Agaza Saĭdah 2010 (Christmas Letter)

That’s happy holidays in Arabic. Yes, I’ve continued my travels this year, though less extensively than the recent past. I started January slowly as I recovered from knee surgery, having had my ACL replaced in December. I figured I’d get to all those tasks I’ve been putting off for years, tasks that could be done when I had time at home with nothing to do. The surgery didn’t keep me homebound for long. Physical therapy started two days after the out-patient surgery.

It was odd to be home in Winter, not having been in Minnesota to experience this cold blistery whiteness since leaving the full-time work world. But putting off the surgery would jeopardize the plans for the summer. Now I had to get through Winter. Puzzling over what I was going to do during the first few bleak months of 2010, and wondering if it was time to start looking for a job, I decided to take a Photoshop class instead, and then enrolled in another writing class. So again I realized there’s never enough time to do everything I want to do, and those tasks I’ve been putting off for years were put off yet again as I hunkered down at my computer trying to be creative by writing and doing class assignments mainly with other people’s photos rather than my own. With my new skills, I also helped re-shape www.toddlerfoodpartners.com for a non-profit that benefits malnourished children in developing countries by providing equipment to make a ready-to-use toddler food.

My knee recovered very well, thanks in part, to years of exercising. My PT said I was progressing better than most 18-year olds. I learned the ACL would be at its weakest two months after surgery, when I was originally scheduled to teach a sailing class in the British Virgin Islands. I was able to allow it to strengthen for another month before heading to the BVIs in March, and was secretly happy to learn that one of my students was a nurse (just in case I did something foolish).
Sailing classes started in May on Lake Minnetonka in the Twin Cities. In June, I headed up north to teach on Lake Superior. I was on the road quite a bit between Grand Marais and Bayfield Wisconsin. In July, I participated in my first race from Chicago to Mackinac Island. My parents raved about this island, so I finally had my opportunity to see it myself. I helped deliver the sailing vessel Redhawk the first half of the trip from Bayfield to Chicago, and a week later drove to Chicago for the race itself. Strong wave action downed five of our eight crew members for the first day of our 66-hour voyage. For me, sleeping was difficult as the boat rolled from side to side, but my system was tolerant. The seas calmed. Our sailing maneuvers were smooth. Conversation flowed making it a great trip with good friends. I’ve been invited me back for the 2011 Chicago-Mac, maybe more for my endurance than sailing strength.

As the sailing season wound down, I finalized plans for my Fall schedule. In September I was busy with a non-profit fund-raiser for Schools for Shan Refugees, http://shanrefugeeschools.org/. Next, I participated in a Leadership training program for Global Citizens Network (GCN), a Twin Cities non-profit organization that fosters international cross-cultural exchanges. Immediately afterwards, I headed to Nepal to participate in one of their trips, a prerequisite to be a leader-in-training. Yes, I hope to be a team leader on some of these trips, so if you’re interested in joining me on one of my adventures, check out http://globalcitizens.org/.



 
If you’ve read The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, you understand the reasons for my return to Nepal. Even having climbed to the base camp of Everest in 2003, I yearned to see the Annapurna region in the western half of Nepal. Now, after landing in Kathmandu and thinking I wasn’t up for this kind of travel any more, I met some wonderful young women at a hostel when I was taking the Language and Cultural program in preparation for my two weeks with Global Citizens Network group, and reconnected with my travel spirit. The people of Kathmandu are wonderful, but with a population that has expanded twofold in the past five years it’s much more chaotic than my first visit, especially when arriving during the biggest festival of the year. It was like being in the USA from Thanksgiving through New Year’s. I learned some Nepali to use during my stay only to realize I also needed to know Tibetan.

Our seven-member GCN team headed to a Tibetan village an hour outside of Pokhara to assist three hard-working Tibetans on re-roofing a row house sheltering three families. The hardest part was following their lead when we could have interjected some western ways, but the point of this exercise was for us to learn about their culture. We shopped for food at the food stalls and for building supplies at the hardware “store” and lumber mill, had tea with the homeowners, mingled with our two cooks, swung on the bamboo swings erected specifically for the Dasain festival and danced and sang with the field workers. We visited people at the Old People’s home to hear their stories of migrating from Tibet to Nepal over fifty years ago, and participated in a community-wide closing butter tea ceremony (though I don’t recommend butter tea—imagine a thick slab of butter in your tea). My favorite memory was playing “telephone”. Four of our GCN group went hiking in the Annapurna Region to Poon Hill, up to about 10,000’, or supposedly 3800 steps. Though it sometimes felt more like 38,000 steps, my knee felt so strong the walking sticks stayed in my backpack. As if this wasn’t enough, I returned to Kathmandu to work with a photojournalist for two weeks along with six others. Since there were too many to shadow him every day, he either assigned us a task, and/or we could work on a project of our own choosing. One of my pieces about water was published. The demand for water exceeds the supply in Kathmandu because the infrastructure is lagging the population explosion--people being driven from their homes in the Maoist-dominated areas in Western Nepal.

My travel plans included a 48-hour stopover in the Twin Cities to unpack and repack for Egypt. Dive guides had recommended diving the Red Sea, as far south as possible, so I reserved space on a liveaboard that went into Sudan. Minneapolis to Cairo to Hurghada then down to Port Galib for twelve days of diving as far south as Port Sudan. Twenty-three divers from the UK, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Russia and a lone American. Diving was nice and warm, too warm for many sharks, though I can now say I’ve seen a Scalloped Hammerhead. I spend four days diving in Marsa Alam, and then headed to Sharm el Sheikh with much anticipation of touring Egypt by land.
How wonderful to reunite with people I’ve traveled with in Nepal, Peru, Africa and Malta and to meet new friends while lazing in the sun. It didn’t take long to experience my new roommate’s charisma and energy. Nadja was my special blessing for this trip. Our group of 31 visited St. Catherine’s Monastery, climbed Mount Sinai and to Hathor’s Temple, fishtailed our way through blowing sand to a Bedouin camp, slept under the stars. The size of our group increased to 66 representing twelve countries when we got to Cairo where we visited the dusty Egyptian Museum. We then headed south to Upper Egypt to experience the ancient ruins along Nile—the temples at Abu Simbel, Aswan, Luxor, Thebes and Karnak, taking in the energy of the high Gods and Goddesses—Isis, Osiris, Horus, Hathor, Nut, Ra and Sekhmet. In Giza, we honored the ancient deities inside the Great Pyramid and at the paws of the majestic Sphinx as we celebrated the Winter Solstice in a truly spiritual way.
With a 24-hour turnaround, it’s off to Boston for a Christmas reunion with family after a two year lapse.

May this holiday season find you well. My best to you and your family and friends.
Naya Barsa Ko Suvakamana—that’s Happy New Year in Arabic,
Vicki www.nauticalnomad.blogspot.com