T minus 7 days

One week from today we will be boarding our plane to Japan!

We have decided to backpack it through our trip, which will be a first for me. Buddy already purchased his new backpack, which I also like and will be ordering sometime today (the female version). Because we will be traveling by bus and train throughout our trip, we thought backpacks would be the easiest type of luggage to deal with.

Last night we had a good chat with a friend who spent a period of time living in Japan - he had some great tips for us! The one that resonated with me the most was "in everything you do, just lead with your heart and you will be fine." I hope that's how I live in my day to day existence, but what a beautiful reminder it was.

The past few days I've been finalizing some of the day tours we plan to take while there - one is called "Dynamic Tokyo" and takes us to the observatory on Tokyo Tower (Japan's version of the Eiffel Tower), to a traditional Japanese garden and tea ceremony, into the Imperial Palace, on a river cruise through Tokyo Bay, through a visit to Kannon Temple in Asakusa, and then a drive through Ginza (the famous high-fashion shopping district).

Getting more excited by the day!!!!

Japan-o-rama!

As of midnight last night, we FINALLY have all of our lodgings in Japan booked and confirmed! What a relief!

Here is our itinerary: two nights in Tokyo at The New Otani in the Akasaka region, then travel to Mt. Fuji and Hakone with one night at Fujiya Hotel in Hakone-machi, then on to Kyoto where we'll spend three nights in a ryokan called The Three Sisters Inn (this is traditional Japanese-style lodging where you sleep on the floor on tatami mats and a futon!). After Kyoto we have one more night in Tokyo at the Shinjuku Prince Hotel right in Kabuki-cho!

Buddy and I had fun looking at all the options, but it's really overwhelming. I'm sooooo glad that we made the decisions and now we are done. We did most everything over the internet, with the exception of the ryokan. It was recommended in a guide book we're using and we found great reviews online, but they don't even have a website. So Buddy called Japan to make the reservation (plus some email exchanges to finalize it) and we were both nervous for some reason. It was pretty funny - my heart was beating really fast and Buddy was sweating like crazy. I hope that's not how we feel when we're actually in Japan! :-)

We also purchased our Japan Rail passes to get us around the country on the bullet trains, and we've narrowed in to a couple of day tours that we might want to book. All in all things are coming together and it's very exciting!!!!

I Heart Travel

This November we head to Japan, which I am sooooooo excited about! I love traveling, but I love traveling with Buddy even more! Unfortunately we haven't had many opportunities to travel together - this will be our first overseas adventure.

I've been reading about the places we will visit and I am most looking forward to Kyoto. Whenever I picture Japan in my head, I am drawn to the temples, shrines, and natural beauty of Kyoto. Don't get me wrong, I certainly love the excitement of big cities such as Tokyo, but I have a special attraction to Kyoto. Hopefully we will get to see the autumn foliage during our visit!

Reflections

Fourteen years ago today I was on a serious mission to end my own life. Not knowing how to cope with the emptiness and despair that I carried on me like a lead blanket, the best solution I could conjure was to 'make it stop' with one final and desperate act. I remember waking up in the hospital some time later with the greatest sense of hopelessness and defeat I have ever experienced, before or since. I felt that hopelessness, the crippling fear, utter desperation and loneliness to the very tips of my toes; I lived in it, walked in it and breathed it.

What I did not know at the time was that that incredibly selfish and fear-driven act would lead me into a beautiful life - the life I always wanted somewhere within me but which I was completely incapable of working towards (or even imagining!) as the person I was back then. Attempting to commit suicide turned out to be THE pivotal moment in my life, a desperate action that started a chain of events which, in the end, healed and saved me.

Of course there has been much work along the way...and heartache and loss and sadness and joy and wonder. LIFE has happened - that amazing, tumultuous, roller coaster journey we each get to walk through. But today I get to walk through it, today I choose to experience it, and today I am full of love, serenity, and peace of mind. The beautiful life I have today is not one that I've earned, it's a gift that I cherish and nurture.

And to think I almost missed it!

Next stop....Japan!

Buddy and I have decided to tie the knot and we've already booked flights for our honeymoon to Japan! In November we will be flying in to Tokyo and using the famous Japanese bullet trains to travel across the country - Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima are all on the agenda. Stay tuned for updates!

The Real Deal

As of June 19, 2009, Friends of TAFCOM is officially a non-profit corporation in the state of Texas! I've also obtained an Employer Identification Number (EIN) from the IRS and the Texas Comptroller has assigned us a taxpayer number.

Our official mailing address:

Friends of TAFCOM
PO Box 19101
Austin, TX 78760

A website is also in the works:
www.friendsoftafcom.org

Right now I'm working on the by-laws...and then the formidable IRS Form 1023 (to become a real tax-exempt organization).

Friends of TAFCOM & Kiva Meet-up

Exciting stuff happening this past week...I have started the paperwork to establish a U.S. entity to help TAFCOM and the people I worked with in Tanzania. The entity will be called "Friends of TAFCOM" and will eventually be a 501(c)(3) charitable organization. There are mounds of forms to be completed and filed with the state and federal governments, but I am steadily working through all of it. It involves setting up a corporation from scratch, so there is a lot of paperwork! But I'm having fun doing it. I also opened a PO Box for Friends of TAFCOM this week. I know that it's pretty lame to get excited over paperwork and PO Boxes, but I really can't help it! Such a nerd. :-)

This week I created both a Facebook page and a Facebook group for Friends of TAFCOM. Once we have 501(c)(3) status, Facebook will allow Friends of TAFCOM to accept donations through their page. If you are on Facebook, here is the link to the page and here is the link to the group. Please feel free to join the group and/or become a fan of our page!

On a separate topic...Saturday I attended a gathering of about 20 people in the Austin area who actively participate in microlending through Kiva.org. We are all part of a Kiva team called "Austin Texas" and this was the first live-and-in-person meeting I had attended. It was AWESOME! I got to meet some really neat people with big hearts (and they even listened to some of my ramblings about Tanzania). I felt "at home" with these strangers - it was a great experience and I hope to continue getting to know everyone. One woman, Karen, has made many trips to Africa...and she is about to leave for a 2-year Peace Corps stint in South Africa!! It was so cool to talk with her about Tanzania and how she got into the service work that she's doing now.

We talked about this week's announcement that Kiva will now work with microlenders in the United States. A lively discussion and few emails later, Team Austin Texas has become the number 1 Top Lending Team to a woman in San Francisco named Zonia, who provides child care services to families experiencing homelessness. Go team!!!

Breathtaking, gorgeous Zanzibar

While in Tanzania our group flew from Moshi to Zanzibar for a weekend. Zanzibar is a tropical island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Tanzania, near Dar es Salaam. When we arrived at Stone Town (also called Zanzibar Town), the other volunteers decided to skip the city area and spend their three days relaxing at the beach in Kendwa, on the northern part of the island. But I was feeling adventurous and stayed in Stone Town by myself for the weekend - there is just something about the crazy hustle and bustle of a city that boosts my energy, and this place certainly has a unique atmosphere!

Stone Town is an old, fascinating city with a labyrinth of narrow streets that are impossible to read on a map. It is truly a unique and exquisite place, like nowhere I've ever been! The maze-like streets are too narrow for cars, so everyone is on foot or bicycle. Thankfully, the city itself is small and on a peninsula-shaped part of the island, surrounded by water on three sides. It was overwhelming at first, but I quickly lost my fear of navigating alone through the streets when I figured out that if I kept wandering around, eventually I would end up back at the water.

On Friday I found a local guide and took a walking tour of Stone Town to check out all of the "must see" tourist sites. One of the unique things that Stone Town is known for are these huge, old, elaborate doors that you see everywhere. The oldest one dates to 1694! There are more than 500 of them on the island and I found it fascinating to stumble across them in the strangest places (like in the middle of a small, dark alleyway). For more images of Stone Town’s doors check out www.zanzibarstonetown.org/gallery/doors/.

Another historical aspect of Stone Town is the former slave market - the slave trade was a major line of commerce on the island from around the mid-1800's all the way up to WWI. It was officially outlawed on Zanzibar around 1873, but continued illegally for a long time after that. When the official edict was signed to outlaw the slave trade in 1873, the Anglican Church built a cathedral over the site of the former slave market. I mean LITERALLY over the market...they kept some of the chambers intact beneath the church as a memorial. This video shows the small, hot, stuffy chambers I visited (the rooms were so dark that my camera wouldn't capture the images). It's incredibly heart wrenching to go down into those tiny rooms and try to image 75 people crammed in there for days or weeks on end, starving and living in their own filth.



Speaking of the Anglican Church - one of the many facets of Zanzibar that I fell in love with is the religion. Yes, you read that correctly, the religion. Allow me to explain...

Zanzibar itself is ~95% Muslim, and you can see that from the moment you step off the plane. Most men are dressed in long tunics and kufi hats, while many of the women are covered from head to toe in robes, with only a slit in the fabric for their eyes. Regardless of one's opinion about traditional Muslim attire, it is impossible not to feel nearly naked in "traditional Western attire" when everyone else is covered from head to toe. Considering the intense heat, I dressed conservatively in t-shirts and capris (covering shoulders and knees) during the weekend trip, and still felt like a street-walker sometimes! But I digress...

What I "fell in love with" about the religion on Zanzibar is the openness, acceptance, and complete lack of conflict over religious differences and beliefs. Although the vast majority of Zanzibaris are Muslim, they live side-by-side with Christians, Hindus, and non-believers with absolutely no problem. In fact, I found this to be true throughout Tanzania, but it was especially noticeable to me in Zanzibar where I saw the Anglican church, a Hindu temple, and several mosques all right next to each other on the same street. In my opinion, we Americans perpetuate religious conflict and differences by proselytizing and insisting that OUR way is the RIGHT way. I have basically quit watching the news because I can't stand the the fear-mongering in our own politics and media. In contrast to my experiences in America, I had several friendly, open discussions about religion in Tanzania and Zanzibar without feeling pressure to change my beliefs or judged because of them. It was so refreshing!

Anyway, here are a few more photos from my weekend in Stone Town. I did a very poor job of capturing the bustling bazaars and markets, the exquisite beaches, the old palaces and elaborate Arab mansions, the hidden slave caves used during the illegal years of the slave trade, the lush green of the spice plantations, the beautiful calls to prayer that punctured the mornings and evenings, and the hundreds of other interesting sites that I saw or heard. Most of the time I spent just trying to soak everything in and experience it as deeply as possible.

“It is a city of brilliant sunshine and purple shadows; of dark entries and latticed windows; of mysterious stairways, and massive doors in grey walls which conceal one does not know what; of sun-streaked courtyards and glimpses of green gardens; of barred windows and ruined walls on which peacocks preen. It is a town of rich merchants and busy streets; of thronged market-places and clustered mansions. Over all there is the din of barter, of shouts from the harbour; the glamour of the sun, the magic of the sea and the rich savour of Eastern spice. This is Zanzibar!” - Major FB Pearce, 1919

For those who want to learn more about Zanzibar Town, here are some interesting facts.

Weasel Puke Coffee

LOL!!! You really have to read the description of this. Thought I would share since the product name has "Weasel" in it. ThinkGeek :: Weasel Puke Coffee

Re-entry and Reverse Culture Shock

Talking with a friend on Friday I said that I've had more difficulty adjusting to being home than I did adjusting to life in Tanzania. Saying that aloud really helped for some reason, so perhaps writing it down will help, too.

I tend to think that I am going to be the exception to every rule, but then quickly find out that I am just another garden variety human. I was really hoping that it would be different this time! :-) Alas, it seems that I am not the super-woman I aspire to be...and I haven't been able to circumvent the very human experience of re-entry shock. Uggggh.

I know that what I'm experiencing is normal (if you know me personally, you have likely guessed that I've been doing plenty of research on the topic - thank goodness for my pal, Mr. Internet, and the wealth of knowledge he lays at my fingertips!). And being unemployed is certainly not helping the situation, although that has afforded me the opportunity to do a lot of volunteer work in Austin these past three weeks.

So what does it look like? Where is Kimberly in the process of re-entry?

Right now I'm bouncing around between stages three and four, reverse culture shock and readjustment. I have a lot of uncertainty about "what to do next" and sometimes feel doubtful of my direction. For the past few weeks I've wanted to isolate and withdraw, although that seems to have lifted now. Other than talking at length with Buddy and Shari about the trip, I have generally wanted to keep my experiences to myself in order to "hang on" to them for a while. And of course, there is boredom and a little depression which I'm just giving myself permission to feel; I know that it will pass. I am becoming more relaxed and familiar with home, feeling less anxious as the days go on and trying to integrate my overseas experiences into my life. I'm using this downtime to act on some old personal goals (volunteering) and to set some new long-term goals for myself. Most of all, I'm trying to understand how I can use my experiences in Tanzania in a productive and helpful way.

These lines from a favorite book of mine keep coming to mind: "I saw that my friend was much more than inwardly reorganized. He was on a different footing. His roots grasped a new soil." I feel like that's where I'm at right now - that I've been re-potted and have started to grow in some strange, new direction. It's both scary and exhilarating!