. Teju left his ticket with BJ so he can't even get on the plane. So Julie and I decided that we would have to go to Africa on our own. Kind of FREAKY. So we're chilling out in the airplane. Natasha asks where's my group, and I tell her I don't know. So like 10 min before the airplane leaves, in rushes our entire group. Whew.

Except for Teju. He never got his ticket from BJ. So I frantically tell BJ that he has to go back and get Teju. So he runs out and gets a page, and we just wait there. For ten minutes it is really intense, and bam, he's on. So we all make it barely.

The plane ride was fun. I sat next to a geinecologist. Weird. I didn't really know what to say. He was kind of crazy though, he came from California and didn't know where Paris or Athens was and listened to his music REALLY loud. Durring the ride I saw the coolest sunrise EVER. I mean EVER. The earth was still completely black and the sky still had stars. But in between was the most colorful fire on the clouds ever. I could even see the curve of the Earth. (See pic). What a great beggining. The meditation didn't work too well, I kept falling asleep. Yuck. But the good news was I was able to fall asleep.

Luggage wise 7/9 of our packs came in. Teju forgot to check in his luggage in England and Paul lost his luggage reciept. We have no idea where the luggage is, at all. So we decide to go check into our hostel without some luggage (our luggage is our backpacks with all our stuff for a month in them). We get a taxi through the airport. While we are doing this, we see about 50 people trying to get us to go in their taxis. It was funny. One man was jumping up and down. So I left my Hindu book on a mysterious table and loaded in. I handed my luggage to a guy who said he would put it in the back. Kelso told me if I do that again, it will probably get stolen. Outside I felt famous. About 20 people come right next to us and yell "Safari, Safari!!!" As BJ puts it we are 9 rich people, a huge target for tourist bookers. The taxi takes off.

A booker is actually in the taxi and he tells us we should book our tickets now for our bus tomorrow. So Ashley says to pull over and we do. And then BJ's taxi comes by and BJ is like no thanks we're not interested. That was our first booker experience. I'm going to call them Safarites from now on because they keep yelling "Safari, Safari!".

So we get to our hostel and it gets Freaky real Freaky. It ends up there is a house there but its under renovation. One lady is there tending the garden. We get into the house and it is awsome looking, but the owner is not there. So the taxi drivers (and mainly the safarites) ask what we want to do. We give them the shpeal. They tell us that they personally know the owner, and they will take us to him. They then suggest we go live at a hotel they know. And they start freaking out and just constantly all trying to go with them. And the weird part is more people start coming over to us. One guy drives in and tells us he is an official tourist guide from Kenya and he is here to help. Eventually BJ tells them all to leave us alone as we talk. We look into our tour guides (Lonely Planet rocks) and find a hostel in downtown Nairobi. So we decide to go there. And another guy comes over with keys. He tells us that the owner sent him and he'll unlock the door for us. BJ asks the man what the owner's name is, and the man doesn't know. So sketchy. So we drive into downtown Nairobi and it is scary. People are everywhere and there are a whole bunch of really run down shops.

We eventually check in but the Safarites decide to stay below us. And pester us some more. In fact they stay there all night and we checked in at 12 in the morning. We met one Safarite named Michael Jackson he was funny.

Once settled in (I'm with BJ and Ben) we went out to get some food. We aren't allowed to eat any fruit becuase it is washed with the water. So we tried a variety of different things that I honestly can't identify. The weirdest was some form of green meet. The crepes there are SO good. So we all go back to figure out what to do tomorrow, and a church service starts on the top floor. It is WILD. We hear stomping in rythm throughout the night. And once and a while a crazy roar would go out. I wanted to join in but the lady wouldn't let me in. That was weird. One of the kids just stared at me hard core. Kind of strange to say the least.

After we figured out that tomorrow we were going to go get bus tickets tomorrow I went to take a nap. I fell asleep, as did everyone else. Strangely enough, we didn't get up. We all slept right through dinner and didn't wake up till the morning.

The nights were freaky, no one was anywhere in the busy town. At one point to guys got into a fight right outside our window. A police man came buy and yelled continuously "Wanga, Wanga". He seriously said this like 50 times. And then the fighting stopped. Later in the morning we were woken to the screaming of what I though was a small child. It sounded like "Mah!" Over and over again. Later on I discovered it was a women in the street. To wake up, I went upstairs to chill out on the roof. I saw the lady fighting with some man. They were hardcore dukeing it out. At one point in time she pulled some sort of street figherish types of moves and jumped onto her hands. She then started fighting again. Eventually the guy put her down on the ground and kicked her. I so wanted to interfere. Another guy came buy a little longer to help her off of the ground. She then started beating up on him. Kids were running around the two cheering them on. Eventually the man put her on the ground. She pretended to faint. Then another guy came to help her and she started fighting AGAIN. She kept yelling "Mah, Mah" over and over. So freaky. Michael Jackson told me that she is possesed by Demons and needs a priest. She is currently sitting outside of our hostel.

For breakfast I ate on some delicious Crepes. Yummy!

Another interesting thing was a kid with AIDS started following us. I never saw someone who had visible AIDS. He kept asking us for money. Kelso told me not to give them money as then you will have all the beggers after you. So sad. So sad.

As BJ told me, this is the most dangerous part of the trip. And I'm going to agree. I really want to see non industrialized Africa. Buildings, poverty, busy for no reason, and crepes is not my idea of the world. It makes me sad that the world goes in this direction. I really feel strongly now on curbing the population as Nairobi is so sad with so many people are suffering. I hope one day I can help them. As Kelso put it, being they make $300 a year, you mine as well be carrying around $360,000 worth of wealth. So sad.

So hopefully you can see why I told you, "I have no idea". None of this could ever be planned but it really has changed my life so much. And now that I am awake I can't wait to see what else is going to happen. But it definately was CRAZY.

As always, please send me some replys, and let me know what is going on in your lives.

My Plane Trip

2005-12-16T07:14:00.000-08:00

Day 1

So my meditation plans have been interupted. It seems like that happens a lot. The seven hours alone in the airport are now no longer alone. It ends up Teju is coming with me to Chicago. So I've been chilling with him all day. Some fun things that happened at DIA:

We listened to kids sing for an hour. Brings back old memories.

I got a Hindu religious text, it happened to me just like it happened to my Dad. So awkward.

In Chicago they have this really cool futureistic pathway. So I danced on that. People are really stressed out here because its Christmas time. I told 2 guys to stop yelling at Customer Assistance.

I met a guy from London on my plane trip. He suggested that I go see Ministry of Sound which would be so awsome. So awsome.

England's Air Port looks like a shopping mall.

And the best part . . I met this girl from Rwanda who is a sophmore at St. Monica, California. And she too is waiting six hours for her flight. So I'm going to be chilling out with her for the rest of the day (4 more hours of waiting). I think I already like foriegn people a lot. So we'll see what happens :)

As for philosiphy, finished my Tao Te Ching, it was EXTREMELY confusing. And now I am going to by Davinci Code in paper back. Buh ya. I've decided to freeze all my hopes and fears for the future. As it appears, the best thing I can possibly do is just enjoy the moment. For as Tyler told me, well can't you just figure that stuff out in a month. So now I'm just going to be me. For surely the things I value most can't be put into specific instances. Now that I am alone, I've got to say, I really appreciated Julie Marie and Teju going on the flight part way with me. It was so much more fun. And I've also decided that I have spent a lot of time understanding the poor this semester, and I think it will take more work for me to understand the rich. Standing in line at Chicago I saw family get denied tickets and have to split up. And then comes a lady cuts in front of 20 people, yells at the Customer Service "I did not drive 5 hours to sit in economy class, I demand you upgrade me" This really solitifies my view that problems are relative.

Other than that, Ashley, one of the girls going with us, got contacts of about 10 families in Kenya from her African dance teacher. So we get to homestead! Which is so wonderful. I can't wait to meet more people from Africa. Hopefully they are as cool as Natasha (the girl from Africa). Speaking of which I should go, as she is probably waiting for me.

The coolest part of the day:

Dancing around to space music with laser lights on a walkway in Chicago Airport. I swear, when I get old and am in business suits, I'm still going to do it. So much fun. So much fun.

Let me know what you think!!!

Elliott Hedman

The Beggining

2005-12-15T05:21:00.000-08:00

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE comment on this blog. It would mean a lot to me if you let me know how your life is going or what you think about what I am doing. If you want to send me any private emails, email me at mathandstuff@hotmail.com If you want to see the coolest party coming up after Africa go here:

http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~hedmane/

So it is 6:30 in the morning. I haven't slept all night, and I'm getting picked up to go to Africa in 45 minutes. A cup o noodles sits besides me representing all that I had for dinner. My friends ask me, so what are you doing in Africa and I tell them, well when I have time I'll figure it out. I guess for the next 45 minutes I will have time, as sleeping seems a bit pointless now.

My life up to this point has had some major changes. PLC is done, which is a huge shift, as I often claimed PLC was my life. I am getting an internship working with IBM, which is as corporate as it gets, so I am going to see if the corporate world is for me (which I have a really good feeling it won't be). And additionally, I think I actually truly became attracted to a girl this semester emotionally. So I've had a lot of fun trying to figure that out, and now I'm at the stage where it is out in the open, but what's going to be done about is still in the air. So thats where I am.

And now I am going to Africa. I am going to grow so much its going to be absolutely rediculous. 9 of my friends from leadership class are all going to Kenya and Tanzania with me, and every time I talk with them, they challenge my entire perspective of the world. That plus being in a part of the world that is completely foriegn to me will definately have some sort of effect.

I am takeing this trip day by day, as I feel that this is the best way for me to appreciate each moment. As of now I am planning for my trip to Kenya which will be many hours of flying. Here is a list of the books I'm takeing:

Angels and Demons -given to me by my AP English teacher
New Christianity - a book written by pastor, Pastor Rich Mayfield, who has helped shaped my life spiritually in so many ways.
Tao te Ching- Basicly the Taoist Bible
The Olive Branch and the Lexus - This book was recomended to me by numerous leaders in the field of engineering. It underlines how engineering is becoming international, and how my job is going to be taken by some guy who works for minimum wage soon enough.
The Davinci Code- So they don't sale it in paper back here, but they do sale it in paper back in London, so I'm going to be sure to pick one of these up.

In addition, I have a journal that I hope to fill. If I write down my growth and change, I feel like I will have a much better understanding.

As for today I hope to reat the entire Tao te Ching and then meditate. I have 15 hours in flight, so I can do some Air Borne meditation. Pretty cool huh, I could be the first to try this. But I got a lot of stuff to clear out of my mind. New begginings require fresh start, and I am definately leaving at a pivotal corner. Its time to let that corner freeze in time, and become new.

I hope to grow in a lot of ways. First off, I want to see where I want to go with this engineering thing. I love the classes, I love the projects, and I love the concepts. But when it gets to the work world, I have an aim to be more than a printer manufacturer. I want to be a person makeing a difference, choices, and contribution. So which direction do I go? Do I try to put that goal into place with a regular enineering job, or do I instead try to take a job that is all about change, and apply my engineering job.

Another great concept that I'm trying to figure out is how do others effect my life. This semester I've really learned that connecting with other people on an intimate level can be massively rewarding. This is something new for me. How do I persue this? Have I lost value in my individual self? What the freak do I do about this crush of mine? These questions will have massive impacts on my life, as I feel like I'm in the middle (half individual/half others) and it's really muddy and contradictory right now.

Finally, I hope to get to know Africa. As I've told all my friends, I want to ride a zebra. I wonder if my mom has figured out that my survival rate at attempting to ride a wild zebra is about 10% :). I can't wait to spend time with the natives which we have put into the schedule. I find that I can relate to foriegn people so much more than my peers here. I also can't wait to see an entire different landscape. Also, as my brother Hayden told me yesterday, I hope to "shoot a lion directly in the face, ride an elephant, and fight a famous boxer" (It's a Simpsons quote, but it is so funny).

But once again, I'm actually going to erase these goals on my plane ride. I want to take Africa in as a whole not as a means to solve a few of my dilemas. I can't wait. So once again, please post anything you have questions or comments on. I will check this thing a few times, so you can be sure of updates (With PHOTOS).

One thing I will miss a lot is my family. Traditionally, Christmas is the only time of the year, when my whole family can be together. Wakeing up with my brothers to see what Santa has laid out in the stockings. And then waiting for my parents to wake up so we can open Santa's big preasents. And then just chilling out with my family for an entire day. This has so much significance to me, as my family (all of us) are so busy. This year I won't have this. And on top of that, I wish I could be there for my brothers. Hayden is struggling with math and Leadership class, and I wish I could be there, to tell him, you can do it buddy. He is becoming my clone just 4 years behind. And Garrett is looking toward college and is lost himself in purpose. I love talking with him on what his purpose in life is. And how he handles his future. I will miss singing to oldies stations with my Dad which is ALL he listens to and talking to him about the strangest topics. And I will miss being in touch with my mom. She came up to say good bye, and unfortunately, I had to have an interview with IBM and do a presentation with PLC, and had an RA emergency at that time, so we never got to say good bye. She has helped me so much understand myself and what college means to me. So its going to be hard to say goodbye to that. This break could be the first time I ever get homesick, as it will now be almost nine months since I really spent more than a day or two with my family.

And as the song I'm listening to right now from Trans-Siberian orchestra states: "It begins".