But that didn't stop us finishing off the bottle, going home for dinner and then going to the drum school.A young man from the village has developed the school to help keep traditional drumming alive. He not only teaches drumming, but makes the drums as well. The school is a small house on stilts like most of the houses in the village, and like most of the houses the stairs tend to be steep and uneven. Inside, standing at the set of African drums stood Emmeth Young.Hair in dreads and wearing colorful African influenced clothing, he didn't miss a beat as we came in and sat down on hand-hewn benches. Drums of all sizes and styles lined the walls and his drum making equipment - saws, hammers etc. The sounds were hypnotic, and the joy and passion that Emmeth feels for his music was evident on his face. Cisco joined in and with great skill, Emmeth instructed him on the beat and as he got the hang of it, Emmeth joined in, improvising. To be able to sit there, in that exotic setting, and have the sounds and rhythms literally take you away, is truly a spiritual experience.
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-ne When we got home, young Leon sort of sidled up to us and asked where we were headed the next day. He said his dog, King was sick and that he needed to take him to Belize City to the vet. We took a look at the dog and saw that he was indeed a very sick puppy, so we changed out plans and told him we would take him to the city in the morning. I can't imagine what it would be like to try to take a dog on the bus for and hour and a half each way.Up early, we loaded Leon and King in the back and off we went. The first vet we went to was closed and as luck would have it, the second was open and were able to take a look at King. Not to disappoint him we went but along with the pizza the restaurant had a variety of Belizean food and even he chose not to have pizza.When we got back to the vet, Dr. Jane Crawford who was trained in Cuba, told us that she hadn't been able to identify the infection that was causing the temperature but that we could take him home. He has a garden that he is very proud of and we came away with a papaya, soursop and a custard apple that he grew.I can remember having a big custard apple tree where I grew up and there were always old cars, in various stages of repair parked under it. He was so sweet and told us he would help build us a house when we come back!Ok, so we finally decide that we must get on the road and load everything up into the little red car, say fond farewells and head down to Emmeth's drum school for a few more pictures.
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-ne
Slowly we left Gales Point, waving to everyone until we were flagged down by a man at the side of the road. We thought he was looking for a lift but he told us that a young pregnant woman had fallen down the stairs and hurt her shoulder.Mother Susan leaped into action and before I knew it, she had Doris settled comfortably with an ice pack from our first aid kit on her shoulder, and myself heading back to the Lodge to find someone in a bigger car to take her to hospital. Karen, the manager of the hotel was already planning to go into Dangriga and immediately got into her car and followed me back to the accident scene.Doris, Karen said, I know you didnt like the schedule, but this is a bit much!" That elicited a very pained smile from Doris, who works at the Lodge.Feeling comfortable that the situation was under control, we finally got on the very bumpy trail.(Doris and the baby are fine after first the Dangriga hospital and then the following day to Belize City for more care.Belize has speed bumps on the roads before and after each village and around the schools. Although some are signed, quite often the distance noted doesnt correspond to the actual distance so we often had some nasty surprises! We ended up with several types of bumps in our vocabulary. hold on! oh shit! and Whoa! Are you OK? as we got launched over some of them!Of course the dirt roads were their own hazard and I became quite efficient at skirting some of the worst holes and bumps, although there were times that we were sideways!Instead of going south immediately, we decided to head up to the Western District and San Ignacio that we had heard was very beautiful. We wound along the road up into the hills, with the vegetation changing to more scrubby jungle and vast areas that have been cleared for cattle ranches. We passed several sawmills and a big agricultural college. Small towns and villages dotted the landscape. At times we ran alongside the Mopan River and we decided, by looking in our guidebooks that we could stay in San Ignacio.Well, we found that we had missed San Ignacio, it was a lot smaller in person than it looked on the map and we ended up at the Guatemala border! That was not very nice-looking at all and we immediately turned and headed back the way we had come!Missing San Ignacio was a godsend as we ended up at Clarissa Falls, a wonderful place on the Mopan River. The hotel is set on a Mayan mound and is run by a Mayan family that owns the surrounding farmlands. Our room was a bamboo sided, thatched cottage with plenty of water and a very noisy fan.
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tuxlallygggag
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
maya: Vacation Time!!!
-ne I finally made it through the North 101 traffic to arrive at Foo Camp 2007 in Sebastapol, CA. I figured that foo came from fubar, but didn't realize that it was a play on the previously held bar camps. He helped me out directionally, we chatted a bit and then off to find some camping space. Lot's of people are camping outside in tents, but I'm not sure I trust either the bugs or late night partiers not to bite, sting, attack, trip over or spill known or unknown liquids upon, so I opt for inside.
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-ne Rainy and cold, yet beautiful and exciting.That's yesterday spent at Stonehenge and Bath, both exceedingly old with lots of stories to tell. Shu found a nice cheap day trip, so several of us EUSA kids piled onto an Anderson Tours bus early in the morning for a two-hour ride to Stonehenge, followed by 1 more hour to Bath and 2 back home. I spent most of my time in the Baths listening to an informative if patronizing audio tour, then waiting around just to catch a guided tour of the baths themselves. :)On Saturday we spent the day touring the Tower of London, also full of history and other old things. I really recommend the beefeater tour--guided by a yeoman warder, a tour guide who is also a part of the royal military. So, this afternoon I took a guided tour of Westminster like I've been meaning too, which was VERY worth the 15 pounds. Benjamin the Verger tour guide was very spunky and incredibly knowledgeable--definitely one of the best tours I've been on all trip. :)That tour took much longer than I expected (again, totally worth it!), so I barely had time to eat dinner (and no time for school work...whoops) before leaving for the Savoy Theatre to see Fiddler on the Roof.
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As many of you know my husband has been deployed for the last 5 1/2 months and he will be home soon so I want to take some time to just enjoy being a wife again and enjoy having my family back together. In this time I will still be keeping up with the contest and taking care of a few odds and ends.
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tuxlallygggag
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-ne Rainy and cold, yet beautiful and exciting.That's yesterday spent at Stonehenge and Bath, both exceedingly old with lots of stories to tell. Shu found a nice cheap day trip, so several of us EUSA kids piled onto an Anderson Tours bus early in the morning for a two-hour ride to Stonehenge, followed by 1 more hour to Bath and 2 back home. I spent most of my time in the Baths listening to an informative if patronizing audio tour, then waiting around just to catch a guided tour of the baths themselves. :)On Saturday we spent the day touring the Tower of London, also full of history and other old things. I really recommend the beefeater tour--guided by a yeoman warder, a tour guide who is also a part of the royal military. So, this afternoon I took a guided tour of Westminster like I've been meaning too, which was VERY worth the 15 pounds. Benjamin the Verger tour guide was very spunky and incredibly knowledgeable--definitely one of the best tours I've been on all trip. :)That tour took much longer than I expected (again, totally worth it!), so I barely had time to eat dinner (and no time for school work...whoops) before leaving for the Savoy Theatre to see Fiddler on the Roof.
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As many of you know my husband has been deployed for the last 5 1/2 months and he will be home soon so I want to take some time to just enjoy being a wife again and enjoy having my family back together. In this time I will still be keeping up with the contest and taking care of a few odds and ends.
link
tuxlallygggag
helenandrew: CD Review - Newton Faulkner
-ne This makes me feel like a grown up. I thought I was a grown up when I started paying my own bills--when the student loans showed up, the car payment, the rent... I thought I was a grown up when I decided to move to another state, and then when I decided to move back. I thought I was a grown up after a honest conversation in which I'd been hurt, but managed to keep my cool, managed not to be mean just to be mean. I thought I was a grown up when I got this new fancy grown up job running this office...running this family. Oh boy oh boy oh boy!Now I'm a grown up. I'm a real grown up hosting my very own Thanksgiving dinner!!! Since we'd (my folks and I) been abandoned by the rest of our family I took charge and planned a very nice, very low-key, very different turkey day. G...wow...I mean, I've known it could be true...it might be true...and I better start acting that way, start acting nicer and all that....nicer, I mean, I'm already nice, but it's weird. Never mind I'm not a huge fan of cooking...that has changed btw in the last few weeks and I've gotten very excited. I love pie) I'm really excited for the day spend cooking with my mom in my own house. I'm excited to share the day with my family.
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-ne Hand Built by Robots An old soul with a handmade guitar, husky voice and dreadlocks - now widely known for his unique version of Massive Attack’s Teardrop Newton Faulkner is here to stay. Newton has managed to stun music lovers the world over with the release of his album Hand built by robots in July 07 reaching Number One on iTunes and Number Three in the UK album chart. He is able to manipulate emotional and sad songs and craft a beautiful and happy tone that contradicts the lyrics to the song. He almost tries to make light of the sad nature of the song and put it in perspective. The song culminates in a series of enchanting chords and his husky voice just walks us through what seems like the journey of his life up to now. His songs continue to woo us as they unveil his vulnerability and endearing character.The jewel of this album has got to be Teardrop for its incredible sense of anticipation that Newton builds with a slow start that reaches its pinnacle in the chorus. Remarkable.By this stage in the album Newton has won you over and convinced you of his talents. For once he doesn’t try to transform a sad song into something upbeat and cheerful with a series of clever chord formations. This track seems to let the listener in and reinforces that bond between us and him as human beings trying to get through life.As if that wasn’t enough Newton then completely takes you by surprise with U.F.O a clever, happy, upbeat and bizarre track. He has so many sides to his personality, that it seems impossible to think that anybody couldn’t relate to him and find him enjoyable to listen to.Newton Faulkner is performing at Leeds University 29 February 2008 where he kicks off his UK tour.
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tuxlallygggag
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-ne Hand Built by Robots An old soul with a handmade guitar, husky voice and dreadlocks - now widely known for his unique version of Massive Attack’s Teardrop Newton Faulkner is here to stay. Newton has managed to stun music lovers the world over with the release of his album Hand built by robots in July 07 reaching Number One on iTunes and Number Three in the UK album chart. He is able to manipulate emotional and sad songs and craft a beautiful and happy tone that contradicts the lyrics to the song. He almost tries to make light of the sad nature of the song and put it in perspective. The song culminates in a series of enchanting chords and his husky voice just walks us through what seems like the journey of his life up to now. His songs continue to woo us as they unveil his vulnerability and endearing character.The jewel of this album has got to be Teardrop for its incredible sense of anticipation that Newton builds with a slow start that reaches its pinnacle in the chorus. Remarkable.By this stage in the album Newton has won you over and convinced you of his talents. For once he doesn’t try to transform a sad song into something upbeat and cheerful with a series of clever chord formations. This track seems to let the listener in and reinforces that bond between us and him as human beings trying to get through life.As if that wasn’t enough Newton then completely takes you by surprise with U.F.O a clever, happy, upbeat and bizarre track. He has so many sides to his personality, that it seems impossible to think that anybody couldn’t relate to him and find him enjoyable to listen to.Newton Faulkner is performing at Leeds University 29 February 2008 where he kicks off his UK tour.
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tuxlallygggag
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