Welcome to the beautiful Cape Town, South Africa where we spent the next 8 weeks of our travel and volunteer adventure. Our accommodation was with a South African host family, where we lived in the southern suburbs of Cape Town in Grassy Park, and was the place we called “home” while performing our volunteer building assignment. We felt very lucky to have such a wonderful host family and accommodation - the Benjamin’s were always there when we needed them and super at accommodating for us when we asked to park our rental car on their property and when we asked to use their kitchen for cooking and hosting Thanksgiving dinner for 12 of our friends. It was so easy and nice to live with such a great family. We not only shared our accommodation with the 6 members of the Benjamin family, but we also had up to 7 other housemates from various parts of the world, most of which we traveled with on weekends for day trips and enjoyed many great times together. Every workday we would get picked up and taken to our work site, in the informal settlement of Village Heights located within Lavender Hill in the Cape Town flats. Our work place was located behind the house of a resident of Village Heights from which they were operating a daycare. The partnership Projects Abroad had with Gift of Hope and the Zandvlei Trust was for the volunteers to build a community center for the children to have a safe and productive learning environment, and to be a place (in the future) for members of the community to come for classes - an exciting project by itself, but it was also selected as a featured project in that helped make Cape Town the World Design Capital of 2014. The project began 4 years ago and the volunteers before us had built a library, a classroom, a playground, and had added running water for a bathroom facility. We were asked to spend our time building the walls for another room, and adding a drainage system for clearing the rain water from the structures that will utilize the water for a garden expansion. For the most part each day was spent mixing sand and concrete, digging and plastering - we became fine cement technicians and excellent plaster finishers! To add to the excitement of our work day, in any one day we had between 10 and 20 children on the building site, which, added to the fact that we were located between the Village Heights settlement and the Zandvlei Nature Reserve, our days involved seeing the hardships of life living in one of the poorest communities in Cape Town; the gang related activities in the settlement areas that impacted our work schedules; and the government’s interest in ensuring the informal settlement remained “informal” - no permanent structures are allowed - as well as their keen interest in the great work that was being done by volunteers for the people of this community; all in addition to our building work. Our project supervisor was instrumental in keeping all of these outside influences in check while also providing us his wonderful guidance and leadership as we continued to complete this partnership vision. Above all else we had a great and wonderful time on the building site. Our supervisor, teammates, the care givers, Macy (the dog on site) and yes, even all of the children made this hard working volunteer assignment a fun and fulfilling experience. We were very lucky that the last day of our assignment was the holiday party and graduation for a few of the children who would be going onto primary school in January. The party made it a fun celebratory day, but leaving the assignment and our supervisor, our teammates, and the children, who made us feel like family was more difficult than we ever imagined. We will truly miss our South African host family, housemates, our project supervisor, our work teammates and all those involved in developing the Gift of Hope.
0 Comments
We only had one week at our project in Bostwana and it was not nearly enough time (have you heard that before?). After the long flights from Barcelona, through Paris, Frankfurt, and Johannesburg to Polokwane, we finally got to walk around in the fresh air - before being shuffled into a van that didn't quite have enough seats for all 9 of us. Two hours later, we were at the South Africa/Botswana border, passports in hand, when we were informed that we would be walking from there. So bags in hand, we set off across the Limpopo river, entered Botswana, and were released into the wild for a week. Just kidding. We only walked the quarter mile to Botswana's border patrol and then were picked up by a new vehicle (with more than enough seats) and drove into the bush to our camp. That night we were given a tour of the camp, shown the boundaries, informed on how we would be showering, and warned about the hyenas. The camp consisted of 6 tents and a bathroom in the volunteer area; a separate camp for the staff; and a common area where we ate, hung out between activities, and charged camera/kindle batteries. Our project in Botswana was conservation, so we had plenty of activities to do while we were there, but because we were only there for one week, we only had the chance to do a few of the many we were told about. Census The main activity we did in our week were censuses. We did at least one every day we were there, though every time we were at a different location (or hide). The first time our location was on top of a kopje (an isolated hill in a very flat area), where we sat and watched elephants, zebra, and a water buck for about 3 hours before heading home. We also had one census where all we did was try to identify birds (we weren't very good at that). And then another very special census that we did was an overnight in a hide which looked over a watering hole. We didn't see much that night, and we were very thankful to have the first two shifts, but it was very cool to sleep out in the bush underneath the full moon. Road Creation Our first manual labor activity that we had was road creation, where we spent a hot morning under the sun with pick axes, axes, a chainsaw, garden shears, and machetes taking down trees and clearing rocks from the path of the soon to be completed road. It sounds like the kind of activity that is the exact opposite of the reason we were there, but in creating a new road through the bush, they will be able to close off an old road, and allow the grasses to grow back. Fence Removal The other manual labor activity that we did was fence removal, which sounds a lot easier than it actually was. Although that might have been more due to the conditions rather than the actual activity. The fence used to delineate the border between a farm and the private reserve we were working on, but after the reserve purchased the farm's property, the fence became a hazard to the animals there as they needed to be able to run freely without getting caught in the wire fence. The activity itself was us kneeling on the ground, bent over, untwisting wires from metal poles (about 12 per pole), and then moving the pole to a pile once all the wires were unattached. But then it was also hot. Really hot. We were informed it was 48.5°C (about 119°F) just before we left, and we got there about an hour and a half before sunset, so the flies in the area were going crazy to the point where there were hundreds surrounding each of us. Suffice it to say, we were very happy to go back to camp after that activity. Since we were in the bushveld of Africa, it was pretty much assured that we would be seeing plenty of animals. And we definitely did! Between the three times we happened upon groups of more than 30 elephants, and all of the game drives and censuses we did, we had a pretty impressive week for seeing animals. In addition to just seeing animals on our game drive, there were three pretty special moments where we saw something special and/or a little too close to "home" for comfort. The first encounter was on our second night in camp, as we were all leaving the communal area and heading back for our tents, joking to each other to not be attacked by a hyena on the short walk, we shined our head lamps out of the room and realized that there was a spotted hyena standing there, staring at us. Even though we were definitely more scary to her than she should have been to us, we were all pretty uncomfortable on the walk back to our tents. Our second moment was on a game drive we did after a pretty unsuccessful census, as we were driving between some kopjes, we were incredibly lucky and spotted a leopard lounging on a rock, who seemed to be just as interested in us as we were in it. And the final encounter was also in our camp, in the middle of the day. An elephant (named Captain) came into our camp and decided that our buckets full of water for laundry made a perfectly fine watering hole. So, as is natural when a massive animal is in your camp, everyone went to go watch him from about 30 feet away. He moved from the water onto the tree leaves, before deciding that he wanted the very small amount of water right next to us and moved very very verrrry close and trumpeted and knocked over a tree in his frustration at us. And even though we were incredibly tempted to run, we had to slowly creep away from him. It was a pretty exciting end to our trip in Botswana, that we will probably never experience again. Because we were only there one week, we decided to put everything in one post for Botswana (sorry, no food posts!). We're both so glad that we did the conservation project and would have liked to have been able to stay for another week or two, but we've both agreed that any more than that would've been rough. We took cold bucket showers the entire week, because it is the dry season and there is no running water, and the food was typical camp food, so we were very happy when we got to Cape Town and enjoyed a nice, warm, indoor shower and a nice, warm, indoor breakfast. The work that is being done in the Tuli block is so impressive, especially as it is entirely private and not aided by the government at all. Botswana Experience in 7 Words or LessLiving in nature and elephants every day. Most Memorable MomentDefinitely when Captain the elephant "visited" our camp. It was one of those experiences that was wholly unanticipated, even though we were living in the bush, so when it happened it was quite surprising and exciting. Things we do missBeing so close to nature. Things we don't missBeing so close to nature. RecommendationOne week in Botswana was not enough, but we probably wouldn't suggest a stay of longer than a month (some people really enjoyed their longer stays in the bush, many did not). Also. Always bring a flashlight. Everywhere.
Our third and fourth weeks here in Morocco were much less busy: there were two consecutive days off in the middle of week three, where we decided to stay in Rabat and settle in a bit more; and after the long adventure of weeks one, two, and three: where we visited the Sahara, Marrakech, Fes, Volubilis, Meknes, and trekked all the way to the seaside town of Essaouira, we decided to stay in Rabat for the fourth weekend in order to get ourselves organized and to give us time to think about the future. For Taylor this meant figuring out a study schedule for the GRE (she’s taking it in Paris), researching more detailed information about her preferred Masters of Architecture programs, and learning about the requirements of the application processes. For Ann, it meant preparing her reading lists, ensuring we have all the details of our future travel plans, and writing in her journal about exploring potential opportunities for her next career move. During our very quick week three that was full of gaining new volunteers and losing some, we spent Wednesday and Thursday off (Happy Birthday, King Mohammed VI!), hanging out, and relaxing. Then back to school for one short day before embarking on our first trip around Morocco, as just the two of us (we were quite sad to lose our travel buddies from before – bye Eliza and Lauren!!). We travelled by train, bus, and car to make it all the way to Essaouira, located on the southern coastline of Morocco. This trek took us from Rabat to Marrakech by train (5hrs), where we transferred to a bus for another 3-hour segment, before finally arriving in the small beach city around 10:00pm. It should have been a 5-minute walk to our hotel… But somehow we managed to get lost (and stay lost) for almost an hour and a half before returning to our original location and then with the help of a taxi driver we immediately found the hotel in the appropriate amount of time: 5 minutes. Oops! As much as we love the old medinas, getting lost at 10:30 in the evening can be confusing and quite frustrating. Lesson learned, next time we’ll look up the location before leaving Rabat and our wifi. And talk about our hotel! We stayed in a gorgeous converted mansion just inside the medina walls, where we were greeted with welcoming smiles, freshly pressed orange juice, pastries, and dates (despite the late hour). We could have easily wasted away our entire stay enjoying the beautiful mansion’s courtyard, rooftop pool, and spa. Instead we chose to get up early, enjoy the wonderful and fresh buffet breakfast, and start our adventure exploring this small seaport town. Our trip (unsurprisingly) took us first to the beach, where there were surfers, swimmers, and sunbathers galore. While we were excited to see the beach, we were slightly uninterested in hanging out there, as we had an entire city to explore. It was pretty easy to agree, based on nothing else but the beach and our hotel, that we could easily make this trip again and it would be worth it. From the beach we headed to one of the largest fishing harbors in Morocco and explored the docks, and boy were they smelly – we enjoyed seeing the all the small boats tied together, new boats being built, and inevitably, we were able to experience the daily catch being unloaded from the boats. As we wandered through the fishermen’s stalls selling their daily catches, we realized why the cats in Essaouira seem to be much larger than the cats in the other cities we’ve visited – this was their haven of a fresh fish market with plenty to share. There were so many men selling fish of all different sizes and types, most of which we’d never seen before, this allowed the cats to take have their pick of the smaller/less attractive fish. As we walked around the harbor, it wasn’t long before we reached a point in the fish market where we both (at the same time) gagged and started running for the “safe” zone near the medina wall. No words needed to be spoken: we just turned and ran. Between the port area and the medina is the Skala du Port, a sea bastion you may recognize as a part of Astapor from Season 3 of Game of Thrones. We definitely had a great time wandering around this 18th century fort, taking lots of pictures and enjoying the stunning views of the coastline and the other walls separating the ocean from the medina. This area was the clear choice of homes for all the urban animals in Essaouira; between the coastline, the fishing boats and this beautiful fort there were many of the city’s cats, and the large amount of seagulls who also lived in this concentrated area were reminiscent of Hitchcock’s 1963 film “The Birds”. There were so many seagulls surrounding the Skala du Port and the port itself that we joked about how frequently visitors must get pooped on. Then we looked at each other, grimaced, and left the seagulls to explore the rest of this ancient city. Essaouira has been occupied since the prehistoric times, and despite being a small city, it manages to have a very long, documented history. As early as the 5th century BC it was used as a trading post, and sometime around the end of the 1st century BC, the Berber King Juba II established a factory that produced Tyrian purple dye using the shells from Essaouria. The exclusiveness of this purple dye, which comes from a particular seashell, was reserved as a color for royalty due to its exorbitant cost. There was also a 3rd century Roman villa found and excavated from on an island off the coast. It wasn’t until the 1760’s that the city was modernized and built up to what we see today, but the past is evident everywhere as you walk through the medina. As our walk took us along the interior of the 18th century walls, we found a teahouse that took up the 2nd-6th floors of a small building with gorgeous views of the ocean and yummy mint tea to sip, where we hung out for quite some time before deciding to see some of the artistry that this city is known for: their marquetry. While the city is known for artists of all kinds, such as painters, jewelry makers, and musicians – their woodcarving and veneering technique is some of their best-known work with a history and a skill that has been passed down through generations. The artist cooperatives throughout the medina are lined with everything you could think of to be made out of wood: small statues of camels, candleholders, trays, tables, and boxes in all shapes and sizes. It was a little overwhelming, but if you focused on just a few of the handmade items you could really appreciate their beauty and craftsmanship. We had a wonderful day enjoying everything the city had to offer and just as we were leaving to head back to our hotel, we decided to take a few more urban wildlife pictures (there was a very funny stand-off between a surly cat and an overly curious dog) when the inevitable happened. While taking a picture, Taylor dropped her camera and screamed eeewww! And Ann looked at her foot in disbelief. We were just pooped on. Taylor had a big glob on her head and Ann had some remains on her foot. After pulling out some baby wipes to clean us off, Taylor regained conscious thought and was so thankful for camera straps – her camera was dangling around her neck. After our successful (and a little bit icky) walk back through the medina to our hotel for a private hammam spa appointment (being a private spa, it was a totally different and more luxurious experience than our public hammam experience) we then took a relaxing walk back to the beach to catch the sunset over the Atlantic. The next morning we woke early for sunrise and to book our return ticket to Rabat – we met this quest with no luck, apparently that’s a ticket you need to book well in advance, and so we were stranded in Essaouira for another day… Or we could to solicit the assistance of the wonderful concierge at the hotel to arrange for a car. Since we didn’t have a day to lose, we accepted that this would cost us way more money than we wanted to spend to get back to Rabat, but we said ok, hopped in the nice, new car and enjoyed the sights of Morocco’s countryside while relaxing in the very cool air conditioning. In our fourth week we were in transition mode – not only did we move into a new home in Rabat, but we were also both moved to a new facility to teach new classes. We also used this time to do some planning and to think about our future and transitioning back into normal life after this whole experience. Yes, this was the first time we really thought about it, and it felt good to think about and plan for our upcoming transitions. From the very beginning in our classes we were given a direction from previous volunteers – so it was easy for Taylor’s beginner class to continue to focus on feelings, family members, weather, clothing, the difference between here and there, and other basic aspects of the English language and for Ann’s intermediate class to focus on grammar, pronunciation, and the different tenses. Preparing for these classes was simple(r) because we were given direction and could continue to teach the classes in the same manner as the previous volunteers. But we had to say good-bye to that old location, and now that we’ve started at a new one, we have totally different classes and preparation styles: Taylor is teaching advanced students with the intention of preparing them for the TOEFL and the IELTS exams and Ann is teaching beginners – starting with the ABCs. Now we find ourselves spending hours preparing for classes with the intent of creating lesson plans to be passed on to future volunteers. So even though we did not travel as much or get out and around the city during this fourth week, we were still busy working on some other (and no less important and exciting) aspects of our trip!
Our second week in Morocco was a hectic one – to say the least. Because Thursday was a national holiday and we did not go to our placements, we decided to travel to Marrakech Wednesday after placement and come back Thursday evening. Then, Friday after placement, we left for another one of Morocco’s past imperial capitals, Fes, for the weekend. This week we also spent really getting into our teaching assignments at the community center. For Taylor, this week she had full responsibility for her entire class – curriculum planning, lesson planning, and teaching, as the other volunteer who was co-teaching with her left to go back to the states. For Ann, she began teaching entire classes by alternating days with another volunteer. We each teach approximately 12 students in class every weekday for about 2 hours, and spend much of our afternoon hours at the house planning and preparing lesson plans for the next day. Taylor is teaching a class of absolute beginners (or pre-beginners, as the previous volunteer referred to them), where they speak fluent Arabic, and are mostly fluent in French, and know no English; they’ve never taken it in school, and they are taking this class to learn it for the first time. Taylor’s class has students that range from age 11-20 and every day has been a challenge to balance the talkative students/very silent students, and to find the right amount of review/new material to ensure everyone is learning, as it is harder than anticipated to gauge what the students are actually retaining instead of just regurgitating. Ann’s class is the intermediate students with their ages ranging from14 – 18 and who have already learned the basics of English, but are working to understand the grammar rules, increase their reading comprehension, improve their vocabulary and learn more about English-speaking countries cultures. The balance of assessing skill level is the biggest challenge in lesson planning, and when we play jeopardy, the room is very competitive, so managing the room is fun too. All in all, the students are great and so willing to learn, it makes you want to keep coming back. Monday and Tuesday after placement we had cooking lessons and a talk on the history, economics and education of Morocco; and on Wednesday we hurried to the train station after lunch to catch the 1:50 train to Marrakech (5 hour train ride!). When we arrived in Marrakech, we jumped right in, starting with Jemaa el Fna. This is the location that is most stereotypical when picturing Moroccan markets… Snake charmers playing music to attract tourists and their snakes; orange juice stalls filled to the brim with fresh oranges waiting to be pressed; food vendors surrounding long benches, where tourists and the residents of Marrakech alike take a seat to eat meals prepared in one of the many food carts filling the square; shops lining the edges of the square, whose salesmen seem to be some of the best in the world – selling overpriced merchandise, and reasonably priced merchandise, all of which screams Morocco; and finally the Koutoubia Minaret – at nearly 230 feet tall and the oldest of the three great Almohad towers – the first, the Hassan Tower, we saw in Rabat and the third is the Giralda in Seville, Spain. The Jemaa el Fna comes alive at night, which we watched from our (very touristy, but delicious) restaurant overlooking the square – as the light in the sky dimmed, people began to emerge from the many roads leading into the square, the noise level rose, the acrobats tumbled in the streets and the smells of traditional Moroccan fare filled the air. That evening we had quite the adventure trying to find our riad. We didn’t set out in search of it until 11 o’clock and it was almost midnight by the time we found it – with the help of 3 children, 2 fish merchants, a police officer, and some kind strangers on the street. Our riad was set far into the maze of small winding alleys in the medina and once we got inside – was so worth it. The room was big enough for the 4 of us to share comfortably, and once we had settled in, we went downstairs to the courtyard to put our feet in the pool. Even though we couldn’t find the riad and we only spent a few minutes by the pool that night and even less time in the riad in the morning (just enough to eat breakfast and taunt the cat with my camera lens), Riad al Alfarah was a great place to stay in Marrakech and we would definitely stay there again. Thursday we only had the morning to enjoy in Marrakech, as we had to catch the 2:30 train back to Rabat, so we spent the morning exploring the El Badi Ruins, meandering through the souks around the Jemaa el Fna, where we bartered and bought some great souvenirs. Our riad was very close to one of the famous sites of Marrakech – El Badi, the palace of Ahmed el Mansour. The name of this palace means “The Incomparable” and even though most of the palace is in ruins, it is easy to see why it would have been named this in the 16th century. The parts that can be visited today are the dungeons, the guest accommodations, and the grand reception space built for hosting ambassadors, and the central court. This area holds four sunken gardens and 6 pools, the largest of which is nearly 300 feet long. Our walk through the souks was pretty overwhelming as the shops are all so very close together and all the multicolored items for sale sparkled for our attention. We quickly walked back through the Jemaa el Fna on our way to the Koutoubia Minaret, passing snake charmers on the way – and while the minaret was nice to see at night, in the daytime the beautiful green tile accents shone and accentuated the one tall building amidst the shorter surrounding ones. We only had a little time left before we needed to head back to Rabat – so we headed to La Mamounia, possibly the most exclusive hotel in Marrakech (rooms start at 6000MAD/night – that’s more than Taylor spent on a runner, a handira, and a pillowcase) for afternoon tea. It was clearly the highest quality tea we have had since being in Morocco – but it lacked the flair and authentic taste of Berber whiskey. We did however enjoy the air-conditioning and the opulence of the décor. Back in Rabat and after a quick Friday class, we headed back to the train station to board our train to Fes – the oldest of Morocco’s imperial capitals. Fes has a Ville Nouvelle and two separate medinas – Fes el Bali, the oldest section, which is where most tourists spend their time, and Fes el Jadid, where the imperial palaces are dominant. We spent most of our time in Fes el Bali exploring the souks and seeing the most common sights. Fes el Bali is full of a seemingly random and intricate maze of streets and alleys, and we were lucky to have a riad just off of the main road full of souks. The only exploring we did Friday evening was in our hotel and just down the road to our new favorite café, Café Clock; but Saturday morning, we woke up bright and early to venture down the mile long Talâa Kebira that leads to the most important mosque in Morocco, the Kairaouine Mosque. This mosque is not only the epicenter of religion here in Morocco; it also is home to the Kairaouine Library, established in the 9th century and the study place for many of Fes’ scholars. Because it is such a sacred place, it is nearly impossible to get a view of the mosque, as it is surrounded by smaller buildings and is entered through doorways that non-Muslims are not allowed to enter. Past the mosque was our first stop of the day – the Chouwara Tanneries. These tanneries are the largest in Fes and make a very prominent (and smelly) impression. At these tanneries, they dry and dye leather in the same production process as during medieval times – lay out the hide until it dries, soak it in the white and grey pigeon poop (the acidity helps the leather take in the dye) and wash it, before soaking the hide in an array of colored vats (poppy red, “saffron,” actually turmeric yellow, indigo blue, mint green, and black) for upwards of 20 days before it is ready to be turned into a bag or backpack or pouf or jacket or a pair of shoes. This trade is one of the few left that is still passed down generation to generation – the men who work in the tannery today had father’s who worked there and learned from their father. While there were moments of overwhelming touristiness and smelliness in the tannery, we had mint leaves to hold up to our noses and we enjoyed the peek into this centuries old practice, learning about the trade, the processing of animal hides, and how people throughout the Mid-Atlas region collect pigeon poop by the liters to sell to the tanneries every Friday. On our walk back up the Talâa Kebira, we stopped in a few shops and made a few more purchases – Fes is where we expected to shop the most (and we were right). Ann spotted the first antique handira of the day, and was determined to negotiate hard to obtain this beautiful piece. We followed the little old man carrying the handira down the alley into his smaller souk to begin the negotiation process, and were quite surprised when his starting price was half of what we thought we would pay. He proceeded to tell us that we were his first customers of the day and it was good luck to sell the first ware of the day to someone who was going to keep the piece for herself. Later, we visited the very well reviewed Coin Berbere – a carpet shop that sells antiquities and other collectable items – where Taylor bought her antique handira from the [blnk] tribe and a new runner. It really was a pleasure bargaining for these items from a shop that knew exactly where they came from and was open about what pieces were high quality and which were not. If we ever happen to be in Fes again, we would stop by both of these shops in a heartbeat to buy another rug. After a quick lunch, we walked to the Bab Boujeloud to see the city’s famous blue gate before heading to the Medersa Bou Inania, one of three Moroccan buildings in religious use that non-Muslims are permitted to enter. A medersa is literally a “place of study,” though most are used as dormitories and only some are used as a school to study the Qur’an. The Medersa Bou Inania is currently in use as a place to study the Qur’an and is the grandest of all of Fes’ medersas, with its carved dark cedar, beautiful stucco, and perfect zellij tilework. That evening we headed up to the Merenid tombs on the hillside overlooking the city to watch the sunset and to hear the evening call to prayer sound from the city– it was an almost overwhelming sound coming from the city’s (reported) 365 minarets. The medina looked stunning, sitting in the valley between the hills and the Mid-Atlas Mountains. The next morning we woke up early to leave Fes – and head towards the ancient Roman ruins of Volubilis. These ruins were, quite literally, the end of the road for the Roman Empire – at the end of a trail that led through France, Spain, and Tangier, before stopping in the Mid-Atlas Mountains. This was likely the location from which Roman emperors wished to infiltrate and subdue the Berber tribes – luckily for the tribes (and unluckily for the Romans) the mountains were hard to navigate, and the Roman rule only lasted approximately 200 years before they retreated from Morocco. After the Roman’s left Volubilis, the city spoke Latin until the seventh century and remained intact until the seventeenth century, when the marble from the buildings was carried away for the building of Meknes. What we saw when we visited the ruins were from the second and third century, which included the triumphal arch and many of the original tile mosaics in the houses. From Volubilis, we made a very quick stop in Moulay Idriss – the final resting place named after the founder of the first Arab dynasty in Morocco. This city has a sacred status due to Moulay Idriss’ shrine and mausoleum – and while it is a place of constant pilgrimage for Moroccan Muslims, non-Muslims are only permitted to the gate. Our final stop of the weekend before heading back to Rabat was a quick lunch in Meknes, followed by a tour of the Prison of Christian Slaves (actually most likely a granary – not a prison), the Koubba el Khayatine (a reception hall for ambassadors to the imperial court), the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail (the only active shrine in Morocco that non-Muslims may visit), and a quick peek at the Royal Golf Gardens, before heading off to the train station to head back to Rabat.
Our second week in Chengdu, we definitely had more of a chance to settle into a routine. We’ve been getting used to the stares (sort of) and the city as a whole; this is definitely a great opportunity for us to spend time in a city with a culture so different from our own. One evening after work this week, we took the metro all the way to the second to last stop to visit the New Century Global Center. This building was completed in July 2013 and is considered to be the largest building in the world (by floor space). The second we walked up from the metro we were greeted by our first view of this massive building – we had to turn our heads to see the entire façade. After stepping back about 1,000 feet from the building, we finally had gone far enough to get most of the building on film. This immense building holds a very large department store, a 5-story mall, an IMAX theatre, an entire floor of restaurants, an ice-skating rink, and a water park. The inside was just as beautiful as the outside, and we decided this is a place we will need to go back to just to see it all. The strangest part about being here is the attention we get. Since being here we’ve noticed people ‘surreptitiously’ taking our picture, people trying to talk to us because they want to practice their English, countless people just flat out staring – not even caring that they’ve been caught, and finally, as of this weekend – people asking us to take pictures with them. I guess the childhood taunt of “take a picture, it’ll last longer” has finally caught on. I now know what it feels like to be somewhat famous. Not really… When our original plans to volunteer at a panda research center didn’t work out, the Projects Abroad team thought it would be beneficial to place us within small businesses in the region that needed some help from native English speakers/writers. {Ann’s Placement} My placement here in Chengdu is with British Education (BE). BE is dedicated to assisting Chinese students study abroad in schools and universities. In the first week, I assisted with planning an event and conducting a presentation for 16 Chinese students with ages ranging from 12 - 17 and their parents. The event and presentation was about preparing them for their upcoming UK study abroad program experience. None of these students have been to the UK before nor, in most cases, have these children stayed away from their parents for more than a weekend or short holiday trip. Helping them prepare for what they may experience culturally as a boarding student abroad is just one part of the education that BE provides. In the second week, I have been consulting with a few students on their placement within other UK schools for their senior school years and I helped one student who is preparing to apply to UK universities in the fall. The assistance primarily is to help those who want to attend a summer program, gain placement into junior and senior level boarding schools, and to consult around the application process for university attendance within the UK, the US and in Switzerland. The project I’m currently working on with BE is developing a program outline for an activities weekend at a local mountain and lake property for prospective students and parents to engage in a typical sport enjoyed by both British and American citizens. We have chosen fly fishing and although I think of myself as an adventurer and an outdoors type of person – fly fishing is something I know nothing about, so I have spent the last few days researching and finalizing my first brief on what a day of learning to fly fish would be like. {Taylor’s Placement} While here in Chengdu, I’m working in a subsidiary of the German Winery, Jakob Gerhardt – currently in their slow season, as they have two main exhibitions each year: the Chengdu Food & Drinks Fair in March and Top Wine China in September. So far I’ve learned a lot about German wine and have completed “translating”/proofreading their English materials. It’s certainly interesting to learn about importing alcohol into China’s emerging wine market and about wine in general. Before being here I knew two things about wine: some of it’s red and some of it’s white. Through reading their promotional information and proofreading their documents I’ve learned a lot about the Gerhardt family and their 260 year old wine making business. I can’t say I’ve converted to being a wine-drinker, I’m still a beer and whiskey girl, but maybe with all this wine I’m drinking in the office, I may actually try some when I get home. Maybe. This past weekend we took the opportunity to get out of the city and get some fresh air, and even though it was a long and tiring trip – it was so worth the effort. Bright and early Saturday morning, we left Chengdu for a two hour drive south to climb Mt. Emei. The tallest of the Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism in China, Emei Mountain has an elevation of 10,167 feet and stands 3,507 feet from “ground level.” In addition to having the chance to view the beautiful World Heritage Site, we also had the opportunity to gain exposure to China’s Buddhist culture: there are 76 Buddhist monasteries on the mountain, the first of which was built in the 1st century BC. We arrived at Emei Shan in the pouring rain and due to the steepness of the trails it was unlikely that we would be able to hike much of the mountain. We decided to abandon our idea of hiking up as far as we could, and instead continued to drive a bit more than half way and then we transferred to a bus that dropped us off at Leidongping, where we then hiked in the rain to Jieyin Palace, and then took a cable car up to Jinding Peak, with a final hike to arrive at the Golden Summit. The trip up the mountain was stressful due to an accident we passed on the ride up (motorbike + bus = bad), the dodging of the massive amount of slow moving umbrellas to avoid getting hit in the face, and the amount of stairs we had to take to get there; but once we were finally at the summit of the impressive mountain range, it was easy to forget the stress and enjoy the beautiful views. The first hint that we were near the top was a small peak of the head of the 158-foot tall ten-direction golden statue of Puxian. Although the lingering fog obscured our view, the line of sight we had left us curious about its magnificent size. Puxian is the Amitable Buddha and it’s ten directions stands for Puxian’s ten practices and wishes. After climbing the steps to the base of the statue and taking a look around, the fog rolled in so thick that we could not even see each other as we were standing next to each other. We waited just about ten minutes, the rain stopped and the fog began to dissipate and then we realized that not only did we have a great view of the summit, we also had magnificent views of the entire mountain from above the clouds! It was on our walk back down (we did not take the cable car both ways) that we had realized what an accomplishment it would be to climb this mountain. After 11 kilometers of downhill walking and descending the many, many stairs, we realized that we never stood a chance at climbing Emei from the base, and thank goodness for the rain! We were so tired, but so excited as we reached the bottom of our hike to see the famous Emei monkeys – these Tibetan Macaques are sneaky little buggers, and it isn’t unheard of for them to jump on people to get in their backpacks for food. Our own flat mate, who was at Emei the weekend before we arrived, was attacked by a monkey who thought that his cell phone was food – this was enough warning for us to know that although we wanted to see them, we definitely did not want to have any personal interaction with them besides taking pictures. We did witness one monkey stealing a bunch of grapes from a woman, but she gave them up willingly with no altercation. That evening we had a moment of insanity while attempting to find a hotel - apparently hotel and hostel mean the same thing at Emei and either way the accommodations are very simple and the beds are hard as a rock (we both miss our pillow-top mattresses). To continue our adventure in finding a place to eat, we found that several outdoor cooking, live fish and animal tanks to choose your dinner from aren’t really our cup of tea, but we finally chose one, and much to our delight (despite a few noisy staff), the food was delicious – it’s all good in Sichuan when you know what you are ordering. When we finally reached our ho(s)tel, we were almost thankful for the stone hard beds. At least it was clean. In the morning, we took the time to see the most visited location at Emei: Baoguo Temple located at the base of the mountain – built in 1573 BC, with four layers to the temple (each providing unique and stunning scenery). We were pleased we arrived early enough to enjoy the temple before the tour buses descended; it was a nice way to enjoy the morning. After we departed Emei Shan, we headed out to see the Leshan Grand Buddha. Before even catching a glimpse of it in the Leshan Grand Buddha Scenic Area, we visited the Lingyun Temple, Jifeng Pavilion, and the Lingbao Pagoda and then realized that the line to get to the base of the Buddha was over 3 hours long (not including the walk back up). We caught sight of the head of the Buddha from the top and definitely understood why it is called the Grand Buddha. At 233 feet, the Grand Buddha is the world’s tallest carved Buddha and, because construction began in 713 AD, it is also by far the tallest pre-modern statue in the world. The Chinese monk Haitong started production in 713 AD at the turbulent meeting place of three rivers – the Ming River, the Dadu River, and the Qingyi River because he believed that the presence of a Buddha would calm the waters and make it safe for sailors to pass. Despite the fact that construction paused and Haitong died; it was 90 years after the project began that the Buddha was finished being carved. And (surprisingly) the excess stone that had been disposed of in the rivers had indeed caused the unstable rivers to calm, which did, in fact, make it a safe passage for sailors. Although we decided not to climb to the bottom of the mountain to stand at the base of the carving, we still had the opportunity to see the Buddha from the river on a speedboat which we found after we left the site. After all the drama and excitement from the weekend, the stares and stairs, sore legs and being very tired from all the walking – any guesses as to how many stairs we took? |
What this is:This website is a diary of sorts for us to log and share our 7 continent gap year as well as more recent travels! To Subscribe to Updates:Categories
All
|