Bombs, Canada Day, and Lord of the Rings!

Here's a quick recap of yesterday: saw the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, went to Harrod's, stopped at the Science Museum, where the most exciting thing was me spotting Natalie Maines (lead singer of the Dixie Chicks) outside on the sidewalk! I didn't bug her for a pic as she is on vacation with her kids. On to St.Paul's Cathedral for the 5 o'clock evensong service, which included organ and choir, very nice. Lastly we went to the Lion King live show, which was grrrrrrreat! The costumes and set were awesome, and the kid who played Simba was very impressive. Had an interesting night in a 20 bed dorm room, but we survived. Today began with a walk around Hyde Park with the intentions of visiting Kensington Palace, but it cost 13 pounds (nearly $30 CDN) so we opted out. Saw the Princess Di memorial fountain and other interesting things in the park. Stopped at Notting Hill and walked down the market place. In London, I've learned, it can go from hot, to pouring rain, to hot, to cloudy and sprinkling, and then hot again all in an hour! We took the tube to Picadilly Circus from Notting Hill and began walking to Trafalgar Square when we noticed all these vans with satellite dishes on top and reporters buzzing around, and then we saw police tape across several blocks. I asked a reporter what was going on and he told us about the bomb found last night in a car in front of a packed night club. Fortunately it was found before it went off, but it made for a really congested part of London. Trafalgar Square was looking very Canadian, as they had a huge dealio going on to celebrate Canada Day! There was a street hockey tourney, Moosehead beer, and then later on concerts headlined by Sam Roberts. It was fun to get in the spirit of Canada Day, as I'll miss our own celebrations back home this year. I saw Gill off at King's Cross train station (yes that is the one Harry Potter goes to platform 9 3/4 in!!!) then bought a ticket to the Lord of the Rings play for only 15 pounds. It was super, squashing all 3 books into just over 3 hours through a very cool stage and set. The acting was nothing to write home about, just the overall set and the special effects like the balrog the Gandolf duels with in Moria. So it is pretty late now and I will have to do some ingenious packing to get all my stuff to Africa tomorrow!

London, Baby!

Well I made it here ok, I thought the lady in Calgary wasn't going to let me on my flight because they overbooked and I was checking in late due to my flight from Edmonton. But I got on the flight and about 9 hours later met Gill at Heathrow Airport. From there it was an easy tube ride to find our hostel, except for the fact that I bought my ticket for the wrong zones and couldn't get out of the exit gate! So I payed one more pound and then purchased and Oyster card to make things easier (it's like a tube pass that you load up with money). Yesterday we went to Covent Garden, a nice outdoor busy market place. Ate a healthy McDick's supper then headed to Picadilly Circus, where we bought tickets to the Lion King for Thursday night! From there we walked to Trafalgar Square then walked to Big Ben and Westminster Abby. Then today we saw Madam Tussaud's, the Tower of London, and best of all, a 5 o'clock prayer service at Westminster Abby! The organ played and we sang one of my favorite hymns, Be Thou My Vision. It was a great experience, and we didn't have to pay the 10 £ entry fee! After that I dragged Gill into Westminster Palace, more commonly known as the House of Parliament. If you haven't heard, today Tony Blair announced he was stepping down as Prime Minister and now Gordon Brown is the new PM. Unfortunately we missed all the exciting stuff, but we sat in briefly first on the House of Commons and then the House of Lords (like our Senate). I found it very interesting. Lastly, we took a ride on the London Eye, the huge ferris wheel on the bank of the Thames across from Big Ben. It was just ok, as it poured rain and the view wasn't very good. But Gill and I are pretty impressed with the amount of stuff we have seen/done. Plans for tomorrow include seeing Buckingham Palace and Harrod's department store. Well that's about it for now, I will try to post again before I get to Africa b/c I don't know how long that will take!
Meo

5 more days!

First aid kit.




My backpack, haphazardly packed.



All this stuff has to go in there?



Well, I figured I should at least try out my blog once before I take off into the wild blue yonder of east Africa! The countdown is on...5 more days! And what a busy 5 days they will be. Yesterday was my last day of work with crazy lady, and today I'm doing all my last minute packing/shopping. Tomorrow I'm off to Saskatoon for my friend's wedding, and we're going to see Tim McGraw and Faith Hill tomorrow night. I'm back in A-town for final packing on Sunday, then I fly out Monday evening to London! My good friend Gill is going to meet me there and we'll have a fun, albeit expensive and quick, 3 1/2 days in London. Then June 30th I'm off to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, via an overnight flight to Nairobi, Kenya! What a crazy start to my trip into the unknown, overnighting in the city nicknamed "Ni-rob-ya". I realize my e-mail was quite vague, so here's a bit of background info in case anyone is interested.

Volunteer Africa is an international non-profit charity based in the UK that recruits volunteers from around the world and then partners them up with local NGO's. In Tanzania I will be working with HAPA (Health Actions Promotions Association, and also a swahili word meaning "here" or "this place") on a community initiated project in a small village. HAPA helps communities to identify and prioritise the issues that face them and that they would like assistance with. HAPA then works with the communities helping to address the issues that have been identified. The primary aim of HAPA is to facilitate community groups and individuals to become aware that their well-being is a core responsibility of themselves. In return for hosting us (the volunteers), the host organization receives donations from the volunteers. So basically, I pay a fee that goes towards the building supplies, as well as helping to create on-going support of the project. My project will be construction of school classrooms as well as teacher housing. The first week of my time in Tanzania is devoted to learning Swahili, then for three weeks I will be camping with 11 other people from around the world in very basic conditions. No electricity or running water, and we get to buy all our own food from a market once a week and take turns cooking for the group. Needless to say I have a variety of anti-diarrhea pills!

I'm actually really excited to live in a small village (Mghumbu - try pronouncing that) and work alongside locals. I will really be able to see what living conditions are like in Tanzania, which is one of the poorest countries in Africa and in the world. More than one third of the population lives below the national poverty line, so it will be sobering to know that my hiking boots and sleeping bag cost more than one person there will make in a whole year. Well, I hope that gives everyone a better understanding of what it is I'm doing half way across the world, and why. And now I need to get organized and try to pack!