Here I am on my first day of work and the sign for our little office:
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| Complete with spices! |
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| A friend joined us for lunch! |
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| He was very small. |
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| Karl informed him: "We don't need car insurance! |
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| Smiling!! |
Monday, September 23
Pictures from Africa!
I know you all want pictures! So here you go. These are just an assortment from our first couple of weeks here. I have not yet had the chance to really go out with my camera to document this crazy place.
Here I am on my first day of work and the sign for our little office:
This is what the guys were doing in our first house while I was at work. No one liked it very much. We now have a really cool house where they can run around and play outside. Karl can work outside under the palapa. And we all get in our pool multiple times a day! I'll take some nice pictures of the new house sometime...
Our first trip to the beach: Jackie is delighted by the ocean! We can walk here from our new house in about 5 minutes, down a quiet side street:
Carrie running on the beach = All is okay with the world!
We discovered some really lovely places to shop and eat. Here is Karl enjoying a coke at our beachside table at The Slipway:
Coke and Coffee and the sea!
We had them make us a delightful vegan pizza and vegetable coconut curry:
Last weekend we took Jackie to the vet (she's fine, we wanted to meet the best vet in town. His name is Dr. Joe and he is from South Africa.) Jackie rode home in a tuk-tuk!!
Karl acted like a support strap from behind to keep her in:
She was pretty cool about it!
And here I am completing my first Olympic Distance triathlon, and the first triathlon held in Tanzania! We swam in the Indian Ocean, biked around the Msasani Peninsula, and ran south towards The Slipway from the Dar Yacht Club. I finished in 3 hours 35 minutes, pretty respectable on a borrowed bike and not having worked out for probably 3 weeks beforehand! Plus, it was wicked hot for the run! And because it was their first triathlon, the water stations were occasionally out of water. All good though!
Here I am on my first day of work and the sign for our little office:
Wednesday, September 18
5 Great (or at least good) Things About Africa
Let's face it, the developing world is called that for a reason. At various moments of the day one can find a dozen things about which to gripe: too much dust, too much pollution, drivers that make Bostonians look like angels, soy milk that costs $5 a box, massive poverty immediately next door to mansions, I really could go on and on.
So, instead, I thought that once a week or so, I would talk about things here that are good, even great. An old friend from law school once told me "Perception is Reality." At first this concept did not sit well with me at all! I was a first year law student, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the injustices of the world. I knew "right" from "wrong," and "fair" from "unfair." I knew only my own reality and it was so, well, real.
Now I know that 10 witnesses to the same incident will tell 10 very different stories, and each will believe that his own is the only true one. I know that our minds have a way of distorting information at the moment it is observed. And, in the act of viewing the world about us, and the people in it, our minds are telling us things that may, or may not, be true.
So, by changing what I focus on, I can change much about my own reality. I can go from griping, to being curious. I can go from uncomfortable, to grateful. And I can go from closed-minded, to being really blown away.
Philosophy aside, here are 5 good things about Africa:
(1) Pantyhose is nonexistent.
How often as a prosecutor in Seattle did I gripe while getting dressed in the morning, struggle throughout the day, and desperately tear off at night this dreaded piece of attire!
(2) It is not cold.
Well, yeah. We are currently about 6 degrees in latitude south of the equator. It gets light at 6am and dark at 6pm, and it is tank-top weather 24 hours a day.
(3) iTunes works here.
This may be more of a comment on the internet in general, rather than Apple in particular, but it comes as a nice comfort that Karl and I have been able to rent and download three movies since we've been here. We even purchased one of our all-time favorites, The Hunt for Red October, which I will probably watch at least once a month until I am able to recite the entire movie.
(4) You can ride in a personal "taxi" called a tuk-tuk and be taken to the doorstep of your destination for about the price of riding the bus in Seattle.
While it often involves a maniac young man driving like he is playing a video game, and the exhaust from other vehicles is not great (it isn't nearly as bad as India), these are a handy and convenient way to get around the city. Karl even took one with Carrie and Robert (Carrie was safely tucked inside her traveling bag) to meet me for a romp at the beach.
(5) I am quickly discovering that the United States is not, in fact, the center of the universe.
We who grew up in the US take for granted a wide variety of things like property ownership, currency in denominations larger than $6, balanced nutrition with lots of choices in foods, generally terrific air quality, being able to drive 200 miles in 3 hours (here this kind of distance would necessitate a flight!), and many, many more. While this might seem to be a negative comment on Africa, it is a very positive comment on my development as a person. A broader perspective is exactly what this post is about, and Africa is bringing me exactly this.
So, instead, I thought that once a week or so, I would talk about things here that are good, even great. An old friend from law school once told me "Perception is Reality." At first this concept did not sit well with me at all! I was a first year law student, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to take on the injustices of the world. I knew "right" from "wrong," and "fair" from "unfair." I knew only my own reality and it was so, well, real.
Now I know that 10 witnesses to the same incident will tell 10 very different stories, and each will believe that his own is the only true one. I know that our minds have a way of distorting information at the moment it is observed. And, in the act of viewing the world about us, and the people in it, our minds are telling us things that may, or may not, be true.
So, by changing what I focus on, I can change much about my own reality. I can go from griping, to being curious. I can go from uncomfortable, to grateful. And I can go from closed-minded, to being really blown away.
Philosophy aside, here are 5 good things about Africa:
(1) Pantyhose is nonexistent.
How often as a prosecutor in Seattle did I gripe while getting dressed in the morning, struggle throughout the day, and desperately tear off at night this dreaded piece of attire!
(2) It is not cold.
Well, yeah. We are currently about 6 degrees in latitude south of the equator. It gets light at 6am and dark at 6pm, and it is tank-top weather 24 hours a day.
(3) iTunes works here.
This may be more of a comment on the internet in general, rather than Apple in particular, but it comes as a nice comfort that Karl and I have been able to rent and download three movies since we've been here. We even purchased one of our all-time favorites, The Hunt for Red October, which I will probably watch at least once a month until I am able to recite the entire movie.
(4) You can ride in a personal "taxi" called a tuk-tuk and be taken to the doorstep of your destination for about the price of riding the bus in Seattle.
While it often involves a maniac young man driving like he is playing a video game, and the exhaust from other vehicles is not great (it isn't nearly as bad as India), these are a handy and convenient way to get around the city. Karl even took one with Carrie and Robert (Carrie was safely tucked inside her traveling bag) to meet me for a romp at the beach.
(5) I am quickly discovering that the United States is not, in fact, the center of the universe.
We who grew up in the US take for granted a wide variety of things like property ownership, currency in denominations larger than $6, balanced nutrition with lots of choices in foods, generally terrific air quality, being able to drive 200 miles in 3 hours (here this kind of distance would necessitate a flight!), and many, many more. While this might seem to be a negative comment on Africa, it is a very positive comment on my development as a person. A broader perspective is exactly what this post is about, and Africa is bringing me exactly this.
Sunday, September 15
The Kindness of Strangers
So, we moved to Africa. With three dogs, two people, five boxes or bags of our pared-down must-have belongings (in comparison, we took 10 boxes/bags/surfboards to Hawaii, so we are getting better at this), and we did it all on a tight schedule, having been at Burning Man a mere three days before departing.
I was forced to do something that I don't like doing: rely on others. I prefer to do everything important myself, to manage as much as I can, and to do my best to control outcomes. But I had to trust the vet, hope for the best at the USDA, turn over my beloved Jackie to Swiss cargo, and rely on all my other last-minute appointments to be on time.
Not easy!
But an idea was offered to me at just the right time, before the real craziness ultimately began: There is such a thing as the kindness of strangers. And I can now confirm that this thing is real.
At 8am the day before departing Boston, I was at the vet's office, one we'd never seen before who could fill out the bureaucratically tedious travel paperwork for the dogs to travel. What Dr. Weiner (ha!), lacked in a sense of humor, he made up for in his meticulousness, checking and rechecking microchip numbers, addresses in Switzerland and Tanzania, birthdates, etc. His work was exactly what we needed.
From there I had to make it to Sutton, MA (out by Worcester) by two o-clock to have the paperwork endorsed by the USDA. And in between I had to make a stop at Mt. Auburn for my last-in-a-series-of-three rabies vaccines.
So I raced the dogs home then went to the hospital. Sitting at Mt. Auburn registration (where you must check in before you can go to your specific clinic and check in again) I was becoming increasingly frantic as the minutes ticked past my appointment time. I needed to be back in the car and out of there! One woman came in after me, made a fuss about her colonoscopy time being "right now" and was allowed to go in front of everyone. So after some deliberation I went to the desk and said, in a superbly calm and quiet voice, "I don't mean to be pushy, but I am in a somewhat of a massive hurry." I was invited to go right away and without the scowl the previous woman had received.
In dealing with administrators, secretaries, vet techs, and nurses, they would invariably ask me: When are you going to Tanzania?" I would respond, "Tomorrow! I'm a bit frantic!" They were universally kind and understanding and would say "Oh my gosh, you MUST be! Let's get you out of here!" or "Good luck on your trip!"
The nurse whom I have come to know quite well in the travel clinic came in and asked how I was doing. I told her honestly, "Panic has definitely set in. Just stick me!" She had the yellow book documenting my vaccination history already filled out, the vaccine in hand, and was cleaning my arm as she began this conversation. She indeed stuck me with no hype but all smiles, and I was out the door, and very grateful!
Out at the USDA, they were on their hour-and-a-half lunch break when I arrived, ahead of schedule(!) But the generous young woman took my papers and said she would have the vet get started on them as soon as she came back from lunch. I guess she could tell I was nervous to let go of these papers I had just obtained (at a price of $900! and with hours I could no longer replace) so she assured me that they would be safe with her. She also said, "Oh we see Dr. Weiner's patients a lot, he always does a very good job."
So I went to the car to wait, ate a bizarre falafel sandwich that had pickles on it (yuk!) and managed a lovely conversation with the woman who owned the falafel shop. She was very interested in my travels to Tanzania and told me about a friend who had just gone there on honeymoon. It amazed me about myself that I was able to carry on such pleasant conversations throughout my day when inside I was so urgent!
I am running long already here and haven't even gotten to Jackie's adventures flying on Swiss Air so let's just say she was nothing short of a celebrity at Logan Airport. Our check-in person closed down her post to personally take Jackie to her last stop before boarding the plane. In Zurich, they were professional (naturally, they're Swiss for gosh sakes), and in Tanzania, they mostly were afraid of Jackie and treated her with nothing short of deference.
Sometimes you have to rely on strangers to make it in this world. What I have found, is that it is not an impossible proposition to rely on their kindness in particular. People are generally going to do their jobs, and not be insane. (One of my big worries was that someone would try to x-ray Jackie. A TSA agent in Boston told me, "That would be crazy. That would never happen in the US, and no airport anywhere in the world should x-ray a live animal." Because I was forced to, I believed him. And because I can't do everything myself, I was forced to discover that it is indeed possible to rely on the kindness of strangers.
I was forced to do something that I don't like doing: rely on others. I prefer to do everything important myself, to manage as much as I can, and to do my best to control outcomes. But I had to trust the vet, hope for the best at the USDA, turn over my beloved Jackie to Swiss cargo, and rely on all my other last-minute appointments to be on time.
Not easy!
But an idea was offered to me at just the right time, before the real craziness ultimately began: There is such a thing as the kindness of strangers. And I can now confirm that this thing is real.
At 8am the day before departing Boston, I was at the vet's office, one we'd never seen before who could fill out the bureaucratically tedious travel paperwork for the dogs to travel. What Dr. Weiner (ha!), lacked in a sense of humor, he made up for in his meticulousness, checking and rechecking microchip numbers, addresses in Switzerland and Tanzania, birthdates, etc. His work was exactly what we needed.
From there I had to make it to Sutton, MA (out by Worcester) by two o-clock to have the paperwork endorsed by the USDA. And in between I had to make a stop at Mt. Auburn for my last-in-a-series-of-three rabies vaccines.
So I raced the dogs home then went to the hospital. Sitting at Mt. Auburn registration (where you must check in before you can go to your specific clinic and check in again) I was becoming increasingly frantic as the minutes ticked past my appointment time. I needed to be back in the car and out of there! One woman came in after me, made a fuss about her colonoscopy time being "right now" and was allowed to go in front of everyone. So after some deliberation I went to the desk and said, in a superbly calm and quiet voice, "I don't mean to be pushy, but I am in a somewhat of a massive hurry." I was invited to go right away and without the scowl the previous woman had received.
In dealing with administrators, secretaries, vet techs, and nurses, they would invariably ask me: When are you going to Tanzania?" I would respond, "Tomorrow! I'm a bit frantic!" They were universally kind and understanding and would say "Oh my gosh, you MUST be! Let's get you out of here!" or "Good luck on your trip!"
The nurse whom I have come to know quite well in the travel clinic came in and asked how I was doing. I told her honestly, "Panic has definitely set in. Just stick me!" She had the yellow book documenting my vaccination history already filled out, the vaccine in hand, and was cleaning my arm as she began this conversation. She indeed stuck me with no hype but all smiles, and I was out the door, and very grateful!
Out at the USDA, they were on their hour-and-a-half lunch break when I arrived, ahead of schedule(!) But the generous young woman took my papers and said she would have the vet get started on them as soon as she came back from lunch. I guess she could tell I was nervous to let go of these papers I had just obtained (at a price of $900! and with hours I could no longer replace) so she assured me that they would be safe with her. She also said, "Oh we see Dr. Weiner's patients a lot, he always does a very good job."
So I went to the car to wait, ate a bizarre falafel sandwich that had pickles on it (yuk!) and managed a lovely conversation with the woman who owned the falafel shop. She was very interested in my travels to Tanzania and told me about a friend who had just gone there on honeymoon. It amazed me about myself that I was able to carry on such pleasant conversations throughout my day when inside I was so urgent!
I am running long already here and haven't even gotten to Jackie's adventures flying on Swiss Air so let's just say she was nothing short of a celebrity at Logan Airport. Our check-in person closed down her post to personally take Jackie to her last stop before boarding the plane. In Zurich, they were professional (naturally, they're Swiss for gosh sakes), and in Tanzania, they mostly were afraid of Jackie and treated her with nothing short of deference.
Sometimes you have to rely on strangers to make it in this world. What I have found, is that it is not an impossible proposition to rely on their kindness in particular. People are generally going to do their jobs, and not be insane. (One of my big worries was that someone would try to x-ray Jackie. A TSA agent in Boston told me, "That would be crazy. That would never happen in the US, and no airport anywhere in the world should x-ray a live animal." Because I was forced to, I believed him. And because I can't do everything myself, I was forced to discover that it is indeed possible to rely on the kindness of strangers.
Saturday, February 4
Long time, no blog
Well it has been a very long time since I have blogged. Above all else, what I truly feel now is . . . disconnected from my own life. I have been moving around (literally . . . I moved from my home of 12 years in Seattle to the Big Island of Hawaii in November), doing things (surfing, SCUBA-diving, swimming, snorkeling, hiking with the dogs . . . sounds great doesn't it?), and trying to just manage most of the time. And yet, I feel very disconnected from all of this. And so, I write.
A lot has happened since the big India adventure in 2010. Rather than rehash all the ups and downs of life in the interim, I will simply start with today:
I saw the Grateful Dead, in concert, and danced about 15 feet away from the stage here in Hawaii beneath clear blue skies. Yes, in 2012.
Ok, so it wasn't exactly the Grateful Dead. But it was as close as I'm going to come! The official name of the group is The David Nelson Band, but, come on, the guy is famous because he played with Jerry Garcia.
I danced. I watched people. I thought about who I wanted to be. I imagined what it might feel like to have some of the things I think I want. I looked at my partner Karl, really looked at him. I was connected. I was present. I participated in my own life and I knew it while it was happening. Consciousness.
Then, the moment ended, the band went on break, we came home, fed the dogs, showered, made dinner and watched the end of Rambo 3. And just like that, I was disconnected.
But in that period of time, when I was present and available to myself and to others, I decided to blog because nothing helps me remain connected so much as putting pen to paper, or, in this case, fingers to keyboard. So, lovely readers if there are any of you remaining, you may look forward to further discussion of this issue of trying to remain present and connected for our own lives. I hope you'll share your thoughts and experiences as I share mine.
Cheers for now :-)
Abigail
A lot has happened since the big India adventure in 2010. Rather than rehash all the ups and downs of life in the interim, I will simply start with today:
I saw the Grateful Dead, in concert, and danced about 15 feet away from the stage here in Hawaii beneath clear blue skies. Yes, in 2012.
Ok, so it wasn't exactly the Grateful Dead. But it was as close as I'm going to come! The official name of the group is The David Nelson Band, but, come on, the guy is famous because he played with Jerry Garcia.
I danced. I watched people. I thought about who I wanted to be. I imagined what it might feel like to have some of the things I think I want. I looked at my partner Karl, really looked at him. I was connected. I was present. I participated in my own life and I knew it while it was happening. Consciousness.
Then, the moment ended, the band went on break, we came home, fed the dogs, showered, made dinner and watched the end of Rambo 3. And just like that, I was disconnected.
But in that period of time, when I was present and available to myself and to others, I decided to blog because nothing helps me remain connected so much as putting pen to paper, or, in this case, fingers to keyboard. So, lovely readers if there are any of you remaining, you may look forward to further discussion of this issue of trying to remain present and connected for our own lives. I hope you'll share your thoughts and experiences as I share mine.
Cheers for now :-)
Abigail
Monday, May 16
Saturday, January 1
Friday, August 6
The Beautiful People of the VSPCA
When good things are happening for animals, you can bet that compassionate and hard-working people are behind it. The people who work at the VSPCA are committed to making all the animals at the shelter happy and comfortable. Not only that but they have fun while they are doing it!
For many of these folks, working at the shelter is a terrific opportunity to have a job. For the women in particular, the VSPCA offers perhaps their first employment outside the home.
The happy, smiling faces of these beautiful greeted me every day. Before I left India I persuaded almost everyone to let me take his or her picture. I think these photos capture the essense of love and joy that emanates from each of these beautiful people.
I will be updating this post with the names as Sarada and Raj send them to me. I have included as many names as I can.
Pradeep, the founder of VSPCA has saved thousands of animals
Sarada, the shelter manager for the small animals pictured here with her favorite "Blackie"
Raj, the shelter manager for the large animals
Malika, Pradeep's wife, whose home is overflowing with the animals she has saved
Raju works in the office and definitely enjoys life!
Virender also works in the office and has way too much fun!
All over the shelter are beautiful quotations painted on the walls. I love this one:
Chenna, who did not want his picture taken. He helped me give lots of dog baths!
One of the veterinarians, gently giving vitamins to a guinea pig
The best cat-catcher at the shelter!
Back to work:
For many of these folks, working at the shelter is a terrific opportunity to have a job. For the women in particular, the VSPCA offers perhaps their first employment outside the home.
The happy, smiling faces of these beautiful greeted me every day. Before I left India I persuaded almost everyone to let me take his or her picture. I think these photos capture the essense of love and joy that emanates from each of these beautiful people.
I will be updating this post with the names as Sarada and Raj send them to me. I have included as many names as I can.
Pradeep, the founder of VSPCA has saved thousands of animals
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