Finally Home Final Post

When I close my eyes, I can still see the critical, measured footing, a line of black asphalt that meets fine, red sand, a merciless, busy intersection near Sacre-Coeur III in Dakar. I can still hear taxis honking three at time. I can still feel the breeze of the traffic one-inch away, and onto the black asphalt. I can still smell the burning of trash. Other times when I close my eyes, I can see the piercing void of the Egyptian desert.

If I sleep, I can still see Jeremy and Michelle “communication” with clown fish, that is, before I wake up looking for my air-pressure gauge while taking large breathes and declaring to myself “I am a bubble.”

I still have not looked outside at the snow, yet.

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Thanks for the comments and support. It meant a lot knowing I was never alone. Thanks to God, to happiness, to affection, and to sympathy which made this trip more meaningful, as well.

Besides immense gratitude, I have another final comment concerning moral law and humanity. Comforts we take are costs to other. The world’s wealth is greedily protected and preserved. The distribution favors Western modernity. No one should miss realizing the dialectic and pragmatic world in which we live, and supposedly share.

Visit an under-developed county. It's not about guilt, but more about naïveté. Certainly, if there are actions to be taken, they are political and afford assurances that law-makers are less corrupt. Economies are reflections of humanity which includes ever-existing greed. The world’s wealth will always be bent. However, the degree of bent is variable.

Toubab Tim signing out
(burp ...)

Home seems like just a word

Homeward bound (E.T.A 9:55p.m Firday night, Minneapolis) …. Italy, Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, it was a pleasure.

Now in Roma

Although I am in Roma for a few days, I have spent my excitement to travel and really feel I am missing a opportunity that I will regret later. I am at the mercy of The Law of Diminishing Returns.

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Last days in Roma-Photos
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P.S. more dolphin pictures from last week-Photos

Happy New Year

Everything’s fine Mom – love you. I will see you soon.

Walking around the pyramids is definitely an eerie time warp. The extraordinary site leaves an impression to ponder over for some time after.


Day 6 Pyramids of Giza-Photos

Red Sea

Day 1 Red Sea-Photos
Day 2 Red Sea-Photos

I left a tear in the Red Sea. There, I found beauty, astounding creatures, and not to mention a mother dolphin and her baby. The three of us danced in circles. Being very agile swimmers, they kept themselves at arm’s-length, perhaps to see how desperately and clumsily I wanted to touch them, just once. I followed foolishly just out of reach and spun dizzily behind.

The Egyptians in the touristy and scuba-diving Mecca, Hurghada, were nice. The twenty-some checkpoints to get there and back from Cairo were an unusual hassle. Another note, most of the tourists were Russian and very few were American.

In the end, my excitement is consumed within the Red Sea. I have little for the New Year’s celebration.

A world away

Cairo, this place seems a world away from home - but how quickly that perspective was shattered. When visiting the Egyptian Museum and seeing the artifacts of ancient civilizations who once lived here, it is magnified how time makes such a stunning difference, worlds of a difference. I no longer feel away from home but on a different planet.

Day 2 in Cairo; City and Egyptian Museum-Photos

Let's see, things to do in Cairo: visit Egyptian Museum, check; visit Giza, en route for Sat.; take boat ride on Nile, took photo - good enough; visit old Islamic Cairo, check; sit in smoke house, check; and, see belly-dancers .... :-)

first day in Cairo

First-day, first impression: Cairo has a New York City pace and style (or what I would think the pace and style would be like, times an intensity factor of 3.7), but, change the language to Arabic, put a car every 20 feet, put an alley cat every 100 feet, mix in pedestrians crossing in moving traffic - from both ways - between every third car, add historical theme to checkerboard the city, remove large racial diversity and secularism, and finally pepper the city with large open markets, all over.... just a first impression

First-day, Cairo. Photos

today's word is QUICK

Today is a day in-flight (Dakar to Cairo, via Casa) and a fly-by-city-tour-with-Simar-the-taxi-driver. I have passed the practical exam. I am certified as a professional tourist. Simar yelled out sites and I snapped photo after photo, driving in a tiny red car, 50-mpg, through crowds of pedestrians, and holding the camera outside the window, holding on. Pro!

I am tired - two hours sleep, maybe (cold-sweats) in-flight and twenty minutes on train, face-flat on table top, big time drool looking up blurry-eyed at the Ticket Master. Not to mention, I am fighting some kind of malady. I will not mention the details, but am planning the rest of the trip by nearest restroom and not by nearest site-to-see.

Half a day in Casa. Photos

P.S. It is begining to be disturbing. At least once a day, some guy would make some comment to me about Michelle as if she was my wife. The comment would be something like "you are lucky to have such a nice wife." This has happened in several different countries now. What kind of places are these? I mean where are the women? To which country must I visit to get some nice woman to shout out to Michelle "that's a real nice man you've got there!"

good-bye Dakar (sigh), Salam alaikum

Next stop is Casablanca, Morocco. The time here has been enlightening to say the least. There are many appreciations that one can gain from these people. I am touched by this country. From the onset, the people have been interesting; I am really not a people-person. Regretfully, I will think about how I could live in the U.S. passing entire days without meeting, greeting others. I've met more people here in six days than I have met in the last six months.

Extremes

There are extremes here and at times inundating. The social structure and the economic structures are multifaceted and compounded. Seemingly, the amount of work is the same if not more than a given work-day in the US, yet the rewards are pennies. Rudeness and violence are outwardly unapparent, a great, enjoyable difference from what one gets in the US. I feel like I am the rude one, here.

P.S.
Have a great Christmas. As they’re mostly Muslim here they don’t celebrate the holiday to a great extend, although they did have something for the children and I spent the morning listening to about 25 kids sing carols after 'Santa' showed up on a donkey.


Day 5 Christmas with 3yrs-old Sista, Aminata-Photos
Day 4 diving around N'Gor and trip to N'Gor Island-Photos
Day 3 another trip into Dakar-Photos
Day 3 trip to Goree Island-Photos
Day 2 visting neighborhood, school, and friends-Photos

Aminata

Mes baggages sont perdu.

The airlines lost my luggage. It's not that my luggage is lost. It's the customer service is not apparently responsive. The culture is different in more ways than I could imagine. It's a tough place. I really need some clean clothes. After the delayed flights and lost luggage, my clothes take form of my shape, after taking them off. A dog would fear my breath. My back is in the shape of a 'Z', which is the puzzle-fit to a three-seat bench with fixed armrests, located in the Madrid airport. This shape was convenient as it fit a similar bench in Casablanca. Unfortunately, the shape was a completely opposite fit to the seating situation found on a DC-10 airplane.

There is wonder, here, in Dakar, but seemingly cloaked.

Please. Can I sit next to the 2yr old!?!

Air travel feels like a bad hangover. It's an all day pain. There's one way to pass the time, pretend to sleep (never actually sleeping). Really try to find the positive in whatever happens. When the 2 year-old sitting next to me is crying, it is a good thing. When he's finally done crying, he's crapping himself, and making those "I'm dumping big-time" grunt/noises. What the f* did you feed that kid? She proudly told me in broken English "all the shrimp" (airplane-food shrimp and it's a discount airline).

Italy: The people are too cool, but too cool to actual do their jobs! Madrid: Same thing.

(oh yeah, I'm logging into "work" from the Newark airport.)

Camera Check. List Check

Pack, stack, and stuff. Tonight, it's time. The first order of business is to eat at McDonalds (Sad, isn't it.)

While doing a camera check, I first thought about taking these pictures to capture some good reasons for going to somewhere warm. But while in mid search, realised a few things that I will miss. I like seasons.

http://community.webshots.com/user/runtim

So this is the plan .... take a vacation.

tick, tick, tock .... vacation begins ... Friday, 11 o'clock. Minneapolis

• to Dakar, Senegal - Dec 16: Get to Dakar, 2AM Dec 18. Once there, the Sista and I shall dive, spent time [?that word?] relax, perhaps go to St. Louis in the north. Ooo, pictures of Cape Verde were striking; wishing to dig the toes into the beaches there!
• to Casablanca, Morocco - Dec 25: This an all-day layover, where we shall see the town for a few hours, take a walking tour. Just because.
• to Cairo, Egypt - Dec 25: Once there, the Sista and I shall head down the Nile to Luxor to see tombs, and head back along the Red Sea. Did I mention wreck diving ….
• to Rome, Italy - Jan 2: Once there, I shall spend a few days and then head south to Naples, and to Aspermonte just to dive for sea-urchin –yummy!
• to MSP - Sunday, the saddest day, Jan 8, 5:45PM ... vacation ends

p.s. to my employer … my pager is on the table at home, right next to the unfinished paperwork that you’re looking for.