Yesterday, I did the Tongariro Alpine Crossing. It was life-changing in a way I thought not possible. I am not a fit man. I am technically obese (I’ll spare you my rant on that system). I also do not handle heights well. I’m not petrified by them, but I certainly do not seek them out. So the idea of an 20-kilometer alpine mountain crossing was not the most attractive idea I have ever heard. I am so glad that I did it. I’m having trouble articulating this experience in the usual way, which [...]

I have been wanting to go to Piha since I decided to come to New Zealand. I’m told it is one of the most beautiful and most popular surfing beaches around. It did not disappoint. One of the things on my must-do list while I am here in New Zealand is learning to surf. I got it in my head that Piha would be the place to do that, so when I heard the tramping club would be going on a day trip there, I was pretty excited. Certainly I [...]

Yesterday was the first day of classes, and as much as my compatriots will probably bemoan this event, I welcomed it with open arms. As I’ve already said my primary motivation for visiting New Zealand is academic, so I was not exactly excited about classes, but I was relieved. At least this will give me some sense of normalcy, and give me something to keep me busy. I only had one class today, and thankfully all of the readings are online for the first 8 weeks, because I still don’t [...]

Definitely one of the top 3 of weekends since I’ve been in Kenya. On Saturday morning I headed to Tanzania. Got on my bus at 7 a.m., and the only plan in mind was to get to Moshi, Tanzania. I was going to meet our friend Simon who we met while rafting in Uganda. I was afraid we would miss each other because my bus was 1.5 hours late and there was no way I could get a hold of him, as he has no phone. So I got off [...]

These photos come from a trip I recently took to Popocatépetl with my host mother’s brother who, as I believe I have explained, is a professional photographer. We just went for the day with some of his current and past students who were very interested in the trip until we started hiking and the temperature was close to 35 degrees F. We hiked for a few hours on a portion of a pass not directly on Popo itself, but quite close to the volcano as that portion is closed right [...]

I don’t even know where to begin with my New Zealand Adventures. It all started on Thursday night when I arrived at the airport and entered the Duty Free Shop in the international terminal. HEAVEN on EARTH. After my little bit of excitement over some of the cheapest things I have seen since coming here, my flight took off to Auckland, New Zealand—the City of Sails. The weekend was off to a great start when we got on the ferry to Waiheke Island right off the coast of Auckland. When [...]

On Friday we only had 2 classes, and we got out really early from the second one, so we the four of us went to Uchumi to get a few more groceries and some lunch before we started the trip to Mt. Longonot. We headed out and waited for a bus to take us into town to get on a matatu to take us to Longonot. Our friend Ruehl, who helped us last weekend with Hell’s Gate must have seen us waiting by the bus stop and he came over [...]

Ten of us left for Hell’s Gate on Friday after classes. We were supposed to be picked up at 2pm at school, but the matatu did not get there until 4:30. Yes, 4:30. That is even beyond “Kenyan time.” I was pissed. We were supposed to get to the park and have an hour long safari ride and then set up camp and go to town for dinner. Well, none of that worked out. We didn’t even get out of Nairobi until 5:30. We finally reached Hell’s Gate around 7:30, [...]