Pork Scratchings, Mushy Peas, and Mick Jagger

It has been a full couple of days.  Yesterday started with a longer than expected run along the Thames.  I paid for it later with very sore legs, but the scenery just got more interesting and more lovely with every step.  The rain and wind held off until I turned around to head back home.  Song birds, grey squirrels, brick palaces, rowers gliding gracefully alongside swans, cathedrals, and arched bridges made it all worthwhile.

Central London is quite a different experience.  I was thinking about my comment about how everything is quaint and little here and then it dawned on me that everything is HUGE in London.  Quite the contrast.

We did lots of walking and peeked in on Buckingham Palace, which is not very palacey in my opinion, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey (too long of a line-up to go inside), the National Gallery, the Portrait Gallery (wish we had more time here), the Calvary Museum (complete with guards on horses with signs that say these horses will bite and kick... being a guard at the Calvary Museum seems like a terrible job to me), and my favourite, Westminster Cathedral.  This was my first experience inside a cathedral of this magnitude.  I lit a candle for my Dad and just stood in awe at all of it.  I was reminded of "Pillars of the Earth" by Ken Follet as I stared up (and up and up) to the mosaic ceilings and marble pillars.  I wondered how many years it took to build and how many people lost their lives and how many babies were born during the construction.  And then of course I thought of how much it must have cost.

The other London highlight was Billy Elliot.  Thanks Ma, for insisting that we see a show while in London!  The brochure promised "unforgettable music by Elton John, sensational dance and a powerful storyline, this astonishing theatrical experience will stay with you forever"... it will.

After the play we headed out on the train and bus to Twickenham for a Rotary meeting.  Our lack of sleep showed up looking something like bickering about which bus was going where.  We ended up hopping on and off two buses after asking the bus driver if it was going to Trafalgar Street (who knew there were so many ways to pronounce Trafalgar).  Turns out either of those buses would have taken us where we needed to go, but my questioning confused the matter and caused us an extra 20 minutes of standing in the rain.  When we did make it to our destination, we found the pub where the meeting was to be held, but the meeting had been cancelled for the Christmas break.  A disappointing end to a great day.

Terry's British breakfast of champions

Today we walked the Thames with friends Andy and Maxine whose commentary added a whole new element of delight to our walk which we have become quite familiar with after only two days.

The quaint little (or not so little) brick buildings we have been passing all have a story.  Little did we know that we have been walking on Royal ground.  Here is King Henry I's house, first occupied in 1125.  The sign out front boasts of many Royals who died here... hmmm... Edward III died here in 1377, Henry VII rebuilt the palace and then died here in 1503, and Queen Elizabeth also died here in 1602.  Not sure what all the dying is about, a hospice of sorts maybe.

River Frontage of the Royal Palace

A little farther in our walk we passed homes owned by Mick Jagger and Pete Townshend.  Shops and alleyways, pubs complete with more kids, dogs, fish and chips, and mushy peas, ooo, and a cheese shop.  A very excellent day.  We had plans to go to a meeting tonight, but our afternoon nap, extended a little longer than planned.  So, it will be a quiet, likely sleepless, last night at The Swan Inn before we fly out in the morning to Nairobi.

View from our room in Old Isleworth

Big Ben & Buckingham Palace

Our sleep was definitely a little wonky -- Terry fell asleep by 8:30pm while watching a biography of Susan Boyle on the tele.  I woke up in the wee hours of the morning (3am-ish) to Terry just turning off the tele (I really like saying tele) to go back to sleep after being up from midnight.  I think we'll have it down by tomorrow as it is ten to ten and we are both still awake.

We started the day with an easy jog along the river Thames.  Aside from the picturesque views of swans swimming under little bridges and cobblestone pathways and brick buildings with Christmas wreaths and widow boxes of pansies and ivy, oh, and holly with yellow berries, my favourite part of the run was when we past an older Italian man walking his 3 pooches.  Terry was about 200 metres ahead of me and I could see the man point to him and say something.  As I neared I heard him ask, "Is she with you?", to which I replied with a smile, "yes."  He then quite sternly in a strong Italian accent gave Terry what for for not waiting for me.  We carried on with a smile and a wave.  

We passed a church with a little cemetery -- everything seems little here -- with headstones from as early as 1676.  I love the detail in the architecture; every nook and crannie is adorned with a goblin or a flower or some kind of swirl or curl.  The detail is just breathtaking, right down to baby chub rolls on the legs of cherubs.

Anyway, on the way back from our run, Terry was waiting for me up ahead and I was thinking, Oh, it's so nice that he is waiting for me... and then I saw our Italian friend and knew didn't want to get caught again.  We had a little chat about which way is it to London and then he asked, "Where are you from, America?"  We told him we were from Canada, to which he replied, "Oh, Canadians are nice people."  So are Italians!

We spent the afternoon in Central London, which I will write in more detail a little later... I think it's time to sleep soon.  We saw Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, Trafalgar Square, many many old, beautiful, white and gold buildings, and many many statues.  Oh, and the Canada Memorial...  

Here's just a couple of my favourite signs before I sign off:

way out -- aka exit
give way -- aka yield
look left (or right) -- painted on the street at crossings for us tourists
mind the step
mind the gap
alight here
park here and your car will be clamped

Sleepy in London

We boarded the plane, on schedule, with a nice surprise... we ended up in "world" something or other, which is not quite first class, but very comfy, with extra roominess, fancy headphones, soft blankie, and a little pack with slippers, a toothbrush, an eye pillow, and a pen.  We needed the comfort as we sat on the runway for 2 1/2 hours (TWO AND A HALF HOURS) while the engineers sorted out the starter on engine number 3.

Once up in the air everything went smoothly... until the hour and a half (HOUR AND A HALF) line up for customs in Heathrow!  A little sleep deprived, we found our way to the tube, then to the bus and finally to our little room at the Swan Inn Pub. 

After some haddock and chips (and a Greek salad -- I've got to get greens while I can, though I'm not sure that iceberg lettuce really counts as greens) in our crowded, but friendly, neighbourhood pub complete with dogs, babies, kids, and rugby on the tele, we are tucked away trying not to fall asleep too early.  It is noon:fifteen Vancouver time, 8pm-ish London time.  The goal is to stay awake for a couple of hours so we are not up at 4am.

Tomorrow will start with a run along the Thames, which is just outside our door.  Then we will try to find some maps and plan out our three short days here.

One hour to take off

It feels like we have been saying farewell FOREVER!  But, the time has actually come.  I have been reluctant to blog... still am, a little, I guess.  I can't quite find what I'm feeling.  And I haven't actually left yet, so there is very little to report at this time. 

I do want to say how incredibly grateful I am. 


This has been quite the year -- saying good-bye to my Dad in January, Rancho la Puerta in February, Maui in June, going back to school in September, sitting with Adya in California in November, and now Kenya.  Sigh.  It's almost too much!  Thank God for good friends and copious episodes of The Office that have kept me grounded, or helped me numb out when needed, in the face of overwhelm.


I'm also so grateful to Terry... it's pretty amazing that we both want to go on a trip like this (twice!), and that we both love Rotary (though Terry wins the Keener prize for sure), and we both like our quiet little life in our funny little house.


Anyway, forgive me if this blog feels a little "Dear Diary-ish" from time to time... I was going to have a "public" blog and a separate "friend" blog, and perhaps a private journally blog, but I'm going for simplicity in my life, so this will be the catch all.


Here we go... weeeeeee!!!!

Day of departure is here

Ok, I think I'm ready. Tanya is out saying goodbye to friends. Plane leaves in 5.5 hours.

I have figured out how to use 5% of my new camera's functions, I've downloaded several audiobooks (War&Peace, Dead Aid, The Fountain Head, Hitch 22 and various podcasts about the metals market and atheist debates), I have gone for a 1 hour run, laundry is done, travel "outfit" picked out (I hope they let me into London theatres with a Mulder Marine pro fish farmer hoody on), wireless headphones,camera, cell phone, itouch, GPS, Garmin watch, backup itouch powerpack are all charged up, gifts are packed. Couldn't fit about 4 pairs of runners I was going to give away.

Time is ticking pole, pole (slowly, slowly). I'll go practice some swahili...

Our trip, in the news...

Below is an article on our trip that appeared in local newspapers and Rotary newsletters:

By Boxing Day three members of the Rotary Club of Strathcona Sunrise will be off to India and Africa to carry out the Rotarian motto: "Service Above Self". Tanya Harmon and Terry Nielsen are returning to a small town in Kenya on boxing day. Peg Carswell will be returning to Assam, in northeast India. They will be gone for several months after investing many months into fundraising.

The main Kenya project is the construction of 50 protected springs bringing clean water to 20,000 Kenyans at a cost of $51,000.00. The funds were raised by both Rotary clubs in Campbell River, together with the Strathcona Sunrise and Cumberland Centennial clubs.19 other Vancouver Island Rotary Clubs contributed significantly as well. The other African projects besides the springs range from fish farms to education. Non- Rotary partners are Comox Valley Roadrunners who have supplied $600.00 to develop impoverished Kenyan runners. Local Optometrist Dr. Elaine Kerr provided 24 pairs of reading glasses. Eatmore Sprouts & Greens provided $400 towards the purchase of bicycles. You can follow the Kenya projects' progress on CanadatoKenya.blogspot.com.

In India, Rotarian Peg Carswell will continue the work she has long been doing with farmers and tea growers, to help promote traditional and more sustainable farming practices. She’ll also be working with her husband, Kel Kelly, to help growers develop markets for their organically-grown teas. Rotary has contributed over $1000 towards the purchase of educational equipment that will be used to provide training to students and farmers in the region.
All three Rotarians travel at their own cost and volunteer their time and energy to complete the projects above as well as several more. To learn more about local Rotary you can visit rotarystrathconasunrise.org.

1 day before lift-off

It's Horus the Sun God day. Dec 25th.

If I have to be politically correct on this blog I'll never write anything as it takes too much effort to filter my...opinions OUT of my posts- so be warned : Terry is an atheist libertarian.

We are leaving on a jet plane tomorrow night. After 4 days in London we go to Nairobi.

So far we think we have remembered everything. Our house is all readied for Mary B to clean and the tenant to take over. We are nervous, but now that we are together in Vancouver the bickering is subsiding as our fear-of-unknown binds us rather than pits us.

We have many individuals who have supplied funds. I'm tempted to post them all to honour them, but I'm aware Canadians may not appreciate that. On the other hand if I was to post it then it would help me keep track and ensure no one was missed. For now I'll keep the cards close to my chest. Suffice to say that we have about $64,000 CDN for designated projects. $51,129 for protected springs, $5000 for fish farmers, $6000 [corrected] for vocational training workshops (through TEMBO.org) and $600 for developing a runner or running program for the Comox Valley Road Runners. We also got a big bag of reading glasses from Dr Elaine Kerr and $400 for bikes from Eatmore Sprouts & Greens.

We also have a couple thousand in mad money from friends and family to do random acts of kindness with. We will no doubt match that with our own funds cuz changing lives for the better is addictive. I'm thinking of putting out some micro-loans. Having just listened to the 55 hour audiobook of Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged" I am poignantly aware that our emphasis has to be on investing and making sustainable changes rather than merely dispensing charity. Not only is sustainability mandated by Rotary, it is also something we belive in as essential. This is tricky and will be the central premise of each interaction. It is much simpler just to hand out goodies and get the big smiles. But decades of humanitarian experience by others, including Rotary, has shown this not to work, and even to cause more harm than good in the long run. It's a whole other challenge to cross the culture and language divide and say "Now, take this and stand on your own two feet". We want to return in 5, 10 years to see that teh projects of 2012 are still yielding returns.

As much as I like it here in BC I am eager to escape this culture-o-plenty (and work) for a few months.

Horus gave us a new camera for our trip: it takes video in frikking 3D!! No one told me that had been invented yet. It also has a built-in GPS. So we have lots of gadgets. I'm bringing a GPS so that each spring can be mapped. But I am not getting too attached to all the goodies because being robbed is a real possibility.

Kwaheri for now

Count down...

In less than two weeks, Terry and I will be taking off for Kenya!  We will be busy while we are there overseeing the construction of 50 protected springs and coordinating sanitation training.  Vocational and leadership training to empower women and youth with skills to increase family income and alleviate poverty is already underway in Kakamega.

The trip for me this year is about building relationships and learning as much as I can from the women in the community.  I am hoping someone will be willing to help me with my Swahili too!

Thank you to everyone who has supported our work with donations, time and interest.  The need is great, but more importantly, so is the potential.

Some of you have said that you would still like to donate.  If you would like a tax receipt for 2011, please donate on-line http://www.canadahelps.org/GivingPages/GivingPage.aspx?gpID=10931 as soon as possible.  If a tax receipt is not important, then we can accept cash, cheques, and on-line donations at any time.  We found last time we were there that it is nice to have some money available for unexpected needs that will undoubtably arise.  Last time a friend gave us $200 and said, "Change someone's life."  We were able to buy a bundle of clothing ($50) for Josephine to start a little business selling clothing at the market.  The business is still going and has been an important source of income for Josephine and her family.

Anyway, what I really want to say is thank you so much for your support!  I shake my head sometimes in awe of the life I am living.  Kenya penetrated my heart last time we were there and I feel so blessed to be going back.

If you'd like to follow along while we are gone, we will be blogging here CanadatoKenya.blogspot.com.

Asante sana,

Tanya and Terry

p.s. These pictures show why we are going back!