HE GAVE US LIFE TO LIVE TO THE FULL

The Grand 'ole Eiffel Tower...good times

2010-05-22T08:51:00.000-07:00

We got to go to the very tippy-top of the Eiffel Tower one night and it was awesome! We could see everything and the lights of Paris are quite beautiful! We were the last people down and had the top platform to ourselves!
The lights around the river!
This is what the Eiffel tower looks light at the top of every hour. A crazy light show goes off and it looks like it will explode.
The lights facing the lawn of the Eiffel tower!
I was pretty excited to be up there...and went a little crazy! Check it out!

Top of Eiffel Tower from Eric White on Vimeo.

For the last dinner of our amazing, epic journey, we set up the most romantic picnic on the lawn of the Eiffel Tower and watched the sunset and then spent an hour or so in the glow of it's lights. It was an amazing cap to our trip. We are so blessed to have the opportunity to experience this together. I couldn't have asked for a better travel partner...my husband rocks! I've learned so much from this journey and my faith has grown in ways I've never imagined. I am excited to come home and share all our stories!!!

Not the best picture...but it almost captures the magic! ...Katie

Chamonix to Paris

2010-05-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

Our trip from Chamonix to Paris was a duzy. Here is a short video condensing our 7 hour trip into 4 min.

Chamonix to Paris in 4 minutes from Eric White on Vimeo.

Last couple of days in France

2010-05-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Well we are not actually back in the states now. In NYC but i am going to continue to update the blog a couple more times about the final days of our trip.

On Thursday we rented a car and took off into Western France. We had two places in mind that we wanted to see: Mont St. Michel and the Normandy Beaches.
Mont. St. Michel was truly one of the coolest places we have ever seen. It is just this cone shaped island that pops out of no where in this bay. It now has a road built to it, but it didn't when it was originally built. There was only one way on or off the island. During low tide a small land bridge would emerge from the sea. During high tide, which is said to "come in at the speed of a galloping horse," there was no getting on or off the island. Even during low tide it was still very dangerous due to quick sand. This proved to be a great defense as this place.

The church on the top was super cool. It is still crazy to see how much attention people payed to to details. We felt like we were so high up. We could see so far.
The view from the road on the way out during low tide. Unfortunately, no tide came Galloping in while we were there. The high tide was not going to be until 11:00pm and we had to get the car back before then.
Our second stop was the Normandy Beach landing site. This was such a powerful place to stand.
Omaha BeachUtah Beach
It was so crazy to see all of the original fox holes and tunnels blown to rubbel
Where they used to keep a turret of some sort.
All of the fox holes and craters were still there

I think it meant more going to this after we went to the the Dachau Concentration Camp in Germany. We were able to see what we were fighting for and then see one of the most important battle places.
...Eric

Notre Dame, Sainte Chapelle and More Baguettes

2010-05-19T01:51:00.000-07:00

I think Notre Dame is my favorite thing so far in Paris. It was amazing!!! We took one of our famous audio tours and walked through the inside, went all around the outside and then climbed a billion stairs to the top of the tour. This church took 200 years to build and is used as the "center of Paris" (all streets and distances are measured from here).
Lighting a candle for Grandpa Mike!!! Yet another place he would have loved!
Dad...some flying buttresses just for you! Such an incredible design...and it looks pretty sweet too!
The day we went to Notre Dame, they were having a huge baking contest for all the pastry chefs. We got to walk through tents and see all of them sweating and going crazy over hundreds of rolls, baguettes and croissants. The smells were intoxicating! Fitting that they should decorate the alter for 6:30 mass with a bunch of baguettes!
I'm pretty sure 90% of the people walking around Notre Dame looked like this! Everyone in Paris is always munching on a baguette. They just keep it in it's wrapper and take bites during their walk. I'm hoping to keep this habit up when I come back home...it's quite nice!
Going up to the towers of Notre Dame was my favorite. We had such a clear, sunny day and could see 360 degrees of Paris. It was so impressive!
Just chatting it up with some of the gargoyles at the top! There were a ton of these little guys. We saw storks, elephants, monkeys...we basically went on another safari!
Sunny Paris with the Eiffel Tower in the spotlight.
Oh you know...that's just me and my husband looking out over Paris. No big deal.
When we were standing at the very top, you could feel the tower swaying. It was kind of scary...but the view made up for it. We even got to see Quasimodo's giant bells.
After Notre Dame, we visited another church nearby...Sainte Chapelle! It is a lot smaller than Notre Dame, but the stained glass inside made it feel huge. All the walls of the chapel are lined with massive stained glass windows and each piece tells a different bible story. Walking inside and seeing all the colors and light took my breath away.
Words can't describe.
This church was built to hold the crown of thorns that Jesus wore when He was crucified. Whether that is true or not, I'm so glad this magical place was built. ...Katie

Everyone is Always Eating Baguettes Here

2010-05-14T14:14:00.000-07:00

We've made it to Paris. It's our last leg of the trip and I am having a very difficult time believing that it is almost time to get home! I am excited to come home to see everyone but I am loving traveling and non-stop time with husband is pretty excellent as well.
We have 8 days here in this romantic city, so we got to have a full day of just exploring the city. We saw the Eiffel Tower, which did not disappoint. It is enormous!!! We are going to go back later this week so we can see it at night!
This church, Sacre Coer, is built on the tallest part of Paris, on a hill called Montemarte and has some of the best views of the city anywhere. Sadly, we went there on a cloudy/rainy day, but it was still amazing. The church is made of gypsum, so it just gets whiter with age. I thought it was sweet!
We climbed over 300 claustrophobic stairs to reach the top of the dome. Eric wasn't even breaking a sweat.
The top of the dome served up 360 degrees of amazing views. You could see the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame.
We got bored of just standing at the top of the dome, so we decided to go for a little flight. It was breezy.
Paris is a city full of chimneys. It seems like every building has at least a hundred chimneys on top.
We also got to pay the Louvre a visit. It is massive, the biggest museum in the world! We didn't accomplish the whole museum (only about a third of it) but we were in there forever and saw a ton of amazing art.
I was pretty impressed by the giant pyramid.
Yep, we saw Mona...and she's no model or anything, but it was still cool to see.
The crowd around Mona was way more fun to watch. I don't understand why there are constantly hoards of people surrounding Mona taking pictures? Eric and I got a spot to view her at the very front and just stayed there for 4-5 minutes (listening to our dorky audio guides). We got a few dirty looks, but hey...it's MONA!
This was my favorite thing at the Louvre...Winged Victory. The things they can accomplish with stone is sweet!
We had a fun-filled ART day and loved every minute. We went to D'Orsay museum too...it was full of Dega, Monet and Van Gogh. I fell so sophisticated...ooooh la la! ...Katie

My wonderful return to Chamonix

2010-05-13T10:27:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to Chamonix. I have been looking forward to this our entire trip. I have actually been looking forward to coming back here since I came in highschool with Mr. Donahue and my Mom and Aunt. It is one of my top 3 favorite places on the planet. Our trip this time was a lot less sunny than our planet. We didn't pack to well for this leg of our journey. We kind of thought that by May everything would be nice and warm in Europe so we didn't worry about packing heavy sweatshirts or heavy jackets. Well we got a very cold surprise when we arrived in Chamonix and it was snowing. Knowing that we would freeze, we decided that we had to go up to the top of Mt. Blanc anyways. There were people at the top wearing full on winter coats.

I love to eat snow. I was more than happy to take a huge bite out of the side of the mountain.

This was a tunnel they had to build down one of the walkways because there was too much snow to just plow it out of the way.
The view looking straight down the side of the mountain off the deck we were standing on. Just sharp cliffs and then you disappear into the abyss.

We also made our way back over to Mer De Glace. It is a beautiful glacier that snakes its way down the mountain. Every year they carve tunnels into it and make a kind of museum of ice sculptures in it. It is pretty cool because they have to make a new one every year due to how much it moves
The S curveKatie enjoying the view
This shows all of the holes from previous years

Mer De Glace from Eric White on Vimeo.

....Eric

Chamonix - Mont Blanc

2010-05-11T07:12:00.000-07:00

We are in Chamonix, France at the moment...one of Eric's favorite places in the world! It has been raining off and on the whole time we've been here, but every now and then we get an amazing view of these impressive mountains! Chamonix sits in a little valley and is surrounded on all sides by these crazy, jagged mountains. Right now, there is still a lot of snow and people are still skiing and snowboarding. We are very jealous!
Eric and I had a quick snack in the streets of Chamonix. I had a delicious over-priced mini cake and coffee.
This is on the tram ride up to Mont Blanc! We were headed right into the cloud.
This is what we came up on when we reached the top of the tram! Mont Blanc in all it's glory. It is the tallest peak in France and was stunning. The clouds played tricks on us, but we got to see the face 3 times. Mont Blanc is 15,780 feet tall and makes you feel so tiny.
These are some of the skiiers and snowboarders. Right now, there is only technical riding left and they have to deal with avalanches and slides all the time. They seemed so hard core, they were all wearing harnesses with shovels and beacons...I'm a little too scared to do that!
It's funny to think that 2 months ago, we were dying in over 100 degree heat and now we are dealing with snow and we're freezing. Mont Blanc was incredible. I will never forget it or the feeling I got when the clouds opened up to this amazing mountain face. We have a lot more pics and will be posting them soon. ...Katie

More Fun in Munich...Can't Get Enough!

2010-05-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

We had such an amazing time hanging with our friends in Munich, I thought I'd put up a few more pictures. It was so fun hanging out with locals who could show us around town! Anna and Diar are the best hosts in the world!!! Love you guys!!! We had a couple dinner picnics in their apartment...this one is complete with wine, fruit salad and french toast.
Anna and Diar thought it was necessary to show us to a real Bavarian dinner! We had schnitzel and raedler (beer mixed with sprite). It was delicious...I'm thinking about becoming Bavarian.
Just wandering around Freising, Germany (where Anna is from)! It was such a cute town.
Anna and Diar being the best tour guides in the world. They knew everything about Germany...not really, but they made everything sound amazing! We love you guys and we miss you a ton...come visit soon!...Katie

FINALLY THE UPENDO KIDS VIDEO!!!!

2010-05-08T07:41:00.000-07:00

So Vimeo finally let me upload the video I made for the kids at Upendo in its full quality. Here it is. I hope you enjoy it. I do.

Untitled from Eric White on Vimeo.

Friends in Munich!!

2010-05-08T01:52:00.000-07:00

We have been in Munich for the past week visiting our friends we met in Thailand only two months ago. We have had so much fun Anna and Diar. They have really been showing us how to be true Germans!

They were showing us around this huge park in the middle of the city when all of a sudden we found some people surfing. Check the video below it explains it a little bit. It was really cool to see a bit of a culture I understand for the first time in almost 3 months.

Surfing in Munich? from Eric White on Vimeo.

The girl on my right was Lucia. She is Anna's best friend and joined in with our tour around Munich.

Part of the tour of Germany was getting to know their culture. They were so proud of their beer. Germans love beer all of the time. They were so excited to show us what their beer was like.This was on our first day in Munich. We went out for lunch at about 11:45. It was already going crazy!! It was super fun.

Crazy Germans from Eric White on Vimeo.

Katie and I had not eaten sushi in almost 3 months so we went on a hunt and found a really cool Sushi restaurant in downtown Munich. (Finding one we could afford was the only hard part) This is a short edit of the action that took place there.

Sushi Time in Munich, Germany from Eric White on Vimeo.

One day we took a little field trip to the first ever German concentration camp called Dachau. This was such a wild ride of emotions.
A view from inside one of the Berrics where they would cram over 2000 people into a room meant to fit 200

This is the beds they would sleep on inside these berrics.
A small candle burns in a church set up as a memorial inside the walls of the camp.

This is the smoke stack for the crematorium where thousands of people lost their lives.
Below is where they would shove the bodies of "prisoners" into the burning furnace. In the last few weeks before the liberation they ran out of coal so the bodies of the dead were thrown into mass graves just outside the camp. There were over 7,500 bodies found in this mass grave, which was only one of many.
A memorial set up for everyone who lost their lives here from 1933-1945

This was one of the strangest days of my life. The mix of emotions that I felt was almost overwhelming. Actually walking through the places where terrible acts of torture and other unspeakable evils gave me a way different feeling about the second great war than I have ever felt before. Definitely a day I will never forget.

Sorry this is such a long post. There was just so much that has happened in the last week. It is nice to finally be caught up!!

Venezia - The floating/sinking city

2010-05-03T11:30:00.000-07:00

We spent a couple days getting lost in Venice. I usually get pretty frustrated when we get lost all the time in a city, but in Venice, getting lost was a blast. First of all, you can't leave Venice if you get lost...you'll always run into water. Secondly, the coolest alleys and best gelato shops are off the main tracks! We had a great time and were so impressed by the people we met and their hospitality and friendliness. This is from the famous Rialto Bridge at night (one of Eric's famous time-lapses).
I loved being in Venice at night. In Saint Mark's square there are about 4 different dueling orchestras that play all night. They are supposed to be for the restaurant customers, but they play outside so everyone in the square can listen and enjoy. You can just dance from orchestra to orchestra. The way the square is lit up and all the music made for a few romantic, Venician evenings. I got Eric to even dance with me a couple times...magic!
The canals are so cute. They look like flooded roads...it was so strange to us! We loved just watching all the gondolas floating by.
Who decided that it would be a good idea to build a ton of massive buildings on a bunch of tiny, sinking islands? Personally, I think that sounds a bit stupid...but it makes for a beautiful city!
Just some Venician lovin...
It's so strange how the buildings just stop at the water. There aren't sidewalks or anything...you just wake up, step out onto your boat and then float off to work. Crazy.
One of the best parts of Venice was the people we met. We met the coolest family from South Africa... Lissele, Laurette and Andre. They were awesome and we had an amazing day together. Andre and Laurette made a delicious fish dinner and Lissele and I did a great job of chatting and drinking wine. We hope to visit them in Johannesburg in the future! Thanks for a great time friends!!!
The market in Venice was amazing! So colorful and full of energy!
The fish market here reminded me of the Pike's Street market in Seattle. Everyone was throwing fish around and it was so loud. They were selling heaps of octopus and sting rays. We got to try some red fish and shrimp...delicious!
That's one big fish!

Venice Fish market. Daily Blog from Eric White on Vimeo.

The candies and sweets in Venice were humongous and SO tempting!!! They were just a little out of our price range...3 euros = disgusting. I did my share of window shopping though! ...Katie

Vernazza, Cinque Terre...one of my favorite places yet!!!

2010-04-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

We were lucky enough to spend 4 nights in Cinque Terre. We got to complete the trail between all five coastal towns, explore Vernazza, meet some awesome people and fall in love with the simple way of life. This is from the third town called Cornigla (pronounced Cornelia). The flowers were so beautiful everywhere we went!
This is a view of the town we stayed in called Vernazza. It is the fourth town, out of the five. You could walk the span of the town, top to bottom, in about 10 min or less. The town had 2 bakeries, a few restaurants and 3-4 wineries! It was so laid back and so fun to stay in!
This is a view from our apartment window. It was, by far, one of the best people-watching spots ever! We could watch everything on the main street from our 3rd story window! This was "the cave" which is very famous for it's history and night life. We didn't learn too much about it though...just that it's famous!
Another view from our apartment! You can see the terraced hills behind the town. They are very proud of the wine they make in Vernazza from these vineyards. The local pesto is amazing also!
On our Cinque Terre hikes, we budgeted in gelato stops instead of lunch stops. We have very strict priorities! If you know Eric, this shouldn't be surprising!!!
The colors and windows on the buildings fascinated me!!! All the towns were like their own little art shows!
One of the many vineyards we walked through on the hikes to the different towns. We also got to walk through lemon tree groves, apricot orchards and olive groves. The ocean wasn't too bad to look at either.
On the last day in Vernazza, while doing our laundry, we met a really cool couple (Mel and Michelle) from Australia. We later went for a 25 min swim with them in the freezing cold harbor. Since we were all freezing, we decided to make a delicious dinner of spaghetti and wine at our sweet apartment! It's so fun meeting the nicest people on these trips! Thanks Mel and Michelle for a great night!
This is a view of our apartment! It was so nice and had two great people-watching windows, a kitchen and a comfy bed. We cooked all our meals here and were quite entertained with all the people that walked below us! The windowsill was the best place to have a cup of tea!!! I didn't want to leave here. I loved every minute of my time here and I can't wait to go back...Katie

When in Rome

2010-04-27T05:08:00.000-07:00

As you have probably noticed i have really been loving the Panoramic pictures recently. As always just click on it to get a full view of the action!

We made it to the Colosseum a couple of times. It is pretty crazy to learn more about what actually happened here. How violent it really was.
It was really cool to see the "underground" portion in person. to see the 80+ elevators that could lift animals and stuff at any point in the "show" into the arena!

Right next to the coloseum was the Roman forum. This is where Julius Cesare was killed and buried. It was cool to walk where all of these "famous" Romans had walked.

This is also the site of the prison that Paul and Peter from the bible were held in. You can go in there and see where it is said that Peter was actually chained up. Its so crazy that some of these buildings are well over 2000 years old.

The VATICAN CITY...

2010-04-27T04:14:00.001-07:00

We made it to ROME and our first stop was the Vatican City. I was really pumped to go see it, and it didn't let me down. The whole city is so royal and lavish. We went through the Vatican Museum (that houses the Sistine Chapel) and then headed to St. Peter's Basilica. This is the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, painted by Michelangelo (it's bigger than a football field).
This is one of the many crazy hallways leading up to the Sistine Chapel. We kept thinking that we were in it, but, no...it was just another hallway! We were super nerdy in Rome and downloaded audio guides to all of the big places...Rick Steves is the man!
Just marveling at the statues in the museum courtyard! It's sometimes hard to take it seriously with all the anatomically correct-ness!!!
Saint Peter's Basilica was one of the most breath-taking places I've ever been. It is so impressive and huge. We got there in the evening, when the sunbeams were dancing all over the church! The afternoon mass was going on, the organ was doing it's thing and the crowd was dwindling...it was magical! A nun (below) waits to go into confession.
The church from the outside. There is so much symbolism in the architecture and artwork. It was totally worth it to be nerdy and have the audio guides!!!
This is the altar, inside the altar. The bronze altar was built by Michelangelo and is meant to make the space feel more homey and intimate (not quite sure he accomplished that feeling). It is only used by the Pope when he conducts mass here! The altar behind it is where everyday mass is held.
Peter himself...in all his glory. This statue is meant to bring you good luck if you rub his right foot. The basilica itself is built on the hill where Peter was crucified upside down. It is such an intense feeling to know you are standing where these great men died for their faith!
The Square outside the Basilica. So many Christians were once murdered here, before it was legal to believe in Christ.
Eric and I outside of the Basilica.
This is the famous statue of Mary with her dead son, Christ. It is held behind bullet proof glass...crazy!
I loved visiting the Vatican and seeing the artwork and history. It was very moving for me to be inside the church and kept thinking of my Grandpa Mike! Wish he could have been our tour guide...he'd have made the tour much more exciting than Rick Steves!! ...Katie

Souvlaki!!!! oh yeah...and the Acropolis :-)

2010-04-27T03:42:00.000-07:00

So, our travels took us to Athens for one night...giving us just the right amount of time to fall in love with the city and want to stay longer. We managed to pack in 3 souvlaki rounds, a tour around the ancient buildings and a sunset over the city into 24 hours! The Parthenon was spectacular! It was cool to be standing where so much history has been made!
This is my favorite Greek delight! Souvlaki! Basically, it is roasted lamb with tomatoes and yogurt sauce in a pita! Eric actually liked it too! We ate it for lunch, dinner and breakfast...delicious.
The Parthenon at night!!! So beautiful!!!
This was at the amphitheater that Aristotle used to teach at...so crazy!
The buildings were fantastic at night! You could see the columns and details so much better! They just towered over the city...watching over Athens.
We were lucky enough to get two of the cheapest "deck seats" on the ferry from Athens to Ancona, Italy. We camped out here...at the very front of the ship for the whole night. It was a crazy experience...but, we met some other people and got to see some beautiful, ocean views. We set up chairs into make-shift beds and tried to sleep! There was a super loud snore-er who kept us up though...I wanted to throw a shoe at him!...Katie

CRATER DAY!

2010-04-25T08:31:00.001-07:00

We went into the Ngorogoro Crater. It was sooo crazy to see all of these animals in one place! It is the perfect spot for them. They can all get all of the food they need in this crater. This first photo was from the top look out spot. It is about 10-12 photos put together(thanks Photoshop) to make one panoramic photo. It was soooo amazing and made us feel sooo small. Also thank you Macks (www.Bluebeanie.com) for making the photo look cool with the filters. Click on it and make it bigger to really see what was going on.

This is where we stopped to eat lunch. It was beautiful. We had to eat lunch in the truck or the birds would swoop down and steal it. The picture below of Katie was also taken at this lunch spot next to the lake that was there.
The elephants in Africa are so much bigger than the ones in asia. It was pretty cool to see these now that we have seen the asian elephants and pick out the differences. The African ones have way bigger heads and ears that are shaped like Africa. shown below

This was a common site. There were so many places where zebras and wildebeests would just hang out and watch out for each other. Lions and cheetahs were everywhere(even though we only saw one lion and just barely)This is Peter. He was our guide. He was super knowledgeable and was super patient with the annoying people that were also on our Safari tour. (notice there are no pictures of them) I actually asked them to take this picture of us:)
Trying to figure out where to go. Since rainy season(The Long Rain) had began many of the roads looked like this.
.....Eric

Safari - Lake Manyara - Day 1

2010-04-22T00:45:00.000-07:00

Eric and I were lucky enough to get to go on an incredible 2 day safari in Tanzania! We went to Lake Manyara the first day and to the Ngorongoro Crater on the second day! We were blown away by the kinds of animals we got to see and the beauty of the landscape! It was AMAZING! We got to ride in the most hard-core jeep I've ever been in, with the top up so we could look around at everything! We felt like little kids and were having so much fun spotting animals and bouncing around in the back of the Jeep!

This is a view of the lake from our picnic spot! It was breathtaking! There were over 20 giraffes and zebra, wildabeast, and tons of other stuff! In the lake, there are hundreds of pink flamingos, but they are too far away to see in this picture! The lake is actually salt water and covers over 1/3 of the park. It's crazy how perfect of an environment this is for all these animals!
My FAVORITE!!! This one is for you Acadia!! We drove through a family of 5 giraffe and got to see them so closely. One was eating off of a tree and this one eventually ran away from us...which was really cool to see!
The zebras were way cooler than I thought they would be! Their coats are so crazy and amazing! When there are a lot standing next each other, it's like looking at a crazy rug!
Of course, we saw some amazing elephants! They were enormous...way bigger than the ones in Thailand! We saw two families of them, but this one was by far the most impressive! I wouldn't want to get too close to that tusk!
We saw a ton of baboon! They could care less about us and made us drive around them! They are stubborn, but pretty cool. We drove up on a tree of them fighting...that was a loud crazy experience.
Awww... look at the baby! I think baboons are weird looking, but the babies are cute! We had an amazing first day of our safari! We have many pictures and will try to put more up soon! ...Katie

Mesha

2010-04-18T12:57:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show you this video of one of my favorite kids at the orphanage. (I know I have lots of favorites.) He is one of the hardest players there. He is always going at full speed and right about lunch time everyday he crashes. On this day we had to keep him from falling asleep and putting his face in his food. Right after this is potty time and Mesha could not stay awake through potty time. HAHA this is hilarious.
PS: This is not the video I wrote about in my last post.

mesha sleep potty from Eric White on Vimeo.

....Eric

Saying "goodbye" to Moshi

2010-04-17T14:12:00.000-07:00

This is one of my new favorite meals! We got it all the time at Hannah and Freddy's! It is potato and bean stew, chapati and cabbage and carrots! You eat mostly with your hands and it gets a little messy, but it is so delicious! On our last night, we asked Hannah to make us our favorite dinner! She did and she taught me how to make chapati! She is such a great cook, hopefully I absorbed her chapati-powers! We had a lot of fun in the kitchen...but she put me to work! She cooks most of the food over an open flame (says it tastes better that way) and makes her own juices and sauces!
This is just a little friend we found one night, and it happened to be a night without power! These guys look even creepier in the light of a lantern...yuck! Eric was such a stud and killed it! We also were lucky enough to find a cockroach that night too!!! We are getting so brave.
Eric just washing his clothes! We took forever to do our laundry, but it was satisfying! Our fingers got so raw washing all of our stuff! The big concrete thing he is sitting on is where they collect all the rainwater! We used the rainwater to wash and shower with!
Our neighborhood chameleon!!! Woah! I've never seen one of these up-close. It hissed at Eric a couple of times...but he was just a good guy!
This is what the majority of the houses we see in Moshi look like. We are very lucky to live in such a nice place! Only 40% of the people in Tanzania have electricity and most have dirt floors. Makes you look at all our blessings a little differently!
The most amazing family! We will miss them so much! Hannah and Freddy and two of their kids, Mary and Michael! We had so much fun getting to know them and feel blessed to be welcomed into their lives! We will miss Moshi, but we know we want to go back!...Katie

Our Last Day at Upendo!

2010-04-17T13:16:00.000-07:00

These are some photos from our last day at the orphanage. It was super sad. It was very hard to leave these kids knowing that they will most likely never get adopted. Some of them can't get adopted since they still have known relatives. I will be posting a video I made soon. Now that I have a "real" internet connection I can actually put stuff up on the interweb.
Bryan and me
Katie and Lucy

This is my favorite of the older girls. Vickie
Somehow we managed to get most of the group together for a group photo. Click on it to view it bigger. This pic does a good job of getting a glimpse of some of their personalities:)
Katie and Neema. Neema is a disabled child who found herself a really special place in Katie's heart. She really had a hard time saying goodbye to her.

HAPPY EASTER - Upendo Style

2010-04-10T05:40:00.000-07:00

Eric and I hung out at the orphanage on Easter and had a blast! Easter is a huge deal here...they celebrate for 2 whole days and the orphanage was no exception! The sisters slaughtered two pigs for the feast (Eric was lucky enough to witness that process... I thought he might pass out afterward) and they brought out soda and balloons and had a party! The kids all have fancy outfits they get to wear on special occasions and they were decked out! They all looked so cute and they were so proud to show off their formal wear. Instead of playing in the playground all day...the kids and the mamas danced and sang around the courtyard. They were so joyful and so excited to celebrate! This is Poli (below)! He is one of the younger boys and is one of our favorites. He is still learning to walk and talk, so he squeals all the time and walks like a drunk guy! He's hilarious!

This is Sister Rupert, but we call her Sister Sweetness! She is by far the coolest nun I've ever met! She plays tricks on people, is constantly running around like a crazy woman and loves these kids to death! We have become pretty close to her and she's taken us under her wing...teaching us Swahili and inviting us to choir practice! She's even taught us some sewing!

Everyone in their Easter-best clothes! It's hard enough to get kids to stand still for a picture, but for some reason Tanzanians have a hard time looking at the camera!

Eric and I and some of the kids!!! I'm holding Poli and Eric is holiding a kid called Kelvin. Kelvin is constantly peeing his pants, but looks pretty good in this picture. The little girl in front loves playing with Eric and is always striving for his attention! We love it here!! It is like one HUGE giant family!

Kilimanjaro decided to show herself! Since rainy season began, we haven't seen much of Kili...but Easter came and she showed up! Eric and I are constantly amazed at how huge this mountain is. It just towers above everything! It's crazy to look up and see snow and know that Moshi will never experience a snow storm!...Katie

Preaching in Moshi

2010-03-30T23:35:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday I had was incredibly blessed with the opportunity to preach at a local church here in Tanzania. I was pretty nervous because I have never had an opportunity like this before.
I was originally supposed to speak to the youth group but on Sunday morning the head pastor asked me if I could tweak my sermon to preach to the entire church for 45 minutes. I was like heck yes I can! It ended up being between 75 and 100 people that I ws speaking to.
One of the reasons it was super fun was that the crowd was really getting into what I was saying. They were lifting their hands, yelling AMEN, and Praise the LORD! It was super encouraging for me while I was up there.

It was so much fun and I am so thankful for this opportunity. Preaching with a translator is sooo much fun too. After about 40-45 minutes I was done but i didnt want to be.Freddy, my translator did an awesome job! Thank you freddy!!

Livin' the Moshi Life

2010-03-22T23:37:00.000-07:00

This is where Eric and I are living at the moment. It is a beautiful house and right now, Hannah is turning up all the soil to plant Maize seeds! I love it! The power really likes to go out here, we were without electricity for over 24 hours the other day!!
Freddy brought home a cow's heart the other night to "snack on". I did not find this too appealing, I'd rather look at it and name all of the anatomical structures! Eric, on the other hand, loved the heart. It was enormous! Hannah and Freddy just sprinkle some salt on it and eat it like potato chips. It looks raw, but it's actually boiled...yum!
This is the orphanage we work at!!
Just a little playground amazingness!!!
Me with some of the lovely ladies!!! ...Katie

UPENDO!

2010-03-20T06:07:00.000-07:00

The past week we have been at the Upendo orphanage. Here are some of the kids that we have been helping with. They are sooo cute

This little guys name is Brian. He has quickly become my favorite kid. He has the cutest smile from ear to ear with the biggest dimples ever! He is always walking around by himself making weird noises like farm animals. HAHA hes awesome!

This is Lucy. She is hilarious. She is always hanging out with the boys. during eating and sleeping time the boys and girls are supposed to be separated but for some reason she is always with the boys. Eating sleeping bathing and everything. She is way to nice and sweet to be hanging out with them too. They boys are roudy and loud and the girls are all very quiet and nice.

This is Josie she is really quiet and shy. She has a twin sister named Jackie.

I am not sure of this little guys name. Dont let his awesome smile fool you. He is a big cry baby and instigates a lot of the trouble that happens on the play ground. All while being hilarious and really easy to love on!

Our Home in Moshi

2010-03-17T23:13:00.000-07:00

Eric and I arrived in Tanzania about 4 days ago and are trying to ease into life here in Africa. We will be living with a married couple, Hannah and Freddy. They have a beautiful home a little outside of the town of Moshi. It takes us about an hour to walk from home into town. They are so nice and Hannah is an amazing cook (African food is delicious). Our yard has banana, mango, passion fruit and pomegranate trees in it. It is a really cool place to live because we get to meet all the locals and see how they are living. Everyone calls us mzungu (white people) and are really excited to talk to us. Our Swahili is coming along, but we still sound really funny speaking it. This is what we see when we step out of our "drive way". It is so beautiful!

From our bedroom window, we can see Mt. Kilaminjaro. It is massive!! The tallest peak is called Kibo and the smaller peak (you can't see it in this picture) is called Mawasi. This picture is actually taken from a farm just down the road, but it's awesome. On our walk to the orphanage, we have one of the best views of the mountain. Yesterday, the bottom half was covered in clouds, but the peak was sticking out. It looked enormous.

This is a "dinner party" at our house the other night. Freddy and Hannah invited some of the guest pastors over to their house for dinner. It was great getting to know everyone. They were hilarious. Their church is really dynamic and has welcomed Eric and I like we've never experienced. Eric has been invited to speak to the youth this Sunday...be praying for that! In this picture, Freddy is standing second from the left in the striped shirt and Hannah is the woman in the yellow t-shirt. We are loving it here!!!...Katie

Dogs are fun

2010-03-15T07:34:00.001-07:00

Pan

While we were on the island of Koh Kradan there were a ton of dogs that belonged to the island. No one really owned them but they never went hungry. They were strange though. Very unattached from people. They would not even get excited when we would come near them at first. Not even the slightest wag of the tail.
We named the brown one Pan. He was by far the coolest of them all. He even had a ridge of hair going up his back just like the rhodesian ridgeback i want. This is the one we got to know the best. It took a couple days but he ended up warming up to me and would even give a little wag of the tail when I would approach. He even followed us out into the water when we were going on in the kayak. We tried to put him in but he was having none of it.
The black one was named marbles. He was way cool too. He would just come lay in the shade right next to us and not really pay any attention to us unless we made the first move.

There were other dogs there too. One that we named Edna and one that we named peter. Unfortunately we never had the near arround when they were around. I will be posting more pictures of more dogs later. time is short and internet is expensive here in africa. I will also be putting up some africa stuff soon! so be on the look out!.....eric

FUN PIC

2010-03-11T17:01:00.001-08:00

This is one of my favorite photos that I have taken so far. Just thought I would share this with you as we are leaving the islands and heading to Kenya!......Eric

KRABI...Not Too Shaby!!

2010-03-11T01:50:00.000-08:00

A few days ago Eric and I spent some time in Krabi!! It is basically the rock-climbing heaven of Thailand! People come from all over the world to this tiny peninsula to climb the "dripping" rocks that cover the land. It was a really fun place to visit. We didn't do too much rock climbing, but made it to some beautiful beaches and completed some pretty gnarly hikes. This is a view from the look-out we made it to. It was awesome!

One of the beaches we went to. It was a little crowded but swimming under those rocks was pretty impressive! You could swim into caves and go explore through all these giant boulders...no getting bored on this beach!We ate dinner at this small restaurant every night and watched the sunset over the water. Instead of setting in the ocean though, we were able to watch it disappear behind these crazy looking islands! The food was delicious and the company was excellent!
We wanted to introduce you guys to our finest traveling companions...Anna and Diar! They are from Germany!! We've had a blast (as you can see) traveling with them and will miss them dearly!!...Katie

Ooooh, We Live A Hard Life

2010-03-06T16:44:00.000-08:00

We just spent the past 4 days in paradise! It was so beautiful, the water was crystal clear and so many shades of blue! From our island we could see many different islands just jutting out of the water. We traveled with our new German friends Anna and Diar! We had such a great time soaking in the sun!

We went on snorkeling trips 2 days that we were there! Each time, we took a long-tail boat like this one. It was just Eric, Anna, Diar and I the entire time! We got our own private tours somehow...lucky us!
Sunset Beach was just a 10 minute walk through the jungle to the other side of the island! We caught 3 amazing sunsets! The best part about Sunset Beach was coming home, on the way back. The jungle is lacking in lights and we had to use our little flashlights. We were screaming the whole way...very brave! More than once, we thought we were going to be attacked by giant crabs or jumping tree frogs!
This was the beach we walked out to every day from our wee bungalow! There was never more than 10 people in the water and the beach was so peaceful. That's right, be jealous!!Our beautiful shower!! At first, I was kind of scared of a shower that had no roof, but it was actually really cool! If you took a shower at night, you got to see globs of stars in the sky. The whole island used ground water, so all the water was a little brown...it was very nice to get back to the mainland and take a real shower!One of the amazing limestone islands that just pops out of the ocean! On one of our snorkeling trips, our guide brought us to an island (a little bigger than this one) and we followed him through a cave. We were swimming through pitch-black darkness...I was thrilled, it was so fun! We finally came out into this crazy lagoon. We were surrounded on all sides by massive limestone walls covered in jungle straight out of Jurassic Park. It felt like we were at the bottom of the mouth of a volcano, and the only way in was to swim through this cave! It was one of the coolest things I've ever seen!
The water was crystal clear and the snorkeling was amazing! We saw so many colors and different fish! Eric had a blast with the sea cucumbers! I never knew Thailand had such beautiful islands!...Katie

Thai National Anthem

2010-03-02T03:32:00.000-08:00

We get to witness the craziest thing in Thailand! Everyday at 8am and at 6pm loud speakers all over Thailand play the national anthem. First, there is a tick-tock that happens and then the anthem is played. People can be grocery shopping, running or trying to catch a bus, but when they hear the national anthem...they stop in their tracks until it is finished. Eric and I had no idea what was going on the first time, but since then we've kind of caught the hang of it. This is a video of a huge park where people go to exercise after work and we happened to be there at 6 o'clock. We caught this phenomenon on film. It's pretty amazing!...Katie

fluidity is the name of the game

2010-03-02T01:23:00.000-08:00

This is what is considered a motorcycle here in Thailand.
It is far from this....

BOLTS ACTION

but it is a 250cc scooter that has no problem doing 100 kph down the shoulder of a highway. Now this is only about 60 mph. It was very able to go faster but its little tiny bicycle like wheels felt a bit squirrely for me. I averaged about 80 kph most of the time out in the country. Yesterday, was my first day riding a "motorcycle" here in Thailand. I was pretty nervous considering the way motorbikes and cars handle themselves in traffic. (If you dont know check back to my Crazy Motorbike post from a couple weeks back.) After driving in it for about 45 minutes on the way to the beach I pretty much had it figured out. The chaos of driving here actually works for them. The way it works is like water. Water doesn't like open spaces in it. If you poke a hole in water it quickly fills it back in. Traffic here is no different. You the bike have to act like that. (along with everyone else on the road). If there is an open space in traffic you quickly and carefully fill it. People here dont get pissed at everyone for cutting in front of them and all that stuff. Everyone here is just getting to where they are going.
It is crazy, but it works for them. It is one of those things that you don't understand until you are actually neck deep in. Now I am by no means good at driving in this crazyness but I understand it a little bit better. This little bit of fun also made me really miss driving my bike back home.

Here are some of the spots we were able to find on our rides. This is such a beautiful place and i am so thankful to be here. enjoy....Eric

Thank You Dunhams!!!

2010-02-27T05:35:00.000-08:00

In Chiang Mai, we got to meet up with an amazing family, the Dunhams, that took the time to show us around the town and introduced us to their ministry, The Family Connection Foundation (! It was so cool to meet people living here who are just trying to shed some light into this country. Their ministry does so much for the people of Thailand, especially Chiang Mai. They run children homes and preschools (in the picture above) and are developing a lot of community programs to go out and build relationships in this city. They are very brave people sharing their faith in this country. Only 0.5% of the country knows Jesus, so they are looking at a very daunting task. The thing that hit me the most was what they told us about orphans in Thailand. Basically, Buddhist teaching is huge on Karma and Buddhists believe that orphans are orphans because of the bad Karma they made in their past lives. This being said, no one is very excited to help them or to love them. One of the many programs of their ministry is to help orphans, give them love and attention and teach them that they are loved! This is Tim and his daughter who is adopting the cutest little girl, Emma (below). They were so amazing to us! Thanks for everything!Emma had Eric and I wrapped around her finger in about 30 seconds! She was so cute and actually taught us a lot about Chiang Mai and Thailand! She was super fun to hang out with! ...Katie

Monkey Temple

2010-02-25T17:34:00.000-08:00

So, this is a little out of order (we did this the day before going on the elephant trip), but we got some funny pictures, so I thought it deserved posting. We went to Lopburie, a town renowned for it's temples swarming with monkeys. We definitely underestimated the amount of monkeys we were going to see. About 5 minutes after arriving, the streets were filled with monkeys! They were hanging on the power lines, climbing on the buildings, sitting on people's cars and scooters...they were everywhere! They weren't exactly the cute monkeys we were expecting either...they seemed more like pigeons. When we got to the temple itself, it almost looked like the walls were moving, there were so many monkeys. Shiny stuff and bags really appealed to the monkeys, one jumped on Eric and was so cute until he tried stealing our bag! ...Katie

SONG SOON!

2010-02-24T03:16:00.000-08:00

Katie and I just spent 3 days in a beautiful small village near Chiang Mai. It was an elephant conservation center. This place doubled as a self sustaining village where the Mahouts (the people who took care of the elephants) lived and worked and farmed and everything. These guys were pretty much married to their elephant. One of them even left his house in Lampang to live there. Pum, the guy who took care of Katie's elephant would go twice during the night and feed his elephant. It was very amazing how the elephant seemingly able to communicate back with the Mahout somehow. My Mahout has been with Pankut for 12 years now. I guess 12 years together every day and you learn how to speak to each other.

elephant bath. This water was not exactly the cleanest water ever. It seemed like the elephants would always wait until they got into the water to poop. Notice the softball or larger sized clumps of elephant poo that are floating around in the water we are spraying at each other. Pretty gross but oh well. It was way fun.

We got to trek out into the forest and clean off and feed our elephants each morning at 6:30 am. It was super cold then by the way. After that we would trek back into the camp where it was time for the bath. This early morning bath didn't usually have the same playfulness that the other 2 baths for the day got. Since it was so cold it was usually just an in and out hope you dont get to wet kind of a deal.

Me leading the pack

This is where we stayed. Our room was connected to the home of one of the Mahouts

Long shot of the village

This is a little 8 month old baby elephant named Kaelynn, who was very interested in my camera. .....Eric

Mahout Course = Elephant Professionals

2010-02-24T00:01:00.000-08:00

We are officially "mahout" certified!! Eric and I just finished our 3-day elephant training course. We arrived at 6am on Monday morning to a beautiful elephant sanctuary in the jungle in northern Thailand. When we got there, we were each assigned elephants. My elephant was Gale, he is 10 years old and his mahout is Phum who has been with him since he was born. Gale acts like a teenage boy, he is rebellious, eats anything and everything and is always doing his own thing! It was crazy how we got to know all the elephants personalities in just 3 days! After we got to know our elephants, we learned different commands and how to act with our elephants. We learned different ways to get on and off, how to get them to pick stuff up and hand it to us...all sorts of things! This is me and Gale...
We got to take the elephants to a lake to bathe twice a day...the mahouts made it look easy, but my elephant didn't just stand there to let you wash him...he liked to go ALL the way under, head and all. He would just splash around with his trunk up like a submarine, and me getting soaked. My mahout taught me "bon-boon", which tells the elephant to suck up water into their trunk and then give you their trunk to point, and then they spray!!! I got Eric so good, his elephant wasn't nearly as cool as mine...he got drenched!!!
Every morning, we got to hike into the forest with our mahouts to find our elephants. This was my favorite part of the whole program. We got to spend a lot of time with them, clean them, feed them breakfast and then walk with them on a nice trek out of the forest. They were so helpful and pulled up their own chains and everything! It amazed me how intelligent these animals are!
This is one of the most beautiful sunsets from our camp. Our room looked out over a beautiful lake and we were able to see the elephants walking around all over the place. We actually stayed with the mahouts and really got to see their ways of life. It felt like we were living on a farm...only with gigantic elephants stomping around all over the place!...Katie

BATS BATS BATS

2010-02-21T04:51:00.000-08:00

Our Guide for this tour we went on that Katie wrote about earlier took us to this little cave where monks go to worship. In this cave we were able to get super up close and personal with about 5,000 bats. Much closer than I would normally prefer, considering one actually hit me in the back at one point. We also we able to get pretty close to some strange bugs

Then our guide showed us this place where every night over 2 million bats fly out of one whole in the side of a mountain about 15 ft in diameter in one hour. This was truly amazing. I have never and will most likely never see anything like this again in my entire life. Coupled with our fun group and the amazing sunsets these bats are something I truly will never, ever forget

The hole they came out of
The escape route

The beautiful sunset

Monkeys and Birds and Elephants...Oh My!!!

2010-02-19T01:34:00.000-08:00

Eric and I got to go deep into the wild here in Khao Yai National Park!!! We had such an amazing experience! We rode in the bed of a pickup truck around the park for a while, went on a 5km trek in the jungle (our guide thought it best not to use a trail) and waded in a beautiful waterfall! The wildlife we saw was so awesome. We would just be driving and our stealthy guides would be able to spot a Great Hornbill, Eagle or Gibbon from so far away! On our trek, we were just bashing through the bush and were able to see some amazing trees and flowers. It was so cool just to be so deep in the jungle and see all the foliage and hear all the crazy sounds from the animals! We saw hundreds of monkeys (most on the road at night), some gibbons, deer, crazy birds and even a wild elephant! There are only 200 elephant that roam around the park so we were really lucky to see one, even if it was walking on the road at times. The animals just blew me away, I've never seen so many!

Scooters and motorcycles rule the land

2010-02-15T19:26:00.000-08:00

Around here the motorbikes don't mess around. It is the exact opposite of the US. In the US cars rule the road and motorcycles have to watch out for them. Here, the bikes rule and the cars look out for them. There are seemingly more bikes than there are cars. They zoom in and out of traffic, weaving through cars. The craziest part(which you can see in the video) is the girls just chillin on the back of their dudes bikes sidesattle! numerous times I saw they were just hanging out talking on their cell phones just cruisin through traffic! soooo crazy. Katie read that 4 people every hour die on a scooter or motorcycle in Bangkok. We have been lucky enough to not see one yet!

bikes in bangkok from Eric White on Vimeo.

Greetings from the Grand Palace

2010-02-15T00:45:00.000-08:00

We made it to the Grand Palace today which is what I've most been looking forward to in Bangkok. Holy Cow! It was amazing. The second you walk into the gardens, you are basically smacked in the face by gold, gems and more gold! We spent the entire morning there (in the sweltering heat) just gawking at this crazy architecture.When we got to the palace, they said we were wearing the wrong kind of clothes and that we'd have to borrow some...Eric got some very fashionable blue scrub pants and I got a lovely orange skirt. It was wild that they made us (and a billion other tourists) change clothes. Even though we were dressed funny, we loved every minute. It was such an incredible place to see! ...Katie

KAZAAM/Shaq Buddah

2010-02-14T04:35:00.000-08:00

I made a couple new friends today. Apart from the awesome older ladies you see below. I also met the star of the movie KAZAAM. <===Click there, if you are not in the know about this fine film from 1996. This man is also known as Shaq Buddah. He was a very generous fellow that agreed to not cut my head off with his giant sword if I would take a picture with him in this temple. I of course agreed. I was not about to get my head cut off on our first day out in Bangkok. ....Eric

Sawat Dii - Thank You

2010-02-13T21:41:00.000-08:00

After 19 1/2 hours of flying and a 30 min car ride, we made it to BANGKOK!!! We had no idea, but we've arrived at the very beginning of the Chinese New Years. Lucky for us, this means a few temples are open for free today and we'll get to see a massive fireworks display in China Town tonight. Eric and I braved the busy streets today and made it to this enormous "Standing Buddah". It was breathtaking! I've never seen anything more intricate and beautiful. Everyone in Bangkok is off today to celebrate and give praise to Buddha, so we were able to witness people giving their offerings and see the monks leading prayer.

So far, the city has blown us away. We totally look like tourists with our maps and tour guide books out, but we're getting it DONE! The food stands look amazing and I'm so excited to try out some delicious noodles on our next venture out.
Oh, just some adorable Thai women that we met! They were so nice and were trying to teach us how to speak a little Thai. I think I'm catching on quicker than Eric, he just says anything he thinks sounds Thai!

........ Katie

LA to Bangkok. YEA BABY!!

2010-02-12T12:08:00.000-08:00

For some reason Katie looks really excited about spending the next 24 hours of our life on an airplane. I know our destination is amazing, but still, we will be spending a full day on planes. Maybe because our plane looks like this?
I am looking forward to watching movies and sleeping for the next 24 hours. See you in Bangkok!!
....Eric