First draft of the Africa notes....

Mon, 5th: Got to Amsterdam. Staying with Cory, a friend of the family in Permurend. Also visited Volendam.

Tuesday, 6th: Visited mom’s cousins in Amsterdam. Most of them don’t speak strong English.

Wed 7th. Went to the Van Gough museum, and the Rijksmuseum. The Dutch pronounce Van Gough like “Van Hough” The first ‘H’ is pronounced like you are clearing your throat; the ‘ou’ is like the ‘o’ in ‘hot’

Thursday, 9th. Mom’s cousin Tapka gave us a walking tour of old Amsterdam. We saw many churches, and took a walk through the red light district.

Friday 9th. Drove to Haulerwijk (Mom’s birth city) We drove across the North Sea Dike. I stayed with Omka Jan. Mom stayed with Tante Ria. Neither speak English.

Saturday 10th. Drove to Zwolle. Had great food. Zwolle is a beautiful city. Stayed at the Hotel Fider, which is a historic building on the outskirts.

Sunday 11th. Drove back to Haulerwijk.

Monday 12th Took the train to Amsterdam, and left for Harare, Zimbabwe.

The Netherlands was kind of weird. I did the roots thing, so I hope I never have to do it again. I spent most of my time just hanging around people who can’t speak English, so I read a lot. If I go again, I won’t visit family. I’ll just tour. Mind you, Zwolle was nice. I’d stay there again. I had great food at a restaurant in downtown Zwolle. I wish I could remember the name. It was next to the central market, on the second floor.

In my spare time, I thought a lot about Terry. I tried planning ways of getting him to like me; to leave his boyfriend for me. When I flew back to Seattle, and ran into Terry, we talked. I decided to not follow through with my plans

Tueday 13th. Arrived in Harare. Mom lost some of her luggage.

Wed 14th. Toured Harare. David showed us the markets. Harare is a very grimy city, but not dangerous. The criminals don’t have enough money for knifes or guns, so you only have to worry about pickpockets. Our chauffer, Innocent, drove us to a wild life park. Godfrey asked me to find a good college for his stepson. Zimbabwe is run on favors and nepotism, so I’m not surprised he did this. I agreed.

Friday 16th. Mom got her luggage back on the 15th. Right now, It’s morning and I’m on the Train to Bulawayo. We left Harare last night at about 7pm. It’s an over night milk run. The three of us have a sleeper car. The towns are very small, no more than 8 houses. Many of the houses have straw roofs. For most of the night, our sleeper cabin’s radio was broken, but, “Love, Love me Do” by the Beatles just cut in.

Sunday, 18th. On the 16th we saw the Chipangaly Animal Orphanage, plus the Zimbabwe Museam of Natural Science. In the evening, we got on the train again for Vic Falls. We arrived in Vic Falls on the morning of the 17th. We are staying at the Settlers Retreat, a little B&B just outside of town. We are the only ones there. In the evening we went on a cruise of the Zambeze, and saw hippos and giraffes.

The manager of Settler’s Retreat is a retired park ranger. He loves to talk.

We are paying $US20.00 a night, total, for 2 rooms.

Went to a Crocodile farm and saw the Zimbabwe side of the falls. We got very wet.

Monday 19th. Went white water rafting on the Zambezi. The water is very high, so the rapids were fairly gentle.

Tuesday 20th. Game Drive in Zambia. Saw a white rhino attack a mini van. Not a lot of damage. The driver sped off after the rhino hit.

Also saw giraffe, antelope. We went to the Livingston Museum in Livingston, Zambia. The unemployment rate in Livingston is about 95%.

We visited a traditional village, I think it was the Maupani Village. Every lived in mud and straw huts. Saw Vic falls from the Zambia side.

Wednesday 21th. Took it easy. Mom got me to fake sick so we could get out of a game drive to Mozambique. The Tour guide figured it out. We had to pay cancellation costs of about $Zim1000.00 That’s about $US20.00

Thursday 22nd. Flew from Vic Falls to Harare. Took the bus from Harare to Mutoko. The bus was very poor. Mutoko is even poorer. Mom and I were almost ready to leave when we saw where we would be staying.

Friday 23rd. Sports day (Track and Field) at Mutoko High. Dave and I judge shot-put. Watched Beverly Hills Ninja again. Saw Dave’s computer lab.

Saturday 24th. Visited Obey’s grandparents farm. It’s a subsistence farm. Climbed up a hill to some caves. The caves had cave paintings in them.

Saw Blue Streak Twice, and 10 things I hate about you. There’s not a lot to do here.

Sun 25th. Went to church with the Mutoko High Students. Saw the Our Lady of Peace Orphanage. This was a unsettling. We saw many infants had had been through hell. Many of them were HIV positive.

In the evening, Mom got very sick. Everyone thinks it’s malaria. She’s stumbling around half naked trying to go to the bathroom. I had to help her.

Mon 26th. The Boarding Master drove us from Mutoko to Harare. Mom is very weak, but much better. She doesn’t remember much about last night. We took her to a doctor.

Tuesday 27th. Doctor says that Mom actually has a intestinal parasite, and has put here on new medicine. She still has cramps, but is much better. We leave for home tonight.

Zimbabwe was weird. In many ways it was very poor. For about $US100 000, you can buy what would be a million dollar home in Seattle. For about $400 a month, you can get 2 or 3 servants and a chef.

The people were the nicest people I’ve ever met.