Kokopelli Choir Association

My Last African Blog

2008-09-12T14:36:00.002-06:00

Sad.

At this time two days from now I will be on a plane to London, saying goodbye to the place I have called home for the past three and a half months. I feel like I've been living in a dream. Or perhaps my "old life" back in Canada is the dream, it's hard to tell. This whole summer (or winter) I've found it so hard to believe that in a couple weeks I'd be going back to school, to choir, to my home. Maybe it's because I've had a choir and a home here where, in many ways, I just feel like I belong. Maybe rather than I dream, I should say it feels like I've been in a parallel universe - each timeline independent of the other, but I've had the ability to jump between realities. At the risk of quoting "The Wannabe", I won't go on. But what I will say is that while I am very sad to be going, there are many things that I look forward to upon my return to Canada. It's funny dealing with all this happiness and sadness all at the same time - maybe Garth can recommend a book for me :P

So, here's what I'm doing - I'm making a couple lists. First, what I will miss about Namibia (in no particular order):

-Mascato: This one's easy. So many great friends and memories.
-The Ocean: I think I've gotten to the point a couple times this summer where I've actually taken for granted the fact that I've been living two blocks from the ocean. At these moments I've been an idiot.
-Village Cafe: Mmmmmmmmmmm.
-Lunch/dinner at Mrs. Venter's: Mrs. Venter always pulls out all the stops for dinner, making far more food that we could possibly consume. But even when it's a simple lunch, it's always nice to just sit around the counter and chat.
-Charlotte: Charlotte is the cleaning lady employed by my landlords, Dirk and Marie, who has also been doing house work and laundry for Scott and I. But apart from how nice it is to find our shelves reorganized and our underwear ironed, she is just a joy to have around the house. At first, she barely spoke a word of English, and when she didn't understand what we were saying she'd just give a jolly "OOOkaaaay" and go merrily along, but I think she's understanding more and more. I really can't say enough about this woman!
-Afroshine: I was lucky enough to get a couple chances to work with these guys, and what never ceased to amaze me was how much natural talent they have. Why them!? Why not me?!!! Anyway, it was really fun playing with them - especially at their last show on Sept. 7, which Jen also played at, and which will be broadcast on national television later this month!
-Ninjazz: Ok, so the official name is not nijazz - I think the working name for now is "Mascato Jazz". But this is something that I'm going to miss a lot. I've sung in FORM for the past two years directed by John, and that's been great, but it was also great to do jazz with Scott, which I had never done before. I loved the enthusiasm of everyone in this group - even after 7-hour rehearsals of Jenkins music, they were always happy to stick around for a quick practice. Also we had our first performance at the Afroshine gig on Sept. 7. We sang "Sweet Spirit" and "Even the Pain" by ourselves and then backed up Afroshine on "Ti Mama" and "Everyone". They were amazing! To be honest, before the performance Scott, Jen, and I were a little scared that it might all fall apart, but they stepped up in a MASSIVE way. The manager was also super excited and will definitely be booking them again in the future!
-Scott: It's been really fun living with Scott and I'm going to miss it. Most of the amazing things that I got to do this summer, from going to South Africa, to just noticing cool little things around town, would never have happened if he hadn't been here.
-The dessert: Right now, I feel like I'd be happy to never see another dune again, but I remember when I first arrived here and how great it was to see the dunes. So I'm sure I'll feel that way again.
-Food: Rusks, jungle oat bars, woolworth's wok boxes, the most amazing apple juice in the world, tizers, game, mince ( which is what they call ground beef, but it tastes different here), Simba H.S. Balls Chutney flavoured chips, brotchens, spar's broccoli salad, curried mince fatkoeks . . . this is all I can think of at the moment.
-And, least of all, Buddy: The worst dog in the world. He is an offense to four senses, though the fifth one is assumed. He barks, he stinks, and looks and feels like he hasn't been groomed in decades. He actually really reminds me of Master Splinter from the old TMNT movies. And let me remind you, Splinter was a rat. BUT. I will miss him just a tiny, tiny, quark of a morsel.

Next list - things that I am looking forward to in Canada:

-Family and Friends
-My choirs: "But you've been singing in choirs for the past three months straight!" you say. Don't get me wrong, I've loved singing in Mascato, but I'll just say that if you'd done it, you'd understand.
-Maggie: My cat!
-My guitars: I had one with me, but I've missed the others.
-Wireless (and fast) internet everywhere: We've actually been spoiled to have wireless internet at our house, but Namibia is still way less "connected" than Canada. At least, that is, when it comes to computers. Cell phones? That's a different story.
-School: My semester has actually already been going for a week and a half and I've been missing classes! I've started doing some of the work that's been assigned, but it'll actually be nice to get back to the university and get to work.
-Food: Perogy Pizza, cheesecake (not the same here), everything really - food just tastes different here. Even when they have the same products that you're used to from home, you're never entirely sure what it's going to be like.
-My clothes: This seems like a silly one, but I've actually had a couple dreams about wearing some of the clothes that I left behind (which was about 95% of my clothes). I'm sure my mother won't be surprised about this one though.
-My condo: There have been other people living there all summer and I'll be happy to claim it back, complete with newly installed windows and wireless internet!
-Edmonton in Autumn: Three months of sand and palm trees actually takes a toll. I need some colour!

Well, that's about all I can think of at the moment. Tomorrow we have the final two performances of the musical, and the day after that I'm off. This morning I finished all the last minute shopping that I had to do, so I'm pretty much all set. I guess there's nothing left to say but that it's been fun and I hope you've enjoyed reading my blog!

-Joel.

Update Time

2008-08-25T04:19:00.002-06:00

I think an update is in order. It has certainly been a long time since I wrote a real blog entry, and for that I apologize. However, the truth is there hasn't been much happening here that would translate into an exciting story (which is not to say that nothing exciting is happening). But I'll give you a peak at what I've been up to anyway.

First off, the musical is all consuming. We are currently practicing EVERY DAY FOR SIX HOURS A DAY (despite that fact that most of the choir either goes to school or works full-time). Last week we welcomed the Ghanaian-Scottish choreographer, Rozina into the fold. She's brought a new excitement to the musical, and things really seem to be coming together. It's amazing how fast Mascato has picked things up - an entire musical choreographed in a week! Thank goodness I'm playing guitar! The last element that we need to add this week is all the musicians (string quartet, french horn, percussion). Speaking of musicians, since Jen arrived last week, most of our time has been spent writing string and horn parts, copying music, arranging marimba parts, etc. It's great having Jen here though - there's no way all the work we did would have been finished in time without her (unless I stopped sleeping). So basically we have this week to rehearse and polish and then we'll be off to Windhoek, where we'll have another week to rehearse in the National theatre, and then the show will open at the Bank Windhoek Arts Festival. Working on this musical has been a huge challenge for me in so many different ways - it's going to be interesting to see the end results.

Next up, Jazz choir. Or shall we call it by our new name - "Ninjazz". Well, that's not officially our name, but it is the best name ever. Rehearsing with the jazz choir has been a ton of fun, but because so much time is taken up by Mascato rehearsals, it's hard to find the time. So basically we have to have very quick and stealthy rehearsals (sometimes for only 15 minutes at a time) much like a ninja jazz ensemble might. As for the gig, this could be really cool. It's not set in stone yet, but we may be performing with Afroshine on Sept. 7 in Windhoek. The plan is that we would sing one or two songs on our own and then back them up on "Ti Mama" and a new song called "Everyone". It's a perfect situation in theory, because the jazz people will be in Windhoek anyway because of the musical. Afroshine just needs to get approval from the promoter, so keep your fingers crossed.

So what else? Earlier this summer Scott and I compiled a list of things that we wanted to do while I'm here. We crossed off Dune 7 last week, and there's not much left to do. We might go for a round of golf or go to the gem gallery this week, but we've done all the major things. Something I need to do this week though is get together with Engelhardt and Linus to learn some music! Engelhardt is going to teach me this really cool Etheopian piece which he conducts, which I'd really love to teach to Kokopelli. And Linus is going to teach me some of his own creations - And he just arrived!

I'm also compiling in my head a list of things that I'm going to miss about Africa, things I'm not going to miss, and things that I look forward to in Edmonton. My time is seriously running out! Three weeks from today I'll be over the Atlantic Ocean.

-Joel.

Some Pictures from SA

2008-08-20T03:20:00.005-06:00

In order these are pictures of: 1. The Tropic of Capricorn in Southern Namibia 2. An extinct volcano in Southern Namibia which we went hiking in 3. Wild Flowers in Northern SA 4. Our friendly (and enormous) drain spider 5. Green Market Square in Cape Town 6. View from the top of Table Mountain 7. Fish River Canyon in Southern Namibia 8. Scott looking epic at the Fish River Canyon 9. Sunset at the FIsh River Canyon

Finally! An Update! (and a cop-out)

2008-08-20T03:07:00.002-06:00

So it has been a long time. There's is so much to update everyone on that I can hardly believe that I'm going to blog about it all . . . and that's why I'm not. The main event that I haven't blogged about what the two-week trip that Scott, Nigel, Michelle, and I took to South Africa. Luckily, along the way the lovely and eloquent Michelle Lu was writing blogs on a very regular basis. So, to sum up the events of our two weeks in SA, here are Michelle's Blog entries from the trip:

The Roadtrip
Friday, August 1, 2008 at 2:04pm
July 29th… Our roadtrip to South Africa officially begins! We still had to make it through a long stretch of Namibia, but we all thoroughly enjoyed the scenery that passed us. What splendid sights to soak up. Scott stopped several times to find geocaches of course. Which was cool because we all got to stretch and appreciate the area. We stopped at the Tropic of Capricorn, checked out a monument near an old church in Mariental, and even drove out to do a hike up to an extinct volcano. Geocaching really does lead one to embark on a lot of adventures and experience things that one would not normally do. Haha… one must be careful not to become too addicted to this though…*cough cough like Scott cough cough.* I had so much fun and took a tonne of pictures of the beautiful landscapes. These on-the-side geocaching endeavors were so worth the time and effort! Heehee… I guess I’m a geocacher too now, by association. ;-p

Because we spent most of the day going on geocache hunts, we had to stay another night in Namibia. It was getting dark and we didn’t want to drive then, so we settled into a hotel called Bird’s Mansion in Keetmanshoop. The place was decent and comfortable. But the décor was very tacky. Haha… Bird’s Mansion… go figure. We went to The Centre Hotel for dinner, which was down the road from us. Don’t ask why, we’re weird like that. Besides the dishes having interesting names and the service taking long, the food was good. After dinner, it was back to our abode for a round of Bonanza before we all hit the sack to rest up for the next day’s excursions.

July 30th… We made it into SA today!! It was remarkable how the topography drastically changed after driving across the river after the border. The views were amazing! There was so much GREEN! I love GREEN! There isn’t too much green in Namibia during this time of the year, that’s for sure. But you could tell that SA has been getting its healthy dose of rain. It was so awesome to see fluorescent colored wild flowers in the fields as we drove past. I’ve never seen such colors in flowers before. Highlighter colors, I thought. We stopped at one spot to do a quick geocache and admire the flowers from a closer viewpoint. Then we drove on and stopped in a cute little town called, Springbok, for lunch at Nando’s. Scott and I both bought ourselves a SA SIM card so we could make calls while we’re here. It was REALLY cheap! Only 10 rand each! Woot… like less than 2 bucks Canadian. We sure don’t get that pricing back in Canada! FYI, my current number is +27715201620 for those who’d like to send me an SMS here and there. =) Once I return to Namibia though, I’ll use my regular African cell number again.

Aight… so the lunch stop was over. Moving on. We really didn’t have much more to go before hitting Capetown. We called Marijke, the choir director of Siyacula, one of Kokopelli’s other sister choirs from Somerset West. We wanted to fill her in on our whereabouts and progress. She told us that we’d probably make it into Somerset West (neighbouring city to Capetown) by midnight. Haha… little did she know with Scott’s driving, we ended up at her place by 10:30pm! AHH… it felt SO NICE to breathe in a different kind of air. So fresh and moist. There seriously is a lot of green and lush vegetation in this area, thanks to the rain. That’s why South Africa is known for its wonderfully delicious fruits and vegetables, which I am looking forward to consuming more of while I’m here.

The reunion was jovial and warm (though it wasn’t too warm outside… brrr)! We all huddled together in the Roos’ living room and caught up for a little bit. It was quite the reunion… Marijke, Tessa, Marianne (Tessa’s older sister who’s visiting from Canada for 3 weeks), Nathalie Dugo, Francois (the housemate whom we all call Blomy), and the latest addition Kaitlyn Boomer!!! We were especially surprised to see Kaitlyn because we totally didn’t expect to see her in South Africa! Haha… plus she had just arrived today too. Wow… what a clan of Canadians we have here now! How exciting!

Anyway, everyone was pretty exhausted from the day so we decided retire early. Marijke had graciously arranged for the four of us to stay at Tessa’s dad’s house while we’re here. So nice to not have to worry about accommodation! BUT before calling it a night, Marijke reported to us about an inopportune incident that happened at the house in the wee hours of the previous morning. THE HOUSE GOT BROKEN INTO FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME! Nothing major was stolen and no huge damage was done… we just noticed some of the glass plates on the windows loosened. Marijke felt terrible about the whole thing, because it seriously had never happened before we arrived. Anyway, we spent a good hour or so booby trapping the area around the break-in spot. And we all volunteered Joel to sleep on the sofa bed in the living room, where the break-in happened. Poor Joel had to sleep with Tessa’s 3m range pepper spray and a sledge hammer nearby. That’s what it takes to be the MasKoko Exchange Member! Sorry Joel, it’s a tough job but you’re doing grrreat! I’m so proud of you. =)

A Rainy Day Indoors
Friday, August 1, 2008 at 2:08pm
July 31st… woke up to a dull, wet and dreary day. Good thing… we woke up alive! Haha… no sign of any break-ins throughout the night. Our area was being especially monitored by ADT Security after yesterday’s incident and now that we’re staying in the house, what with us being foreigners in South Africa and all. Oy vey… thank goodness for ADT! So anyway, what to do today? Visit the Somerset Mall!!! Haha… us Canadians have been mall deprived. But really, it was a good day to stay inside because it was raining pretty constantly thoughout the day. We started the day with brunch at Mugg ‘n Bean, an awesome restaurant for delicious grub and lovely bevies. Nathalie, Kaitlyn, and Blomy joined us too. Then Blomy and Naty departed together to buy groceries for our dinner at the Roos’ later that evening. Scott and I went to book an appointment for a haircut. Sheesh… the water and weather in Namibia hasn’t been too friendly to my hair ‘cause I had split-ends galore! So while we were getting a hair trim, Kaitlyn met up with Naty again to do some shopping for warmer clothes. Poor Kaitlyn mostly brought along tank tops and flip-flops with her, so she was understandably cold all the time. Good time to introduce her to the wonderful world of Mr. Price! Holla!
Also in the meantime, Nigel and Joel were watching the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight.
After Kaitlyn and Naty’s shopping spree, they left us to go to Marijke’s high school choir rehearsal in Stellenbosch. Scoot and I met up with Nigel and Joel again. And guess what? We watched another movie! Haha… dinner was only at 8pm, so we had time to catch WALL-E on screen. It was a pretty cute movie and funny at some parts. I dug it.

After the movie, the four of us made way to Pick-and-Pay (a common grocery store in Africa) to get some wine and drinks for our dinner. Then we headed over to the Roos’. Ooo… upon stepping into the house, we were teased with the tantalizing aromas of dinner on its way. Blomy was the chef of the evening and might I comment that he was an excellent one at that. Haha… I highly doubt our meal was low in fat however, but it was scrumptious nonetheless. It was so nice to be able to enjoy a wonderful meal together amongst good friends. Thanks to the Roos’ for hosting us and kudos to the chef!

We rounded off the night with a few rounds of Dutch Blitz (does that come as any surprise?!) and showed Naty and Tessa the ropes about the card game. Although they didn’t volunteer to take part in the intense game, they were sufficiently entertained just watching Nigel, Joel, Kaitlyn and I go at it. Haha… our obsession with Dutch Blitz is a choir thang I suppose? Whatevs… that’s my excuse anyway. ;-p

YAY! WE’RE IN SA! Night night, y’all!

We Are Singing... Mmm Thai!
Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 3:55pm
August 1st… Another wet day in Somerset West. It was really pouring today. A crazy thing about the weather here though is that it is real wishy washy. Haha… rainy and foggy one minute, sunny and beautiful the next. That’s pretty much what went on all day, with more rain than sunshine however.

We had a workshop with Siyacula (We Are Singing), one of our sister choirs, later in the afternoon. I was looking forward to seeing everyone again! There had been a pretty big turnover since last year, but most of the main choristers are still holding down the fort. Siyacula was still just as warm and spirited as I remembered them being. =)

We first looked at one of the songs Siyacula had been working on called, You Are The New Day. It was a very beautiful piece. I was quite impressed with Siyacula’s musicality and sensitivity to Marijke’s conducting and Scott’s constructive commenting. Next, we shared with the group two songs that Kokopelli had previously performed, Sweet Spirit and Raindance. They were super excited to learn both songs and picked them up really quick. With the amount of productive fun we had, the 4hr workshop just flew by (no worries, we had a break in the middle of it and were served hotdogs). And then it was dinnertime…

The Roos’ had been raving about this awesome Thai restaurant called, Wang Thai. So we all thought it would be a great idea to have dinner there together after the workshop. I was certainly looking forward to it because I have been so Asian food deprived since arriving in Africa… haha. There were a total of 10 of us there, so we ordered A LOT of dishes, like 10 main dishes, several appetizers and soups, 3 big pots of rice, and even dessert! Yep, we went a little haywire with the grub, but we managed to finish almost everything. Some of the dishes had interesting names like “Angry Duck” and “Angry Beef” (haha… mad cow anyone?). Compared to all the other Asian food that I have tried in Africa thus far, Wang Thai was by far the best. The service was very good and the food was fabulous. I’d surely come here again. But for my next hunt… SUSHI!!!

A Day in Capetown
Tuesday, August 5, 2008 at 3:55pm
August 2nd… Scott, Nigel, Joel and I got up early today to get ready for a day in Capetown. We were pleased to see sunshine gleaming through our windows. Things looked promising. We drove over to the Roos’ house to pick up Tessa, Naty, and Kaitlyn. Unfortunately they had to sit in the boot of Squeaky Sam because we had no room. In Canada, I’m sure that would be illegal, but here in Africa, there’s always room in the vehicle for another African. Next, we drove into Lwandle (a nearby township where Thulani used to live) to pick up Potloot (aka Pencil), whose real name is unknown because he has so many nicknames. He’s one of the the veterans in Siyacula. We invited him to join us for the day.

The weather was still sunny and warm as we drove the short distance to Capetown. It felt great to be in a big city again. What was even better was that everywhere we looked, we were still surrounded by gorgeous scenery – a city amidst mountains and ocean… sigh. We first went for breakfast at Harrie’s Pancakes because we were all starving. (Side note: In Africa, pancakes are crepes and the pancakes that we know are called flapjacks.) After our nice breakfast, we roamed around the V & A (Victoria & Alfred) Waterfront, checked out some shops, and also explored the mall. No major shopping done on my part, I just bought some cool African shakers from the African Trading Port to add to my music classroom. Kids love show & tell, and I love showing and telling them about the nic nacs that I pick up from my travels. I think my students will enjoy the shakers.

We had all purchased tickets earlier to visit the Robben Island Museum in the afternoon. I was eager to get a dose of African history. We all boarded the ferry at 2:30pm and made the trip out to the island, which was about an hour long. When we got to Robben Island, everyone had to transfer onto a bus where we would next be driven into the encampment. Our tour guide, Mohammed something something, was very informative and dramatic. Haha… he was also very politically incorrect… calling people on the bus “You Dutch and your cheese… You English and your collar necks and ties… You Australians and your eucalyptus trees which soaked up all the fresh water reserve on the island… etc.” He was really funny and interesting to listen to.

After the bus tour around Robben Island, we were dropped off by the prisons to take a closer look inside. Our tour guide this time was named Sparks – an ex-political prisoner of Robben Island. Mohammed had explained earlier that because of the high unemployment rate in Africa, employees’ job choices were very limited. For example, Sparks was not necessarily a tour guide on Robben Island because he wanted to be, but because that position created a job opportunity for him. Still, it was really cool and admirable to be led by someone who had been through all the hardships of Robben Island and was able to recount stories from a first-person perspective. Sparks showed everyone his prison cell and talked briefly about his experience upon his admittance. He said he was stripped physically of his identity and was given a number for a name and a yellow card of identity. Prisoners had to sleep on thin mats with no sheets or blankets, even in the winter. The windows didn’t even have glass on them so cold air and rain would enter the cells causing many people to get sick with TB and pneumonia. Prisoners’ privileges, clothing, and food proportions were also determined by the color of their skin. Often times, the colored and whites would get more of everything compared to the blacks. For example, the colored and whites got to wear long sleeved jackets, long pants and shoes, while the blacks had to wear short sleeves, shorts and no shoes. This was a way to distinguish the races. It was sickening to hear the cruelty and harsh living conditions that the prisoners on Robben Island had to undergo. Later, we also got to see Nelson Mandela’s prison cell and the courtyard where he hid his infamous book entitled, “The Long Road to Freedom.” Overall, the Robben Island tour was amazing and definitely worthwhile to the unknowing tourist. I strongly recommend that one invests time in listening to this history lesson if ever one plans to visit Capetown.

In the evening, the group of us went to City Hall to catch the National High School Choir Gala Competition. Woot… the City Hall auditorium was quite the beauty sight with balconies and a beautiful organ at the front. The high school choirs were pretty good in relation to my high school choirs back in the day, so that was a bonus. Besides some interesting cultural takes on African traditionals by very white Afrikaans choirs and questionable conducting techniques (including what we called “the wank”), it was a pleasant evening.

It proved to be quite the full day today and everyone was starting to get tired so we made the drive back to Somerset West. Since it was close to 10pm when we arrived, we invited Potloot to stay with us in town instead going back into the township. Conditions in the townships have been very dangerous due to the recent uprising of zenophobia. It wouldn’t have been wise to drive into the township at night. Potloot said that there is a 9pm curfew every night and if you are spotted on the street after that time or even approaching that time, you would be severely beaten up by other locals. My question is what gives them the right?!! Gosh, everything is so messed up and corrupt, even the police hang out with gangs sometimes. Nkosi sikele i’Africa… God bless Africa, for they need healing and help so desperately in this time of chaos. I pray things will resolve themselves sooner than later.

Siyacula & Bloemhof Workshop
Thursday, August 7, 2008 at 11:20am
August 3rd… Marikje invited Scott to do a workshop with her choirs in Stellenbosch today. Siyacula and the Bloemhof Girls Choir (Marijke’s new high school choir) came together for the first time to share music with each other and to have an informal mini-concert for parents and friends after the workshop. Scott was super stoked for this event. And I was looking forward to being a part of it as well. Marijke seemed especially enthused about the collaboration of her choirs, because it had never happened before. She was so ecstatic and bubbly it was cute. Wow… I just love her energetic spirit and positivity.
Anyway, when we arrived at the school, we got to work straightaway. I led the group in stretches and then Scott took over with vocal warm-ups. Joel later demonstrated a Rajaton technique of playing with one’s voice – changing it from a brighter tone to a darker one. I think he called it the “NEOW” or some may know it as Soila’s “WHY” exercise. Everyone enjoyed that one ‘cause it was fun to make funny sounds and experiment with one’s voice.

At one point, the two choirs separated to work on different things. Siyacula went through their new piece with Scott, You Are the New Day, while Nathalie, Kaitlyn and I taught the Bloemhof girls Siyacula’s rendition of Singaba Yo. The girls caught on really quick and so we soon met up again with Siyacula again to work on Sweet Spirit together.

Later in the evening, parents and friends of the choristers and some of Marijke’s staff started to gather into the gymnasium in excitement for the show. Marijke set up the tone of the concert very nicely with a message of music sharing and appreciation. Then the show unfolded starting with a Singaba Yo procession. Each choir then took turns to perform two pieces of their own and then came together to close off the show with Sweet Spirit.

The workshop went really well. The choirs sounded great and exuded a lot of positive energy. Everyone seemed to enjoy each other’s company. According to Marijke, this was the first time such an event was arranged here – the idea of sharing music and collaborating with other people. Also it was the first time the choirs had an informal concert just to show family and friends what they’ve been up to. Marijke is making wonderful progress with both choirs and will continue going strong. I see a lot of potential for both groups. Kudos to everyone!

Climbing the Helderberg Mountain
Friday, August 8, 2008 at 1:56pm
August 4th… The Helderberg Mountain is in Somerset West. We can see it from right outside our front door. Scott thought it was a good idea to climb it today and to find a few geocaches of course. Considering our excessive and unhealthy eating habits as of late, I think we were long overdue for a health kick! SO YEEHAW… Ima gonna climb dat mountain yo!

We picked up Tessa, Naty and Kaitlyn and made way for the Helderberg. The thing that’s awing is that here, one can see the beautiful mountains from outside our very windows, unlike in Edmonton where you’d have to drive for hours in order to experience such splendor and beauty. Otay, so we made it into the gate, bought a couple maps and got psyched up for the hike. The lady in one of the shops told us that the hike up and down would take about 4-5 hours and she advised that we’d better hurry ‘cause the gates closed in 3 hours. Yea… we kinda started the hike a bit late in the afternoon… at 2:30pm to be exact. Haha… we had originally planned to start the hike at 9am, but good ol’ “African time” got the best of us I guess. Haha… this has been quite the habit of ours as of late as well. No time is really set in stone when in Africa. Anyway, so we only had 3 hours to do this thang. I looked up the mountain and thought, “Whooo… we are not gonna make it to the top in THAT time.” The top looked way high up yo! Scott being Scott said, “C’mon let’s get started. We can do it!” He had no doubt that we would make it and was determined to reach the very top. Whatevs… guess we’d better get a move on then.

Not too far into the hike, Scott found a geocache already. The container had a bunch of nic nacs including R2 and N$1. Scoot gave those coins to Kaitlyn as a “Welcome to Africa” token, since it was her first time here and all. Aight… no time to waste… the hike continued. The first part of the trek was a bit tough because the climb was really steep and the ground was made of a clay and mud, which was slippery to climb up at some parts. Poor Kaitlyn didn’t didn’t have hiking shoes with her so she had to wear her flowery Mr. Price slip-ons instead, so the climb must’ve been extra tricky for her. Tough as it was, we kept moving forward. Gradually the group started spreading out a bit as we all paced ourselves. Scott, Joel and I were at the front of the pack. We passed some amazing trails including one where it looked like you were entering the Amazon forest or something. We also passed by a stream of fresh mountain water, which was so cool that I couldn’t help by letting out a shout of appreciation. I LOVE FRESH MOUNTAIN WATER… THE BEST!
The views got more and more amazing the higher we climbed as you can imagine. And that was motivation enough to keep going. Guh… words can’t really express… just check out my pics for a better depiction. Nearing the top of the mountain now and only 1.5 hours into the hike, we were making good time. Unfortunately we lost Scooty a ways back due to another geocache hunt, so Joel and I kept going without him. The other peeps in the group had resorted to resting at a lookout point a ways down and weren’t going to continue the trek up. I must admit, the latter part of the climb got pretty tough with mostly rock and steep incline, but I was determined to burn some major calories today yo! Hahaha… even if it meant my legs would turn into jelly in the process.

Nigel and Tessa eventually caught up to Joel and I and the four of us pushed hard to make it to the top. Boy were we glad that we had kept going because the view from up top was spectacular… beyond description… almost heavenly! We had climbed so high up that we were above the clouds!! I was overcome with a huge sense of accomplishment… We climbed the Helderberg baby! I was so proud of everyone!

Uh oh… only 1 hour left before the gate closed. We had to cut our relaxation and admiration time short because time was ticking. Of course we made it down fine, though 10 minutes after closing time. Ooo… we’re such rebels! Haha… whatevs… at least we were able to squeeze in the full meal deal in our limited time frame. GO US!

The Honkin' Blog Entry!
Saturday, August 9, 2008 at 4:09pm
Man, it’s so easy to fall out of sync with blogging! Haha… I’ve been trying real hard to be consistent, friends. Erm… not too shabby I hope? Aight… so let me recap on the past few days’ happenings.

August 5th… So we climbed the Helderberg yesterday. Holy crap was I feeling sore! My legs muscles were especially feeling it today. Everyone felt the same, I guess, so we all decided to take it easy and spend a day visiting Capetown again. We planned to check out Green Market Square and Table Mountain mainly. When we arrived in the city, Table Mountain didn’t look too inviting because it was overcast. Then when we checked for ticket availability and the attendants told us that the mountain was closed for the day due to high wind turbulence. BOO-URNS… so no Table Mountain for us today. Oh well… next stop… Green Market Square. The square was similar to our very own Churchill Square back home. There were a tonne of booths set up close to each other, selling merchandise from African jewellery and clothes to masks and bongs… haha. It was a very fun experience just to walk through. The buying experience was also very amusing because you got to practice your bartering skills. That’s always a hoot. I enjoy bartering, but then again… I’m Asian.
After the square, we spent the rest of the day at the V & A Waterfront. We had some free time to do whatever we individually wanted to do and then met up for dinner at Primi Piatti – a tantalizing Italian restaurant. Our waiter’s name was Cash… the most energetic and poppin’ server I’ve ever met. I swear he was on Speed or something. Haha…
After din din, we strolled down a very high-end strip in the mall, where they sold only designer clothes. This part of the mall totally reminded me of Las Vegas… EXPENSIVE! Nigel found a Ben Sherman store and went haywire buying this and that. Everyone eventually ended up at Ben Sherman to see what the big deal was. Apparently they had 50% off everything in the store and the prices were ridiculously cheap compared to BS prices back home. Haha… everybody (except Kaitlyn) ended up buying something! I must admit, the store did have a pretty striking deal. Because of the sale and the currency exchange, Nigel saved himself thousands of Canadian dollars buying here than had he bought back home. Because we all were BS branded now, we thought we had to capture this moment in a photo. Haha… so the clan of us posed at the front of the shop with our shopping bags. The sales ladies were such good sports to let us bombard the store like we did. Then again… we did spend a lot of bucks overall. Haha… whatevs… high Canadian dollar = more shopping fun.

August 6th… Otay, today we finally got to visit Table Mountain. Like really, really this time. Only Nigel, Joel, Naty and I went. Scott stayed back to deal with Squeaky Sam’s situation. Oh yah, I didn’t tell y’all about Squeaky Sam’s probs yet, so allow me to tangent just a bit. Shortly after we arrived in Somerset West after our roadtrip adventure, Scoot’s car suddenly didn’t want to start one morning. For the past few days, it’s been under inspection at a garage, and they still don’t know what the real problem is. Scott is sort of bummed because he’s worried that these guys are doing a poor job and going to charge him up the ying yang for their services. Sigh… I feel for him yo. So due to recent circumstances, our SA trip has been prolonged until further progress with the vehicle. I hope Squeaky Sam will be OK. Marijke has been a sweetheart and was so kind to lend us the vehicles that she wasn’t using. Thanks to her, we’re still able to continue touring around and having fun. =)
Now back to the story. Nigel, Joel, Naty and I arrived at Table Mountain. The weather looked really nice so we wanted to take advantage of that while it lasted. As mentioned before, the weather here is so wishy washy… sunny one moment, rainy the next, you never know whacha gonna get. We lined up to get tix and were happy to see that the line wasn’t very long as we had expected. Naty and I scored some bonus points because we had our U of A One Card with us, which knocked R40 off our tickets. Woot… though I’m technically not a student anymore, there’s no harm in milking the benefits before the card expires. ;-p
The view from on top of the mountain was breathtaking. We were 1085m above sea level and could see so far out into the distance. The water below was so still. We could see clouds hovering in the horizon. Guh… so stunning! We spent a good couple hours or so walking a loopy-loop around the mountain. Unfortunately some clouds did come in and covered a good chunk of the 12 Apostles (a series of mountain ranges), but at least we were able to clearly soak up everything else.
Dinner that night was SUSHI at Blue Waters Restaurant back in Somerset West. It was highly recommended by Tessa, so of course we had to check it out. You can imagine how ecstatic I was! YAY SUSHI!!! K, long story short… we got there, ordered, ate, complimented and left. This was probably one of my BEST sushi experiences in my life – comparable to my fave restaurant “Wasabi” back in Edmonton. The fish was so deliciously fresh. They had mouthwatering salmon flown in from Norway. I wanted more, but my stomach was simply too full. Sigh… next time, next time.

August 7th… Geocaching and scenic drive day. Scott, Nigel, Joel & I decided to spend the day sightseeing and appreciating the natural beauty in this area. We drove along the Garden Route which followed the coastline and passed by some awesome mountain ranges as well. We visited several coastal towns along the way, including Betty’s Bay and Kleinmond. The route was also very geocache friendly because there were a tonne of caches to be found. Scott took it relatively easy with the caches however because we were somewhat pressed for time. He had to be at a Bloemhof rehearsal in Stellenbosch later in the day. So we drove, saw plenty of beauty sights, and took a lot of pictures. We also drove through Franschhoek, a beautiful little town that used to be colonised by the French. I definitely noticed the French influence just by reading the signs that passed by. Garth’s granny is actually from Franschhoek. Heehee… so we thought it would be cleverly sneaky of us to go spy on Mammie’s house for curiosity’s sake. Haha… the guys were teasing me and telling me to go inside and say hi and stuff, but I thought that would have been really awkward. Some of Garth’s aunties and cousins live in the house with Mammie as well (though Mammie is in Walvis Bay right now avoiding the South African winter cold). I’ve never met the lot of Mammie’s family yet, so it would’ve indeed been totally weird to have barged in. Haha… glad I didn’t do it. I took some pictures of the house and was satisfied with that. ;-p
Anyway, we arrived in Stellenbosch finally and Scott rushed to the Bloemhof rehearsal. Then Nigel, Joel and I went and got some take away from Blue Waters Restaurant. Yep… SUSHI for din din again!!! WHOOP! Seriously, I just can’t get enough. The fish was so incredibly fresh considering it was flown in from Norway. So of course I plan to take advantage of this delicacy while I’m here. It would be a shame not to. MmmMmmMmm… =D
The guys and I spent the rest of the night playing Bonanza and watching Catherine Tate comedies on DVD. The Catherine Tate Show is a very hilair British comedy series. It’s basically one woman playing all sorts of different characters. The cast is relatively small, but each person plays several roles. It’s sort of like MadTV or Saturday Night Live except… British. Haha… kinda crude at some parts, but funny nonetheless. Check it out!

August 8th… Yay! Squeaky Sam is back! We picked him up from the garage this morning and started driving out to Stellenbosch to do a hike. Not to far along the road, we noticed that the engine was revving really high and sounded funny. We even noticed a slight scent of something burning. Oy vey… NOT a good sign. Talk about an anticlimax! Scott was understandably upset because he had been receiving so much crap from the garage already, and now this happened. Sigh… so we called off the hiking excursion and drove back into Somerset West to get the car checked out. The bunch of us totally didn’t mind spending a chill day at home though. The most important thing was that Squeaky Sam got better.
Being that today was 08.08.08, the opening day of the Olympics, Joel and I thought it would be an awesome idea to change the mood of the situation and go celebrate by having lunch at a Chinese restaurant. I called Marianne for some suggestions and she told us that the Chinese restaurant right beside Blue Waters was actually very good. I took her word on it and we (aka Nigel, Joel, Kaitlyn and I) went there for lunch.
Haha… the restaurant was called Wok This Way and was actually owned by some Korean folk, but the food was amazing! The Chinese food was actually Chinese food!!! And guess what, they even had DIM SUM!! Will ya fathom that! I’ve been so often disappointed whenever I sought for and experienced Asian cuisine in Africa. Haha… they’ve just been very interesting encounters. BUT, so far SUSHI and CHINESE FOOD in Somerset West have gotten two thumbs of from moi! I am most impressed!
Scott soon joined us for lunch as well. Squeaky Sam was all better. Apparently it was running on 5 cylinders instead of 6 and that was the reason for all the revving and burning. Everything was fine now and Scott got a free bevvie from the garage manager out of the whole ordeal. Whoopdy-doo. (sarcasm) Sigh… I just pray that our recent bout of car probs is over now! Curse begone!
Later in the afternoon, we had a Siyacula rehearsal at Marijke’s house. Joel, Naty, Kaitlyn and I will be singing with the group at a concert this Sunday. The concert will be in Stellenbosch at the university’s fancy Conservatory, where the World Youth Choir performed last year when Kokopelli was here. We’ll be singing a bunch of African traditionals, plus You Are the New Day and Make Lemonade, which Kokopelli sang before. Dunno what to expect really, but it should be fun.
We went to see Tessa’s Pops Concert at Somerset College in the evening. I thought it was going to be like a high school talent show, but the production was actually very well put together and professional. The crowd was an interesting mix though – half the gym was set up like a fancy grad banquet for family and friends (with a four course dinner and everything) and the other half was set up with bleachers full of screaming school kids eating pizzas from boxes. Strange huh? The repertoire for the evening was very mixed, from “Mustang Sally” to heavy metal guitar playing! Very interesting indeed. Still it was all very impressive with live bands and backup vocals and stuff. I could tell a lot of time and effort was put into the organization of this event. Our very sweet Tessa performed her own arrangement of “Crazy” by Gnarls Barkley and “Mercy” by Duffy. She amongst a few others totally rocked da hizzouse!! I was so proud of her. Naty will post some videos soon!
All in all, it was another full and hectic day in South Africa. Car issues aside, we’re still alive and having a blast! Hope you’re all enjoying the blog so far. Haha… if you’re still keeping up with all of this, good for you! *HIGH FIVE*

August 9th… I’ve caught up with blogging y’all! Yeehaw! The whole clan of us is taking it easy today. Haha… we’re calling it “The Mall Day.” First stop, the Canal Walk Mall. It’s sort of like the West Ed of Capetown, except the mall is surrounded by canals where people can paddle boat along. There’s also an outdoor amusement park, but it was closed today so we couldn’t check it out.
Next stop, the V & A Waterfront… again! Haha… Scoot had to pick a battery for his laptop at the iStore here. So why not spend some time blogging in the meanwhile, right!
After we finish everything here, we’re going to head back to Somerset West. Naty & Kaitlyn have a girls’ night dinner date with a bunch of ex-Siyacula girls. Then the rest of us are going to meet up with them at the Somerset Mall to catch a movie afterwards. Hmm… we’re thinking “Get Smart.” I’ve heard only good reviews about the comedy, so I can’t wait to see it! Besides, I love Steve Carell & Anne Hathaway!
As for din din, I don’t know what we’re all doing yet, but I think Ima gonna get sushi again. Haha… it’s just THAT good! I’m getting my fill before we head back to Namibia! ;-p

Over & out ‘til next time!

Back in Namibia, Land of the Brave!
Friday, August 15, 2008 at 1:57pm
Hey HEY Hey! How’s everyone doing back home? I hope you’re all enjoying your summer!

So the whole clan of us arrived back in Walvis Bay and Swakopmund on Wednesday evening. Wow, it feels so great to be back in Namibia, a place where I can call my home away from home, a place that is friendly, warm and inviting. The South African roadtrip was a refreshing experience, but there’s something about Namibia that keeps drawing one back. And no, it’s not just because of Garth! Haha! I just love the indescribable landscapes and wonderful people – beautiful in their own merit. One simply feels safe and comfortable here. Haha… unlike in South Africa where one should always be on the look out. (Recall the break-in when we first arrived in Somerset West?)

Anyway, the trip back up to Namibia was quite the adventure in itself. Most of everything was swell. Squeaky Sam seemed to have made a full recovery from all its previous car probs and was running smoothly. We got to visit Fish River Canyon and see amazing sights! Plus, we only paid the price of two people instead of four for accommodation because the hotel didn’t have enough rooms available and made a boo-boo when booking us in. All was fine and dandy until Joel fell sick. We thought it could’ve been food poisoning at first, but we all had the same thing for dinner the previous night. Then we concluded that it was a virus that has been spreading across Namibia. (Scott caught the virus too a while back.) It was nasty! Joel couldn’t hold anything down because it would threaten to come out one way or another. I felt really bad for the poor guy. He skin turned a pale grey-white color as the day went by. Things weren’t looking good. The road was not going well for him at all. So considering the situation, we all agreed that it would be wise to stay an extra night in Mariental (about 6 hours away from Walvis Bay), so Joel could recuperate. That was probably the best thing we could’ve done for him actually because he did seem better the following day, after a night’s rest. He was still very weak due to having NOTHING in his stomach, but he was such a trooper and wanted get on the road straightaway. Long story short, Joel is alive, Squeaky Sam is all better minus a very busted driver’s seat (probably due to wear and tear riding on rough roads), and the four of us made it home safe and sound after all. Phew… what adventures we had, huh!

So things in Namib are same ol’, same ol’, except Nathalie and Kaitlyn have joined us now as well. They also arrived on Wednesday on the Intercape Bus. They said their ride was 27 hours long! Holy crapola… that’d be heck being cooped in a bus for 27 hours! Good on you, girls!

The Mascatos are all doing well and are busy with rehearsals for the musical. Mrs. Venter is still as strong as ever, running like the Energizer Bunny! Jen Kinghorn and the Scottish choreographer will be arriving this weekend to further add to the excitement! Woot… things are going to be on a roll as most of everyone’s focus will be towards the preparation for the production. Yay… I can’t wait!

My blessings to all back home! I do miss everyone and can’t wait to sing in choir again! Wow, I can’t believe how quickly time is flying by. I have only 10 days before I fly back home to E-town! Crazy nuts! Gah… gotta go soak up more of Namibia pronto! Ta ta for now! ;-)

Part I: Etosha

2008-07-29T01:25:00.002-06:00

Hello all. I am writing this entry from the Roof of Africa in Windhoek. We are currently “en route” to South Africa. I have put “en route” in quotation marks because we actually can’t leave until tomorrow. More on that later.

I’m going to write this blog in two parts. First, I will update you on my trip to Etosha, and the past week, and then I’ll update you on the past two days. You’ll see why in a minute.

Last Saturday Scott left to meet up with Katy and Bruce at the World Choir Symposium in Copenhagen, Denmark. To check out how that went, go look at Katy’s note and pictures on facebook. Looks like good (but expensive) times were had all around.

Anyway, with Scott gone, it was just Nigel and I at the house. We thought this would be a good opportunity to go to Etosha for a camping trip. So on Monday we packed up the truck and headed to the Etosha Safari Camp which is located just outside the south gate of the park (Kokopelli stayed there in 2004). We looked into camping prices inside the park, but they were way, way, way more expensive. Besides the camps outside were pretty much as good. The one real advantage of staying inside the park is that you get to see the watering holes at night. The way our booking worked out, we were able to get the Monday night at the Etosha Safari Camp and the Tuesday night at another camp just outside the eastern gate.

So on Tuesday we basically made our way slowly across the park stopping at the Okakueyo, Hilali, and Namutoni camps, and various other watering holes along the way. Tuesday was great – we saw everything that we went to see: springbok, zebra, oryx, kudu, hartebeest, wildebeest, dik-diks, steenbok, ostrich, giraffes, elephants, and even a hyena. Tuesday evening we checked into the new camp. A very nice lady name Solomi was dealing with our reservation. The first question she asked us was a very common one – “are you Americans?” “No, Canadians,” we replied. Then a question we were not expecting – “do you know the Kokopelli Choir?” We couldn’t believe it! It turns out that she used to sing in Mascato and was there for our 2004 tour! Anyway, we had another good night – at least as good as we could have had sleeping in the back of the truck. We didn’t have a tent so we made a makeshift bed by folding the back seats down and throwing a mattress in there. Unfortunately, the seats didn’t lie flat so we were sleeping at an incline. It was OK for two nights but any longer would have been a bit much.

Wednesday was the icing on the cake. We had seen everything we came to see on Tuesday, so anything extra would just be a nice bonus. And we got a couple bonuses. First, before we even into the park I saw (Nigel just missed it) some sort of wildcat running across the street. There are a couple small cats found in Etosha, but I didn’t get a good enough look to tell for sure what it was. It was definitely bigger than a domestic cat – more of a lynx-sized animal. Next once in the park, we pulled up next to another group of people who were looking very intently at something that we couldn’t see. They told us it was a Cheetah! Eventually we saw it, just lounging in the shade under at tree about 80m away. Unfortunately we couldn’t get a great picture of it at that distance, but we had some binoculars that gave us a pretty good look. Very cool to see an animal like this in the wild! Each time I’ve been to Etosha I’ve seen a different big cat – first time we saw a leopard, then a couple lions, and now a Cheetah!

Then the climax . . .

On our way back, we decided to take a bit of a back road with hopes of seeing something new. We hadn’t seen any eland yet, so we thought Eland Drive might be a good bet. Well, it wasn’t. For about an hour we drove without seeing a single animal. But, Eland Drive connected onto Rhino Drive. And what did we see there? No, not rhinos, but as we turned a corner Nigel spotted at the end of the road about 400-500m away an elephant. Now, we’d already seen several elephants, so at this point it wasn’t particular special. Yet. We continued to drive down the road a ways until we saw that he was walking towards us. At this point we figured it would probably be a good idea to stop and let him come to us. So we stopped and waited while this huge bull elephant slowly made its way down the road. Closer and closer it came. We were starting to get a little antsy as he was starting to get a little uncomfortably closer. Finally, at a distance of about 15-20m in front of the truck, the elephant stopped. He turned his head to the side so that with one eye he was looking directly at us. I guess he didn’t like what he saw, because a split second later he was charging at us! Luckily we’d had the forethought to leave the car running and we reversed as fast as we could. Once we were a little further back, the elephant seemed to calm down and resume a walking pace. But the problem was, he was still walking down the road toward us. So we just kept backing up. Eventually after backing up for around a kilometer, the elephant finally went into the bush. I’ll attach some of my pictures to the end of this blog so you can check him out. Nigel also put together a video that should be up on facebook soon. Unfortunately neither of us were filming when the elephant started charging (since we were more worried about living), so you’ll have to use your imagination for that part. It was definitely a bit of a life-flashing-before-eyes moment though.

That pretty much sums up our Etosha adventure. The one thing I would say though is that it was really nice to be in a smaller vehicle as opposed to the giant tour busses that we had to use for practical purposes on the two Kokopelli tours. There are some smaller animals like birds, and snakes and things that we got glimpses of this time, which really went unnoticed before. So if any choir folk are thinking of making a return trip to Namibia, I would definitely recommend revisiting Etosha.

Other than that trip, I’ve been keeping busy with copying string parts for the musical (which I am finally finished). We had a very encouraging rehearsal the other day, where we added guitar to a couple songs. Also, Michelle got a few pictures of some of the costumes for the musical, so check them out on facebook.

P.S. Sorry, I didn't have enough internet time to post pictures. Next time.

Part II: The Flat

2008-07-29T01:24:00.001-06:00

So as I stated in my first entry, this will be an account of the past two days.

I’ll start by catching you up with our plans. Monday morning, Scott was set to arrive back from his trip to Copenhagen. So, Nigel, Michelle, and I were going to drive down Windhoek on Sunday, stay overnight at the Roof of Africa, pick Scott up from the airport and head straight to South Africa to visit Siyacula for a week or so. I should also mention in passing that Sunday was Michelle’s birthday . . . Yay! Sunday was going swimmingly. Saturday evening we had gone out for dinner with Garth to celebrate Michelle’s birthday. Then we played some Dutch Blitz, and Garth and Michelle stayed the night just to make it easier the next day. So, we’re all packed up and leaving, making sure we have everything we need - clothes, toiletries, passports. Passports! Michelle forgot hers at Garth’s in Walvis Bay! Well, driving to Walvis Bay and back would add another hour to the journey, and it was already starting to get a little late. No bother though, there is another road to Windhoek that goes straight from Walvis Bay. It’s a gravel road and goes through the mountains, but it’s shorter, and we have and SUV so it was fine. Plus Garth got a ride home instead of having to take a taxi! Everything was fine.

So we get the passport and we’re on our way. And what a beautiful drive it is. There’s hardly any traffic and some of the views are just spectacular. Plus, there are TONS of animals! Mountain zebra (slightly different from the common zebras running around Etosha, and very cool because Namibia is the only place in the world they are found), oryx, kudu, ostrich, and very panicky bunnies which couldn’t seem to figure out that the car would stop chasing them is they simply go off the road! The sun is still setting pretty early here so much of the tricky mountain passes were in the dark. But it was ok. Everything was fine.

Then, disaster. About 140km out of Windhoek we got a flat. Did I mention that this road was really nice because there were no other cars? Oh yeah, I did. And did I mention that it was Michelle’s birthday? Perfect. Well, not to worry though because Nigel knows his way around a jack, and we had a spare tire. So Nigel got to work taking the old tire off, and I was even able to make myself useful by getting the spare tire off the back and ready to put on. Everything was fine. That is, until we noticed that there was one lug nut that needed a special key in order to remove it. We searched the car up and down to no avail. But, luckily Nigel had the presence of mind to remember that he and Scott had stayed at a ranch fairly nearby a couple weeks ago when Nigel first arrived. So Michelle called Garth back in Walvis and had him find the number. We called, and although they said they were too far away to come out, they gave us the number of a German couple who were fairly close to us who could come and help. So we gave them a call and they were on their way. Everything was fine.

45 minutes passed and there was no sign of them. We called back and it turned out the gentleman had already gone out and seen nothing and gone back. So we assured them that we were actually there and we really needed help quite desperately because it was around 9pm and it was getting very cold out. So he came back out and found us this time. Everything was fine.

Unfortunately, what he brought with him were the exact tools that we had told them that we already had and which wouldn’t work. So he came, did nothing, asked for a ridiculous amount of money to cover his gas, and left. Did I mention it was Michelle’s birthday?

Luckily, as a back-up plan, Michelle had been in contact with a garage in Windhoek who would be able to come and rescue us. Unfortunately it would be very expensive and it would take two hours to get there. On top of that, they wouldn’t be able to fix the problem there; they would just load the truck onto a bigger flatbed truck and get it fixed in the morning. That was our last resort though so we went for it. In retrospect we should have just called them in the first place. But in retrospect, we should have just taken the main road, and Michelle shouldn’t have forgotten her passport, and so on and so on. Since it was her birthday and all though, I’ll forgive her :P

So for two hours we waited in the freezing cold. Did I mention that the heater in Scott’s truck doesn’t work? No, I forgot that part. We tried to sleep a little but it was seriously sooooo cold. But eventually, a kindly gentleman by the name of Philip rescued us, and at midnight we were on our way. We got to the Roof of Africa at around 2:30am and had to be up early to pick up Scott from the airport. And there was the other problem – how were we going to pick Scott up without a car? Luckily the manager at the garage was a really great guy name Jan, and he offered to give us a ride to the airport in the morning (and only charged N$100 for the gas, which probably didn’t come close to actually covering it).

Oh, did I say give “us” a ride to the airport? Well I meant give Nigel and Michelle a ride. I figured it would be pretty cramped in there with five people, so I opted to stay in bed. It’s OK though, they’re all napping right now.

So Scott got in all right and Jan took them back to the garage to get the truck with the newly installed spare tire. Unfortunately though, a new tire would have to be bought, and just to add insult to injury the rims on both the wheel that got the flat and on the spare were dented and needed to be repaired. After the three of them returned to the hotel and grabbed some breakfast, Scott and I headed out to the tire place to get all the tire and rim business sorted out. At first they were telling us that it would take about a week to fix the rims, but after they heard that we were supposed to be leaving for South Africa today, they said they’d be able to get it ready for tomorrow morning. So I won’t mention how much the towing, new tire, rim repair, extra night at hotel, etc. all costs, but I will tell you that it’s a lot.

Hopefully though we’ve used up all are bad luck over the past 24 hours and the rest of the trip will go smoothly. At least we’ll get to go to Joe’s Beerhouse for dinner tonight though!

Spitzkoppe, Kapana, and Line-Dancing

2008-07-17T08:54:00.003-06:00

These weeks are going by so fast! And that’s kind of scary because I only have about 8 left. As of next week half my time here will officially be gone. ☹

So here’s a run-down of the past week.

Last Friday was a hoot. Scott, Nigel, Michelle, and I went for a daytrip out to Spitzkoppe. Last summer Kokopelli was supposed to go there, but it was the infamous day of the east wind. That would have made it pretty miserable out there, combined with the fact that it wasn’t safe to drive with all the blowing sand. So what Spitzkoppe is essentially is a series of really cool mountainous rock formations. Thousands of years ago, I’m guessing there would have been some serious seismic activity going on creating these huge mounds. But what makes the place so interesting is that the rocks have been worn down over the centuries by wind and rain to the point that once jagged mountains (like our relatively new Rocky Mountains) have become smooth and rounded. There are a bunch of different hikes and trails to do which one could never do in a single day, so we started out by going to a place called Bushman’s Paradise. You start with a very steep incline taking you to this very cool plateau. Luckily there is a chain to hold on to (which was really helpful on the way down. At the top we got a great view of our surroundings, and checked out some of the interesting rock formations around and about. There was even a little cave-like under hang with some ancient wall paintings. After we’d checked out that area, Scott had another hike in mind. This one took us down the other side of Bushman’s Paradise, through a valley, and up what was basically a mountain. I don’t think any of us other than Scott really knew what we were in for. Apart from the grueling climb with no trail to speak of, the real annoyance was all the flies buzzing around our heads. We figured out though that they don’t bother you so much if you’re in the shade. Anyway, we eventually made it to the top that made the hike completely worth it. At this point time was getting on and we were all getting pretty hungry, so we headed back to the car (which was faster on the way back, but which probably still took close to an hour). By the time we got back my legs felt like jelly and I had five blisters on my feet, but I was still very glad that I had done it. For lunch we headed to what Scott described as the “Natural Bridge”, which was a huge rock with a big hole in it, creating a bridge. So we just chilled there for a while eating our sandwiches and watching the geckos run around. It was already past 3 o’clock when we finished our lunch, and we couldn’t believe how quickly the day had passed. After lunch we headed home.

On Friday evening there was a big fundraising concert involving a bunch of choirs from local high schools. The event was planned by Ritchie from Mascato and was held at Atlantic Junior Secondary School (which is the school that Ritchie recently started a choir at). Now the thing that would make this evening interested is that Ritchie had come to me the day before to inform me that I would be the MC for the event. Foolishly I accepted, but brilliantly I convinced Michelle to be my co-MC. When we got there Ritchie gave us the run-down of how the program was going to work and as always there was mass confusion over some last minute changes. In the end though it all worked out fine. Michelle and I started with a conversation about how hot it was here and what a beautiful “summer” they were having and why did everyone have a coat on. It was pretty funny as we eventually “realized” that it was actually winter there and that we were “confused” because we’re from Canada. Something really cool about the event was that either current or past Mascato members directed every single choir. Linus, Hillya (Sister Bettina), Ritchie, Theophilia, and Sylvanis (former Mascato member) all had groups performing, and all did very well. Linus, Bobby, Sammy, Michael, and Ritchie’s boy band “Vocal Galore” also performed. At the end Scott presented awards of participation to all the groups. All in all it was a fun evening and a successfully planned event by Ritchie.

On Saturday we had jazz choir rehearsal and Mascato rehearsal. Both went very well. The jazz choir is really coming along. We started the really hard version of “Kiss by a Rose” that Kokopelli tried and failed a couple years ago and they’re holding their own. And despite the fact that we’re all on Jenkins overload, things are really started to sound great.

Tuesday was my first chance to try “Kapana”. Here’s a description stolen from the internet: “The cultural equivalent of the American hot dog, grilled beef – Kapana – is the street food of this cow-revering nation's rich and poor.” So there’s this place next to MYO called “Firebar” which is basically a grill and a table. You go and you pick out the piece of meat you want and you stick it on the grill to warm up. Then you grab a plate and a knife and fork and you grab some chili sauce and a faetkoek (deep-fried bread) and finally your now sizzling piece of meat. All of this costs $21 Namibian, which is less than $3 Canadian (and the pieces of meat are NOT small). After lunch we stopped by Mrs. Venter’s house to visit. Mrs. Venter’s 13-year-old blind German Sheppard, Belka, recently passed away. For anyone who has lost a pet you know how hard it can be, so we just want to show her some love and make sure she’s doing ok. After that Michelle and I headed back to MYO to teach Engelhardt’s dance class the Cadillac Ranch. A couple of them recognized it from when “Miss Alexis” taught it to them a couple years ago. But even the ones who did know it didn’t really remember the whole thing, so our time wasn’t wasted. The class actually went really well. For me as a future teacher it was a great experience to have some time in front of a class and it was also really helpful to have someone with a bit more experience like Michelle there.

For the past couple days I’ve been doing some work for the musical. Mrs. Venter has full scores (strings and percussion) of some of the music but no individual parts. So I’ve been writing out the string parts in Finale and extracting them to give to the string players. It’s a pretty big job to copy out all that music, but I’m finished 2 of the 5 pieces that she has the score for. The other pieces are going to have to be arranged/transcribed, which is going to be an even bigger job (*cough* Jen *cough*).

Anyway, Scott and I are just headed over to the Art Café for some lunch. They serve a different buffet every day, so when they’ve got something good we go there. It’s really cheap too, which is nice.

-Joel.

A Vicious Cycle

2008-07-10T05:57:00.003-06:00

I don’t blog because there’s too much to blog about, and there’s too much to blog about because I don’t blog – it’s a vicious cycle.

But now I’m really going to do it.

When I last left you I had just sung in a concert with the University of Pretoria Youth Choir. That was less than two weeks ago, but it seriously feels like a month. I won’t try to give a day by day update, because there’s no way I can remember, so I’ll just give highlights that I do remember.

Highlight #1: Afroshine Concert!

So the show went really well. The guys did great with lots of energy, and they really got the crowd into it (and I managed not to screw up, for my part). The problem though, was that there wasn’t really much of a crowd there. There was basically no promotion done for the show whatsoever – most people who came to the show didn’t even know that Afroshine was performing! However, the venue has since asked the boys back, promising that it will be different this time and there will be promotion done and their costs will be covered (which didn’t happen by a LOT this time) and whatnot. There’s also been some talk that we could get a couple small gigs around town with just the boys singing and me playing guitar – could be fun.

Highlight #2: Walvis Bay Performance and Megan’s Departure ☹

Monday morning was a bit of a gong show. After the Afroshine concert we had to drive back to Swakop. Even though you’re not supposed to drive on the highways at night, Garth had to get to work and Mascato had a performance early in the morning in Walvis Bay, so we had to choice. So after about three hours of sleep we were up again to go to this performance (I should mention that Scott was really sick and was unable to drive us, meaning that I was driving! Still better than Scott, poor fella). Speaking of poor fellas, keep in mind that Megan had to have all her things packed because her flight left right after the performance! So, we got there, sang the national anthem and the AU anthem and we were done. Well, at least Megan and I were done – the choir sang a few more songs later in the morning, but we had to go into town. Megan’s camera screen had broken the day before and we were going to see if we could get it fixed on replaced and we needed to leave plenty of time to catch the plane. Unfortunately. Megan ended up having to buy a new camera for the second time this trip! (Her first camera stopped working after it got sand in it). After a quick bite to eat, we headed off to the Airport. FYI, Megan is spending the rest of the summer as a nanny in Spain (in case you’re wondering why she’s nowhere to be found in Edmonton).

Highlight #3: Jazz Choir!

Monday before last we started a jazz choir! We’ve been singing “If It Could Be”, “Lady Madonna”, and “Even the Pain”. Apart from Linus, Sandra, Marcelino, and I no one has sung in a jazz choir before, but it’s sounding really great so far. Scott and I have both been very impressed with their progress. Also, the group will be performing at a festival at the end of September (unfortunately I’ll be gone by then. boo!). This weekend we’ll probably start some new tunes – “Time After Time” and “Kiss by a Rose” (just imagine Romano singing the solo on that one!).

Highlight #4: Geocaching Excursion #1

Tuesday before last was Canada Day! With nothing to do, Scott and I decided to do some geocaching! There was one cache in Walvis Bay that Scott **gasp** HADN’T FOUND YET!!!! It was hidden out by the Walvis Bay lighthouse out on a sandy peninsula next to a seal colony. Since we were headed to out to Walvis, we stopped by Garth’s place in Narraville to pick up Michelle. Before we headed out on our adventure we stopped for lunch at this cool looking restaurant on stilts over the water. The food wasn’t great, but it was a cool spot – we saw tons of jellyfish out the window, and even some dolphins! After lunch our adventure began. And it really was an adventure. “Road” would be a huge overstatement for what we were driving on. It’s a good thing Scott’s truck has 4-wheel drive. It should also mention that it was extremely foggy which just added to the ambience. Although we almost got stuck in the sand a couple times, we made it out to the lighthouse and found the cache! On the way back we were able to drive right along the ocean and see seals flopping around in the water.

Highlight #5: Nigel’s Arrival

Nigel arrived in Swakop last Friday. Since he’s been here we’ve had some really great game nights. We found a toy store the other day – Scott bought a game called Puerto Rico and Nigel bought Lego. Puerto Rico is a really fun game – the best I’ve done so far is second place with 43 points, but it’s actually fun even when you lose. It’s a pretty complicated game though, so it takes a while to get into it. We’ve also played some Dutch Blitz, and I’m proud to say that the last time we played I beat Scott, Nigel, and Linus twice in a row! Nigel claims he’s out of practice, which I’m guessing is true because he has a reputation as a Dutch Blitz master.

Highlight #6: Quadding Round #2

If you’ve read my previous entries you know that our first quadding experience was a little disappointing because we were having to constantly stop and wait for one very slow woman. Ever since then we’d been feeling a need for speed and were itching to go quadding again. Unfortunately Michelle couldn’t make it this time, and Megan’s in Spain so we took Nigel and Marcelino instead. Also we took the fancy semi-automatic bikes this time so that we could go super fast (oh, and no slow people holding us up!). It was really fun – we pretty much were going full speed for two hours. It was definitely worth doing for a second time.

Highlight #7: Geocaching Excursion #2

On Monday there was a power outage all over Swakopmund for about an hour. When the light came back on though, our internet was out (and it stayed that way until we had someone in to fix it on Wednesday). So, lazy Tuesday + no internet + Linus talking like a gangster = Geocaching! Ok, so this one Scott had already found twice before, but it was still a cool spot. It was out north of Swakop in what looking like a huge pile of rocks. It was fun to see a bit of what’s outside of town. Swakopmund is a very isolated place and it’s easy to get into the mindset that if you take this one highway for 30 minutes you’ll get to Walvis Bay and if you take this other highway for 4 hours you’ll get to Windhoek, and that’s it. But actually there’s a whole bunch of other cool stuff in the area if you take to time to look. Case in point, tomorrow we're taking a day trip out to Spitzkoppe, which I won’t try to describe before I see it. Apparently it’s very beautiful though – I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures.

Speaking of pictures . . .

Marcy needed an XL helmet so that his dreads would fit

Quadding!

Linus showing the Oil some love

Heading back to the truck after finding the cache

Catching Up

2008-06-28T02:10:00.000-06:00

Wow, it has been a long time since I updated this blog. Sorry for the delay everybody!

I’ll try to keep this as concise as possible while at the same time getting you all updated on the significant events of my life recently.

First of all, Scott is here! It’s really great to hang out with him again, and he has certainly brought a lot of energy with him (as always)! So that was last Thursday.

Friday: I can’t remember. I know in the evening we had a rehearsal, which I seem to remember going fairly well. I think we also stopped by at the Lighthouse for some dessert.

Saturday: Ok, this day I remember. Saturday Megan and I went to Windhoek for a rehearsal with Afroshine and the band at the Warehouse Theatre. Garth and Michelle went up in Garth’s car and Romano and Dollar came with Megan and I in the car that I rented. It was actually a really cool drive. I’ve done it a couple times now having been on the two previous Africa tours, but it’s a different experience when you’re not on a big tour bus. It’s especially interesting seeing the desert slowly transform into the semi-arid terrain that covers much of the country. It’s also especially frustrating getting stuck behind huge trucks that can only go 80 km/h on the super skinny highway. But it’s also super fun driving on the wrong side of the road – it’s a bit of a mental adjustment, but really not bad at all. We also saw three giraffes, six warthogs, and tons of baboons! We got off to a bit of a later start than we wanted, so it was already getting dark when we got in. But we managed to navigate through town and met up with Garth and Michelle before checking into the Aerobush Lodge (which koko members from the last Africa tour should remember). After we were all settled we went into town for some dinner with Garth’s brother, Jerome, who was a very nice fellow.

Sunday: This was the day of the rehearsal. We went to the Warehouse Theatre at 10am to meet up with the band. The Warehouse is basically just a bar/concert venue kind of like the Starlite Room or the Sidetrack Café was in Edmonton. The band were all nice guys who picked up the music very quickly. The rehearsal was supposed to go until 2pm, but we were done by 12:30pm, so we met back up with Megan and Michelle who had been wandering the shops all morning and had some lunch. After that we met up with Afroshine’s eccentric but cool French producer, Chris, because the guys wanted him to hear the song that I wrote for them. It seemed like Chris really liked the song, and what was supposed to be 5 minutes to play him the song, turned into almost an hour of practice and harmonization and tinkering. I think if we had stayed any longer he would have had us start recording then and there. I found out afterwards that Chris used to be Santana’s producer! But, by this time it was getting well into the afternoon and we had to go or drive most of the way in the dark. In the end, about the last hour and a half of the drive were in the dark, but we got to see a really beautiful sunset, and the traffic wasn’t bad so it was all good. We were pretty exhausted by the time we got back though.

Monday: Monday was the beginning of Megan’s last week in Swakop so in theory we should have started doing all kinds of touristy, adventury type stuff. In theory, communism works. What we really did was pretty much nothing. I returned the rental car, and I think we got some groceries. We also had a rehearsal in the evening, but for the most part we just relaxed. It was nice though, after a couple busy days.

Tuesday: On Tuesday we visited Haageneni (sp?) Primary School and MYO. People who were on the last Africa tour will remember Haageneni as the school that we performed at during the sandstorm (the one where we arrived white but left golden). Michelle had had a bit of a correspondence going on with a girl at the school and wanted to visit her and bring her a book, so this was our chance. We went and visited a bunch of the classrooms, and you’ll be happy to hear that they all remember Kokopelli very fondly. Even before we said anything some of them started yelling “Kokopelli!” when they saw my jacket! So, we left some sweets and pencils and stickers with the teachers to give out, and then Michelle met up with her friend in a very heart-warming reunion. One of the teachers even put us to work – she had an origami book, and she wanted to see if we could do something simple to teach the grade 5’s. We ended up showing them how to make cranes! In retrospect, I’m pretty sure the teacher just saw that Michelle was Asian and thought, “She MUST know how to do origami!” After that we went over to Mrs. Venter’s for another lovely lunch, and then went to visit Engelhardt at MYO. MYO (Mondesa Youth Opportunities) is an after-school program for gifted children, and does some really great things for these kids (Lex worked there for a year, so I’m sure she could tell you the whole story). While we were there Engelhardt was teaching a hip-hop dance class. It was really fun to watch as some of the kids were really good dancers. Also, Engelhardt had made up the whole routine himself! I was very impressed. We also talked to Lindsey for a while (she’s an American who’s been working for MYO for a couple years and singing in Mascato) and she told us some more details about how thinks work at MYO.

Wednesday: We (Megan, Scott, Michelle, and I) went quadding in the dunes! This was something I had never done before, and I know it supposedly ruins the ecology of the dessert, but it was so much fun! And besides, the ecology in the places that we drove had long since been destroyed. The only disappointing part was that we were stuck with one very slow woman that we had to keeping waiting for. She was very nice, but very, very slow. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to go again with only fast people. Later in the afternoon Megan roped me into going horseback riding, which I wasn’t especially opposed to, but didn’t go so well for me. I would recommend going if you have been riding many times before and are used to extremely uncomfortable British-style saddles, but for me, it was pretty horrendous. I was kind of peeved because it was just the two of us, and we had two experienced guides, but when I was having problems and asking questions, the only person answering was Megan! I got virtually no guidance from the “guides” whatsoever, and they seemed to just assume that I knew what I was doing. Oh well, Megan did enjoy it, and it was mostly for her benefit anyway, so it was fine.

Thursday: In the morning Megan and I drove (so nice having access to a vehicle now that Scott is here!) to Walvis Bay to climb Dune 7 (tallest sand dune in Namibia). Unfortunately, when we got there it was way too windy to climb. But, while we were in Walvis Bay, we went down to the waterfront to book a pelican cruise for Friday (we did this cruise on both African trips, but Megan had obviously never done it before and I thought she would really enjoy it). So we did that and then drove back home to Swakop and had lunch at Mrs. Venter’s, where I also got fitted for a Mascato uniform for our concert on Friday night (more on that in a second)!!! In the evening we had a rehearsal with all the old people to practice the music for the concert (most of which I [and Megan!] will be faking my [our] way through). Also, it was Engelhardt’s birthday yesterday, so we got him a couple little things and a cake and drove him home.

Friday (today): Today we went on the cruise. It was lots of fun what with the pelicans, seals, and dolphins. It was kind of nothing new to me, as the guides recycle the same jokes and the whole trip is far more scripted than it appears the first time around. But it was still lots of fun, and Megan really enjoyed it. When we got back into town we went with Scott to the Village Café for some lunch, and I’ve just been blogging ever since. Tonight we have a concert with a university choir from Pretoria, which promises to be quite good. Unfortunately, the choir was in Windhoek yesterday, and were having a group picture taken, when someone grabbed a bunch of their bags and took off in a car. And, as luck would have it, in one of the bags taken was all they’re passports and money!!! So they apparently have spent the whole day at the embassy trying to figure out what they’re going to do. But the show must go on, so hopefully their spirits will be raised somewhat.

But now I have to iron my pants for the concert!!!! More to come later.

Continued . . .

Friday Evening (post-concert): So Megan and I just performed in our first (and for Megan, probably her last) Mascato concert. We just opened the concert with four pieces – the real attraction was the University of Pretoria Youth Choir. Don’t let the word “university” throw you – they’re actually all 14-19, but the choir is run through the university. But, just by listening to them you may never guess that they weren’t a university group, because they were fantastic. They actually reminded us a lot of Kokopelli! They did some familiar repertoire too. Tomorrow night we’re going to have some sort of social event with them, so hopefully we’ll get a chance to share some tunes in a less formal environment.

Coming up: Apart from the event with the choir tomorrow, the main events that we have upcoming are the Afroshine concert in Windhoek, a Mascato performance in Walvis Bay, and Megan’s departure. On Sunday we’ll be headed up to Windhoek again early in the morning for another rehearsal for the Afroshine concert in the day, and then the concert itself at night. Then, on Monday morning (8am!) Mascato is performing in Walvis Bay for a government function, which will be attended by the President of Namibia! And finally, on that same Monday, Megan will be leaving from Walvis Bay airport at around 1pm. So, after the concert we’re probably going to try to make it up Dune 7, since we didn’t get the chance the other day. And then Megan will be off the Spain for the rest of the summer!

-Joel.

Ants (again), Afro Shine, and . . . ACTION!

2008-06-20T07:40:00.002-06:00

So by now, I'm pretty much over the ants - I think we've struck somewhat of an alliance, at least in theory (kind of like the Soviets and the Chinese during the Cold War). Megan on the other hand . . . well I guess she would have to be the United States, but then, if the ants were China, that would make me the Soviet Union, which means she hates me even more than she hates the ants!!! Oh well, at least she recognizes that I exist (take that China until Richard Nixon's visit in 1972!).

Anyway, I've had quite an exciting week. On Monday, Megan and I worked with Richi's (from Mascato) choir. They are quite a new group and are pretty green, but they're coming along nicely. It was very helpful having Megan there to demonstrate some of the female voice stuff that I just can't do. We taught them Velile! For those that know the piece, they couldn't really get the clap on 4, but rhythm and movement tends to come more easily to Canadians that Namibians . . . just kidding. On Monday night we had a visit from Garth and Michelle, who had some exciting Afro Shine news. Afro Shine is going to be playing a big concert on June 29th in Windhoek and they want me to play guitar for them! This is a really cool opportunity, so of course I said yes.

On Tuesday we went to Mrs. Venter's house for lunch, which was nice as always, and then hit up town for some internetting and shopping. Megan wanted to get some books because she's been going through about 11 or 12 a day. Unfortunately, the small bookstores here in Swakop don't seem to carry authors "cool" enough for Megan, so we got a 1500 piece puzzle instead! We also picked up some clothes at Mr. Price - Megan got some jeans and a sweater for $30 CAD, and I got a pair of black choir pants for about $10 CAD. In the evening we had a short Afro Shine practice. Another little project that I've had for myself was to write a song for Afro Shine. Their style is extremely different from mine, so I thought it would be a good challenge (plus it would be super cool to say that Afro Shine sings one of my songs). So I did it! I sang it for them and they really liked it. We're going to make a rough demo of it and send it to their producer and hopefully it'll get recorded!

On Wednesday we sort of ran out of food. Well, we didn't exactly run out of food, but we blew a fuse in the kitchen on Tuesday night and couldn't figure out how to fix it until Marie got home, so we couldn't cook anything. Plus, we don't have a functional can-opener. So, we went into town, had some lunch at the Light House and picked up a can-opener (which was exceedingly hard to find, and now all is well.

Today we walked a lot. First we walked into town for some internetting and lunch at Village Cafe. Then picked up some food for dinner. Then bought a giraffe bowl from the wood market that Megan had been eyeing up. Then walked home. Then walked to Richi's school choir rehearsal to work with them again. Then we walked home. It was well over two hours of walking. Tonight Afro Shine is coming over for another rehearsal, and, I think Scott will be getting in (as long as he is up to the 4-hour drive from Windhoek)!

-Joel.

Windhoek and the Week that Was (alliteration!)

2008-06-17T08:12:00.000-06:00

Unfortunately there was a change of plans and MacDonald never came for tea. Trust me when I say that I was as disappointed as you are now.

Friday morning Engelhardt and I left Swakop at around 9am for Windhoek. We were packed like sardines into a tiny van called a “coombi”. It was no bigger than an average North American mini-van but there were 16 of us all squeezed in. Apart from being intensely uncomfortable, the only incident of note during the 4-hour journey was getting stopped by the police for speeding. But the really surprising part was when a couple people got out of the back of the van with open beers! (Keep in mind, it was about 11am at the time.) Apparently having open alcohol in a moving vehicle is perfectly legal in Namibia, as long as it’s behind the front seat. Even Engelhardt was surprised that they were consuming it right in front of the police though. In the end though, the speeding ticket made for a much needed pit stop. I was unaware that one’s rear end could be both numb and in agony at the same time. Oh well - live and learn I guess.

When we got into Windhoek we took a taxi to Engelhardt’s friend’s house. Engelhardt has known Elizabeth for years from having house-sitted for her when she lived in Swakopmund. She is an American, with a 10-year-old adopted South African son named David. The house was beautiful, complete with swimming pool, hot tub, and two pedigree golden retrievers. After settling in, Engelhardt and I went into town, specifically to the polytechnic university to find Marcelino (former Mascato exchange chorister). Marcelino gave us a tour of campus and we even ran into another Mascato member studying in Windhoek, Barverly. Engelhardt then had a rehearsal to go to, as his audition was on Saturday morning. When Engelhardt was finished, we bid adieu to Marcelino and met up with Elizabeth and David for a very nice meal downtown.

On Saturday, Engelhardt went into town early for his audition. He said that he felt like it went pretty well and that he got good feedback from the judges. After his audition Elizabeth, David, and I met up with Engelhardt and Marcelinas (composer of !Gawigu, not to be confused with Marcelino) for lunch. Marcelinas has some great stories to tell about his experiences as a musician, and he’s becoming quite well known as a composer, which is great and well deserved. After lunch we headed back to Elizabeth’s for a quiet afternoon and pizza for dinner. Engelhardt also got the result of the audition – unfortunately he didn’t get it. In fact, apart from one person, the only people who were successful were students at the college of arts, and the judges were the teachers from the college of arts! As a side note, the results of the auditions have now been called into question since it seems that the judges so obviously favoured their own students, and Engelhardt might get to re-audition!

Sunday was a pretty quiet day. We were in limbo a little bit because we had to buy train tickets back to Swakop, but weren’t really sure when the ticket office would be open. Also, almost all the stores are closed on Sundays so there wasn’t much to do. We did make tacos for lunch though, which was fun.

The train trip back was somewhat interesting. It was certainly nothing like Hollywood’s portrayal of an African train journey, but then, Hollywood’s portrayal of anything African is usually either completely wrong or about 50 years out of date. The carriage was old and a bit dirty but totally unremarkable in any other way. Luckily, we had quite a lot of space to stretch out because the train was quite empty, and Elizabeth had upgraded our tickets to “business class”. (She was generally extremely generous and wouldn’t let us pay for any meals either!) What I was really wondering though, was how could this journey possibly take as long as the schedule indicated? Apparently, we were supposed to leave at 7:55pm and arrive in Swakopmund at 5:20am. How does a 4-hour car ride translate into a 9 and ½-hour train ride? Well, I guess the answer is that the train has a tendency to either stop or go backwards for hours at a time! When we got going, we would be going at a respectable pace, but it never seemed to last long before we would jerk to a stop for what seemed like no reason at all, and just stay stopped for hours! In the end, we arrived in Swakop at around 7:20 – two hours late, and having slept for no more that an hour at a time. All in all though, I would take the train over the coombi any day. Just being able to move if you were uncomfortable made up for the 7 and ½-hour difference in travel time.

When we did finally get into town though, I went home to get some real sleep, but poor Engelhardt had to go to work! I felt so bad for him. We met up at Mrs. Venter’s for lunch though and then went to run the rehearsal for the new Mascatos. Engelhardt was going to teach the girls and I was going to teach the guys. But for the first half of rehearsal there was only one guy there, so we just all rehearsed together. When a couple more guys showed up I led a sectional for about 20 minutes.

Right at the end of the rehearsal I got a call from the classically trained Soprano I/pig-squealer extraordinaire herself, Megan! She’s been traveling through South Africa and Namibia with a small tour group for the past week or so and was making a two-day stop in Swakopmund. So we met up at the internet café and I showed her around town a little bit. We also had a great dinner at the Lighthouse – I had the oryx, she had the springbok, both were delicious.

On Tuesday, Megan had some activities planned with her tour including quadding and sand-boarding (both of which I informed her are extremely hazardous to the delicate ecosystem of the Namib desert. She didn’t care.) For some reason she also felt the need to jump out of a plane. I’m not sure what the motivation is there, but she seemed quite pleased with herself. After all that foolishness, we bought some groceries and made ourselves a delicious dinner – chicken with caramelized garlic, scalloped potatoes, and vegetables.

Megan left with her tour early Wednesday morning, but she’ll be back for two weeks on the 15th (same day Michelle arrives). On Wednesday afternoon Engelhardt, Linus (who arrived back in Namibia while I was in Windhoek), and I teamed up to teach Linus’s choir “Hold Me, Rock Me” and “Zulu Mama”. It’s nice having Engelhardt and Linus there to sort of ease me into a role of actually running a rehearsal. I’m also trying to think of some other easy western music, preferably a cappella, and preferably which I would know, to teach them. So if anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

Thursday was a mostly quiet day. I went into town to go to the internet café. Then Mrs. Venter picked me and took me on a couple errands. Afterwards we went back to Mrs. Venter’s house where MacDonald has been working hard creating the memoirs of the choir’s trip to Germany. For anyone who was in the choir when Mascato visited Canada, you will remember the books that we got at the end of the trip with accounts of each day written by the choristers. Well, Mascato does this for every trip, and compiling, editing, and typing all of these entries is a huge job. Later, MacDonald and I went out for pizza and we had tea at my place afterward (finally, tea with MacDonald!).

Friday I was over at Mrs. Venter’s again, helping MacDonald a bit with the memoirs, and trying to catch up on my blog. It was really hot on my walk over to Mrs. Venter’s and it was still quite early in the morning. They’ve been saying that the East Wind is coming for about the past two weeks, but now I’m starting to believe them. (The East Wind is a phenomenon similar to the Chinook winds that we receive in Alberta sometimes, but since we’re in the desert, we don’t just get hot weather, we get sandstorm. For those who were on the tour last summer, I’m sure you remember the sandstorm during our performance at Haaganenni [sp?] school.) In the afternoon we had two choir rehearsals – one for the new Mascatos and one for the old Mascatos. In the first one, I led an alto sectional. It was a bit of a challenge trying to demonstrate correct vocal technique while singing in my falsetto. I think in future I’ll just demonstrate an octave lower. It’s funny how without even thinking about it, I’ll just start parroting some of the techniques that I’ve learned over the years with Scott and Bruce (and other clinicians and such). Bruce’s “vowel sleeve” in particular has come up many times when trying to create a more unified sound. In the second rehearsal, we had a men’s’ sectional led by Theo. It’s certainly different from a Kokopelli men’s’ sectional. There were a couple times when I thought fights were going to break out (I’ve heard Koko actually was like that back in the day – something about defending Jenica’s honour . . .). But I was informed afterwards that it’s always like that, and it’s mostly in good fun just to keep things lively.

Today, we have another rehearsal, as well as a rehearsal for the musical. Afterwards, I’m going to stay over at Garth’s house in Walvis Bay. Megan and Michelle are both arriving at Walvis Bay airport tomorrow, so now I can just get a ride with Garth, rather that have Mrs. Venter drive me all the way out there.

Btw, it is very hot and windy today. I think the East Wind is here!

-Joel.

2008-06-16T04:30:00.002-06:00

Hey Everyone!
Sorry for the lack of updates lately. I've got a huge entry all ready to post that should update everything that I've been doing for the past week, but I forgot to bring my memory stick to the internet cafe!
But I'll just give you a quick update of the event of the past couple days. Saturday night I stayed over at Garth's house in Narraville. Dollar came over and made paap (African porridge) and mutton, and we watched August rush. I stayed over at Garth's hous because Megan and Michelle were both flying in to Walvis Bay airport at almost exactly the same time, and this just made the transportation about a hundred times easier. So Megan and Michelle are both here now!
Today, Megan and I are going to be meeting up with Richi from Mascato to help with his primary school choir rehearsal.
That's all for now - time is money!
I promise to post that big update tomorrow though.
-Joel.

Another “A” Assonance? Absurd!

2008-06-09T05:00:00.001-06:00

I think I may have run out of witty thing to say. And really, that just makes me not want to write a blog entry as much. A suppose there might be a few people out there who really just want to know the monotonous details of what I do in a day, but at least for myself, I prefer if the story has a little spice. For now tough, I'm pretty much spiced out (you can tell I'm close to empty when I find assonances intensely amusing).

So here's what's new. Tomorrow (or by the time I post this, last Friday) I am going (I went) to Windhoek. Engelhardt has an audition where if he's successful he will get to perform as a soloist with an orchestra in a big concert! Sounds like a great opportunity. I heard his audition pieces yesterday and they're quite impressive. One of them he does entirely in falsetto - it went up to a high E or a high G or something. Either way it was really high. I think he's got a decent shot, but then, I don't know what kind of people are also auditioning.

Yesterday I wrote out all the alto parts for the musical on Finale and made sound files for the choristers to practice with. Today I copied them all onto CD's. Mostly pretty boring stuff, but I'm happy to do whatever I can to help. But, one very exciting thing that came out of it (to me at least) - I had been putting off learning how to use the Speedy Entry tool on Finale. At Grant MacEwan I learned how to do it with a MIDI keyboard, but lacking a MIDI keyboard here, I was forced to figure out the other way (I certainly wasn't going to use Simple Entry for all that music [I'm guessing this all means something to about three people]). Anyway, now I am fluent using the Speedy Entry tool, which should make for far more efficient use of Finale in the future.

I also showed Mrs. Venter the part that I had written for the musical. She really likes it! So I think we're going to use it. Hopefully I'll get to write a few more of these little parts - I just need to sit down with Mrs. Venter and the script and figure out exactly what we need.

As I said earlier, tomorrow I'm going to Windhoek. Engelhardt's picking me up at 7am. Which meant last night that I had one day to break my sleep cycle of sleeping about 9pm to 1am and 5am to 10am. So I had to stay up, no matter how tired I felt. I read my book for a while - Poisonwood Bible - very enjoyable in spite of the "Oprah's Book Club" sticker on the front (there, that was a little witty). Around 10pm I couldn't read anymore, and had nothing to do. Then it occurred to me - I've been meaning to arrange "Help Me" by Joni Mitchell for jazz choir for the longest time. So I got to work on that! It was indeed a challenge (to transcribe) as Joni Mitchell's melodies are all over the board, plus the form of her progressions are all over the place. But then, the thing that really blew my mind. There was one rhythm that just didn't seem right no matter what I tried to do. Then I suddenly realized - it was a 7/8 measure. It runs out she's dropping eighth notes all over the place in this tune. But the part that blows my mind is that the groove in that song is so tight that I never noticed it. Usually when a song has a random 7/8 measure it's done as a jarring effect of sudden asymmetry, and is usually meant to be noticed. But in this case, it's as if Joni just decided that she didn't want to have eight eights notes in that measure and when rolling merrily along only having played seven. Anyway, after that revelation I really got going on the arrangement. I went to bed at 12am and got up at 7am, and finished the arrangement by 11am. Hopefully the cycle is broken for good.

Now I'm just over at Mrs. Venter's, having just finished copying the CD's I mentioned earlier. MacDonald is on his way over for tea! That should be exciting!

-Joel.

The Musical

2008-06-04T10:47:00.000-06:00

I’m a little worried about this musical that we’re putting on in September. The choir has been working on it for over a year, but because of various distractions and other commitments, we’re still pretty much at square one. When Jen was over here last year, she wrote a ton of great arrangements of the Karl Jenkins pieces that the musical is based on. The choir has partially learned all of them but are still a very long way from being ready. Plus, the choir has quite a few new members this year who are quite inexperienced, so they’re all just starting this music now! On top of all of that, these Jenkins pieces are just for interludes and “dance” sequences between scenes – there’s also a bunch of music during the actual text part, which hasn’t even been written yet! And if that wasn’t enough, the script hasn’t even been finalized yet!!!

Anyway, tonight I started writing some of the music that is going to be going on during the text part. This is actually a great opportunity for me to hone my composing skills! I don’t want to work too far ahead right now because I first want to check with Mrs. Venter that I’m on the right track. I also have to figure out what songs will work with guitar accompaniment (because I’m no actor) and write the parts. I certainly have my work cut out for me (which is good, I like being busy). I think though, we need to aim to have all the Jenkins pieces learned and memorized with confidence and all rest of the music at least written and partially learned by the end of June. There’s still a bunch of “choreography” and “dance” still to learn, but if the music is solid we’ll have a good foundation going forward.

Ants, Ants, and Anticipation (appropriately annotated as an assonance)

2008-06-03T08:32:00.000-06:00

Yesterday the ant problem in my apartment reached a new level. Prior to yesterday, I had noticed that if I were to drop a crumb or two on the counter when making a sandwich, I would be greeted within a few minutes by a couple tiny ants (about ¼ the size of your regular, run-of-the-mill [no reference to pre-industrial economies intended . . . keep reading, you’ll get it] ant at home) would come and help themselves. Not a problem, I thought to myself. I can keep this place tidy, I thought. And, I thought I had kept the place tidy. But yesterday morning when I went to the kitchen where I had left the (mostly clean) dishes from the little party the night before, the ants had had an industrial revolution in my sink! Hundreds of rural ants had immigrated to this newly bustling metropolis and had started numerous assembly lines. Unfortunately for the ants though, by choosing the sink as their urban centre, they had designed their own watery grave. For anyone who’s seen the movie “I Am Legend” (I just saw it on the plane-ride over here), it was kind of like the scene where Will Smith goes nuts right before the woman and child show up, except, instead of an SUV, I had a washcloth.

Anyway, more on the ants as the situation progresses. Remember, the Chinese had their attempts at an industrial revolution stifled for decades, and look at them now!

Today I got up bright and early (yay for stopping my terrible sleep cycle!) and went over to Mrs. Venter’s house to help in the office along with Engelhardt. All I had to do was make photocopies of about seven or eight pieces of music, thirty copies each, for the musical (in case you don’t know, Mascato is putting on a musical in September which is pretty much the only thing anyone is thinking about right now). Now, back in Canada, this would be about a ten-minute job. But back in Canada, we have fancy photocopiers that pretty much do everything for you. Here, not so. Can you imagine if our directors had to staple every piece of music individually, by hand, as well as perform all other administrative duties, all on a budget of $0 (or whatever they felt like spending out of their own pocket)? But anyway, after a couple hours of work in the morning, Engelhardt and I went to Linus’s high school choir’s rehearsal to talk about their performance at the competition in Windhoek last weekend (I think “reflection time” is something Engelhardt picked up in Canada). They got a gold ranking, which is the highest you can get! It doesn’t mean that they won, because two other choirs also got gold, but it means they did very well. During the rehearsal, Engelhardt mentioned that at some point I would be working with them. But the problem was, he started listing off all my “credentials” – how I had a diploma in composition, and had sung in Kokopelli for many years, and was going to be a music teacher, and so on. It kind of freaked me out, because now they’re going to be expecting big things from me. BUT, I also realize how silly that is because a: I came here to do things like work with choirs so why am I complaining, b: I am going to be a music teacher so I had better get used to it, and c: I probably have more to offer a group like this than I even realize yet. So, I think the sooner I get into to it and start doing this kind of stuff, the better I’m going to be by the end of it. And that’s kind of the point of the exchange program, right? Duh. Mrs. Venter also said that she was going to have me work with the new boys who have just started with Mascato this year, so yeah! Bring it on!

-Joel.

MacDonald the Bahai and Party Time

2008-06-03T08:30:00.000-06:00

Yesterday I sat in on a rehearsal Mrs. Venter was having with some of the younger and newer members of Mascato. When people initially join the choir they often have virtually no musical training, so she starts with them from scratch. Since they were all new members I hardly knew any of them – I recognized a couple, but Rosaine was the only one I knew by name. But then, about halfway through, someone very familiar showed up. It was the Queen of England himself, MacDonald! For those that don’t know, when Mascato came to Canada three years ago, MacDonald stayed at my house.

After rehearsal, MacDonald and I went over to Mrs. Venter’s house for tea and rusks. After that, MacDonald and I went for dinner at Ocean Basket for some feesh and cheeps. Last summer, MacDonald had been telling me about how he was becoming a Bahai, which is a religion that I knew very little about. On top of that, MacDonald has been known to tell a tall tale or two in his time (alliteration much?), so I wasn’t sure how much I believed him. However, right at the end of the tour, he introduced me to his former English teacher and mentor, who was, herself, a Bahai, originally from Iran, who fled during the revolution (Bahai’s are brutally persecuted in Iran nowadays). After this, it seemed that MacDonald’s story might actually be viable. Well, now it seems that MacDonald is a full-fledged Bahai, and was telling me a bit about his new religion during dinner. It’s quite interesting – they believe that Moses, Jesus, Mohamed, Buddha, Krishna and so on were all prophets of the same God. Moreover, they believe that while it is the duty of mankind to seek out God, God is actually an unknowable entity, and God will only reveal himself gradually through the prophets that he sends. Now, I’m not about to become a Bahai, but it sounds like a fascinating religion, and to his credit, MacDonald did make some strong points.

Today, I made my first solo trip into town to post a couple blog entries. I also wanted to stop in at Mr. Price, but it was so full that they weren’t letting anyone else in. Note to self – don’t go to the shops on Saturdays. Around 2pm Mrs. Venter came by to take me to rehearsal. It was supposed to be a rehearsal for new members and old members together, but unfortunately, the choir is having a bit of a post-tour lull, so there were very few old members there. After the rehearsal, Garth and Dollar mentioned to me that they might stop by at my place. Then, there was a whole bunch of talking going on in Afrikaans, but it seemed that plans were being set into motion. Before I knew it, half the choir was coming over to my house for a party! (Though I suspect a lot of the new girls only wanted to come because the Afroshine boys were going – one of them actually asked Dollar for his autograph!) Anyway, after stopping for some snacks at the Pick ‘N Pay we got the party going. It was interesting to see how the girls all went straight for the kitchen and started preparing food. I tried to help a little, but it was clear that I was just in their way. The party didn’t go late at all because a lot of people had to get back to Walvis Bay, but it was still fun to have everyone over and just hang out. Garth and Dollar stayed a bit later and we just hung out and talked. Apparently I’m playing a gig with Afroshine on July 13th! I just hope they’re not expecting too much from me.

-Joel.

Jet Lag

2008-05-31T04:59:00.001-06:00

My second day in Namibia began at 9am, when Dollar knocked on my door. He was going to show me around the town and help me pick up some things I needed, including a cell phone. Everyone here has a cell phone, and they all use them constantly. They’re very inexpensive compared to Canada (mine was N$350 or about $50 Canadian) and almost everyone uses “pay-as-you-go” cards. I also picked up some toiletries, which I was running low on, and a supper cheap sweater (it’s cold enough here that the two that I brought won’t be enough). The walk into town from where I’m staying is very beautiful and goes right along the ocean. As we walked there, some girls called our to Dollar, “Hey, Sunshine”. Apparently they recognized Dollar, but didn’t know that his band is called “Afroshine”.

Speaking of Afroshine, they have received a very enticing offer from one of the countries top two producers. Basically, he wants to take them under his wing, and work with them for a couple years to help them get going. It sounds like a great opportunity!

After a morning of walking and shopping, I needed a nap. Now I thought I was just tired from the long walk – one would think, having slept from 9pm to 9am, that I would be adjusted to this time-zone. Not so. I slept for about three hours before getting up around 5pm to go grocery shopping with Mrs. Venter.

Going out with Mrs. Venter is like going out with royalty. I don’t know if people behave the way they do towards her because they know her or because she just has an intangible quality about her, but the respect that she commands from people borders on reverence. When you’re with her, you just feel that you’re in the presence of greatness (which, of course, you are). So anyway, I picked up some groceries – mostly healthy things because one of my goals for the next three months is to get into better shape. However, Mrs. Venter was quite concerned that I hadn’t picked out enough “treats”.

When I got home, Dirk and Marie had dinner ready for me. We just ate in from of the TV and chatted, and talked about Wade, Fahim, Steve, Sam, and Lisa who they had hosted during our tour last year.

A little later on, Garth stopped by. We caught up and talked more Afroshine stuff. One thing that’s delaying Afroshine’s move to Windhoek is that Garth has a very good job at Standard Bank, and they won’t let him quit! Even the head of the company in Namibia has talked to him to try to convince him to stay. Garth has also been part of an advertising campaign for Standard Bank. Apparently his picture is in all the newspapers. I haven’t seen it yet, but I’ll have to check it out soon.

So back to the title of this blog entry. I went to bed last night at about 9:30pm, feeling quite tired and feeling that that was a reasonable time to be going to bed. Well, at 1am I woke up, and was completely awake. I couldn’t fall asleep again until around 4 or 5am. But when I did sleep I was out until about noon! So yeah, my sleep cycle is seriously messed up

-Joel.

Luggage, Passport Control, and My First Day

2008-05-31T04:58:00.000-06:00

So the rest of my flight into Johannesburg was uneventful, apart from the amazing coffee that they served with breakfast. Usually I’m not a coffee drinker, but I though after “sleeping” on a plane for two nights straight it could do me good. It might have been the best cup of ordinary coffee that I’ve ever had. Anyway, enough with coffee. In Johannesburg, I was almost certain that I wouldn’t get my luggage. You see, the unnamed airline that I was berating earlier has an especially bad record when it comes to losing luggage. Thing like sending your luggage on non-existent flights and so on, so I could hardly expect them to successfully transfer it from Halifax to Montreal to Frankfurt to Johannesburg. So there I was, going through in my head what I would do if my luggage didn’t come, when lo and behold, there it was. I could hardly believe it! I don’t care that their customer service is terrible and their entertainment system didn’t work and their food was disgusting, because I had my bags!

So without having to spend hours creating a claim for my lost baggage, I had some time in Johannesburg airport. I spent most of it just looking around the shops. It was very strange to see the “Out of Africa” shop, which I’m sure people will remember from our first trip to Africa, without gaggles of Kokopellians.

The flight to Walvis Bay was nice and short on a very tiny plane. It was a beautifully clear day and you could see all the way to the ground for almost the entire journey. I snapped some good pictures from the air that I’ll post soon. Flying into Walvis Bay was like landing on another planet – the desert looks so surreal from above. But as we were about to land, a thought crossed my mind, a thought of slight panic. I was recalling our previous trips to Namibia and the immigration form that we had to fill out. One of the required fields was “Address while in Namibia”. Now, before I left home, I had a list of questions to ask Scott. Most of them were more for the sake of my mother than myself, but there were a few that I did need answers to. So I sent an email to Scott with all my questions, and got very useful answers to almost every question. Every question that is, except for what my address would be. I think he wrote that he didn’t know off hand, but that I would be staying where he is staying, which is with Dirk and Marie who are very nice people who hosted members of the choir last summer. At the time this answer seemed fine to me since I knew I would have people to show me around and such. I thought to myself, my mom probably just wanted to know in case she wanted to write. But hark; there was another reason why I needed to know the address. So I went up to the passport desk having left that one field blank and stood there looking very innocent. I did, however, remember one piece of information that was probably my ticket into the country. I remembered that Dirk was the manager of the Walvis Bay airport! So even though I could even give his last name, after pleading with the immigration officer I was able to get into the country with nothing written in the address field but “Swakopmund, Dirk and Marie”! Thanking my lucky stars that that worked out, I grabbed my bags and headed for the door. Engelhardt and Mrs. Venter were waiting for me. However, I guess I gave up on the innocent face a little too soon because before I could get through the door a police officer pulled me aside asking me if I want to declare anything to Namibian customs. I guess he wasn’t satisfied, so he sent me to an office where my things were searched. After that ordeal I was finally in the country for real! It was great to see Engelhardt and Mrs. Venter again. As we were leaving, Dollar also arrived at the airport, but I guess he got the time of the flight wrong.

Mrs. Venter and Engelhardt had some plans for me, but I insisted that before I do anything I needed a shower. So I had a shower at Mrs. Venter’s house while she dropped Engelhardt at choir practice and then we joined him there later. Engelhardt has been working with Linus’s high school choir while Linus has been in Canada, and they have a performance in Windhoek this weekend, so Engelhardt was having Mrs. Venter in to help them prepare. They were working on a couple pieces you might have heard of – Wilsbok and Hosanna Nkosi Pesulu. After rehearsal Mrs. Venter dropped me and Engelhardt off at Dirk and Marie’s to get settled before going to Mrs. Venter’s house to have dinner with Dollar, Jeremy, and Lindsay. I was great to catch up and hear about all the things Mascato is doing. I got home to around 9pm and slept until 9am the next morning.

Airport Benches, Airline Food, and the Friendliest German I Met

2008-05-31T04:57:00.000-06:00

I’m writing this entry at around 3am Namibia time at around 30,000 feet. I should be landing in Johannesburg in about four hours, and then I’ll just have a four-hour layover before I get on my final flight to Walvis Bay. So out of a total of 42 hours of traveling, I only have about eight and a half left!

Phase one: Halifax to Montreal – check

This was a pretty short and uneventful flight. No airlines incurring rage yet.

Phase two: Montreal to Frankfurt – check

This was a longish and somewhat more eventful flight. First off, I’m seated next to a mother and her two to three year old daughter. I actually felt really bad for the mother by the end of the flight – she was obviously extremely tired and her daughter was not about to let her or anyone in the vicinity get any sleep. At one point she asked me how much time was left until we landed and I think she almost cried when I said about four hours (we were only half way through an eight-hour flight). Next, we had a certain airline behaving very much like itself. The flight was delayed taking off, but this was because two passengers had checked in their baggage and not gotten on the plane. That’s not the airlines fault, so I dealt with it. Then there was the entertainment system. I have to say, the plane itself was beautiful. It was a brand new 777, state of the art everything – the business class seats were especially cool. But the problem with this particular airline is that as hard as they seem to try, they just can’t get anything right. The entertainment systems were extremely confusing to use, and with the absence of any flight staff, I helped the people around me to figure out how to use the thing. Also, once you finally got the movie or TV show you wanted to play, you had to sit through about five minutes of commercials! Then, about five minutes into watching my movie, the whole system shut down. They said they were having problems with the system and would be resetting it. Whatever. Ten minutes in on my next try, same thing. This ended up happening four times at different points throughout the flight! I couldn’t help but laugh though when the flight attendant (whose first language was obviously French) apologized saying “a thousand excuses”. I’m pretty sure he meant “a thousand apologies” but I think “a thousand excuses” is bang on when it comes to this particular airline. Finally, the food – almost inedible. It was a chicken breast, mashed potatoes, peas and corn. The problem though, was that they were bathing in a “sauce” which I’m pretty sure was 90% ketchup. All in all though, this was one of the better flights I’ve had with this airline! I watched two movies that I’ve been wanting to see but couldn’t because Megan hates Nicholas Cage and Will Smith – National Treasure: Book of Secrets (trash, but enjoyable on a certain level) and I Am Legend (pretty good, but Will Smith didn’t look even close to fifty-two years old). I started to watch “There will be Blood” but it seemed a little deep for the last three hours of an eight-hour flight, so I shut it off and got some sleep.

Phase three: Frankfurt (fourteen-hour layover)

I got into Frankfurt around 7am on Tuesday. The first thing I wanted to do was find an internet café to see if Megan’s friend would be able to meet me at some point and maybe offer me a bed and a shower which were much needed by this point. I eventually found a sketchy place that had Internet. It was actually a shop of VLTs and only had a single computer available for Internet use. Unfortunately, Megan hadn’t heard back from her friend yet, so it seemed that I would spend the fourteen-hour layover on my own. I did manage a quick chat with Jessica Wu on facebook though! After walking around the airport shops a few times, I decided I had better do something with my day in this city that I had never been to. And here came my first mistake – asking for help. I found the train station without any difficulty, and suspected that the train I wanted was the “City Train”. However, being completely ignorant of this city, I wanted to make sure that this train a) led downtown and b) that downtown was where I wanted to be. So I asked the lady if that was the train I should take to get to some shops and restaurants. After a few moments of glaring at me as if I had just killed her puppy she said very curtly, “Downtown, track one”. “If looks could kill” would be an understatement here. So at that point I figured it would be best not to ask how to use the ticket machines that were all in German and simply thanked her and moved on. The ticket machine wasn’t actually too bad to figure out. I was then on the train and headed downtown. When I got downtown there were tons of business people on their way to work, so I figured I’d just follow the stream of traffic and see what I could find. Second mistake – following people aimlessly. About a block away from the train station I was surrounded by brothels and strip clubs and was approached by someone I presume was a prostitute. Deciding that this probably wasn’t where I wanted to be, I tried the next block over. This looked more promising – fancy hotels, and hark! Hoards of Japanese tourists! I little ways down this road and I reached the River Main and a nice park that went either side of it. Starting to grow tired I found a bench and just relaxed and watched people go by (tons of people running and riding bicycles). I also snapped a few photos of things that caught my interest. After a while I crossed the river and a footbridge to check out some of the interesting looking buildings on the other side. There were a couple museums and galleries, but I was far too tired to be interested. So I found another bench, snapped some more pictures, and eventually fell asleep. After dozing for about half an hour, I decided that I probably looked like a bit of a bum sleeping on this park bench, and I also wasn’t entirely comfortable falling asleep in the middle of a city that I’d never been to before in a country where I didn’t speak a word of the language when I had a flight to catch later in the day. I definitely needed sleep though, so even though it was only around 10:30, I decided to head back to the airport. This is when I met the guy who I’m pretty sure was trying to rob me. I was back at the train station, probably looking like I had no clue what I was doing (which I didn’t) when this guy came up to me and said something in German. Seeing my lack of comprehension, he said, “you’re American?” “Canadian” I replied (I took my backpack off, and made sure I was paying attention to where all my valuables were in my pockets). He asked me if I could spare a couple Euro because he was very thirsty and needed to buy some water. I told him I was only here for the day and barely had any money. He didn’t seem deterred though, and started questioning me as to where I was from and where I was going. He also gave a strange story of how he was a medical student, but that his mother wouldn’t give him any money (which was why he needed money from me). He also mentioned that he needed to go “caca” and uttered a profanity directed at the “Po-lice”. It all seemed rather far-fetched (though I believed him about the “caca” part). However, being in some need of assistance, myself, I asked him if he could tell me which train to get on to get back to the airport. It was very interesting as he showed me and helped me to buy my ticket the things he did to try to manipulate and distract me. I was one step ahead of him on everything though, and he seemed to realize that I knew what he was trying to do. In the end though, since he did help me to find the right train (which would have taken me a lot longer on my own) I gave him two euros to buy a bottle of water. Despite the fact that he was trying to rob me, he was probably the nicest German that I met that day. So I made it back to the airport and sought out somewhere to sleep. It was very crowded and noisy so I would get at best half an hour of sleep before moving on and finding a new spot. I didn’t particularly feel like anything to eat, so I just waited until around two hours before my flight and went through security. And that was my day in Frankfurt.

Phase four: Frankfurt to Johannesburg – in progress

Wow, this has been a long entry. It’s now past 4am, so we should be landing in about three hours. I’ve gotten a bit of sleep on this flight, and feel like I have a bit of energy left. I think once I finally get to Swakop and see a bed for the first time in two days, I’ll crash.

-Joel.

Montreal

2008-05-26T14:40:00.004-06:00

I'm in Montreal airport right now and just realized that I have free wireless internet, about 10 minutes before I get on my flight to Frankfurt! So, I'll keep this brief. This morning I got a small send off from Steve, Tristan, Jessica Wagner, Brad, and Cassie as they were staying later in Halifax. We had a quick lunch - I got Tim Horton's for the last time for a long while. Then we said our goodbyes and I was off. After a short flight, I grabbed some food in the Montreal airport since I think I'm only getting breakfast on my next flight.

Here is a picture of my $8 sandwich. The bread was stale.

I'm now looking about 38 more hours of travel until I get to Namibia, but at least I'm on my way!

-Joel.

Who am I and Why am I Writing on this Blog?

2008-05-16T21:10:00.004-06:00

Hello all,

So in a past life this blog existed for the purposes of recounting the events of last year's tour to Africa. For this summer, however, though Africa will remain a primary topic, this blog will be my personal account of my experiences as an exchange chorister with Mascato. I am lucky enough to be spending most of the summer with Scott, and several other Koko/Oran members will be visiting from time to time, so hopefully they will also offer some input.

So how's the trip going so far? Well, though I have left home and won't be back until Sept. 14th, I am not yet in Namibia. I'm with Kokopelli, and we are currently having a great time in Sackville, New Brunswick at the Podium Festival. Last night we were reunited with our fearless leader, Scott, and previous Mascato exchange chorister, Linus, who both flew straight from Germany where Mascato had been touring. Today, we assisted Scott with an African music workshop for festival delegates, attended workshops with various choral professionals (including members of Rajaton), attended two concerts featuring groups such as Soundtrax and the Canadian National Youth Choir. We also had a great dress rehearsal for our "cameo" concert tomorrow which we'll be sharing with Prairie Voices.

10 days until I leave for Africa.

-Joel.

The Passport Reassurance

2007-07-31T15:31:00.000-06:00

One final *final* note -- though we haven't heard from Sam K. directly yet, we presume that all is well with the getting of an emergency passport from the Canadian consulate, as we would have heard if it wasn't. We expect to see Sam at the airport tonight when we check in for our Windhoek to London flight! All Sam's bank cards and credit cards were cancelled within an hour of the theft and nothing was charged to her cards. All in all, a fairly good outcome for a bad situation!

The End!

2007-07-31T08:46:00.000-06:00

Our last day! It’s hard to believe it’s over -- long tours like this seem like they’ll last an eternity near the beginning, start to feel endless as the mid-tour sickness sets in, and then -- zoom. The last week flies by and we find ourselves searching helplessly for words to describe the myriad experiences we’ve had in one short month.

I have to admit, I read this in a fashion magazine today -- but though it may not come from the most elevated of sources, it really resonated with our time here in Africa. The quotation was from Archbishop Desmond Tutu and was something to the effect that no one can be human in isolation; that humanity can only exist in our relationships with others. Africa has shown us great sorrows and great joys -- joys in the bonds we’ve had in shared song, in laughter and long bus rides and thrilling sights, and sorrows in the division we’ve witnessed, the scars of apartheid, the stunning poverty -- but these sorrows and joys have only really existed for us in our encounters with other people. There is nothing so vivid as spending twenty minutes hugging African schoolchildren and then reading a painted sign on their school fence, alongside other colourful childish drawings: ‘Do Not Rape Children’. It makes tragedy real, much in the same way that singing ‘It Takes a Village’ with all of Mascato, or singing ‘Sanctuary’ with Siyacula, makes our experience one of true connection through music.

As Tutu says, our chance to connect face to face with people in the countries we’ve visited has taken those sorrows and joys out of a purely intellectual arena into an indelible and visceral sense of resonance, of sameness. We tend to use the phrase ‘life-changing’ a lot when we talk about Africa, but the real life changes, we’re forced to admit, are those that will happen when we return to our comfortable familiar North American lives. The world’s circumference has shrunk for all of us, and though we are happy to feel closer to our African brothers and sisters, it’s not enough to vaguely understand the troubles of Africa anymore -- we must start living our far away lives with a new consciousness of how small our planet is, and how interconnected we are, all people. One of our tour songs sums it up more concisely than I could:

Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King
And recognize that there are ties between us,
All men and women living on the earth,
Ties of hope and love, of sister and brotherhood.
And we are bound together by the path that stands before us
And the road that lies ahead.
We are bound, and we are bound.

Messages from assorted Kokos

2007-07-30T17:20:00.000-06:00

From Kyla:

It is now the day before we fly home. I don’t want to leave! It doesn’t feel like we’ve been gone for a month mostly because I am still very happy with everyone here and should be annoyed with everyone by the end of a trip. I wish we could stay for at least another nine and a half days.

It has been an amazing couple of weeks. I should start by saying that South Africa was incredible. Kokopelli’s connection with Siyacula is very strong, and it was wonderful to finally meet the choir that introduced us to Thulani and so much of the African music we sing. Visiting places like the District 6 museum has introduced me to more of South Africa’s history, and provided a lot of insight into what the kids from Siyacula have grown up with. I think that the highlight of my trip was definitely singing in a circle with some of the members Siyacula, learning their songs, and providing further proof that Canadian kids can’t dance (well…some Canadian kids can dance, I’m just not one of them!).

My most traumatic part of the trip was losing my thumbnail. I have to say that private South African hospitals are incredible, and the doctors tease you for doing stupid things like slamming your hand in a door. Let’s just say that I found Ka Hia Manu very hard to perform for several days… and my thumb was bandaged like a cartoon character. Everything with the thumb is okay now, and my last performance of Ka Hia Manu was painless.

I guess I should write about the last couple of days. Our goodbye to Mascato was much happier this time- I think its because we’re all convinced we’ll see each other again soon! Our last concert was typical Maskoko magic and we all had a blast. Singing with friends from last year, the new Mascatos, and the Nedbank Singers was great. We learned new music, attempted some clicks, and just had fun. The energy was crazy! Our picnic on the parliament grounds wasn’t sad- I think we were just having fun sharing music, and MacDonald gave some of us a tour of the important landmarks and political areas. I almost got arrested for trying to take a picture of the state house (well, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but the security card did yell, “eh eh eh eh” at me…).

To summarize, this trip has been incredible, I’ve had a blast and don’t want to go home! I’ve had many adventures ranging from dancing with school kids, getting stalked by lions, and learning about the historical stuff geeks like me love. I hope to come home full of new ideas, and I think I’ve got a new outlook on life from my adventures here. See you all soon!

Love,
Kyla

From Nathalie Dugo:

The end of the tour is fast approaching and it’s definitely a bittersweet feeling. Like Kyla, I also think that we’re absolutely not sick of each other enough and could keep doing this for another month or two! *hint hint to my parents: send more money so I can stay! Please!!!!*

The time we spent with Mascato and Siyacula was awesome. We had so much fun just sharing music and joking around. It was actually really great to reunite with the members we knew and meeting those we didn’t know. I especially loved hanging out with the members from Siyacula in South Africa! They even made me do a solo during our little circle-sharing session that Kyla mentioned already. Sheesh. Way to make you feel incorporated RIGHT AWAY! haha! Awesome. I think the bond with them is much stronger now that I’ve met them! We sang Fare Thee Well for them and it was pretty heartbreaking. I have already promised many of them that I have to return someday... soon hopefully!

Seeing Mascato was also a big highlight. I was originally really scared that the connection we had last year would have somehow changed, but I was very wrong. It’s been crazy-fun reconnecting, reliving memories from last year and, of course, partying. For future reference: Maskokos + clubbing in Africa = insanely fun.

Anyways, I should wrap this up. This tour has been amazing! Of all of the places I’ve been to, South Africa and Namibia have definitely taken a piece of my heart. Josh and I are considering moving here… yes, we are!

Love,
Naty

From Tessa:

I’ve been completely dreading this week because this tour has been so amazing! Every day has been a gift and all of our experiences have been wonderful. Siyacula (the choir I sing in) benefited so much from Kokopelli’s visit and they all had tons of fun! This tour introduced me to Mascato and now I understand even more what all of the fuss is about. They really are an inspiring group and their spirit was so contagious.

This tour has been one month full of fun and many crazy obstacles, but it’s meant so much to me and I can’t wait to come back to Edmonton!!! I love all of these Kokos and I’m going to miss them SO much! Thank you!

Tessa

From Lauren:

Oh man, I can’t believe the tour is almost over! I’ve had so many great moments that I couldn’t possibly write them all. I loved singing our last concert with Mascato. It definitely was a blast and then we shared music with each other yesterday. They gave a little performance just for us on the parliament grounds and then we returned the favour with some songs of our own. Some were really rusty and quite terrible. Oh well! Saying goodbye to Mascato was the hardest thing to do for me, because I’ll probably never see them again. Ah!

There were other amazing moments like waking up early to see the African sunrise at 6:30 in the morning. The animals in Etosha, the spiders in Mahangu Lodge (the biggest suckers we’d seen yet), the puking in Zambia, getting completely soaked in the mist of Victoria Falls, the rush of falling 53 metres at the gorge swing, (breathe) and learning tons of new songs from Siyacula as we sang together in a circle. I’ll have many many memories to keep for the rest of my life. Don’t worry, people at home! I’m tempted, but I won’t stay here for the rest of the summer. Miss you guys!

The Pictures!

2007-07-30T17:19:00.000-06:00

The tour group at Boulder Beach

Adam, Andrew, and Andrew's friend Gigi

One of the more saddening artifacts on display at the District Six Museum in Cape Town.

Bobby from Mascato.

Mervyn, doing what Mervyn does best!

Maskoko love at its best

Koko and Mascato tenors

Our wonderful Marcellino showing off his Lluvia moves!

Maskoko

Big Concert!

2007-07-28T17:20:00.000-06:00

Today is the day of our biggest concert of the tour -- our performance at the National Theatre in Windhoek with Mascato and the Nedbank Singers. It’s been a crazy few days leading up to this performance, but we’re excited to see Mascato and meet the other choir, and to have a chance to sing all together one last time before the end of the tour.

There have been more than a few crises since our last post -- everything from lost (presumed stolen) passports, to hospital visits, to missed flights -- but suffice it to say for now that everyone is well, safe, exactly where they should be, and in good spirits. We’ll save the harrowing details for a day when we’re all back at home and no parents can be overcome with anxiety. I’ll have a few Kokos write about their experiences -- good and bad -- in Cape Town, so you can hear a bit about what we’ve been up to. It’s going to be busy today -- rehearsal with Mascato, followed by a mass choir rehearsal, then a quick lunch before a recording session with Mascato, then dinner before our big concert!

2007-07-25T22:07:00.001-06:00

It’s our fourth day in the beautiful Cape and we’ve just gotten back to our hotel after an evening at the V&A Waterfront. We did an informal performance this afternoon at the waterfront amphitheatre and gathered a good-sized audience who seemed to appreciate our performance. It was a good ending to a day that also started in a great way, with a drumming workshop at Somerset College. Today we also said farewell to Somerset and our lovely host families in Somerset West, as we packed up the buses again and headed off to Cape Town. We stopped along the way, first in Simon’s Town and then at Boulders Beach, site of an African penguin colony. After getting to know the penguins a bit, we sang for the site staff and then headed along the gorgeous drive along the Cape. It’s a bit like the Okanagan here, mixed in with the coastal mountains of Vancouver -- many vineyards as well as gorgeous ocean views. There’s also the fascinating and at times dark history of this place too, relatively recently emerging from the apartheid regime. We drove past one of the many Cape region townships today, each housing two to three million people in these immense informal settlements.

South Africa has been a bit of a change of pace from our busy traveling schedule last week, but a welcome one. The first two nights we stayed at the Lord Charles Hotel in Somerset West, about 40 minutes outside Cape Town. This beautiful posh hotel pampered us, which felt wonderful after more than a few days of roughing it. Leigh called the concierge on Saturday morning to ask if there was a nearby bookstore where she could pick up the new Harry Potter book and was surprised to have it delivered to her door within half an hour!

We attended an inspiring performance on Friday night -- the World Youth Choir just happens to be touring South Africa this summer and we managed to get tickets to one of their concerts! What a great experience, to see a choir of that caliber. We were especially proud of our two Canadian delegates -- Emily Cheung (a former schoolmate of mine from UBC), and Edmonton’s own Dawn Bailey (another former schoolmate, this time from U of A, and also a member of the Cantilon choirs). The choir sang most of the second half without music and with movement, with a program of African traditional music that had us dancing in our seats.

The hotel is a sponsor for Marijke Roos’s fabulous choir Siyacula, which is Kokopelli’s other African twin choir. The group is a bit newer than either Kokopelli or Mascato, but has a great vitality and enthusiasm which is inspiring. On the night of our fundraiser performance at the hotel, many Kokos spent about an hour singing with Siyacula members, learning new pieces and laughing at our attempts at the languages and movement. Our second concert with the group took place on Monday night at Somerset College, singing to a packed chapel that included a rugby team from Eton College England! It was a great concert and we had a good time talking with Siyacula afterwards, offering mutual encouragement and just enjoying each other.

After our stay at the Lord Charles, we were billeted out to host families from Somerset College -- many beautiful homes and warm hosts! (Some of our lucky choristers were even given the use of a car while they stayed with the families! Incredible!) It was nice, as always, to get to know some locals and to spend some time in a homelike environment -- especially with laundry facilities.

We spent all of Monday morning in school performances. First we sang for the Somerset assembly, which was an interesting view into private school decorum and conduct -- what an amazingly well behaved group of high school students! -- then for a primary school in the township of Lewandle, which was an interesting view into total chaos! We headed over to a nearby Lewandle preschool next, where many a heart was overwhelmed with the amount of cuteness we encountered. I had to order a bus check as we headed back to Somerset to make sure no one had stowed a toddler under their seat.

Yesterday was a free day for the choir and we all went in different directions. One bus traveled to Cape Town and the other to Stellenbosch (a small bohemian university town in the Somerset area). I was in with the Stellenbosch crew, spending a somewhat rainy but pleasant day exploring this beautiful town and enjoying its shops.

We were pleasantly surprised to meet up with Katelyn Jensen here in Somerset West, too! Katelyn is a Kokopelli member who’s been on school exchange at Marijke’s school, Somerset College, and we expected that she would be back in Canada by now, but she extended her stay in order to see Kokopelli in Cape Town, which is great.

As well as getting to know our twin choir here, we’ve been busy with recreational pursuits -- everything from exploring the local wine farms, to getting out to see a bit of the nightlife with billet families, to shopping at Somerset Mall. We spent Monday afternoon at Spier, a local wine farm that includes a delicious restaurant (with traditional African face painting!), picnic opportunities, beautiful scenery, and a cheetah and falcon sanctuary. Tomorrow is another free day with as many destinations and plans as there are choir buddies! Sadly, the shark diving expedition (yes, there was a shark diving expedition) has been cancelled due to imminent bad weather, but there will be a wine tour instead. Others are hoping to climb Table Mountain, scale Signal Hill, visit the District 6 Museum, explore the Waterfront area…or just sleep off whatever sickness is hitting at this point in the tour.

And now, finally, a few pics, because this internet is FAST, if expensive:

Alex on our Zambezi River cruise, back in Zambia

The Zambezi Swing! (Parents, avert your eyes!)

Victoria Falls

Siyacula sings for us

Cool face painting at Moyo, the great restaurant at Spier

A very happy Jenica finally gets to pet cheetahs

Some Kokos at Boulder Beach checking out the penguins

Our performance at the Waterfront today

Last but not least, I've just gotten the e-mail nod to share some non-African Kokopelli news that I've been dying to share all tour. From my brother Alan and his wife Kelly, both members of Òran:

Hello,

I thought I'd like to let you all know that Kelly has been feeling a little under the weather lately. She's experiencing mild nausea, aches, and fatigue. We went to the doctor, who told us that she has developed a growth in her abdomen, which she apparently caught from me about 10 weeks ago. The doctor said we shouldn't worry too much, and that it should clear itself up sometime around February 18th. I did a little research, though, and apparently the after-effects of this condition are prolonged, and typically last at least two decades. We thought you guys would like to know.

Our parents are very excited about it, too. Love, Alan & Kelly

A post from Scoot!

2007-07-24T15:59:00.000-06:00

I think Katy is sans internet so here is a daily update:

Yesterday was amazing with several concerts in the area. I was really proud of Kokopelli. They performed so well and we received numerous standing ovations throughout the day. Everyone enjoyed performances at a very proper Somerset College Assembly, a primary school in Lwandle and a preschool there as well (I'll post pictures soon) as well as at a packed evening concert at Somerset College once again.

Today was a free day and one bus took numerous people to the gorgeous village of Stellenbosch while the other took people to the markets in Cape Town. In addition a number of us simply remained in Somerset to relax, do laundry, or do a few local activities (I had an amazing lunch with my parents and Anne McIntyre at a beautiful winery).

It's cold and rainy here and promises to remain this way until we leave but everyone still remains happy and they are appearing to have a good time. The people who were sick seem to finally be back in their normal state over the past few days. Laura Forster was in the hospital here last night with stomach issues but she was fine today - infact she was up hitting the stores. We are very grateful for Susan Chan, our nurse, she has been busy and wonderful with everyone on this tour! We love you Susan!!

Tomorrow AM we have a drumming workshop at the college. Following that we will be heading to Bolders Beach to see the penguins. There is a renowned children's choir from the USA touring the area at the moment too and we hope to meet up with them tomorrow on our way to Cape Town.

Unfortunatly we heard that much of Robben Island is currently under construction and the tram up Table Mountain is currently closed for 2 weeks - DRAT!!

Oh well, there will be lots to do in Cape Town. I'll post some pics soon! Much love!

Hello from Scott!

2007-07-22T13:28:00.000-06:00

Hi to everyone back home! We have had a couple of wonderful days here in South Africa. The weather and activities have been superb. Last night's Gala Event went very well and the choirs were well received. I think for many the highlight was sharing music with Siyacula. The hotel that has sponsored us is way beyond luxury! It has gorgeous gardens, 2 pools, gourmet restaurants and event 2 helicopters. To give you an idea how great it is, Leigh Yang went to the front desk to ask how she could get a copy of the latest Harry Potter book and within 15 minutes, someone from the hotel had gone out to buy it for her!! (and it didn't cost much at all!)

Today was wonderful - we all spent a little bit of time at the huge Somerset Mall buying everything from coffee to young designer clothes to gifts for those back home. After that it was off Speir - a fantastic wine farm that is so much more than a vineyard. People spent the time either at a picnic or eating in the amazing African experience restaurant. The food was once again incredible - most people have put on lbs+ on this tour. Also at Speir you can pet cheetahs, hold eagles and watch many animal demonstrations! SO MUCH FUN!

Tonight everyone is home with their host families - I can't wait to hear more stories tomorrow.

Katy has been feeling a little ill over the last week and I am certainly that is why her blog updates have been a little less frequent. I am sure you will hear from her again soon.

Leaving Namibia

2007-07-20T08:26:00.000-06:00

July 20, 2007, 8:26 a.m.

We’re leaving Namibia! We said goodbye to most of the Mascato members this morning as we headed off to the airport and they headed for Swakop, though Marcelino is still with us. We will see everyone again in about a week and a half for our concert in Windhoek, but it’s still the end of our time together so it was a bit sad. We also said goodbye to the Chuck Norris of Namibia, Carlos the bus driver, who Chuck Norris’ed us across the Zambia-Botswana border against all odds.

Shortly after the last blog entry, a number of us came down with food poisoning and spent our last night in Zambia getting to know the hostel bathrooms a little too well. It was spectacularly bad timing as it struck right before our two days of 12-hour drives, but everyone struggled through and there was only one minor on-bus incident of sickness. The sick few (most of whom seem to have stayed together at Popa Falls our last night in Namibia last week) are slowly getting back to normal, though we’re still a bit leery of food in general. It’s that point in the tour when everyone seems to be coming down with something, but everyone’s been very brave and cheerful in spite of the unpleasantness of being sick while away from home.

If we thought getting into Zambia was a circus, it was nothing compared to the fiasco of getting back out! The border crossing from Zambia into Botswana was crazy -- huge numbers of trucks and people and cars, just a big mess of confusion with no apparent way of knowing how to get onto the ferry which would take us to Botswana. Thanks to Carlos, we got through somehow, got onto the ferry ahead of the dozens and dozens of trucks -- only to have to go through it all again on the Botswanan side! Botswana is trying to control the spread of hoof and mouth disease so there was this surreal procedure of having to walk across a slightly sticky sopping mat which disinfected our shoes, getting back on the bus, then being told that our shoes in our luggage needed to go through the same thing. We did the same dance (this time only for the shoes on our feet, thankfully) at another checkpoint partway through Botswana.

Botswana was beautiful -- much like Namibia in terms of the landscape, full of friendly people. We wished we could have had more time there, though we did enjoy our one night. Our morning concert in Maun was cancelled due to some mix-ups but it was just as well given the amount of driving we needed to do yesterday. We crossed back into Namibia uneventfully -- encountering a wandering Canadian at the border who accepted our offer of a lift back to Windhoek -- and arrived late yesterday evening back at our favorite Windhoek hostel, the Roof of Africa Inn.

Now we’re sitting in the Windhoek airport as we wait for our 9:30 flight out to Cape Town. It’s always exciting to be embarking on a new phase of the tour and great to be heading off to meet our other twin choir, Siyacula.

No pics still as I’m stealing time from Scott’s wifi voucher and I don’t want to use it all uploading pictures!

A Day in Zambia

2007-07-17T21:41:00.000-06:00

What an adventure, crossing the Zambian border! After officially leaving Namibia, we got back on the buses and headed for the Zambian immigration office near the bridge over the Zambezi River. Unfortunately, Scott misread the sign pointing the way and led two buses across the bridge before we were stopped by a very nice border guard carrying an AK-47! We turned around with smiles and apologies, though given the hassles we encountered next, we almost wished we’d kept going.

In spite of our best organizational efforts and the efforts of the staff at the hostel where we’re staying, we were short one page on our manifest for the visa waiver requests at the Namibia/Zambia border crossing. That meant 8 people had their passports confiscated (temporarily! they’re back now!) as we waited for the elusive missing page. Scott sped ahead in the rental car kindly provided by Andrew’s friend Gigi, determined to hold the boat for our Zambezi river cruise, but with a 2-hour drive to Livingstone ahead it was a lost cause. (Our wonderful contact in Livingstone managed to reschedule the cruise for this morning as well as organize dinner to replace the one that was supposed to be part of the evening cruise.) Sadly, the missing page of the visa manifest never appeared and we had to shell out more than $400 US to get everyone over the border!

In any case, we eventually did get into Livingstone (with zero bathroom stops, go us) and our hostel, ate dinner in three different restaurants, and enjoyed the wonderful free wi-fi. This morning we were up bright and early on our way to the rescheduled Zambezi cruise, where we saw both crocs and hippos.

Zambia is very different from the other countries we’ve visited before. The line between the poor and the wealthy is even more sharply drawn than elsewhere. The cost of living is very high in Zambia -- comparable to London England, actually -- but obviously the vast majority cannot come close to being able to afford the basics of housing and food. The local currency, the kwatcha, used to be about on par with the Canadian dollar but is now extremely inflated, with an exchange rate of about K3900 for one Canadian dollar. We’re all trying to do the complicated math when we keep getting huge wads of bills for change.

After the boat cruise, we headed to Victoria Falls. Even though we had another Zambian fiasco at the park gate (no credit cards! cash only!) we got through all right and managed to get completely soaked. These amazing falls are the highest in the world and go on for a whole kilometer. We got to walk all the way along the opposite side of the falls, right in the crazy mist rising up from below. When the breeze changed just slightly, we got soaked like we were in the middle of a full-blown rainstorm. There was a bridge over a gorge where no one avoided the downpour, though some savvy people rented rain ponchos before heading down the path. Still, it’s a beautiful sunny day in Livingstone and we were almost dry by the time we got back to the hostel. We had a chance to do some monkey and baboon spotting as we loaded back onto the bus.

On the drive back to the hostel, we pulled over to watch a herd of elephants grazing by the side of the road. Amazing!

This afternoon, the Kokos dispersed to a number of activities -- everything from helicopter rides over the falls, to gorge swinging, to bungee jumping, to washing our underwear in the sink (that’d be me). Traveling in such a large group, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with the amount of social activity, especially for the introverts among us. It’s good to have some time in smaller groups or alone in the hostel and decompress a little. After all, the next two days are going to be almost entirely spent on the bus, going first to Maun, Botswana, and then all the way back to Windhoek.

We’ve just returned from our Zambian concert, which took place in an open-air venue that’s actually destined to become a clay pigeon shooting range, weirdly enough. We had a lovely view of the lands of Chief Mukuni (the local chief) as we sang through the sunset and watched the stars come out. It was a small but appreciative audience, patient through our technical difficulties with rigged power, including a great local church choir who sang a set at the beginning of the program. There was also a great drumming duo who came and played a brand new instrument that sort of looked like two woks soldered together -- like an inverted steel drum, called a ‘hang’ (pronounced ‘hung’). Afterwards, there was a delicious braai. Tomorrow’s an early morning so after our quick internet sessions, we’re off to bed. Today was a day full of once-in-a-lifetime experiences, no question about it.

Though it’s exciting to be in such a different place, we’re beginning to look forward to the end of the week -- Windhoek, then Cape Town. Civilization! Toilets that flush! Laundry facilities and fewer long bus rides! And, most of all, the chance to see Marijke and Siyacula, our other twin choir.

I have some pics to share but there's a line-up for the internet time so I'll save them for another day!

The Big Huge Update

2007-07-16T13:58:00.000-06:00

First of all, apologies for the long bloggish silence. We were supposed to have internet service in Okaukuejo, but as the sign said on the door of the café: “Internet Closed Due to Technical Difficulties.” The good news is that I’ve stored up a backlog of entries, mostly from other people on the tour, and if you scroll down you’ll be able to enjoy some of the stories of other Kokos in Africa. I’ve also got quite a nice storehouse of pictures built up and I’ll try to sprinkle them throughout the entries. I’m not keeping careful track of everyone in the pictures, but I’m trying for a variety of faces. If there’s a face in particular that you’re missing, comment and I’ll do my best to find a picture of your chorister for next time!

We’re now striking out into unknown territory, beyond the route we took on our first tour. Today we’re driving through the Caprivi panhandle of Namibia and crossing the border into Zambia to spend two nights at Victoria Falls. Last night we were scattered throughout the Popa Falls region. I can only speak for my group (20 of us) but our accommodations were quite nice -- considerably more rustic than some of the newly-renovated luxury suites we’ve been occupying in the Etosha Game Reserve, but clean and homey and in a beautiful setting. Our dinner (which took two hours for our single server and cook to prepare) was a great time, waiting aside -- chatting and telling stories and enjoying the power outages in the dining room whenever our cook used all the kitchen appliances at once! We slept in four-bed cabins with mosquito nets. No heat but plenty of lights and electrical outlets. There was a shared bathroom for each gender and we all enjoyed our Girl Guide Camp flashbacks as we brushed our teeth together last night and this morning. (My parents will be proud to know that I did not, in fact, get monstrously homesick at two in the morning and make the counselor stay up with me all night while I cried! Go me!)

The Rainbow Lodge group arrived this morning with tales of an encounter between an attractive young Dutch tourist named Bart and a certain member of our artistic staff whose name rhymes with ‘Jimberley’. Alas, no e-mail addresses were exchanged, but there is talk of making a new Facebook group dedicated to reuniting the pair.

Crossing the border means that we need to have our passports close at hand, and in order to help our bus remember this, Jenica composed a song:

Passports, passports, prove who you are --
That you’re not a terrorist with a bomb in your car!

This is accompanied by holding your passport aloft so that I can see it, waving it back and forth as we sing along. We’ve learned a lot from observing the grade one class back at Hanganeni Primary!

Since we left Swakopmund, there’s been a lot more travelling and a lot more wildlife viewing! We started off the week with an overnight stay at the stunningly beautiful Waterberg Plateau National Park. The red rock faces of the tall plateau dominate this gorgeous area, which is smaller than Etosha. Many of us climbed up the plateau -- a steep and very rocky trail -- the evening we arrived, while others got up at six in the morning and caught the sunset from the top. The park was full of Damara dik-diks, a very tiny deer-like creature with big eyes and ears. The highlight of the stay was our delicious and beautiful group dinner, during which we had our second engagement announcement! Congrats to Erin and Kier, who, as Erin put it, “felt the African magic”
during our dinner in the dunes back in Swakop. That makes two happy couples, one per week. We can’t wait to see who will be next… likely front runners:

- Bruce and Kim
- Adam and Gibb
- Kim and Bart (Bruce is heartbroken -- leave her alone for one night and see what she does!)
- Carlos (the bus driver known as “the Chuck Norris of Namibia”) and Amanda Coulter (who calls him Chuck)

Next, we spent two nights at the first rest camp inside Etosha, called Okaukuejo. All three rest camps in the park are undergoing renovation in celebration of the park’s one hundredth anniversary, which means that the accommodations we experienced varied a lot -- even for the same roomies! Jen and John spent the first night in an unrenovated chalet with holes in the wall, lion-shredded towels, and a sink hanging on by a thread, bravely suffering through the inconvenience while some of us luxuriated in our slate-floored, track-light-illuminated double rooms. The next day, when they lost power, water, and watched the bungalow next door being demolished, John decided to mention their situation to the front desk, who upgraded them -- to the two-story luxury cabin with a view of the watering hole from their bedroom upstairs! Needless to say, they’d barely gotten through the front door before Jen’s mom Elaine and her roomie Susan Chan showed up with suitcases in hand, claiming the double bedroom downstairs. Ostensibly they were there to chaperone, but we all knew that they wanted to enjoy the sweet life too!

The first night in Okaukuejo, we were pleasantly surprised to be entertained at dinner by a group from the Okaukuejo Primary School. This happened to be the primary school we visited on our way through Etosha in 2004, and we sang for them again the next morning! They have a fantastic music program, dancing and singing alike. We discovered that we knew a few of the same pieces and sang Avulengila and Singaba Yo Singaba together. They loved Afro Shine’s piece Ti Mama. They came and sang at the rest camp again on our last night there. They are a great group of kids and we were so excited to meet them and sing with them. We were able to leave them with a few small tokens as well -- Canadian souvenirs, some school supplies, and a half dozen soccer balls.

We’ve been very lucky with wildlife viewing this time -- tons of zebra, wildebeest, springbok, oryx, kudu, giraffes! We’ve even had great viewings of elephants, who mostly eluded us last time. On our second afternoon at Okaukuejo, we were visited by 45 or more elephants at the watering hole! We have all also had a chance to see wild lions, which we didn’t see at all last time. We even saw (but didn’t pet) wild cheetahs at the Cheetah Conservation Fund sanctuary enroute to Etosha on Thursday.

After Okaukuejo, we headed west and stopped to drop off 18 choristers at the Halali rest camp. Because of all the renovations, we couldn’t all be accommodated at one camp, so we split up for a night. Team Halali also encountered problems with the suites they were given -- no toilets or sinks! -- but the staff at the rest camp were amazing and upgraded them all to honeymoon suites. The Namutoni rest camp was equally great. Though half of us wound up staying in shishilala new suites and the other half in older bungalows, the Namutoni staff were great. Apparently the staff from Okaukuejo called Namutoni and told them that a great Canadian choir was coming to stay and we had to sing for them. Namutoni bribed us with an amazing outdoor braai for dinner, complete with crocodile, eland, and other exotic meats! We sang, of course -- what a fantastic staff!

And that brings us up to date! Sorry again for the long hiatus. I expect that my internet access will be a bit more regular from Thursday onwards as we travel back to Windhoek and then to Cape Town.

Here are the pictures:

The breathtaking Waterberg Plateau

Singers from Koko and Okaukuejo Primary join together to sing Avulengila (this is the song where Dolfie sang the solo, in case you're wondering!)

Our Albertan cowboys ham it up for the kids at Okaukuejo Primary

An elephant taking a dustbath

Elephant and baby! Cute!

A singing giraffe! Amazing!

The second happy couple. Awwwww...

And Kokos from the other bus!

2007-07-12T13:50:00.002-06:00

From Joel Forth:

Dear Kokos back home, Amanda and I, having been inspired by all the recent engagements, have decided to one up everyone and were married last night on top of the Waterberg Plateau. Peace out suckas! ~Joel Forth

From Amanda Coulter:

I am one with the Bobejaan!!!!! (Baboon in Afrikaans) I am a Bobejaan princess! Really though, it has also been so exciting to have been reunited with our beloved Mascato brothers and sisters. It is such a blessing to have some come along and continue the tour with us, and I cannot wait for all the adventures that are still to come. ~Amanda Coulter

From Jenica Hagan and Lisa Bromley:

Jenica is excited because we’re going to see ‘kitties’ today [cheetahs]. Brommer’s excited because she covered herself in dung on top of the Waterberg Plateau to attract wild rhinoceroses, who proceeded to eat African Berries from the palm of her hand. It wasn’t a pleasant experience per se, but it was definitely worth it . . . Ok. None of that actually happened, but it makes a good story, doesn’t it? In all seriousness we are having the time of our lives, and are seriously considering not coming home. As I write this, Jenica is painting her face in hopes that the cheetahs will accept her as one of their own . . . we’ll keep you posted on these new developments. [Hi Mom!] ~Jenica and Brommer

From Kaeley Thompson:

Hey Everyone Back Home!!!! Well, Africa has been the most exciting and unforgettable experience of my life!!!!! It is so beautiful here in Africa and the experiences I have had (including the “messed up” dreams from my Malarone) is something that I could never forget. The people I have been traveling with have really made this experience way more exciting!!!! My favorite experience was when we went to Hanganeni Primary School and we sang to the young children in the courtyard and were interrupted by the lovely and sandy east wind. I swear I am still washing sand out of my hair. But seriously I have never been touched so deeply by those children and their beautiful voices. I hope everyone back home are having a good summer and I miss home and some of the people but I am going to love coming home and sharing everything I have experienced in full detail!!!!!!! Sorry for those that might have to go through that!!!!! ~Kaeley

From Ruth Stubbings:

Africa. Wow. I have been having some amazing flashbacks from my childhood. From the sugarcane fields and the bamboo trees, to the baboons on the side of the highway, to the markets and the smells in the air. I’m excited to see what the rest of our adventure can bring in terms of creating memory flashback of Malawi, where I spent the first five years of my life. So far we have been very spoiled here. The food has been amazing and delicious and the accommodations have been more than luxurious and welcoming. We are now heading to some more remote areas of Namibia, Zambia and Botswana, so I’m really looking forward to seeing some of the “real” Africa. Yesterday we saw two traditional women walking into a gas station. It was a strange combination of old traditional world meets new world… can’t wait to have more of these experiences. Can’t wait to show all of you my pictures! Love and you and miss you all back home!...Ruth

From Sam Snider:

Hey to everyone back home. Being here in Africa is such a great thing. I love it here so much, although being away from the people I love the most is really hard. So much has happened while we are here. I am sad to say that I have not taken as many pictures I as should have take, but that’s okay. Stories will have to do. For sure one of the best things that’s has happened here was singing for the schools. I love to see their faces and the joy that we are bringing to them. It’s a joy and a half. Reminded me of mission trips for sure. I loved going to the primary school the most. They were so cute and loved to cuddle and just be close to you, not to mention the long lasting memories of them. Being in this choir has taught me a lot: to love and cherish everyone moment that I have with them. I am missing so many people at home and I can’t wait to see you all again. Stay safe and pray for me… love love <3 sam snider

From Josh Mckeown:

Hey hey hey to all my friends and family! This trip has just been beyond words for me, and I am enjoying every moment. From the boat trips with dolphins to our amazing concerts and seeing the baboons on the road, this has been a breathtaking experience. I have learned so much already and excited for the experiences to come. My favorite part so far was our experience at the elementary school where we gave very disadvantaged kids school supplies and we were able to share music with them. It was such an emotional experience for me and a lot of choristers. I will never forget that for a long time; it reminded me so much of my mission work, and reminded me really of why I loved working with kids and sharing love with them. Well, enough with the emotion, I proclaim myself “King of the Bobejaans!!” and send so much love to Mom and Dad and all my friends/fam at home. I MISS YOU TONS! xoxo - Josh

From Geoff Wallace:

Howdy everyone! Namibia is an amazing place. Everything about it – the landscapes, the geography, the food, the languages, the animals, and the locals – is unlike anything I’ve seen or experienced before. So far I’ve had a fantastic time. I’ve mooned Etosha from atop the Waterberg Plateau, vomited down Dune 7, exorcized my pet peeves, and bought (and eaten) some of the strangest fruit I’ve ever seen. If all that can be done in a week, I can’t wait for the next three! -Geoff

From Nathalie Dugo:

Hey friends and family! Hope everything in North America is great! Here, on the complete other end of the world, the group has accumulated some wonderful memories thus far. It still hasn’t completely hit me that we’re ACTUALLY here! It feels so much like home and I can’t help thinking that you guys should all be here with us. Yesterday many of us experienced an interesting phenomenon: the lack of doors to the washrooms and showers in our Luxury Suites. Needless to say we all feel way closer now. (sarcasm). haha. Everything we have done has been amazing and I am having difficulties choosing one single “wow” moment since there have been so many! I am so excited so see what the rest of this tour has in store since it just keeps getting better and better! Oh one more thing: I’ve only taken about 8 rolls of film and maybe 200 pics on digital so far. I will be sure to step this up because that’s just sad. Love and miss you all! ~ Nathalie Dugo

From Jessica Wu:

Hi everyone! Namibia has been awesome- Swakopmund is such a pretty city, and it has been great to see friends in Mascato again! I was lucky enough to billet with Sandra and Reggie from Mascato, and they’ve been beyond hospitable. Yesterday, we spent the night at the Waterberg Plateau just outside of Otjiwarongo. I climbed up the plateau and am ridiculously proud of myself because I hate hiking…the view at the top was almost worth it. Anyway, we are on our way to see the cheetahs and go to Etosha to see elephants, giraffes, and hippos, I think. This tour has been amazing so far, and I can’t wait to see what else is next. Hopefully not too many of us experience many more side effects from the Malarone pills. I hope that everyone at some point in their life gets to see beautiful Namibia and experience the friendliness of the people here. It’s also been quite an eye-opening trip, in visiting that primary school in the temporary housing part of Swakopmund and realizing that I have been so lucky to grow up in Canada and have what I have. I hope everyone back home is doing well, and I wish you were all here with us!!! Mother and Father- I’m fine. Have not contracted polio or malaria. I do, however, have sand EVERYWHERE from climbing so many dunes. Love, Wu.

From Jenica Hagan:

Sadly, we could not pet the cheetahs here. I have been told that in a couple weeks we will be at a place where we can pet some cheetahs and then my cheetah dreams shall be fulfilled. Also this place lies to children! Inside the information center, they had a list of the fastest African animals (Cheetah #1 at 110km/h) and the fastest animal in the whole world (Peregrine Falcon can dive at speeds up to 360 km/h) but then they stated that the second fastest land animal in the world was some antelope at 86 km/h… I may have failed math, but something’s not right there. How dare they try to pull a fast one on me! ~jenica Editorial note: What? Adds up to me!

From Gaylene Beach:

Hi to everyone at home! I can’t believe that it’s already been 13 days since we left Edmonton! I am falling in love with this beautiful country. The landscapes, the buildings, and the food are all so incredible, but it’s the people who are making it feel like home. One of the highlights of the trip for me was when we went to Hanganeni Primary School. When we walked into the courtyard the children were all lined up and singing. We encircled them, and sang for them, and they sang for us. I’ll never forget those smiles, and those hugs. The views here are breathtaking. Last night we climbed up the Waterberg Plateau as the sun was setting – it was incredible! I am doing really well, and am so thankful for each new day here. I am thinking of all of you at home! Love, Gaylene

From Elena Schellenberg:

On Sunday, the original members of Team Olson participated by singing in the morning service at the German Evangelical Lutheran Kerk. It was a fabulous experience to be a part of. Most of the service passed us by in a blur of German, but the occasional English sentence helped orient us as to what was happening. On the altar, there was a beautiful woven parament. Tova asked Klaus Peter, the pastor and our billet, if we could see the place where the paraments were woven. Graciously, he phoned over to the Karakulia Weavers and arranged a tour of their shops for all of us on Tuesday. Tova, Lael, Kiva, Elena, Lloyd, Carolyn, Marcelino, Jonnie, Corrie, and Cheryl all made the trip to the weavers where they took us through the whole process from start to finish. Wool is sheared off Erongo sheep and then washed three times at the farm before it is packed in bales and sent to the weavers. Once at the shop, the bale is again washed by hand where it is carefully pulled apart to remove any remaining refuse. After the wool is dry, it is dyed. The dyeing occurs during this stage because once the wool has been spun, it is impossible to get the colour all the way to the center of the skein. After another long drying process, the wool is spun by hand into large spools of wool. Around the shop, skeins of wool in every conceivable colour and shade were on display. As for the pictures, the weavers can take anything and transform it into a woolen rug. A photograph, a digital image, a piece of art are all ways that images have been sent to them so that carpets can be made. Once the pattern is created, the correct colours must be chosen with great care. Then the weaving begins. By hand, the different colours of wool are all melded together to create original pieces of artwork. The incredible thing is that there is no front or back – each side is exactly the same. The absolute best part of the whole trip was the chance we got to sing for the weavers. It is well known that while these people work on each carpet, they sing. However, before they would sing for us, we had to sing for them. Sweet Spirit and Dinasi Ponono rang through the hall upon which, we were blessed with two songs sung by the weavers. Song, the universal language, united us all!
Elena for all of Team Olson the extended version

From Ian Trace:

Hello to everybody back home. So far our tour has been an amazing experience. Swakopmund is a beautiful city…and I can say that from a somewhat unique perspective – as I was freefalling from 10 000ft above during our first free day about a week ago. I’m not sure how to describe the experience of skydiving. I was never really scared…a bit nervous in flying in a plane with no door, and watching Carolyn (the only other person in choir who took the plunge with me) get sucked out of that door at 10 000ft. The thing I remember most about the freefall experience was the whistling noise in my ears... just like the noise you hear when somebody falls off a cliff in a cartoon. But once the parachute opens everything goes silent and you just float to the ground. That day also involved sandboarding and quadding in the dunes, so I can for sure that I was well introduced to the sand of the Namib desert, both on that day as well as the day we climbed dune 7 and had an evening “dinner in the dunes” with Mascato choir (I probably still have part of the desert in my shoes). Of course we are here to sing and we have had some amazing concerts as well…I’ve really enjoyed singing with the Mascato choir – they have such a full rich sound and some great voices. We’ve seen many other great views and I’ve met some great people as well. I’m excited to continue this trip and keep the new adventures coming! – Ian Trace

Thank You Note

2007-07-11T13:56:00.000-06:00

We’re leaving Swakop with lighter luggage; we’ve now distributed all the goods we collected and brought for various schools in the area. But I’m excited to say that even though we’ve given away all the gifts we brought, we’re not leaving empty-handed. I have the collected thank you letters written by students from both Hanganeni Primary (the site of our windy Monday morning concert) and Mondessa Youth Opportunities (the after-school program where our own Lex Hillyard is working this year). Hanganeni staff gratefully accepted our gifts of the school kits assembled by Wendy Gibb, as well as a rather overwhelmingly large donation of sweets for the schoolchildren, given out of the kindness of one chaperone’s amazingly generous and loving heart! MYO (Lex’s program) were the recipients of a number of books collected by Kim and Lloyd Chung (Oran members holding down the fort back in Canada). Lex said her students were completely thrilled by the books. Some of them attended our Swakop evening concert courtesy of Lex while others saw us perform at Hanganeni during their regular school day. Lex reports that her class is still abuzz about the concerts and the books!

I thought I would share a handful of the dozens of letters we received. Typing them up doesn’t really do justice to the drawings and creative spelling and the immensely colourful look of the Hanganeni letters (where the students made good use of the coloured pencils we gave them!), but we’ve all enjoyed reading these sincere, sweet, and often entertaining letters so we’d like everyone to have a sample:

Swakopmund
PO Box 1716
Namibia
9 July 2007

Dear Kokopelli, Kim and Lloyd

My name is Helao. I am 12 years old. My hobbies are singing, dancing, and playing tennis. MYO is very important for me because it helps children that don’t have food, love, care and shelter. MYO is helping a lot of kids and I just don’t know how to thank MYO.

Thank you very much Kokopelli Choir for sponsoring us with amazing things. I just don’t no how to thank you. I really enjoyed your show it was amazing. What I learned from your show is that if you have the potential to sing you have to go out there and do it. Thank you very much. May God bless. Have a pleasant year.

Yours truly

Helao

We will share more of these once we get back home!

Lex teaching her class at MYO

Hello from many Kokos!

2007-07-11T13:54:00.000-06:00

Blogging on the road! I asked a few of the other travellers to submit some blog entries as we travel from Swakop to Waterberg. Here they are:

From Carolyn Norby!:

YESTERDAY I was woken up early by the blustery East wind. At the golf course, I was greeted by a herd of 150 springbok, Egyptian geese, partridge and a variety of small birds. Cal, Adam and I braved the gusty winds to play the first 9 holes of the golf course. Even the owner of the course asked if we wanted to reschedule our game – twice! We persevered and felt a great sense of accomplishment and exhaustion by completing our game.

Back in town we ate a bite at the Kokopelli hang out “The Village Café”, munching on springbok stirfry and pancakes.
My afternoon was highlighted b a visit to Lex’s after school care program at the Mondessa Youth Opportunity Centre. Jen, John, Lisa, Alex, Jenica and I entertained the lunch crowd with a couple song selections. After the kids ate, Anne and I went to Math class. How many of you remember your Lowest Common Multiple and Greatest Common Factors? I had to re-learn quickly to help Lex’s 25 grade 5 students! I loved being back in the classroom!

My evening was very entertaining, as I was wined and dined in the desert! Our Dinner in the Dunes with Mascato was amazing! I learned a few new dance moves from the Mascatos as we danced away to a lengthy set by Afro Shine. What a rush!

From Erin Lange:

Our day was spent with crossed fingers, hoping the wind would die down a bit so that we would be able to get on a scenic flight. We tried at 9:30am, and also at noon, but to no avail. Luckily the wind calmed and we had lift off at about 2:30pm. Soaring above the gorgeous red Sossusvlei dunes, Kuiseb canyon, shipwrecks, seals, flamingos and beautiful Swakopmund and Walvis Bay, we had a unique view of the diverse natural beauty of the area. We landed, proudly barf-free, just in time to make it to the bus to go to the dunes for dinner. As expected, the whole evening was magical, fantastic food, wonderful music performed by Afro Shine which inspired hearty napkin waving, conga lines and fun new dance moves. We said goodbye to Mascato (only for 2 weeks, so not a sad goodbye), and headed home from our perfect ending to a wonderful week in Swakopmund,

Erin and Kier

From Adam Rice:

What a great time we all had in Swakopmund!! The people, the food and the scenery are all amazing. Yesterday was warm and windy but in spite of that Carolyn, Cal and I were all still able to go golfing. I never knew how tiring 9 holes of golf could be till we faced the warm gusting wind. After golfing the next best thing in my mind was relaxing to a soothing message. What a life. The choirs from the suburbs of Swakopmund put on an informal concert at S.S. High School and really picked up our spirits. We finished the evening the best way I know how to -- lots of great food, music and dancing with all your friends. Yesterday was truly a memorable experience.

From Chantelle Olson:

Wow – don’t we wish the Canadian winters were like this! The weather has been beautiful – and I have completely fallen in love with this country. It is beautiful here. It has been a trip of firsts for me – my first time outside Canada, my first time on a plane, my first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean, my first time tasting the ocean water, and my first time climbing a sand dune – to list just a few!

Yesterday was a free day – we were allowed to do whatever we wanted for our last day in Swakopmund. At 15:00, we all congregated at Swakopmund Secondary School, where three school choirs, all of which are directed by Mascato members, held a little informal concert for us: S.S.S, directed by Linus, Da Duine Secondary School Choir, directed by Lindsey, and a small group from the Westside High School choir, directed by one of the Mascato sopranos (Hilia). All three groups did very well – I enjoyed listening to them very much. At the end of their set, the SSS choir sang a song that Linus wrote for them – it was about children playing in the streets before their parents get home from work – quite a beautiful song, actually. All three Mascatos have done a very good job with their choirs, and it was a pleasure to see the fruit of their labors in those kids.

Last night, I watched the sunset on the beach. It was glorious – orange, rose and lavender – and as the sun sank behind the waves, the whole beach was bathed in a golden light. At the last moments, just before it disappeared, the sun was hidden and revealed as the waves rose and fell in the distance. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve seen. And it was perfect as a precursor to our Dinner in the Dunes. Camp Maskoko – totaling around 120 choristers and miscellaneous people (parents, directors, etc) – ate a fantastic meal in a very cool tent, with lots of laughter and great conversation. Afro Shine was there to perform for us, which pretty much made the night! And we sang Sparks for Lex – she was so thrilled! Then, it was goodbye to Mascato. No tears that I saw, mostly because we’ll see them again in two weeks in Windhoek. We walked back to the buses in the dark, singing Disney songs and yawning. I was admiring the stars – so strange and unfamiliar, but still beautiful. Just like Namibia.

From Laura Forster:

Being caught in a sandstorm was truly worth all my choir fees. Sand everywhere but not as gritty as you would think from seeing sand in Canada. Its like fine gold flecks, sticking to everything. A true African experience. Not nearly as bad as getting sand in your clothes in Wabamun.

The sunsets in Namibia are stunningly rapid. If you look away for a bit you could miss the whole thing; you can actually watch it sink to the horizon. They are so beautiful and it makes me wish my parents were here to see them because no one appreciates a sunset like they do. I would think this rivals Molokai, Dad.

(P.S. To my parents, sorry I didn’t write sooner. I’m still alive, although I’m not feeding myself properly, of course. I am taking all my appropriate drugs and drinking clean water. Hope Stratford is fabulous and I am sending my love to Aunt Liz. Please send news! And tell Nigel I say Hi!)

The people are amazing in Namibia! The way they sing with their entire bodies and the way they can MOVE! WOW! You have to see it for yourself. I can’t even begin to explain.

Loving the protein-based diet, especially the seafood. Loving our music and theirs. This is unbelievable. Love again to my family! Take care of Smoke and Shade! Muah!

From Katy again:

One pic:

Some Kokos hanging out in Swakop

The East Wind!

2007-07-09T05:37:00.000-06:00

From yesterday:

Another day, another great concert with Mascato. Tonight our time together ended with a great talk. Lots of Kokopelli and Mascato members articulated the sense of connection we feel. We heard from some of our (self-appointed) tour elders as well, who are proud of both choirs and the performances we’ve had. We’re coming to the end of our stay in Swakop. It has been a very pleasant start to the tour, with a fairly relaxing schedule; lots of time to get over our jet lag, to get used to the differences between our cultures, to get to know our host families and our Mascato friends. It’s rare to be able to cross an ocean and to feel at home in a strange place, but that’s the gift we have found in Mascato!

And, today:

This morning we went out to a primary school on the outskirts of town, near the township (what we would call a 'shantytown' in North America) called Mondessa. It was a reality check to drive through the township -- we've been living in the resort-like oasis of Swakopmund but we were reminded that not everyone is so privileged simply by driving by these tiny houses and lean-tos. One of the Mascato members, an American who is visiting Namibia as well, told us a bit about the living conditions in the township. There are about 2 running water taps per block, and one toilet. One house often holds many many family members. Amazingly, this township is actually much better off than many of the townships we will see in South Africa.

The primary school has about 200 children in six grades. This is the school we prepared the school kits for -- due to time restrictions on the part of those assembling the kits, we only got about 130 kits here, but the staff have said they will split up the kits and make sure all the parts go to children in need -- which is pretty much every child at this school. Without running water at home, it's challenging to teach the small children about personal hygiene or cleaning clothes, but this is a big part of the curriculum in the younger grades.

Our concert was great and the children were quite attentive. They laughed at our cowboys hamming it up in Blood on the Saddle, and a few of them got a chance to conduct the choir through Shumayela and Singabo Yo Singaba. Near the end of the concert, the two school choirs sang for us, which is always fun to hear.

It was hot and windy when we woke up early today, and we were all warned by our hosts that today would be a day of the east winds -- the very hot and dry wind that whips in over the dunes towards the ocean, kicking up sand and dust in its wake. We were almost done our concert at the primary school when the winds picked up and we were suddenly blasted with a sandstorm -- sand in our hair, teeth, on our faces and in our ears! We didn't get to properly finish the concert because everyone had to run out of the open courtyard where we were assembling. We scattered to various classrooms and took some time to visit with the children and observe the classes being taught. With so many teachers and education students among us, we really enjoyed the chance to see how much African children sing, even in a lesson about brushing their teeth! There was a song for everything!

When we left, there were hugs for everyone, or solemn handshakes and words of, "goodbye miss," and "goodbye sir." Any girl with long blonde hair was a big hit! A few of the children burst into tears or clung to legs, which was hard to watch. These kids wanted to know that we'd be back, but it's a promise we couldn't make. With one of the highest prevalence rates of HIV in the entire world, disadvantaged Namibian children know too much about loss and saying goodbye. The first grade teacher told us, in fact, that the school has already lost 3 children to AIDS since the school year began. It's heart-wrenching and impossible to comprehend. We felt privileged to be able to bring a little joy and excitement into this one morning.

A glimpse of Mondessa, on our way to the primary school at DRC.

A few kids join Thulani to help lead Shumayela. Many of the kids in the audience were dancing along with us!

Ruth with a few of the primary school kids.

We had planned to visit Spitzkoppe today, but decided against it due to the crazy sandstorms. We're weathering the east winds here in town where it's much calmer, taking a lazy day to check e-mail and visit the beach.

Concerts, concerts, concerts...

2007-07-09T05:36:00.000-06:00

What a wonderful evening! We’ve just gotten back from our second Swakopmund concert and we’re tired but exhilarated. There is nothing quite like singing with Mascato, even if we didn’t get to hear them on their own. We went outside after the concert, as is traditional, and did some singing and dancing together. Singing Ti Mama with them tonight is sure to be one of the high points of the entire tour. Their sound is so warm and beautiful. Our host, Werner, said to me that what he enjoys so much about Mascato, and about Afro Shine (the young men who wrote Ti Mama) in particular is that they don’t sing about feelings they don’t have -- they sing about their feelings and their lives, and that makes it real and warm because it comes straight from the heart. I thought that was very astute and true.

Today was mostly a day full of concerts, though we got off to a leisurely start for a change with an 11 a.m. call time. Last night was our last rehearsal with Mascato before the concert, which went quite smoothly. Scott asked the group to sing a few pieces for us and they obliged. Every time we hear Mascato sing African music, we realize that there are so many levels to this music and that we have barely scratched the surface.

Especially exciting -- Wendy Gibb arrived in time for our concert this evening, a little tired from her long journey, but glad to be among us finally. All the Mascato singers who came to Canada last year flocked around her for greetings and hugs -- it seems like Wendy draws young Namibian choristers to her warmth and compassion as easily as she does young Canadians! Everyone wanted to say hello to her and update her on their lives since they last saw her! Wendy’s son, Andrew, did a great introduction to one of our pieces tonight (Shed a Little Light), talking about how we are all brothers and sisters in our common mission to see our world united in its diversity -- and I think if that’s true, if Kokopelli and Mascato are brothers and sisters, then we have amazing and strong women like Mrs. Venter and Wendy to thank. They act as our mother figures, pulling us together and inspiring us to make them proud of us. Ti Mama Se! How blessed we are that we have traveled around the world and found that we’re still among family.

Tomorrow is another concert day, this time in Walvis Bay. We have a free morning, time to visit with our hosts and maybe get some laundry done so we can leave Swakop with clean clothes.

And -- here are a few pics from the last week:

The crazy Atlantic swimmers, about to jump!

One particularly crazy Atlantic swimmer!

A group of us in front of Namib High, where we've been meeting and rehearsing all week.

John and Jen, newly engaged!

Jen and John, once they had some time to calm down.

Pictures! And news!

2007-07-06T06:14:00.000-06:00

I forgot to mention two very important pieces of news!

First of all, our wonderful Wendy Gibb is coming! Thanks to some fast passport-wrangling on her part and some amazing customer service from Air Namibia (we love you, Air Namibia!), she was able to catch up with our group and will be arriving in time for our second concert tomorrow! (Oh, that's a third piece of good news -- our evening concert in Swakop was already sold out two days ago, so we've had to add a second afternoon show on Saturday!) Hurray for Wendy!

Secondly, Jen Kinghorn is walking around Swakop listing slightly to the left -- her hand is suddenly carrying a whole lot of bling! Congrats to Jen and John, the first Koko couple to get engaged on tour!!!

Here are some pics, courtesy of Rochelle:

Swakop Concerts

2007-07-06T05:52:00.000-06:00

This morning we had our first official concerts in Namibia -- two school concerts, first at Swakopmund Secondary School and then at Namib High, where we’ve been rehearsing. For many of us, it was our first taste of the live atmosphere created by an African audience. In contrast with our usual North American (quiet, attentive, stoic-faced) audiences, African audiences whisper and react to the music as we sing. If a soloist starts singing, the audience will audibly gasp. If the choir shouts all together, like in the middle of Pakkanen, they will cheer. And the applause at the end of a well-received piece makes you feel like a rock star! There’s so much energy in the air, it’s utterly electric. At first, we weren’t sure if all the whispering was *good* whispering, but the applause at the end of our first piece removed all doubt. The headmistress at SSS told us that her students don’t always react well to new and different performances, but that they were remarkably attentive for us!

Yesterday was a busy day, considering it was mostly a ‘free day’. The bulk of the group went on boat cruises, which were a big hit last time and definitely lived up to their reputation. We visited with a number of wild seals who have learned to stomach dead fish instead of live ones, and come right onto the boat to have a snack from our skipper’s bucket. We also saw the wild seal colonies, dolphins running alongside the boat, an old Russian vessel left for salvage, and cultivated oyster beds. There was amazing food -- fresh raw oysters (though I abstained, being allergic), sandwiches, spring rolls, beer and coke and champagne for everyone. A few people on our boat came prepared with bathing suits underneath their street clothes and jumped into the cold Atlantic Ocean. While we were heckling Adam Rice and Andrew Gibb to hurry up and jump in already, Anne McIntyre (the Edmonton Junior Children’s Choir director) surprised us all and was the first one over the side!

We weren’t the most adventurous of the group, however; Ian Trace and Carolyn Norby trumped us all by doing tandem skydives! We look forward to seeing those pictures!!!

In the evening, we had our first massed choir rehearsal with Mascato. Even though we were getting tired around 7:30 (jet lag! still!) it was great to sing some of our big exciting pieces with Mascato -- Shed a Little Light, It Takes a Village, Baba Yetu. There are so many fantastic people in Mascato, and it’s wonderful to reconnect with the singers who came to Canada last year as well as meeting many of those who didn’t.

This afternoon we are enjoying some more relaxing free time in town, shopping and eating at the cafes and (in my case) taking some time to update the blog. We love hearing from our friends and family back home, so keep commenting! I'm working on a scheme to get some other Kokos posting on the blog -- it's a bit tricky when we are all staying in different places but at the very least I'm trying to get pics of as many different Kokos as possible! I haven't had a chance to seize and plunder anyone's camera because of all the time apart, but I'm going to try to get back here to the internet cafe later in the day and do a post of mostly pictures.

ETA: Lisa Martin just came up and asked about saving her pics on my computer! Hurray! I should have some new pics to post in a few minutes!

ETA 2: Sadly, we don't have the right kind of cable to connect, but I sent Lisa away with instructions to send more photographers to me if she sees them.

Swakopmund!

2007-07-04T14:41:00.001-06:00

We're paying a late-night visit to Mrs. Venter to use her internet connection and do a quick blog post. We drove in from Windhoek yesterday morning and arrived in the early afternoon, stopping in a carvers' market enroute. Unlike last time, we knew that we would have plenty of chances to buy carved animals and jewellery, so we didn't buy very much but enjoyed a chance to see some African crafts and experience the African bartering. We were greeted in Swakopmund by Mervyn, Jen, and Marcelino -- it was great to see them all again!

We had a short break to grab lunch, then headed back to rehearsal before dinner with the Cantu Maluti from Free State South Africa and Mascato. We saw Lex again, too, which was exciting. We chatted with our Mascato friends over dinner. The highlight of the evening for me was hearing Mascato sing their arrangement of Ti Mama, with solos by Romano, Garth, and Dollar. We were all wiping tears away by the end!

When we performed, Jen sang the solo in her own arrangement of This Woman's Work, and we loved watching the reactions of the Mascato singers. It's obvious that they've come to love and appreciate our amazing Kinghorn as much as we do! We may have to fight to get her back.

This morning, after a bit of a fiasco with bus pick-up locations (Jenica and I passed the time and made some money with a little busking on the street corner), we all managed to meet back at Namib High and took off for Dune 7, one of the highest dunes in the world. We climbed and climbed and mostly made it to the top (though between the heat and the exertion, there were a few queasy stomachs along the way). We'll be picking sand out of various unmentionable crevices for days to come. Part of the group also found a little chameleon and took turns holding it.

We had a (not so quick) lunch in Walvis Bay before we came back for an afternoon rehearsal at Namib High. We finished off the day with a group dinner at the Lighthouse Restaurant right on the beach and now everyone's scattered off to billets' homes or to local establishments for a nightcap.

My internet access is a bit patchy at the moment but I'll do my best to post every other day!

Roof of Africa

2007-07-02T14:27:00.001-06:00

Just a brief post tonight -- most of my energy's been devoted to just uploading and posting our entries from the last two days of travelling.

It's our first night in Namibia and we are all stuffed after the amazing dinner buffet provided by the Roof of Africa Inn. The hotel has renovated a lot of their rooms since we were here, but the beautiful main lodge is pretty much as we remember it. We've had two brief rehearsals -- one in the parking lot to practice our pieces with movement, which was challenging as we practiced during the time of day when all the staff were going home, and one after dinner in the lodge. Most of today was pretty relaxed -- lots of showering, sleeping, eating, and, of course, catching up with Tessa and Thulani, who got in from Cape Town shortly after our own flights arrived.

Tomorrow we're off to Swakopmund to meet up with Mascato! Hurray!

The Wi-Fi speed here is quite slow, so I'll save up our pictures for a post on a day with a faster connection -- I waited 20 minutes and didn't even get one picture uploaded!

So. Very. Tired.

2007-07-02T05:00:00.000-06:00

Actually, I think we'll all be feeling a lot better by 7:15 a.m. Windhoek time (the same time, incidentally, as London time) when we step off our 2nd flight. The key to being comfortable anywhere is two-fold:

1) Be so very exhausted that you are scarcely even aware of your surroundings. John McMillan and I noticed around 8:30, waiting for our flight to board last night, that the table between us, the chairs under us, and the floor on which our feet rested were all gently listing back and forth. It was sort of fun -- like being on a cruise ship with less fatty food and more warnings about leaving baggage unattended. Kim Denis, among others, started to look like one of the lost children off the side of a milk carton around 7 p.m. last night, and kept fading until we started to seriously contemplate throwing her over our shoulders like an overgrown toddler, just to get her safely on the plane.

2) Be so very uncomfortable that any conditions that are even slightly more bearable become welcoming and luxurious. For example, once you've been crammed between the metal armrests of a wooden airport lounge chair for three hours, you will sigh with relief when you get to stand up and stagger down the corridor towards your gate. And then, once you've clambered up and down escalator after escalator with your 5 kg carry-on bag hanging off your shoulder, you'll gladly welcome the chance to sit down again in yet another uncomfortable and hideous boarding lounge chair. And, last of all, when you spent the 10 hours of your previous flight crammed into inhumanly tiny and close-spaced seats, you'll sprawl out in your two-inches-wider and one-inch-deeper seat on the second flight and pronounce to anyone who is awake enough to hear you that this is the best place you've ever been in your entire life!

Thanks to the above-mentioned conditions, I think most of us caught a good five to seven hours of much-needed sleep on this leg of the journey (but I'm still too tired to figure out what that works out to in Bamboo Pole Equivalency time) and we'll be walking into the little Windhoek airport a much happier (if increasingly smellier) bunch. We'll be off to our first hotel (first beds in 3 days, yay!) at the Roof of Africa Inn, where I hope to be able to post the entries I've been saving up. We'll shower, change, brush our teeth, and (I'm sure) collapse for another few hours before we meet for our first rehearsal. All in all, a pretty relaxing day while we revel in the fact that we made it! We're in Africa!

Phase Two - Also Complete!

2007-07-01T16:47:00.000-06:00

We are safely back in the Gatwick Airport in London after escaping to enjoy our 14-hour layover as much as we could. While several members stayed here at the airport to catch up on their sleep and card games, most of us checked our baggage and caught a train into central London. My 9-person tour group (safety in numbers!) charged through a whirlwind of London sights, hitting first St. James' Park, Buckingham Palace, the Royal Mews, caught a glimpse of the London Eye, as well as the changing of the guard (in the midst of the London Race! -- all the streets were barricaded through the city centre, very convenient for walking tourists!), Trafalgar Square, the delicious and nutritious offerings of Prêt à Manger, and Big Ben striking 12 noon. (To give you a frame of reference for time -- we left Gatwick around 10 a.m.!) From there we hopped on the Tube and went north to King's Cross, where Amanda and I tried our luck at getting into Hogwarts via the famous Platform 9 and 3/4. (We didn't get in but we figure we might just be too old for Hogwarts.) With most of our group drooping by this time (it being about 7 in the morning, Edmonton time), we headed to Starbucks next, and then back to Gatwick. We'll meet up with the rest of the tour group at 6:30 here at the airport, in time to check in for our 9:30 p.m. Air Namibia flight.

Sleep deprivation is becoming an issue, as you might suspect. Some of us were lucky enough to catch some shut-eye on the bus down to Calgary or on the Calgary-London flight. I'm always a little in awe of people who can manage to sleep on planes, which are not designed for living humans but for some kind of elastic-boned, short-legged alien race whose bodies are made of a plastic compressible substance, and whose ears come equipped with earlids, capable of blocking out crying babies, yapping neighbours, and flight attendants with spectacularly awful timing (Flight Attendant: "EARPHONES? ADAPTORS?" Passenger: "GAH! WHERE DID YOU COME FROM, YOU NINJA-POWERED FREAK OF NATURE?")

So -- many of us are still battling our internal clocks, which told us that we arrived in London around midnight Saturday and then proceeded to tour the city until the crack of Alberta dawn and beyond. The upside of this level of exhaustion (besides cementing my place as the coveted Patient Zero for the Tour Cold) is that everything starts to seem really hilarious after a certain point. Kim demonstrated this on the return journey on the Gatwick Express, telling our group a funny story about her time with Up With People -- at least, that's what we *think* it was about. It was pretty difficult to discern her words between the way her voice had slipped up two hysterical octaves to hover around a Queen of the Night F, and the way she couldn't choke out more than a few words before tearing up with hilarity.

Another group of us, enjoying 'tomahto' soup in a Gatwick eatery, got a severe fit of the giggles when I looked down and observed that I had been eating my single bowl of soup for HOURS and STILL WASN'T DONE. Our waiter was polite but wisely kept his distance after we proved that snorting giggles are, in fact, highly contagious.

In any case, if I can manage to stay awake long enough to catch our flight to Namibia, I fully expect that I'll be able to sleep -- in spite of my sad lack of compressible bones and earlids.

Edited to add: Apparently we had far less of a fabulous time in London than certain members of the choir, who actually ~~stalked~~ met up with Kiefer Sutherland!

Phase One Complete!

2007-06-30T14:16:00.000-06:00

Paging Passenger Burrito?

We're waiting in the Calgary Airport to board our flight to London Gatwick and spirits are still high! Barring one very sad incident where one chaperone hasn't been able to find her passport, everything has gone pretty smoothly. We bade our sad farewells to parents, siblings, significant others, and (saddest of all) dogs and kitties. It'll be at least a month for most us us before we're back on Canadian soil, which is exciting and terrifying all at once. We arrived in Calgary in time to grab a quick lunch in the food court (Swiss Chalet! Christmas in a cup!) and an all-important latte (though Kim and I had to chug ours because we stupidly got them *before* we went through security -- NO LIQUIDS!)

With all the close calls in London the last few days, people are debating a bit about whether or not we should venture into the City during our 14-hour layover. If the worst should happen, a number of train lines could be shut down and some people could get stranded in the city centre. Still, I think we'll be optimistic and head out during our long London wait -- in groups of four or more, with strict instructions to be back in plenty of time for our check-in. There are a number of travellers with us who've never left North America.

Overheard on the Edmonton to Calgary express:

1) Kim Denis and Bruce Cable -- new item?

2) Steve Wenger's alter ego is the Incredible Sulk -- smaller, bluer, and sadder than his better-known cousin, the Hulk.

3) "Where are the blue scarves? Hey, who has the blue scarves?" (I have them -- they were left in the bathroom back at St. Gabe's but we're gonna let the blue scarf manager stew for a while longer.)

After all our packing frenzy, Air Transat was amazing and just checked our baggage without worrying about the weight restrictions! I guess we swallowed all those extra kilograms of ziplocked tour programs for nothing!

We're off!

2007-06-30T07:17:00.001-06:00

Just a very quick note to say -- we're on our way! Kim and I will be heading to St. Gabe's to get on the bus to Calgary just as soon as I manage to, you know, dress myself. Last minute checklists are flying through our heads!

Also, in case anyone missed it -- CBC Edmonton is doing a segment on our tour in their series "Beyond Borders". We'll have a video diary and the segment will air in August when we get back. There was a little pre-tour promo for it last night. Check it out here (Real Media Player link).

Yay! So exciting!

The next time we get to lie down in an actual bed -- Monday!

We now interrupt our regularly scheduled blogging...

2007-06-29T14:41:00.000-06:00

Breaking news! One of our amazing choristers, Kaeley, has gotten our charter airline to donate the cargo space we need for our choir items! Thank you Kaeley! That means that both Air Transat and Air Namibia have waived the usual fees they would charge for our 300kg of extra luggage. We are so blessed and honoured, and so happy that all our various items (school kits, books, and host gifts) can now be delivered!

Thank you Kaeley! We love our choristers!

Practice Packing

2007-06-29T07:51:00.000-06:00

Now, I'm not a high-maintenance packer. My mantra when I travel is something along the lines of, "if it's not my passport or my plane ticket, I can buy it when I get there." (Add to that, of course, 'or my music/uniform' for choir tours.) That being said, this tour is presenting its own special set of travelling challenges.

We're travelling on a charter airline for the first leg of our journey, from Calgary to London; each passenger is allowed only 20kg of checked luggage and 5kg of carry-on. And because we're going through London, that carry-on amount must all fit in one single bag: no purses, plastic bags, camera cases -- nothing, in short, that can't be rolled up and stuffed into the mother carry-on (which, again -- no more than 5kg.) Each of us also will be carrying between 2 to 10kg of choir paraphernalia, things like the beautiful school kits that Wendy Gibb organized, instruments (I got the short straw and have to get a FLUTE inside my suitcase -- no egg shaker or triangle for me!), bamboo poles, and programs.

Packing has become a fairly revered art among the Kokopelli tour group. There's an undercurrent of competition about this in our outwardly non-competitive organization: who can pack less than 25 lbs? less than 20 lbs? Whose suitcase defies the laws of physics and weighs less than 6 lbs while boasting the same cargo capacity as Erin Lange's smart car? Who can fit the most clothes in their carry-on without having it explode in a shower of Gravol and travel pillows? While I'm impressed by some of the feats people are achieving in practice-packing ("My checked luggage weighs 20 oz. and that includes four of the bamboo poles!") my directorial side is starting to worry that we'll arrive in cold, cold Cape Town with 80 papier-maché-wearing singers!

Some helpful travel packing tips:

1. Be 'patient zero' when it comes to the infamous Tour Cold. The first person to get sick benefits from everyone else's hoarded tissues, Cold FX, cold medication, and sympathy. (Later in the tour there'll be less sympathy and more outright disgust.) This way, you can bypass packing your own supplies. (Note: the best way to make sure you achieve 'patient zero' status is to systematically start depriving yourself of sleep for the week before travel. Scott and I are currently tied for this, with Kim pulling in a close third behind us.)

2. Remember -- the airline can't weigh *you*. While Scott's shrewdly recruited his small-framed mother to exploit this fact ("She's wearing a giant coat with a hundred pockets, and each one is holding a collapsible bamboo pole!"), I think we should take this to the next level. Why not swallow some of our luggage? Think how much carry-on space we could conserve if everyone ate 5 kg of ziploc baggies containing tour programs!

3. Think of items you can pick up along the way. Why bring travel shampoo when you can use the shampoo at the hotel? Scott has expanded this concept even to the singers on tour -- why bring basses and tenors when you can pick some up in Africa?

4. Electronic versions of things weigh less. Just think -- 5000 songs on an iPod vs. 500 CDs, or 30000 digital photos vs. seventeen photo albums, or 30 hours of plane-ride video files vs. several dozen VHS tapes. For that matter, consider this electronic blog vs. the old travel diary I took last time! Electronic is clearly the way to travel!

As many of you know, the new Harry Potter book is coming out while we're away; the die-hard Harry Potterites among us probably wanted to re-read the first 84 books to refresh our memories before digging into the adventures of Harry Potter aged 35 or whatever he is by now. But the combined Potter opus in analog (i.e., paper) format weighs a good 8kg (roughly 4 bamboo poles). The same books in digital format (I'm thinking audio book here, but don't let me stop you from scanning all the pages of each book into a PDF file if that's more authentic to you) weigh -- okay, I actually don't know how much a megabyte weighs, let alone its bamboo pole equivalency (BPE) -- but I bet it's considerably less!

Actually, why not apply this to the choir itself? An average chorister weighs about 65 kg (or 24 BPE) -- times 80, that's a whole lot of room we could use for important things like travel packs of gum and extra uniform shoes. I say we should convert the whole choir into electronic files, start living in the digital age! We can ship Kokopelli to Africa via e-mail and waive the airline costs entirely!

Next time on the blog -- what to do when stuck in Gatwick Airport for 14 hours (that works out to about 23 hours, Greenwich Mean Time).

Welcome to the Africa Blog!

2007-06-25T14:48:00.000-06:00

I have about five to-do lists on the go, but items are slowly getting checked off -- and a good thing, too! Only five days from now, we'll be getting on a plane to London enroute to Africa!

As part of my pre-travel organization binge, I dug out my travel journal from our 2004 Africa tour and reread parts of it. It's gotten me even more excited that we're leaving so soon -- there are so many details I'd forgotten about, little incidents and things that happened along the way. The first thing I pasted in the book, before we'd even left, were the farewell concert blurbs that I wrote. The last one's funny -- it's a list of some 'tour figures', things like "59 people...60 seats on the bus", and "$4300 per person...4300 hours spent practice packing".

You tend to forget the blurry small details of travelling after time has passed, but oddly enough, those details are often the things that are recorded because travel diary writing happens, perforce, during the downtimes. From my 2004 journal:

- the LAX Scavenger Hunt challenge list (yay for 14-hour layovers!), including (oddly enough) such items as 'one (1) blade of fake grass', and 'one (1) sample of J.Lo's 'Still' perfume'.
- our first taste of Namibia: "the airline served us a meat sandwich with a side of dried meat"
- a little prognosticating sentence: "We are determined to have Mascato come to Canada."
- mid-tour blahs: "We are a tired group, but no one really understands why. We're way past the jet lag and there haven't been any exhausting days, but we all start drooping around 9 p.m."
- we're going to visit Joe's Beerhouse in Windhoek again, where last time we dined on the "Bushman Sosatie": crocodile, springbok, kudu, zebra, ostrich -- and chicken!
- our African animal names -- including such gems as 'Laelephant', 'Girathi', and 'Nijackal'
- our amazing concert at Wonderboom High School (still, incidentally, the best name ever!) -- including the story of the school's headmaster, whose daughter had passed away at the age of 18, and who was moved to tears by our performance of "Come, Sweet Death".

Finally, Marijke's nephew, who was our tour guide in Cape Town, said the following:

"All of South Africa is paved in gold, and that gold is in our people. You have all picked up a piece of that gold -- you are all a little African now -- and you may do with that gold what you will."

I hope we've each earned our little piece of Africa, and I think that those of us who are lucky enough to be returning are feeling the almost homesick tug of our African selves: the lure of song and joy, of sorrow and mutual understanding, of the desert and the ocean.

Next time on the blog -- practice packing! Yes, we REALLY DO THIS. WE ARE THAT COOL.

You're invited!

2007-06-25T10:31:00.001-06:00

You are invited to join Kokopelli for their last performance in Canada before they depart on their 2007 tour of southern Africa.

Thursday, June 28th

Riverbend United Church

(14907 – 45 Ave., Edmonton, AB T6H 5R4)

7 pm

Admission by donation

Join us, as we wish them safe travels and much joy in sharing song and cultures with friends new and old in Namibia, Zambia, Botswana and South Africa.