Sticks and drills

On the worksite, I had several tasks. I worked on framing a second story, siding a house, landscaping a backyard, throwing up a cool foam technology that are both the structure and insulation for the house (foam stacks like Legos, holding rebar in place an then gets filled up with concrete), switching the door swing on a refrigerator (yes, you can do that!!) and chipping wood.

I wasn't expecting to learn so much about construction, but now I am way more confident (could be dangerous).

My next stop is briefly in the bay area before road tripping from Chico to Montana to go fishing. The fun doesn't stop!

Jason

Vaca for charity

Though I am supposed to be on an altruistic mission to help build homes for those that are less fortunate, I get the feeling I am just on vacation with great people.

Our daily schedule is packed. We wake up at the church around 6:30 am to go to work. Due to all the pre- meetings and normal waiting around that happens with a large group, we usually have our daily work schedules by 8:30. We work until 4 with a donor-provided lunch (usually a home cooked meal!). Then we head to the gym to shower (membership also donated). We must move at the rate of the slowest member, so I get in a workout and then a quick shower before we are off to someone's house for a home-cooked dinner. After dinner each night, we usually have some kind of an adventure (biking, hiking, beach sitting, etc...). Apparently, this maximum utilization of the day is common for Alaskans. The sun is up so late that no one wants to go home. So they have bonfires, and go hiking all night long. Rarely was I in bed before 1 am. I am tired...

Through all of these activities, the best part was the people with me. Everyone came with the intention of primarily building houses for others, and we were all pleasantly surprised with the great activities. So, adventurous people with good intentions doing adventurous stuff... And occasional house building. Good times!

Here are the shadows of a group of us with a view.

Jason

Alaskan adventures

The adventures come fast here in beautiful Alaska. Jessica peeled off and flew back to LA, while I head over to Alaska to help build a house for habitat for humanity.

When I flew into Anchorage, I could see about 330 degrees as the plane swung around to it's final approach. In that view, I couldn't see a single building. Just a ton of various forms of landscapes. I didn't know I would be in the midst of those landscapes within two days here in Alaska. I also didn't know what I might learn.

First thing I learned was about the incredible tides. There are 2 tides per day here in Alaska and they are huge. The landscape gets much larger for a few hours as 38 vertical feet of water leave in only 6 hours. Then, they rush back just as quickly. It is a site to see! Then I learned that glacial water looks silty because of all the crushed rock that got caught in the ice. These glacial waters really interested me, so I went in for more research.

I joined the polar bear club and learned what it feels like to have a 100% numbness throughout my body. I am not sure on the exact requirements to enter the polar bear club. I think it is a group of people that submerge themselves in icy waters. I only know that I am now a certified member of the polar bear club. I submerged myself in glacial waters to earn a piece of paper and a whole bunch of camaraderie. After the experience, I couldn't feel my skin. However, my core stayed warm thanks to the nice layer of whale blubber created by all the excellent food in South Africa. In other words, I had been training for this all summer!

After joining the elite club, we went on a walk up to a different glacier where we had a snowball fight and did some sledding... without a sled (our butts and bellies). Here is a picture:

Can I see a menu?

Despite the adventures that we mentioned in previous posts, most of our time in Cape Town was occupied by gastro-indulgence. We found a few foody themes through out this journey: very American palates, without ever saying "American cuisine", but more flavor, more meat options, and less costly. 

We indulged in everything. The moment we walked into our first cafe in Cape Town the "don't eat ..." health lectures became a faint memory. I will take a big bite out of that delicious BLT and chutney sandwich!!! 

Burgers and chips (fries) are a staple here. Your meat, beef, lamb or ostrich, is always fresh, local and organic. Produce is plentiful and you can always order avocado, even on your pizza. 

In the bush we got a little more adventurous with local cuisine. The primary bush cuisine,  Bobotie, was a pasta-less lasagna filled with spiced meat. The crowd favorite was homemade butternut squash soup served nightly around the camp fire. Salad was enjoyed by one of us; you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink! 

Though we never drank the water, we broke many rules. Through it all, neither of us got sick. Jason's first, healthy semi-developing country experience! Jessica's ability to negotiate locations for our next trip just expanded (she hopes). 

Here are some of the apparently safe, beautiful and always delicious meals that we enjoyed:

Fried egg and chutney were common, but usually our burgers didn't have a bite in them:

A roasted veggies "toastie" was also a common option, but rarely so pretty!

Spiked milk shakes need to come to the states! Jessica spiked her mint chocolate milk shake with kalua.

A bon voyage meal of Asian stir fry, sangria, Greek wrap, and beer at the Old Biscuit Mill - where we sat outside on bales of hay. Street food, South African style!

Scrumptious Mediterranean mezzos at a restaurant around the corner from the apartment we stayed in. 

To full bellies,

Jessica & Jason

Sent from iJess

...and that was the coldest I've ever been.

Friends of ours continue to delight us with their memories of Chicago. Unfortunately, most of those stories end with line "...and that was the coldest I've ever been." Well, it turns out that visiting an ocean somewhat close to Antarctica in the winter and then jumping in might be a nice challenge to our friends' stories. Oh, and there were penguins... and sharks.

We went shark cage diving in "shark alley." This was legit, as proven by a fellow guest on the boat. A videographer for Discovery Channel's 25th anniversary of shark week was enjoying the sights along side us. After 3 intense weeks of filming sharks, his idea of a day off was to go shark diving with us... Legit!

The seas were not calm. No boats were allowed out for the 6 days before us, but our captain thought we could make the trip today. With the sea sick pills clutched tightly in her hand, Jessica boarded the boat. As the last people on, we were relegated to the top, windward side of the boat, where we were consistently splashed with boat spray as we went over 6 meter swells! And that's... no, not yet. We had rubber, Lon John Silver coats on keeping the water off us and keeping us in our usual top fashion.

Then, we got to seal island. The best (worst) smelling island ever. It was like a fish market, but worse. The seals played, fought, mated and ate on the island that they clearly owned. Check out the attached panorama for a site of it. (Jason is experimenting with a new "picture stitching" app)

In a small strait between a constant food supply (seal island) and a bigger island with a lighthouse, the sharks have the time of their lives. We watched them chase seals and circle our boat. Then we jumped in... our cage. And that's the... No, not yet. The shark sightings were consistent thanks to the chum being thrown out the boat, a big hunk of fish meat as bait and a foam seal decoy. Some of the sharks would consistently jump out after the bait as it was being pulled away by our boat captain and first mate.

Aside from when our feet and hands would slip outside the cage, we felt completely safe. The biggest danger was swallowing too much salt water. That is not to say that these sharks couldn't get to us if they wanted to. The small, 8ft long sharks could easily ram the cage if they were interested, and we felt like the huge 20ft shark could just eat the cage. But, these sharks were basically full. When you can eat seals as easily as going to the grocery store, why go after metal?

When we were done we got out of the cages, wiggled out of our thick, hooded wet suits & booties and got hit by a blast of wind. And that is the coldest that Jessica has ever been! Jason's time would come.

After a few more sandwiches and shark sightings, it was time to go home. We sat on what we thought was the correct side, Jason in front of Jessica. But, the boat did an unexpected u-turn and got hit with a massive wave, shooting a wave of water up to the top deck soaking every inch of Jason's pants and even got under the rubber suit soaking his body. Then we zoomed home in the cold wind... and that is the coldest Jason has ever been! Jessica laughed herself almost warm. Not even the warm lamb and bean stew or coffee or hot shower could bring either of our cores back to normal.

We will just have to await our summer time adventures back on the northern hemisphere.

Sadly, this is just about the end of our adventurous summer. Soon, we have to settle for new adventures in Chicago.

Look forward to a blog on some of the food we have feasted on along the way. (if we have time with all the eating and drinking we will continue to do for the next 24 hours).

Forks up!
Jessica & Jason

People, dogs and wine!

Into wine country:

Despite stories of road stonings, we decided to rent a car. What pushed us over the top was the airport staff. Our self-proclaimed ex-drug addict of a safari travel guide swore to us that the roads were still dangerous due to road stonings that happened 10 years ago. When it came to our game time decision, we sought second, third and fourth opinions. Everyone laughed at us when we asked (do road stonings still happen regularly?). The airport staff was right, but it added a bit more excitement for us.

Not that we needed more excitement... Jason was re-learning how to drive a stick shift with his left hand while driving on the other side of the road. Jessica got a hand workout on the car's handles. Jason made it successfully. Good thing!

Our first room was a bed and breakfast at a beautiful, classic and large estate. The owners were an English family whose ancestors came for opportunity after the destructive world war 2, and stayed for the weather. They bought a giant estate and subdivided it later. Now, the youngest son makes experimental wines from grapes only found on the original estate. The current owners love to chat and learn about their guests over breakfast and we obliged. But, we also learned quite a bit about them! They met in England when the husband was there for "polishing school" after his "improper" south African raising. He said it was a joke. She was from rural England an never imagined moving to South Africa. The weather, and the estate encouraged them to move. Now they live on a beautiful family estate surrounded by ancestral paintings, old maps, and beautiful country side. They currently raise race horses and have all of their kids living on their estate around them (in separate houses). All together, they have 9 dogs on the estate for their sole source of protection. The father refuses to close the outside gate, which was quite relieving to us: finally, a place in south Africa with less danger. We also learned that they love to go on safaris for a fortnight every year. They had their own exciting sightings to tell and we were enthralled. Their real passion was twitching (bird watching). Such a fun couple! The picture below is one house on the estate.

We later found that dogs were a regular occurrence in wine country. Jessica was in heaven. The dogs mostly roam free and dig as they see fit. However, they have the important job of protecting the land from men and beasts. Even leopards roam these mountains.

Eventually, we drank wine. It was good. The real fun was hearing about the different techniques to make and name the wines. One wine was only from plants that grew on or near termite hills (where there is great soil and great plants, but worse grapes) and some only far from those hills. One wine was named "swallow" after the swallows that would nest on the fermenter. Good stories! One winery literally locked us in when we tried to visit. The sign said, "to get out, call security at.." but we didn't have a phone. Luckily, a delivery needed to be made 10 minutes after we found out we were locked in and the guards were out there opening it up. We wonder what they though about us just sitting and watching them.

Our next and last two nights were spent in a log cabin sitting on a lake with a porch and a fireplace. Jason learned how hard starting a fire could be in a cold environment with moist kindling. Yet, he found success and we both found warmth with our day's wine purchases, cheese and chocolate.

On the way back from wine country, Jessica directed us to a cheetah sanctuary. Pretty animals and quite nice, but very much independent thinking cats, not dogs!

Jason's nose led us to a micro-brewery with our first taste of real hops since we got here. Oh my! We learned that they have to import most of their hops and malts. No wonder it is so hard to find a nice beer here! Sierra Nevada, ready to go international?

Now we are heading back to Cape Town for some cafe sitting whale watching and shark diving!

Cheers!
Jason & Jessica

On safari...

The night before safari, we had an easy night in an entirely unmemorable planetarium show about 12/21/12 (the end of the Mayan calendar). Then, we were up early to catch our flight to JoBerg.

After ~10 hours of traveling, we made it for a night ride where we saw warthogs run out of their holes, and a honey badger that didn't give much hoot about us. The impala were plentiful setting the tone, but not much else graced us with it's nocturnal presence.

The other safari car that went out at the same time as us and traveled similar paths saw a bit more. This would be another theme. Guests carry conversations about what they saw that day as a nightly competition. We learned two lessons. First, the photos are always better on the other 4x4. Second, major safari sightings are like a drug: there are gateway animals like giraffes and elephants and serious animals like black rhino and leopards. The people that got into the nightly competitions would see one and then need to see them all. We happily stayed out of the fray. We couldn't be happier watching the elephants tear down trees and cross the street (pic below has so many babies!), or the giraffes that would watch us as intently as we would watch them. We were filled with adrenaline when we saw hippos on our "bush walk" (or maybe that was fear of being in such close proximity with the deadliest animal out there).

The bush walk deserves it's own paragraph. The lead of our perfectly single file line is a rifle carrying park ranger. He told us to never run if something chases you. Just stand still and look big. There were some exceptions to looking a charging beast in the eye, but the only notable exception about the running rule is hippos. Hippos don't have a need to show dominance. They prove it by killing anything between them and their water hole. Should we find ourselves at the mercy of a charging hippo, our guide instructed us to find a tree... and climb. We were scared, but our guide does this every day. Our fear was analogous to our disgust as our ranger picked up a huge elephant dropping and asked Jason to smell it. Apparently carnivorous dung is dangerous because it holds bad bacteria, but herbivores have dung with a lot of good enzymes and nutrition..especially elephants. This made a lot more sense when we watched the elephants eat tree branches ... straight. Both our fear and our disgust were out of place. Humans used to roam these lands just fine, and even used buffalo dung (an herbivore) as their flooring because of the nice, sweet smell!

We don't have any stories that "compete" with our fellow guests' stories. One of them was in a safari car that got charged by a black rhino. Another followed a roaring lion. Yet another found itself in the midst of a hunting pride. But, we certainly enjoyed hearing about them from all the interesting people on safari with us.

We saw a lot of animals both near & far and big & small. Jason's favorite was the black backed jackal. He is just so impressed that these little dogs survive so well despite limiting their procreation to one mate throughout their lives. So sweet! Jessica's favorite, shockingly, was not the sunbathing, water loving hippos. Instead, she found the elephants to be her favorite. Jason doesn't think this was a fair fight. She saw mostly baby elephants. Can't compare with that kind of cuteness!

Each of our daily adventures was capped with a cold night in our treehouse. With no insulation (or even walling in some places), we slept in the wilderness. It was cold. None of this was helped by the fact that we needed to arise before sunrise each morning. All the interesting animals do their feeding at night and come back to bed for the daytime. So, if we wanted to see anything, we had better be up early and stay up late.

After 4 awesome days, we started the long ride home through a gorgeous canyon and the South African countryside.

Off to the wine country!

Jason and Jessica

Some Quests on Our Quest

On our South African adventure, we are on a quest to hit all the Captonian sites. We have found that Cape Town is full of sub-quests. We found that finding a decent drink of beer in the town is a quest in itself; rugby is a quest upon which many embark; diamonds are the ultimate quest that started this country; and, we met someone fighting the quest for creative liberty, or more broadly, social justice. Here is our story:

The locals drink wine for taste and beer for purpose. The wine here is good, as we mentioned. You can find a wide range of variety, and of a decent quality. The beer, on the other hand, is gold and comes in glasses that are big enough to fill the largest bellies (possibly because there are plenty of large bellies to fill). The populous seems to be after quantity over quality, making it very difficult to find a hop. In fact, when I asked a bartender, do you have any hoppy beers? He said, 'hoppy?'" I then defined a hop as, "a flower added to beers such as IPAs, and other ales to give the beer a slightly bitter taste and floral smell" and he said, "I don't know what you're talking about". Enough said. However, we continue to strive for a decent beer, but we are not holding our breaths. Wine will do.

At a friend's suggestion, we heard that we couldn't miss a rugby game. Therefore, we bought some tickets. In the spirit of the cultural experience, we thought we might ride the train over to the stadium. The fact that it was rush hour didn't help the already chaotic nature within the train station. Honestly, we were scared. One taxi ride later, we were watching the local, first place Stormers beat the last place Lions pretty easily. The multiple scoring game provided significant excitement within which Jessica and I could gain a new education about the sport. So organized, yet so chaotic! The only pre-educatoin we did was about the colors of the teams. We didn't want to be caught wearing the away team colors! The fans reminded us more of 9ers fans than Raiders fans. In other words, it was a very "wine and cheese" kind of crowd. While they were excited that the team won, it doesn't seem like their lives would have been different if they lost. We felt safe and had a great time, but we both wore the local blue just in case.

Did you know that mining drives the South African economy. There are several other components of the GDP, but without mining, South Africa would be a different place. Like the California Gold Rush in 1849, Africa had its own diamond rush in the early 1870s. Specifically, the South African Karoo, was the center of the diamond rush. Side note: Now, that same area is the source of a local fracking debate (Americans certainly know all about that fracking thing!). We are sure that you all know the story of De Beers, how they cornered the market and drove demand through such tactics as propagating the idea of a diamond engagement ring in the 50s. However, did you know that Cecil Rhodes (benefactor of the Rhodes Scholars) was the founder of the de Beers company as we now know it? As Cecil Rhodes started buying all the mines around him, one of the mines that he bought was really well known and affectionately called "The Big Hole" owned by the De Beers family. In effect, De Beers sold out early, but gave their namesake to the future diamond empire! The Oppenheimers went on to run the De Beers company and make it so profitable. We were enthralled. Jessica was distracted by all the sparkles, while Jason couldn't stop looking at the early diamond cutting machinery and mined rocks. Fun fact: did you know diamonds used to be cut with a mixture of diamond dust and olive oil. Now they use the completely unromantic lasers.

The next morning, we had to wake up EARLY! Jessica had to drag Jason out of bed at 8:30am just to get to a coffee date that HE set up. By 9:30, we were chatting with the satirical artist, Brett Murphy. Recently, his gallery published a painting titled "Hail to the Theif" with an Leninistic image of the South African President, Zuma. The controversial part was the fact that Brett drew Zuma with his penis hanging out. This could be read in a number of different lights. Zuma has had 713 criminal charges brought against him and the only thing keeping him out of jail is his political connections. If he doesn't win the next parliamentary election, he might end up with a 15 year sentence, like his bookkeeper. Brett's gallery threw this particular painting in with several other very powerful and deep paintings like a playful 1-liner. The National media, and leading political party strategists chose this simple piece of art to rest at the soul of a political battle drawing lines in the sand about everything from race to the freedom of speech. Brett was in the middle of a massive political battle that put him on the receiving end of everything from subpoenas to death threats against him and his family (including 2 daughters). There is a lot of violence here in South Africa, so death threats are even more scary than they might be in the US because someone really might act on them. A local religious leader went so far as saying that Brett should be stoned in the streets. While we were full of suspense listening to Brett tell his tales, we also stopped to think about what this means about South Africa as a country. On the one side, our American mindset thinks, "how can anyone even argue against the freedom of speech?" On the other hand, at least Brett was never sent to jail. South Africa really is a developed country. In the aftermath, a South African court ruled the art piece as "pornographic" so Brett, nor anyone else, can ever display his art in the public forum. The gallery settled their dispute with the government and Brett's painting was sold for ~$20,000 (mostly going to the gallery). We wish Brett good luck as he may or may not continue his quest for political justice in South Africa.

With a safari planned in the near future, we may not be posting for a little while (no internet). So, we will catch y'all again soon.

Love,
Jessica and Jason