As you all know I left Mali back in July, spent two amazing months traveling around Spain and France, took a transatlantic cruise back to America and then spent some time with my family.
To start things off, I had never been to Spain before and found it incredible. The people were amazing, the food was delicious and the sangria was to die for. Not to mention the Spanish culture, the flamenco dances and the public gardens. Mark and I spent two weeks bouncing around with visiting friends in Madrid, Granada, Santiago, and Barcelona. In Madrid we got a private behind the scene tour of the restoration room in the La Rein Sofia Museum where we got to see people restoring a Picasso, we toured the royal gardens and walked the city. In Granada we went to a walled royal city where there were lush gardens and fish ponds everywhere. It was such a contrast after living 2 years in the desert to see all the colorful flowers and fountains everywhere. In Santiago we did the last mile of a 1000 year old pilgrimage (El Camino) to the Saint James Cathedral in Santiago.
After Santiago Spain we went to France to start our World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farm (WWOOF-ing) projects. First we went to a small farm in Auteze where we were working with an older woman helping her with her garden. I pulled a ton of weeds, picked tomato’s, picked potatoes right out of the ground with my hands and also prepared for market day. It wasn’t the best two weeks of my life, but the work wasn’t that hard and the mountains were pretty. Then we went to Thuir and worked on an apple orchard. I would sort apples while Mark picked them. This was hard work and I would be content never seeing another apple again in my life. That being said, the people who ran the farm were so nice and it was a great opportunity to brush up on my France French as opposed to my West African French.
After our month if France Mark and I headed down to Barcelona and spent two days touring and hanging out on the Mediterranean beaches before we jumped on our Disney Transatlantic cruise. I must admit that I was a little nervous to spend 14 days on a boat with crazy Disney fanatics but it wasn’t that bad. There were plenty of Disney crazy’s but the majority of people were normal I’d say. We spent in total 8 days at sea and then stopped in Gibraltar, Madera, St Marten, Tortola, and Disney’s private island Castaway Cay. My favorite stop had to be Gibraltar because we rode a cable car up the rock and walked down stopping at ape caves along the way.
Once I got home from the cruise I started looking for work. I sent out probably close to 75 resumes and within a week I got an interview and two weeks later I was hired. I took a job with HELP Malawi and will be heading back to Africa for another two year paid contract working as a program manager. I’m writing this from the airport so once I got to Malawi I’ll blog again letting everyone know I’m alive and well. I’m also excited to show off my new lodging arrangements. I will be living at a safari lodge right on a river where I’ll hopefully be able to see wild animals from time to time. But if you want to know more go to http://helpchildren.org/
