Nairobi, Kenya - March 2012

This blog consists of a culling down of 1,200 plus photos and a large number of videos. The photos and videos are grouped by subject and the captions will tell the story.


Flying from Amsterdam to Nairobi, we flew over the Sahara Desert. The first place we went to was where we were staying, Brackenhurst Conference Center, a very beautiful campus. On a later day, some of us went for a hike in the woods around Brackenhurst. One of the interesting things we saw was an ant trail crossing our trail. This video shows the ants in motion. The next day we went to Rosslyn Academy to meet the students we would be working with all week. Here are some team photos. We put on eight concerts, two at a church and the others in various schools in the Nairobi area. We were able to take videos at the concerts and the videos show the audience responses. In addition here is one video dedicated primarily to the orchestra. One of the places we visited was a childrens home where some of the acoustic instrumentalists were able to teach the children about their instruments. Here is a video of the kids singing to us. This video shows the children being shown some of the instruments. Like all other kids, they had to show off for the camera as seen in this video. We did more than concerts with the students from Rosslyn Academy, we also held Master Classes with the sixth grade band students and with the Middle School Symphonic Orchestra. Here is a video of the classes. As with any opportunity like this, candid photos are always good. When the team was not busy, other instruments were picked up, for example our drummer on violin and our sound tech (Nancy) on keyboard, for impromptu jam sessions. On the last day some of the Rosslyn Students had rugby practice, and visible on the practice field was part of our rhythm section. We always thought our kids were the only ones that messed around in pictures but we had one on our trip when photos were being taken. One of the most important parts of a GMP trip is food. In these photos food is the main feature. Here are some photos for Nancy's techno geek friends of various sound systems that we used. Every morning as we left Brackenhurst we went by huge tea plantations and some coffee plantations. The tea plantations were very well groomed, like a large lawn mower clipped them. Coffee trees were a little bit higher and were mostly hidden behind hedges. Both crops are very labor intensive. From Brackenhurst to Rosslyn Academy the main highway went through a number of villages. These photos show some of the store fronts and this is a video as we were passing through. One interesting feature along the main highway was nurseries that seemed to go on forever. Clearly, the plants cannot be put away at night so there is a real honor system at play. From time to time we would see some very interesting things along the road. These photos are a view of a few of them. One place that we were taken to see was one of the large slums in Nairobi. These photos show this particular slum. Obviously between the villages and on our way to Rift Valley Academy, we were treated to the beautiful Kenyan countryside. These are photos of some of the farming areas. On various days we did have time to tour some of the highlight areas of Nairobi. First of all was the Nairobi National Park as seen in these photos. One thing that was of very special to us was the elephant orphanage, because of the strong family orientation of elephants and the orphans require a significant amount of nurturing and care. These are photos at the elephant orphanage and this video shows the orphan elephants being fed. You can read more about this particular elephant orphanage in the October 2011 National Geographic, also online. We also went to the giraffe center where we could feed the giraffes. Here are photos at the center. On the last day we spent time at a Masai market where all sorts of Masai things could be purchased. The fun here was negotiating with the various people selling in the market. Here are photos of the market. And finally, one day we were treated to a view of the President of Nairobi's caravan.

Nairobi, Kenya marzo 2012

Cuando volamos de Amsterdam a Nairobi, fuimos encima de Sahara Desert. El primer lugar fuimos a fue el lugar donde hemos permanecido, Brackenhurst Conference Center, un lugar muy bonito. Mas tarde, varias personas en nuestro grupo pasearon en el bosque alrededor Brackenhurst. Una de las cosas inetersantes que vimos fue un rastro de hormigas cruza nuestra rastro. Este video muestra los hormigas en movimiento. El próxima dia fuimos a Rosslyn Academy para encontrar a los estudiantes con que estaríamos trabajando por todo semana. Aquí son algunas fotos de grupo.  Jugamos en ocho conciertos, dos en una iglesia y otros en varias escuelas alrededor Nairobi. Podimos a toma videos en los conciertos y los videos muestran las respuestas de audiencia. Además aquí es un video dedicado principalment a la orquesta. Un lugar que visitamos fue un hogar de niños donde varios de los instrumentistas acústicos pudieron enseñar los niños acerca sus instrumentos.  Aquí es un video de niños que nos canta. Esté video muestra los niños son mostrados varios los instrumentos. Como todos otros niños, tuvieron que presumir para la cámara como visto aquí en esté video. Hicimos más que jugamos a conciertos con los estudiantes de Rosslyn Academy, nosotros también tuvimos Master Classes con estudiantes de banda de primaria escuela y con estudiantes de orquesta sinfónico de secundaria escuela. Aquí es un video de las clases. Como cualquiera oportunidad como esta, fotos sinceras son siempre buenoas.  Cuando nuestro grupo no fue ocupado, otros instrumentos fueron recogidos, por ejemplo, nuestra persona que tocar bateria con violín y nuestra persona de sonido (Nancy) con teclado, para sesiones para improvisar. En el último día varios de los estudiantes de Rosslyn tuvieron práctica de rugby, y visible en el campo de la práctica formó parte de nuestra sección rítmica. Siempre pensamos nuestros hijos fueron solo niños que fueron malo cuando fotos fueron tomado pero tuvimos uno en nuestro viaje cuando fotos fueron tomado.  (Está persona fue nuestro director.)   Una de la mayor cosa importante en un viaje de GMP es comida. En estas fotos comida es primera. Aquí son varios fotos para los amigos de "geek" de Nancy de varios sistemas de sonido que usamos.  Cada mañana cuando salimos Brackenhurst fuimos por plantaciones de té y cafetales. Las plantaciones de té estuvieron muy acicalado, corte como un pasto grande. Árboles de café fueron un poco más alto y fueron en su mayor parte ocultado detrás de arbustos. Ambas cosechas requieren mucha mano de obra. De Brackenhurst a Rosslyn Academy la principal carretera fue a través varios pueblos. Estas fotos  muestran varios frentes de tiendas y esta es un video como fuimos pasando a través. Una característica interesante por la principal carretera fue viveros eso pareció pasar para siempre. Claro, las plantas no pueden ser guardado de noche entonces hay un sistema de honra en lugar. De vez en cuando  veríamos algunas cosas muy interesantes por la carretera. Estas fotos son una vista de ellos. Un lugar que fuimos tomada para ver fue unos los barrios grandes en Nairobi. Estas fotos muestran este barrio particular. Obviamente entre los pueblos y en nuestra manera a Rift Valley Academy, fuimos tratados al hermoso campo keniano. Estas son fotos de algunos de las áreas agricultura. En varios dias tuvimos tiempo para viajar parte de las áreas populares de Nairobi. Primer fue el Parque de Nairobi Nacional como visto en estas fotos. Una cosa que fue muy especial a nosotros fue un orfanatorio de elefantes, porque de la orientación familiar fuerte de elefantes y los huérfanos requieren una cantidad significativa de alimentar y el cuidado. Estas son fotos en el orfanatorio de elefantes y este video muestra los huérfanos de elefantes ser alimentado. También leer más acerca este orfanatorio particular de elefante en de octubre 2011 National Geograhic, también en el internet.  También fuimos a el centro de jirafe dónde nosotros podríamos alimentar las jirafas. Aquí son fotos en el centro.  En el último día fuimos a tianguis de Masai donde algunas cosas de Masai podría ser comprado. La diversión aquí negociaba con las varias personas que venden en el tianguis. Aquí son fotos de tianguis.  Y finalmente, fuimos tratados a una vista de la caravna de presidente de Nairobi.

Thailand, 2012

Since coming back from Thailand we have been very busy working at the carpentry shop, with Rotary Club, and a trip to Nairobi (blog to follow), and have only now had the opportunity for a new posting. This posting summarizes our trip to Thailand in January and February of 2012.First and most important are our family in Thailand. Here are photos of them and a video of all them doing things. Here is a video of our little princess just being cute. The kids all got together to help wash Daddy's car in this video. Every year Thailand celebrates Children's Day on a Saturday in January where they set up entertainment areas all over the place. It rained the day it was happening but we took them anyway. There are games for the kids, lots of food and prizes. Here is a video of the things going on at the place we went to. Opa and Nana also had birthdays when we were there and were treated royally. Here are photos of our cakes. A highlight of our Thailand trips is to take the kids to the elephant camp to see the elephants, see the elephant show and ride the elephants. Some of our grandkids had never done this so it was special for them this year. Here are photos of the show as well as a video of some of the events in the show. Here is a video of us riding the elephants, another video of feeding the elephants and finally a video of a few month old baby elephant.This year we went to the Chiang Mai Night Safari only during the day time. Turns out you can actually see more activity during the day so it was very interesting for all of us. Here are photos of our venture to Night Safari and a video. What you don't see at the Night Safari is a tiger resenting being stared at and charging at us. It scared Joel to death! (Nana and Adam were pretty startled too). Each year the Senior class at Grace International School have a Fair where they dress up and have activities for the kids. Here is a video from this year's fair.