Visit to Masai Village
June 20, 2008
May 23, 2008
african adventures
For the past 8 months I have been working on developing and designing a workshop on the FUTURE OF ECO-RESORTS. We are working with a sustainable developer to try to scope out what his sustainable development could be and what he should consider socially, economically and environmentally before he moves to the design and construction stage. It has been more of a roller-coaster ride than I expected, and my mind feels expansive with random facts. In Tanzania over 44% of the population are under the age of 15, and over 54% are under the age of 20. Only 4% are over the age of 65, which makes more sense when you discover that average life expectancy in the eastern coast of Africa is 51. Of the 40M people living in Tanzania, approximately 80% live in rural areas, and 20% live in urban areas. This is counter to many of the urbanisation trends throughout the rest of the world. I was even surprised to find out that it was only in 1964 that independence from Britain came about and mainland Tanganyika, and islands Zanzibar and Perriba merged to form Tanzania. Perriba seems a little short-shrifted on the naming front.
In two weeks time, I will head to Arusha Tanzania, but not before I try to force myself to remember (please remember FB) to take my malaria pills. Even now I am debating whether I should be immunized for Yellow Fever, however my team mate who is coming along for morale and logistical support has decided that the lack of a serious outbreak means we should be ok. Because I have the knowledge of a gnat on Africa and Tanzania, I will eye every insect as a possible predator seeking to make my life miserable with contamination. I have never liked bugs, but this takes it up an extra notch, or ten.
The preparation and organisation of this workshop have been unlike any other. Sometimes electricity goes down in Tanzania, and we don't hear back from our contacts for a day or two. Email is the prefered mode of communication as some of the folks at the Ngurdoto Lodge in Tanzania do not speak fully conversational English. My client seems to disappear into the bush for weeks at a time. The complexity of our interactions has quite nearly made my colleague, who has been helping me out with logistics, run for the hills and leave me to sort out the intricate communication mess. It is not anyone's fault really, it's simply to be expected when 24/7 21st century highly neurotic, constantly connected caffeine charged creatures from the north engage with our more rural and relaxed counterparts in the southern hemisphere. Nevertheless, I will be happy to see this project complete. My head can only handle so many adventures, and I would rather experience them in the wild than from behind my desk.
September 22, 2007
Run Gorillas Run
September 19, 2007
Filminute 2007
September 12, 2007
Liverpool = the Beatles
Liverpool Slinky Room
June 20, 2007
My Starbucks
June 14, 2007
Arup Foresight on Second Life
May 10, 2007
A room with a view of Lisboa
i *heart* Lisboa skies
May 03, 2007
streaky spring skies
April 13, 2007
Cover of April 2007 Vanity Fair
April 07, 2007
green sparkling spring
chestnuts in the air not over open fire
in the fields of spring
Trees and trails
April 05, 2007
Spring Easter staggers into London
April 03, 2007
Star Gazing in Train Station to Paris
March 22, 2007
Thereminists: Sarah and Clara at Dorkbot London
Clara: robot musician doll
March 10, 2007
Readable Signs
fast food scenery in Hong Kong
waiting waiting
Nathalie in yellow
March 08, 2007
History Gallery in HK
Hong Kong at night
March 06, 2007
Blue Fogscraper
Hello Kitty!!!
the Hong Kong I was expecting
can you hear the fog horn
Le Rouge et Le Blanc
the signs from outter space
Alexei calling out his friend
the final touches of red
March 04, 2007
entry into Hong Kong
entry into Hong Kong
by the bus load
sin city london red bru
February 25, 2007
White Sunday
February 21, 2007
Rob at Moonbeam Productions
February 13, 2007
McSweeney's: The Crime Scene
February 09, 2007
Google World
Young Moderns Rock the Hemlock
February 07, 2007
in the clear love
cristina passing through london
Peter take me there
January 27, 2007
London Minibar at Corbet Place
January 26, 2007
Oxford through a gate hole
winding alley lanes
blue sign in Oxford
January 24, 2007
nathalie and stuart
the inconceivable snowmen-women
January 18, 2007
welcome to Dorkbot
in the dorkbot alley
merging lanes
January 17, 2007
reaching for lightness
In my quest to reduce my consumption I found myself debating between bottles of wine yesterday evening. Rob had promised to prepare a dinner of pesto and pasta before our meditation session, and I decided to complete the meal with some fresh vine tomatoes, and a bottle of wine. But given my new resolution to reduce my consumption and overall eco footprint, I opted to choose tomatoes that were locally grown, which was suprisingly easy to do at Marks & Spencer, and a bottle of red vino. This turned out to be a little harder since a) I am on a budget, and b) I like a strong hearty wine. Shiraz happens to be a personal favorite, but these often come from as far as Australia or California. This was simply not acceptable if I am really looking to reduce my footprint. I opted for an organic red from Italy which came to just under £5 pounds.
I got back to Rob's feeling rather satisfied with myself until we popped open the bottle of wine, and I tasted something akin to a sweeter than vinegar. Ok it wasn't that awful, but it really was not a label I would recommend to anyone looking for a decent wine. The tomatoes on the other hand were rather refreshing in contrast to the vegan pesto, which I was prepared to cringe at, but really in the end had to admit to Rob that it was crunchy and tasty. The vegan parmesan on the other hand is no contest to real parmesan.
As for the meditation session, it proved a tougher challenge than I would have imagined. I think the both of us were nervous as we made our way to the yoga spot. The red wine was not helping. We were among the first arrivals and were greeted by our "teacher" (?) Jo. Rob told her we were newbies and asked whether she would mind guiding us through the process. She said as long as the other attendees didn't mind, she would do so. Two others did arrive, and we all took to the floor and our mats and pillows. The key was to find a comfortable position. I sat back on my stacked pillows with my knees against the floor and my legs thrown back on either side of the pillow.
This should be ok, I thought to myself. Until I closed my eyes. As soon as I closed my eyes and was told to breathe I was struck by the fact that I was meant to hold this pose for a full hour. What was I thinking? Who was I kidding? Me, miss chatty cathy, and I - quirkie birks - couldn't hold a pen, let alone a pose for a full hour. Throughout the hour my head ran against a wall and bounced up against itself. I wanted to leave but felt like it would show a complete lack of concentration and strength. What would Rob think when he opened his eyes? She has no stamina and can't commit to the process. Uggh.
So I kept to it. I gritted my teeth. I breathed deeply. I tried to see the white light Jo kept alluding to, and didn't. I tried to block out the breathing snort of the fellow next to me, and couldn't. But at one point, between my heavy breathing, I did settle into a pose that was my own and that I could hold. And when Jo kept talking about our potential, and I couldn't see anything directly, I got frustrated, until she asked us to see the color of our potential, and suddenly boom - I was in orange.
So all in all absolute lightness was not achieved last night, but perhaps a little taste of it.
January 12, 2007
Cables
London Stripes
London in motion
Rob in motion
January 01, 2007
welcome to the Home House
egyptian room
beauty and the beast parlor
the ladies on the Home House staircase
the pink studio
