Molting

I've decided that the first two weeks of an adventure should be thought of as the molting period. In Africa's case, it's quite literal molting, because this is about the amount of time it takes to burn, burn again, learn to remember to put on your damn sunscreen, and peel. These two weeks are also used to develop the handy blisters that turn into even handier calluses, to catch and recover from whatever flu or cold is in the area that you don't have the immunities for, to learn how much water you'll need to boil and chill for the day, and to accustom yourself to sleeping in a new places with new sounds. Then there's the cultural molting- you learn to stop doing things your way and to adopt someone else's methods, you adapt your social habits- most importantly, you learn the local swears. Thusfar, I've only used Afrikaans curses in my head, but I'm getting there, I'm getting there.

Since the last entry, I have left behind my lobster color, and become... well, if not tan, at least tawny. Like Rupert the caracal. But with freckles. I'm sleeping through the night, I've got my calluses back, and life has generally settled for now.

Morning at the lion park begins with cleaning one or two enclosures, which incidentally is also a good opportunity for collecting. I've got an owl feather, a raven's primary, lion fur, some lovely rocks, and an intriguing raptor skull that Vesil, a staff member, has offered some of his favorite pieces in exchange for. No chance. My skull. Once-in-a-lifetime find. After enclosures, we frequently gather branches from various invasive trees to feed the goats. My other work has ranged from shoveling gravel to gutting chickens to brushing the donkey. (I'm curiously fond of this donkey. I suspect there's a lot of donkey guilt leftover from Ecuador, where we had to feed them to the carnivores. It had to be done, but... I like that I can pamper this girl with carrots and peach slices, and know that she'll never end up in a lion's belly).

Three afternoons a week (mon, wed, fri) we feed the lions, and this is the best time for lion-watching. Technically, my job is crowd control, but since the school year just started (remember, it's summer here) our "crowds" have been minimal, so I get a lot of staring in. The kids start feeling frisky about an hour before feeding time. The younger ones start wrestling like kittens, the older ones might pace in front of the fence, moaning to the two-leggers to hurry it up. Once they've inhaled their chickens (they do get red meat when there's a donation, but it's mostly chicken) they clean their paws and either go to sleep or start snuggling with their roomies. Yesterday I watched Shumba and Bai, one of the cuter couples, washing each other's faces. I recall a similar experience with a puma cub as feeling something like a sandpaper massage, but it's probably more comfortable when your face is covered in coarse fur. This week I also witnessed Chumba taking his sexual frustration out on his brother Mufasa's head, and Goliath catching and chewing on his brother Simba's tail. Aneta has just gone into heat, so part of today and tomorrow will certainly be spent watching how her roomie, Ringo, copes with the situation. It's his first time. They tell me that however sweet a male might be with a female under normal circumstances, once she's in heat all bets are off. In addition, his equipment is barbed- the pain of entry apparently stimulates ovulation in the female (for all the good it will do them, since our boys are vassectomized). I wonder if they've tried a domestic violence seminar...

I have had some angsty moments, when I'm just angry at Africa- for ants eating my cough drops, for water I have to boil, for being freakishly hot, for waking up already sweating. These moments pass once I've dealt with the issue at hand. My only other small angst has been of a feminist flavor. It's been explained to me that men here are "gentlemen". Bah Humbug and Piffle- I can lift it on my own! I was the strongest barmaid at the Skeff, and don't you forget it! It doesn't help that the last female volunteer they had here apparently fainted while working on a hot day, and thus the staff have been attempting to treat me like porcelain. Frankly, fainting is the last of my worries. I've fended it off before- just drink water and sit down if your vision goes wonky. You'll be fine. Hopefully Elzette, who gives me most of my work, has accepted by now that I'm hard to kill.

This coming week I'm getting a buddy in the volunteer camp- some guy from the Netherlands. I'm worried that because he has The Testosterone he'll get all the good work and I'll be stuck cleaning indoors. But most likely not. They've got my number by now.

Well, I'm off to buy my ticket to the next stop, Tanzania. I'll write again next weekend. Miss you guys...

Sacred Ibises are Stalking Me

Seriously. Yesterday I saw my first one, flying overhead, and I was excited- the Egyptian god of wisdom, after all! Later that evening I saw two more- still cool. Now there's a flock of them picking around the donkey's pen next to my cabin, and I'm getting suspicious. They're up to something.

Life has changed. Last winter in Alaska I considered myself lucky if the temperature was up to -10 degrees. This past wednesday, it was 43 degrees Celsius. For those of you without calculators to hand, that's 109 fahrenheit. In my professional opinion, Yeesh!

Drakenstein Lion Park is working out well so far. The owner, Paul, embraces the fact that he who would try and force a lion to do anything will end up as the head of a fascist-govt-style anti-lion militia, or as a lion's chew toy. Thus, everything here is done the lion's favorite way- bribes. And if a lion becomes uneasy in his trap cage while we're cleaning his enclosure, he's immediately released, so that they don't come to dread going in. The enclosures are large and shady, and lions never live alone unless they have personally poo-pooed the alternatives.

There are 29 lions, 1 caracal, a donkey lawn-mower, a mess of goat composters, plus one sheep who isn't sure whether he's a goat or a dog, and two chatty crows named Stoeffels and Pete. Like the macaws in Ecuador, the crows are fluent in curse words (mostly in Afrikaans), but they prefer the more demure "Bye!" and "More, Stoeffels!" (good morning, Stoeffels). If you could only teach them the appropriate times for each phrase, these guys could put the Walmart greeters out of a job. The lions come from all manner of abusive backgrounds- circuses, zoos, illegal pet situations, and especially the canned hunting industry. One lioness. Ziyanda, is one of only 300 white lions in the world. Not albino; her eyes are blue, rather than pink- it's just a different, and extremely rare, coloration. Certain assholes of the world will pay a million dollars or more to shoot one of these. So she'll be staying here.

Everyone on staff here speaks Afrikaans at home, which is most closely related to Flemish. They're good about speaking English when I'm around, though, being more than fluent. South Africa has about 11 official languages, and English is the most common one. They tell me I use english rather differently even than most americans, though, which is interesting. Most importantly, the people here get my sense of humor. That's all I ask from a place.

My biggest hurdle here has been the sun, which I completely foresaw, and thought I had prepared for. I didn't take into account the reaction my skin has had to the sunblock I brought... either allergy or the sunblock is getting too old. S'ok. I have a game plan. Since I have the weekend off, I'll be buying new sunblock and bulking up my supply of aloe, then hoping for the best. My genes weren't designed for this: Anglo-saxon-gaelic-norse. That's a complicated way of saying Pasty. Add a year in Alaska, and I could give Elmer's glue a run for its money.

Correction. That was true five days ago. Since then I've taken on more of a maraschino cherry hue. It would be quite fetching, on a lobster.

On a curious note, I don't seem to need sleep here. The winds almost always pick up at night, and for some reason it keeps me awake, although the lions roaring don't bother me. I'm used to lions from Ecuador, but I haven't gotten used to the winds yet. Don't mistake this for a complaint, though- as long as I lie still and quiet at night and tell myself stories, I find my energy levels during the day are undiminished.

My digital camera, Cesar, is still in the custody of my friend Helen in England, but I have disposable cameras with me that I am putting to use, and I promise photos once they're developed and scanned, probably in May...?

I'm glad I'm here, but I miss you guys anyway. That's a given. Take care, be good, and avoid the clap. And email me or somesuch. Oh! And watch out for ibises, I just get a shifty vibe from them!

And Boy, are my arms tired...

Okay, two days in an airport/plane are exhausting. Officially. And I have to say it's a little discouraging when you get to your destination and find out that your luggage is still in Qatar. Especially when you spoke to three separate people in Qatar airport to make sure it would get there.... Whatevs. I'm over it. If it doesn't get here in the next few days, I will officially not to over it, though.

Anyway, I'm here at Drakenstein Lion Park, and I've already helped clean a few enclosures. I think.... I think I've finally found a warm place. Not fake warm, like the 9000 ft spot in Ecuador, but really warm. Hot, even. So far, I've loving it. After 11 months in Alaska, nothing could be sweeter.

Drakenstein is on a green plain, with jagged mountains in the background. They've got 29 lions, and my neighbors are a herd of goats, a donkey and a caracal named Rupert. I'm the only volunteer here for the next two weeks, but the staff is friendly. Rupert isn't. High winds at night make you think there's someone trying to get into your cabin, but I'll soon get used to that. K. I've got to go buy food. I miss you people! Officially!

Exploring Quiet Hysteria

Nights before a long trip never go well... it's like putting out honey for the nightmare gnomes. Packing went suspiciously well, and I've crammed what I think are all the necessities into my hiker's backpack and a smaller backpack for the plane. I'm almost confident that I haven't forgotten anything that I can't replace once I get there.

Remind me why I do this again?

Yeegads, my nerves are humming! I think... the solution is more tea. Channel the inner Brit, that is the road to peace... and freckles. One comfort is that after two days of this I should be so exhausted that I won't have the energy to be shy. Happened in Dublin. Exhaustion can be a major aid to making new friends fast.

I feel like I should be saying something very deep and meaningful... or at least funny... but my brain lacks focus. So... well... I miss you guys, but that's nothing new. I always do, even when I fall out of contact with people. Take care of yourselves. I'll write again when there's an opportunity. Who knows, there might be an internet cafe in the airport, and this'll be majorly anti-climactic.

Preparation for Takeoff

The proverbial "they" say that Pride goeth before the fall... well... I do recall pretty cocky on the way to get my first round of Africa shots. When I got my shots for Ecuador, I was working six days a week, in addition to three gym workouts, and I barely stuttered. Well.... Thud. No, in fact, the word is Splat. I fell. The evening following my first round of shots (Tetanodiptherimeningitinfluenza) I spent on the couch with bright red cheeks, uttering whatever disjointed sentences tottered through my head. Standing up was a doubtful option, due to balance issues. This week's line up (H1N1/PV-poliohepatitis) was much fuzzier, with fewer after-effects, so pride is restored pending another fall.

I go through this, of course, in accordance with my plans to spend four months in Africa, which brings me to my next point: people and their warnings. Gangs, political violence, disease, and large carnivores are the most popular subjects of discussion, and I've tried to remain calm while explaining that most of these are easily avoidable. But the other night, I was having dinner with two high school friends, Melissa (aka Git R Dunn) and Sydney (aka Pinky). Now, Pinky Syd is doing her masters in business in Manchester, England, and upon the first mention of Zimbabwe, she turns to me and says, "Irene, you shouldn't go to Zimbabwe." I prepared myself for the usual speech, but the next words out of her mouth were "They have hyperinflation there!!!" Or was it superinflation, Syd? I can't recall... Anyway, it had both the benefits of drawing surprised laughter, and of being something practical to prepare for. Round of applause for Pinky!

In addition to Pinky and Git-r-dun being around, I also had a visit from my college chum, Sabina (They call her Petunia), and took her in turn to team up with Tricia (aka Rookie) in Boston, yet another mini GWiM reunion. Since graduation, we've only ever managed to gather three of the six of us in one place at one time. But there's always the five-year reunion. Whatever. I can still tease Saby about her height, and Tricia about her cast of expressive voices. Amazing what an evening of friendly character defamation can do for the soul!

On a sober note, my sweet little brother of the canine variety is having problems with arthritis in his neck. He's a solidly mature dog now, ten years old, and had a similar round of pain last winter. I know all this logically, but it's still tough to watch him lie still all day, and hear him yelp with pain. Makes me feel pretty rotten about leaving.

My plane leaves tomorrow afternoon, and it will be two days before I reach Capetown. That's not normal, just a side effect of buying through cheap ticket agencies. The upside is I'll get a bit of a world tour of airports. I'll write another entry before I leave, perhaps I'll even wax sentimental, and then I'll post again as soon as I can!
Now if you'll excuse me, I've got a to-do list to write!

Oh! I forgot! Got confirmation today of my February and March plans! February I'll be in Tanzania, living in a hostel that operates its own volunteer services, so I'll be able to explore of range of non-animal-related work! Nice change of pace. Then in march I'll be in the Thuma Forest Reserve of Malawi doing whatever they need done (wildlife surveys, repairs, etc).

Drumroll, please...

Here's the Africa plan as it currently stands:

I'm leaving Massachusetts on the 9th of January, and arriving in Capetown, South Africa the 11th, where I'll be volunteering at Drakenstein Lion Sanctuary until the 30th.
Plans for February and March are still unclear, but I'll be spending most of April at the Bally Vaughan Sanctuary in Zimbabwe. By then, I imagine my funds will have dwindled, and I'll most likely wend my way back to the United States.

Since my last entry, I've been puttering about in preparation, which has required me to mix with strange folk: namely, doctors and trainers.

Doctors: to deal with my sinuses, which seem to be plotting world domination. Dealing with them has felt something like laying siege... Perplexed by my symptoms, they treated me for both allergies and a sinus infection. We fired omoxycillin first, but that only made it angry, so we brought out a bigger, pinker cannon called azithromycin, which seems to have had better luck, at least so far. Next I need to discuss the issue of cholera vaccines, and maybe a flu shot, not so much for my benefit as for that of the HIV population of Africa.

Trainers: Trainers are evil. They are also fascinating. In the first meeting, they bring out a nasty little program that takes all your measurements and creates a computerized model of you in a skintight leotard that you would never wear, if only to avoid having every flaw highlighted. You leave the session feeling about as attractive as a troll with facial hair. Then in the second session, you get a workout. My trainer showed me all sorts of handy-dandy exercises I could do without a gym, in response to my unorthodox lifestyle. She also said encouraging things about my current strength, despite that fact that I waddled out of there and could barely get up and down stairs all the next day!

An Admittedly Dry and Overdue Account of Recent Developments

It really is time to update what I've been up to. First of all, plans for Africa are progressing... and I won't tell you how, because you lot always jinx things for me! What I can tell you is that I won't be pulling my usual routine of sticking in one place. Most affordable African programs are more interested in short term volunteers, and many are specialized, so I'm applying to a number of different types of programs in various countries. Some applications are out, and I've even had a few acceptances, but I'm going to be miserly with the details for now.

Until then, I'm trying to get my body in working order. I've had a sinus infection for the last month and a half, so that will have to go. Also, I was beginning to feel that I've been too graceful lately, so late one night a few weeks ago, I fell down the stairs and messed up one shoulder. My gym offers one free session with a trainer, so maybe they can sort me out. Meanwhile, I'm trying to resist the urge to judge myself by some of the other gym rats.

Judging by various acceptances, it looks like I'll be leaving in early January, and staying at least through April. There are a lot of people I want to see (ahem-Miss Aussie Fantastico, you know who you are) and places I want to visit before I set sail, so fingers crossed, please!