Beanie's Backpacking Blog

Brooklyn? Fuggeddaboutit

2011-12-24T21:00:00.003-05:00

Happy Holidays to all!

The last post I was in Kenya and I thought I would be able to post before I left there or when I was in France for the last phase of our trip but in Kenya there wasn't enough time to post because we were running around Nairobi. Below are a selection of photos from our safari in the Nairobi National Park. It was really amazing because literally the first animal we saw was the declared extinct/seriously endangered black rhino! Our guide said hes only seen it a handful of times in his 16 years of working in the national park! So it was obviously a sign from above- hopefully of good luck :) We also checked out the Giraffe Center where the motto is "no food no friends" so you feed the giraffes pellets either from your hand or from your mouth! We did both as you can see and boy, was it slimy!!!!

While in Nairobi, while we were staying with our friends the Birnback's, Lara took us to visit a local township and we visited a community project headed by a Kenyan architect to teach teenagers from the area a trade- in this case creating bricks on a building site which cuts housing upgrading costs in half. At the moment, which is in the photos, they are building their visitors center so they can host guests and hold lessons as well. As we were leaving, these two young boys held my hand up the valley and we were chatting, but when I got to the taxi they asked if I had any money for them, which I didn't because I hadn't changed any, but all of a sudden I realized that they weren't actually interested in talking to me but probably just wanted some money- which made me very sad and upset. But unfortunately, maybe that is the system working against them for their whole lives. Anyways, the rest of the time in Nairobi, we hung out and relaxed with Lara and Thalia (their beautiful two year old daughter) and at the end, Nick took us on a tour of the UN compound which is literally like a college campus...and it has monkeys!! too cool :) We also ate at a famous Kenyan restaurant that used to serve bushmeat but since it was banned in 2004, we only got to try crocodile as the most exotic meat- no zebra, lion, or water buffalo

Our last stop before we got back to the United States just two days ago, was in France to see my cousins who live/are from there because it seemed silly to pass through and not see my family. However, in literally the first time in the two years we have known each other, Sean got incredibly ill and had a very high fever for almost the whole time so I spent my time bringing him soup in bed and eating foie gras with my cousins so I didn't have anything to post and we didnt take any photos. I have to say the transition from literally 85 degree weather to 30 degree weather after nine months of summer in one night was too much for us to handle- winter is not agreeing with me this year! Sean and I joked that after no problems in Africa, the first world wasn't agreeing with us anymore haha

I hope everyone has enjoyed my blog and I do intend to turn it into much more than just a blog, but if you want to keep it bookmarked for future posts, I would love it and I will obviously spread the word when my next adventure comes up and when the site grows.
Merry Christmas :)

xoxo
Justine

Goodbye Cape Town :( Jambo Kenya!

2011-12-12T02:30:00.001-05:00

SLAVE WRECKS TEAM PHOTO

   We landed safely in Kenya and are having coffee with Nick, Lara and Thalia (well Nick and Thalia are reading her princess book). The vegetation, roads, and general landscape are very different from Cape Town. It is warmer, very green, and a little dusty. In Cape Town we oriented ourselves by the mountain, but here one's view is often limited by the lush vegetation (at least in this area of Nairobi).
   Here are some pictures from our last few days in Cape Town to tide you all over- we managed to get out to the winelands! karma was on our side- well Linda, Jon's fantastic wife, was by our side and she had trained all the staff at the three vineyards (Fairview, Solms Delta, and Babylonstoren) we visited, so it was truly divine! The guys got back out on the water tues, wed, and sat because thursday was full of meetings (our winelands day out) and the weather (although beautiful for sunning oneself by the pool, the swells were too large to dive) was not conducive to diving. On friday night, we checked out a sailing party sponsored by Puma (the sports clothing company) and saw the headliner who is a famous Afrikaaner rap artist- Jack Parow, lots of dancing and cool time. Saturday, Sean went out diving with the team but I cleaned the house for Gareth and Esta (my parents would have been appalled if I hadn't done some serious cleaning) and went to town to say goodbye to all the guys (team photo above). I did cry a bit when I said goodbye to Emma who told us we couldn't go because she would miss us too much (and in English not Afrikaans!) so I teared up quite a bit. Saturday night ended with goodbyes at Jaco's house ...tears
   Sophie was gracious enough to take us to the airport at 4am on Sunday morning, we swung by Long street to say goodbye to her boyfriend Wietsche (pronounced Vicher) at his bar and then went to the airport....... super bittersweet feelings about leaving, I am so happy to see Nick and the fam but I am of course sorry to be leaving Cape Town, by the end it felt as though we weren't supposed to be leaving just yet. Anyways, today Lara is took us to check out the local townships here in Nairobi (daddy don't freak out) because her friend runs an organization that aids the communities there and we didn't actually check out anything like that in CT (even though they are everywhere). We leave for Paris on Thursday night so I hope to update again before that.
Cheers!

Solms Delta

Wine Tasting @ Solms Delta

Babylonstoren Vineyard

pretty roses

Goat Tower @ Fairview Vineyard

Gardens @ Fairview

Cheese room @ Fairview

Babylonstoren gardens

Grape Trellises

Sean is going to start his own winery by eating lots of grapes for their seeds

Hide!

just chilling like a villain

I think this is some sort of birds nest? for children?

View from Babylonstoren

Rosewater and chocolate flavored cupcakes

Pretty Waterlillies

Babylonstoren grounds

Workers tending grapes

Babylonstoren

Dinner with the team at Steenberg Winery

Jack Parow

Rebel without a Clue

2011-12-05T09:14:00.001-05:00

I apologize, I was planning on updating the site yesterday but I got seasick on the boat and my head was spinning too much to write anything out. But all wounds heal and now time for the story-

Since my last post about our jaunt to Hermanus, we have been in the library of Cape Town on and off and here's a poem I found in the Cape Weekly Chronicle from March 25, 1859 while I was looking for references to wrecked ships.

There is an evening twilight of the heart,

when its wild passion waves are lulled to rest,

and the eyes sees lives fairy scenes depart,

as fades the day beam in the rose west.

'Tis with a nameless feeling of regret

we gaze upon them as they melt away

and fondly would we bid them linger yet

but hope is round us with her angel lay

hailing afar some happier moonlight hour

dear are her whispers still, though lost their early power

At the library, we have managed to not narrow down the list of potential ships for the Barrel Wreck out in Table Bay for Jonathan, but most likely have eliminated the one that they thought was most probable and have been focusing their attention on. The ship, the Oste, wrecked on shore on Sunday night March 20, 1859 and had all of its cargo sold off at auction the following Thursday, with no indication that some cargo was left behind. The Barrel Wreck has the same type of cargo (window glass, tar, lead), but it is obviously wrecked underwater and still has unsalvaged cargo. Thus, it is unlikely that this is the ship, but it means that Jon and Sophie can move onwards and focus on other potential ships.

In more exciting news, Steve (GWU), Ken (NABS), and Dave (NPS) have all arrived safe and sound (although we did have a moment of panic when it took Dave an hour + to get through arrivals) and are over their jet lag! Steve and Ken arrived Thursday night, and Dave arrived Friday morning so much of Friday was spent with a museum tour, lunch, and then serious sleep recovery time for the guys. Ken got a brand new wetsuit made for himself, since the water temp is on average here 10 degrees Celsius (brrrrrrrrrrrr).

Sean and I spent Friday night out at our first and last night of clubbing in Cape Town. It dawned on us that we are leaving this coming Sunday morning at 6AM!!!! My freaking goodness has it flown by!! So by that logic, and if we are on the boat until the day before, last friday was our last night out for good here so we tried to make the most of it. It was good fun :)


Getting Glammed up

On his way out to the clubs

Foosball at Sgt Peppers

Sean riding in the back of the Bakkie (pickup truck)

Yea we're cute

sorry had to put this one, its too cute

Photobomb!! (see the hand in the background)

Over the weekend, on Saturday, Ken and Dave came out to meet Sean and I at Kalk Bay (where we had gone over my birthday weekend) and then we took the 'scenic' (read-lost) way back to the city to get Steve. Jaco and his family were kind enough to throw a braai to welcome the guys so the whole lot of us (Jaco, Jonathan, Tara, Sophie, Sean, Ken, Dave, Steve, and myself) spent the night discussing the project and other anthropological dilemmas over beer and meat. On Sunday, Steve, Ken and Dave took Sean and I to Cape Point/Cape of Good Hope which is obviously a famous tourist must! We saw tons of baboons, one even stole a sandwich from some guy in the park. Seriously, after all I have learned about how aggressive baboons are, some tourists are freaking foolish about how close they get to these creatures. The Point was really cool though, we got our picture with the sign at the Cape of Good Hope. On the way back, we stopped in Hout Bay to catch the Sardine Run (complete with seals) and eat some fish and chips. The apartment that the guys are renting while they are staying here has a pool downstairs, so when we got back to town, Sean, Dave, and I took advantage of this and the nice weather. Ahhhh so relaxing.......

Baboon on a car

Hi Dave!

Sean exploring

View of Cape Point

pesky baboons

happy for the great weather

Baboon stole some guy's sandwich

Cape of Good Hope

Kaap Die Goeie Hoop

The Point

Self-pose

Holding a shell that Sean gave me as a souvenir from the Point

Yesterday, hence the seasickness, we spent the day on the boat for the project's first official dive of the season (keep in mind we all leave next Sunday so its a major time crunch and the weather is laughing in our faces). In the pictures you will see the Frog Squad, our hired team of diving experts, and they are helping us in every way they can- really fantastic group of divers. We set up the dredge to just pump out as much sand off the site as is possible to see what is below the cannons. So far only a few nails and some timbers came out of the dredge, but its a good sign.

Frog Squad and Jaco hauling a 500kilo weight onto boat

These two 500kilo weights are going to be left on the site permenantly

Frog Squad

Getting into gear

Steve and Tara prepping for first dive

Tara and Sean anxious to get into water

Jaco suited up and Jonathan waiting his turn

new profile photo perhaps?

Dave in his dry suit and Ken waiting for his dive

Copper nail that came up through the dredge

Until next time,

Justine

Speedos are cute!!!

2011-11-25T04:47:00.001-05:00

So if you will obviously notice, I have completely revamped the website- I much prefer this sort of blog format and for the time being this is how it will remain until my bigger plans for this site reveal itself.........


gang on the beach

Last week went by rather fast and we had mostly been in the library doing more of the 'Barrel wreck' research or preparing for Steve's arrival next thursday, like getting the dredge working.
We did attend our first protest last tuesday which everyone called 'black tuesday' because the government was trying to pass a secrecy bill that would prohibit the press from portraying the government in a bad light- i.e. no more freedom of the press. The locals called it 'black tuesday' because of the black censor bars that will go over text in the future. People were really riled up about it - Sophie pointed out that normally Capetonians (compared to the rest of country) are more lackadaisical when it comes to protests but was really enthused that they were rallying for this cause. Unfortunately, it looks like the government passed the bill but to be honest, I am not really sure what the full ramifications of it will mean for the press- I think it is being appealed.

Protest at Town Hall

Thursday night, we were invited to a lecture at a local dive club to learn more about wrecks on the Western Cape. We went with Jonathan (a young handsome Indiana Jones reincarnate) from SAHRA and Sophie to a rotating sushi bar that is really cool- Jonathan and his wife, Linda, go there all the time and it is highly recommended if anyone is ever in Observatory. The lecture was good fun as well, learned about what some of the wreck sites are like on the coast north of Cape Town.

Sean and Jonathan at Sushi

Sophie with rotating sushi

We were planning on diving on Friday but the dredge pipe was still not in our possession so that was postponed until this afternoon. On Friday instead, we got to leave early as our friend Heather's aunt has a beach house in Hermanus, which is about an hour and a half up the east coast from Cape Town and is known for the annual whale festival. It was our first jaunt outside of Cape Town in our whole two months here and of course, once we got there the weather was rotten. However, the four of us (yes, Sean was the leader of the harem) cooked a belated Thanksgiving dinner, had wine, played cards, watched movies, and had a jaunt on the beach despite the weather. We also discovered some cool bookstores and cafes in the town. On our way back from the beach house, we stopped at a penguin reserve and man oh man did it smell like penguins! woof! and all the penguins were molting so it was a little pathetic to watch the poor creatures shivering in the wind. I was secretly hoping a great white shark would surprise us and breach the water and eat a penguin but alas nothing that cool happened.

he he he at thanksgiving shopping center

um yea this happened

pic of beach house in Hermanus

Friday night escapades

Ignore the alcohol

I made french toast for everyone!

beach house


Iced Tea in Hermanus called 'The Big Apple'

penguins

dassie

smiles at penguin rookery

imagine the smell......


penguins!

view from the long way home

Scenic Viewpoint

of course on the way back the weather was awesome

reminded me of the Mediterranean

handsome man

just chilling like villains :)

wind almost knocked me down

back to Cape Town!

Yesterday, we got a day off because it was so beautiful and so we were joined by Jonathan's cousin-in-law, Las (who Sean is teaching to skateboard) to a trip to the real winelands outside of Cape Town in Stellanbosch and Franshoek but unfortunately for us and Las' toddler Anna, his truck broke down in Klapsmut (maybe 10 miles from the vineyards- so close!) and we basically spent the rest of the afternoon waiting on a tow truck etc... but then we ate at Las' house with his wife Kath (its amazing how they always manage to have no notice and then the meal comes out looking restaurant quality) and walked home because alas, there was no more car :( but it definitely could have been much worse. After my 5 flat tires in a row in Mongolia last summer no kind of car trouble freaks me out anymore I must say. Hopefully, with so little time left we will still get a chance to get out there, its really beautiful, close to town, and kind of a must if you come to Cape Town. Maybe we can convince Steve and Dave and Ken to take a trip on a day off (hint Steve, lets go to the wine lands on a day with bad diving weather!! haha)

We also went to test the dredge out today and it was a complete success!!

Las and Anna and Emma and Esta relaxing in the garden

Sean and Emma


The Dredge!

Fixing Sean's BCD

Sean and the dredge piping

Pirate Ship in the Bay!

Cheers!

Hallo op 'n lui Sondagmiddag

2011-11-21T04:37:00.001-05:00

    My internet is now working again (for those interested in a long and painful story about sacrificing vodacom employees over a fire to get internet fixed, please inquire for more details) so as promised I am updating more frequently, hence this post :)
   Last time we chatted, I had said that I was going to set up an appointment for Sean and I to go cage diving with great white sharks- many of you (my grandparents) will probably be pleased to hear that that activity has been nixed because apparently the season for cage diving lasts from April-September and is not guaranteed after those months. We could spend the money and take the chance to see them in Gansbaai (~ two hour drive from Cape Town) but I don't think I want to spend a lot and not have the guarantee of seeing the sharks- its too big a waste if we don't get to see them. The solution to this problem, since it is like the ONLY THING I WANTED TO DO HERE, means I will just have to come back to Cape Town in a more suitable time of year to dive with the Great Whites. So for those adventure buffs who share my enthusiasm, a return ticket is open to join with me! **Sean isn't as enthusiastic about diving with sharks because he doesn't want them to recognize him as a meal when he is diving on the shipwrecks**
   We have become more active social butterflies, our transportation situation remains the same but our friends here have been really great about driving us home late at night after it is unsafe to ride the train. We have been back to the waterfront with our friends and discovered a really nice biergarten and an amazing and fresh all you can eat sushi place for only 109R which is like $13.00!! someone tell the states that they are missing out! At the waterfront, there is also a christmas tree that has been standing proudly for weeks and its really hot outside- so it throws my holiday schedule for a loop. I also saw at the waterfront mall an iStore- there is no official Apple store but there is an iStore, which i thought was just terrific. We have gone to the beach a few more times with friends, its hard not to end up on the beach with such nice weather and it being so accessible. Our other misadventure which happened just yesterday, our friend Sophie's sister Amber has a 1975 VW beetle that is painted a sparkling dark blue. She has named him Edward, after Edward Cullen from Twilight because his paint sparkles in the sunlight (insert lame Twilight joke here). Anyways, Edward needs constant reassurance that he is special and lets you know when he is exhausted from climbing so many steep hills in the middle of the night because he kept breaking down and we had to push him up and down hills to get him to start up again several times last night- cross that one off my bucket list.
   At work, we have moved on temporarily from cleaning and conditioning the Birkenhead wreck at Iziko and started a project for SAHRA - South African Heritage Resource Agency (companion on our Slave Wrecks project) that mostly involves scanning through microfilm at the National Library. SAHRA is trying to narrow down the name of the ship of a wreck they have meanwhile called 'the barrel wreck'. They are doing a field school using the barrel wreck in January and want to narrow down which ship it is so we have a list of 20+ possible ships and we must scan about 30 newspapers from the 1800's for all references to these possible ships. It is slow going as you might imagine haha We also went diving this past friday and plan to do so again this week to prepare for Steve and the NPS guys coming on December 1 for our dive expedition on the San Jose wreck. It is located off of Clifton Beach, a nice secluded beach area of the rich and famous. If the wreck is indeed the San Jose, it is a slave wreck and we hope to find artifacts showing that. We know that there are cannons but that is it so far. While everyone else is diving, I help Jonathan (from SAHRA) watch the swells while he skippers the boat (not going to even lie- I can't help but work on my tan at the same time haha). Hopefully when the guys come next week, John will be able to find someone else to skipper the boat because he wants to dive as well.
   Cheers until next time!

PS We have surpassed a THOUSAND PAGE VIEWS!!!Yay!


I just finished writing a condition report on this key and now I am conserving it

Some more artifacts from Birkenhead

he he he

Ferris Wheel is apparently just for tourists- Capetonians don't see the appeal

Christmas tree in the summer @ waterfront

For all the mac-bots out there

Ship being fixed up

Lego Man- Coca Cola built this out of recycled crates for the World Cup last year

At the V&A waterfront

Sophie trying not to burn

Sean & a random dog that wouldn't leave us alone

Jonathan skippering the SAHRA boat

View of the San Jose site on Clifton Beach (its in that kelp forest)

Sean & Tara laughing after dive

The Gang (me, Jaco, Jonathan, Sophie, Tara) convening after Clifton Beach dive

Amber & Sophie willing 'Edward' to move

Out at Sgt Pepper's with Sophie & Amber

Sean and 'Edward'

On top of Signal Hill

Sean pushing 'Edward' up a hill

Ek Stuur verskonings

2011-11-21T04:36:00.003-05:00

    It is no excuse that I haven't updated in a few weeks, at first nothing beyond working through those boxes was happening to us so I didn't need to update on a daily basis- however two weeks ago my internet router (which is very pricey) just up and broke and ever since i have been to the Vodacom store almost as a daily occurrence trying to fix it. I have been getting such a run around and been transferred to so many different stores and managers that I am like to pull my hair out very soon or maybe flip a table. It's not an excuse but I kept thinking it would get fixed and I would be able to write and explain (I am writing this on my boss's computer at work- that is how desperate the situation is) but unfortunately that hasn't happened yet- in theory this afternoon it should be coming back from the depot but I have a feeling that won't happen because I was supposed to get a phone call by now saying it had come in :/ It doesn't seem to matter to them that my livelihood is in jeopardy because of this snafu. Anyways, to my beloved friends and family, who helped bring me here, I apologize again and I hope you can forgive me.
    Back to business,
    Last we spoke, my neighbors were expecting a baby- everyone took bets that it was a boy because he was taking his sweet time to get to this world- another week and a half passed before he was born since my last post- his name is Daniel and he's a beautiful healthy baby. We have been over to help E & D several times to watch Emma or help out while Daniel is settling in. Since we have been living without an oven (electricity is prepaid and its cheaper to not have an oven i guess) I have been learning how to cook different recipes using a crockpot- those who know me very well, know that I am a baker, not necessarily the best cook. However, Sean is openly admitting (not under duress I assure you) that my cooking skills have been improving rapidly and I have even been invited over our friend's house to come and cook all day long so they can try my 'infamous' pulled pork in a crockpot (its actually delicious and takes 8 hours). We haven't really had much time to go out and do things because we are working a lot and then its hard to get around via the public transportation here, especially on the weekends and it can be unsafe. We have been to a few more braais (BBQs have nothing on the braai), including a braai for a friend's birthday party (coincided with halloween which is not a holiday here so we adapted and dressed up for the party: Sean-an upstanding citizen (aka wearing respectable clothes) and Justine- Mad Men-era girl). We checked out the international Kite Festival which was like a state fair style event with lots of greasy food. We finally got around to visiting the waterfront which is the bigtourist destination. We plan to go back there this week after work with a friend and check out the aquarium. We took part in a Nautical Archaeology Society course which met for the past two weekends and learned more about underwater archaeology in South Africa. We got to check out long street which is like the Bourbon st (not really) of Cape Town because our friend's boyfriend works there, and that was really fun.
    At work- On wednesday we finished the 150 boxes of the Castle collection that are stored at Iziko (another ~250 boxes are still housed at the Castle, University of Cape Town, and Stellenbosch University) and there are pictures of some of the artifacts in the pictures section. I changed it so that the newer pictures are now at the front so its easier to tell when I updated the pictures. Its amazing to look at the time periods and examine how extensive the global trade was at the time just based on the pottery samples or pipe stem samples or the like. Our goal is to continue the Castle collection if we can get access to the other boxes. In the meantime, there is an exhibition about to be displayed on the Birkenhead (http://www.shipwreck.co.za/birkenhead.html) that we are writing up condition reports for the artifacts and then performing the conservationwork on them. Our professor Steve has just given us his final answer that he is definitely coming for the dive dig at the end of November on the San Jose shipwreck and he is bringing some colleagues from the National Park Service with him. This should be an interesting part of the project and I hope the weather gets better- summer has been holding out on the Capetonians and the sea has not been fit for diving since that first dive we went on. While I have been here, I have also been in touch with some contacts that you were all gracious enough to pass on and recently, I met with a documentary filmmaker last week from Table Mountain Films. He worked on two great white shark documentaries here and did the Meermin shipwreck film for PBS (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/tag/the-meermin/ - the filmmaker I met with is in this video clip about the shipwreck) and he was able to pass on some contacts for me in the States for when I get back.
     I am calling the Shark Cage Diving guy this afternoon and setting that up, or my little brother will be massively disappointed in me- he is expecting me to jump in with the great whites! We are also planning with several people a trip to the real wine lands at Stellenbosch. We are planning for Steve's arrival and figuring out the last few weeks here. I really cannot believe that it has gone by so fast, its really unbelievable. I do miss Niobe desperately and she would fit in really well- dogs kind of have the run of the show down here, but I can see myself coming back here and staying for a prolonged period of time. Not permanently but it is easy to live here (although I would give in and buy a car). Again, please forgive my absence, I promise not to let it happen again, and I expect i will be able to report on more things as we will be cramming it all in the remaining time here.

xoxoxo
Justine

Ps. I am very glad to hear that you (some more than others needed a prayer) all recovered from that freak winter storm on the East Coast and that you are safe and warm again.

Groot Constantia vineyard

Las and Sean enjoying wine tasting at Eagles Nest

Klein Constantia vineyard

Get Sean away from the horses! (he's allergic haha)

Kite Festival

Dress up for birthday braai at Heather's

Mad-Men era girl

Upstanding Citizen

Porcelain bowl

Birkenhead water filter jug with wine bottle attached

Heather analyzing Birkenhead artifacts at Iziko

Groete vriende!!

2011-11-21T04:36:00.001-05:00

Dear fellow adventurers (even if its only in spirit),

I apologize for the insanely long gap between this post and my last one from Iceland. We only just got our internet sorted out a few days ago (can you believe its not unlimited here?? there is a 3gb cap every month!! ackk!! and I could only afford 1gb at a time-its bloody $$). I have been posting pics randomly when I got spurts of internet because lets face it, people care more about the pics than anything else haha (same for me)

Anyways here I am sitting in our adorable guest house about to make chocolate cake in a mug (we don't have an oven but have a microwave) and am excitedly awaiting the knock on the door from our landlord/neighbor Gareth hoping he'll ask us to babysit his daughter Emma because his wife Esta is going into labor (boy or girl? send in your votes). Its really exciting that they are going to be having a baby- I have already been tapped to play babysitter because Emma hardly leaves my side when I am not at work (I am in the doghouse with Esta though because Emma called me her mommy and it was like 'thats it, I'm screwed now- no mommy wants to hear that' although its probably because i let her play with my makeup and we eat lots of chocolate together and take naps together and I am learning Afrikaans from her since she refuses to speak english haha)

---Anyways things are about to get really hectic here with the baby coming (also Gareth just broke his hand like 4 days ago from not clipping out in time from his bicycle)(sean is going to be riding with Gareth and his friends a lot and is even teaching one of them how to skateboard). As for our landlords, we couldn't have landed in a better situation- we are a bit far from city (25min on train) but its fine because we live on their nice sized garden property with their doggies and kitty in a guesthouse thats totally private and they take us all over the place with them- we have been to three braai (bbq) with their friends so far (and the word about my babysitting skills are spreading)- really good people, all of them.

So the first few weeks we have been here have been actually quite mellow considering we are still finding our footing here- its a bit of trek to go into the city and its not safe to take public transport after 8pm so we haven't gone out really at night yet- but we have been meeting more people our age at work so that could change once we actually have people to go out and meet. We are working at the main offices where the collections are housed at the Iziko Museums with Jaco Boshoff and we are working on the Castle collections. The Castle was used by the Dutch East India company at first and is from the 1700's and is the most important site for maritime archaeology (as a land excavation) in Cape Town. And the collection is a mess!!! Sean and I have close to a 150 boxes to inventory full of glass, ceramics, metal, building materials, and other unidentified as of yet items- there is no records from the 1982 excavations and no one has touched the boxes since then-so you may imagine what we are dealing with. Also, we don't even have all the boxes- 3 other institutions have other parts of the collections that we must deal with when we are done on our side!!!

Work is really relaxed environment, definitely not on a NYC schedule more like a deep south schedule- I'm not really sure what to make of it honestly. People get there and do things when they get there kind of thing- bizarre to the fast paced me. We have had some cool days at work already where we didn't inventory boxes and instead went on a beach survey near Camps Bay (super ritzy/foreign celebrity area) and went diving in Table Bay. The beach survey was on the San Jose shipwreck which was a slave ship and we found an iron manacle and several iron deposits that had attached themselves to the rocks on the beach. Ps the water is freezing. Then today we went on our first dive which was unsuccessful unfortunately because it was the first dive of the season so everyone was still getting a feel for their new equipment. Also, the wreck is covered in a ton of sand (it does have several cannons and shackles and other recognizable iron pieces at the site but it must be covered up) and sadly, we were unable to locate it today. The shipwreck is supposed to be the Cybelle, another slave wreck Sean has been researching. On the bright side, we saw penguins, whales, dolphins, and seals all in one ride to the site :) (no sharks yet but just wait till I cage-dive!)

Also my 24th birthday was this past Monday and I was quite the birthday tyrant since I asked for a whole weekend of birthday entertainment. Last year, Sean and I were in Paris for my 23rd birthday, also doing research for the Slave Wrecks project, and he took me to the Louvre and we had champagne on the top of the Eiffel Tower. This year he took me to an antique fishing village on saturday, the beach and a braai on sunday, and Jaco let us off work on monday so Sean could take me up to the top of Table Mountain which is 260million years old (comparison- Himalayas are only 60mya) and is the tallest mountain in south africa and we drank champagne on the top of the mountain, just like last year- Sean has high expectations to live up to each forthcoming birthday now :) since its tradition to be at the top and drink champagne. Then he cooked me breakfast (pancakes and bacon) for dinner since breakfast is my favorite meal of the day and made me birthday cake in a mug :)

This weekend we have been invited by some of Gareth & Esta's friends (the one who Sean is teaching to skateboard) to go on a wine tour in the morning (get the day started with the breakfast of champions) and then off to the international Kite festival with Tara (who was my roomie in FL on the archaeological dive there) and then off to another braai this time at Jaco's house. Then sunday probably the beach again with Emma and Gareth like every weekend (unless the baby is here then I'm not sure).

Some cool things we have learned/ noticed about South Africa:

lekker= cool (Afrikaans)
no under 10yrs child here wears shoes- like i really mean it, supermarket, public trains, restaurants, bike shops, museums … i really don't get it
we had a gecko in the house and i freaked out and sean made fun of me
dassies are large guinea pig like things that live on Table Mountain and their closest relative is the African Elephant- reminds me more of the marmot i ate in Mongolia
There are shark spotters on the southern side of the cape because there are so many great whites
we went to an ostrich farm and then we bought ostrich meat for dinner in our spaghetti bolognese that we made (its red meat but with the leanness of chicken-fantastic)
we had an attack of the honeybees today- apparently they are migrating through our front yard
Windhoek is a great beer
I used a slow cooker for the first time and made orange chicken (Sean says my cooking is good and improving) and I'm trying bbq pulled pork tomorrow
we are trying to find a Halloween party to attend since its mostly a foreigner thing
7 or 8 whales at a time come to chill in the southern harbor at once
Sean is really excited to be looking for shipwrecks that we have been researching for over a year
don't buy pharmaceutical products from street vendors and the real pharmacies have never heard of a Tide bleach pen (grrrrr)
young children will wipe their noses on the one fancy skirt you brought and thus need a Tide pen
there are 4 seasons in a day here usually
there is such thing as food delivery here which is convenient
I will never get the hang of this opposite side of the road style!!!

until next time folks… feel free to comment on the guestbook- I love reading your posts and questions :)

miss you all dearly,
Justine

Living space in Plumstead, Cape Town

Our kitchen


Bedroom

Our front yard

Breakwater wall at Kalk Bay Beach

Kalk Bay Beach

Sean enjoying the sea

Emma and some random cuties playing in the sand

Gareth and Emma and the beach babies

This is typically how people ride the train

Chaos at the beach

Beach

Emma in her frog towel! so cute!

Me chilling at the beach

the gang's all here!

view of Fish Hoek

Romance at the top of the mountain

Ostrich Farm!

Gareth lent Sean a bike to use here

Boxes and Boxes we need to tackle at Iziko

Castle Collection

View of Clifton Beach where San Jose ship is

Sean, Tara, Heather preparing our survey on at Clifton

potential shackles from the San Jose that washed up on shore

Sean examining a lead concretion at Clifton Beach

More boxes!!!

Brass Bell

For my mom- antique ceramics for super cheap!

shadow lovers

View of Camps Bay

Emma running from the starfish

there is some relaxing on the beach

going to a braai!

Birthday on top of Table Mountain- view from the cable car

Yea its windy and its a long way down

Sean conquers South Africa

View from Table Mountain


View from Table Mountain

Sean's imperialist pose

cauuute birthday

view from Table Mountain

Justine conquering South Africa

Champagne at top of Table Mountain

18th century spoon

Some sort of grate

brass belt buckle

Bone from Castle Collection

Lots of pipe stems

Preparing to dive

Sean getting ready for the dive

Sophie's pink fins!

pensive thoughts after a dive (or utter exhaustion)

Dwarves, Trolls, and Fjords Oh My!

2011-11-21T04:34:00.001-05:00

My trip has finally started!!! All our patience has finally paid off and I am really glad that all of you who helped out, whether through donations or advice or both, have stuck around to see this project through :) Sean was able to raise his half of the trip so we have both finally embarked on this maritime archaeology trip to Cape Town (final destination) where we will be until early December, and doing an actual dive at the very end (diving on the San Jose shipwreck). We were asked by our project director, Dr. Lubkemann, to stop over in London and complete some research in the maritime archives. That is where we are now- I am actually sitting in the Lloyds List looking at ship wreck register lists.

It cost no extra money to stopover in Iceland, and I have always wanted to go to the Blue Lagoon, so I made sure that our travel agent stopped us there for 2 nights. So much to see there and such crappy weather!! we apparently just missed the really nice hot weather (they get like 2 weeks of solid heat during the summer) so for us, it was super windy and rainy :/

Anyways, I am not really the best at blogging so I will kind of just bullet point from here on out the main highlights of the trip:

Iceland.........

Landed at Keflavik Airport, Iceland @6:00am Sept 30
Our plane was named Eldborg, after a volcano
The hotel was actually super clean and convenient- they let us rent a car on our first morning so we could drive up the countryside to see Snaefellsjokull glacier
Weather conditions were so poor that we didnt actually see the glacier at all but we went spelunking instead in dwarf and troll caves (half of Iceland believes in these creatures!!!) on top of the glacier. It was so windy our rental car actually was shaking alot!
We drove under a fjord!!
Learned that 'bles bles' means 'bye bye' and 'takk' is 'thanks' like in Swedish (saw that in Girl with Dragon Tattoo)
Even though the highway signs are all in Icelandic, it is surprisingly easy to drive there- there is like only 20 highways in the whole country!
Had traditional Icelandic dried fish jerky :$
Never seen so many rainbows, ends of rainbows, and double rainbows in my life!! i would love to wake up to that :)
Try this: Lox, Sliced Egg, Lettuce, Honey Mustard on bread- freaking delicious and light
Took a 'Golden Circle' Tour of all of Iceland's gem tourist sites- two massive romantic waterfalls, the original 'geyser', and many other beautiful sights
All of Iceland is covered in moss-covered lava fields
Went to the Blue Lagoon before we went to the airport- I have been waiting to go to this place for the past 10 years- anyone who has looked at my pinboard in my room has seen the article I ripped out of a magazine of the Blue Lagoon and posted there so one day I could go
It was just how I imagined- blue silica thermal pool bliss...perfection!!

Now we are in London staying with one of my dearest friends, Melis (who is from Istanbul).

Cheers,

Justine

First Blog Entry of Lost Ark Site

2011-11-21T04:33:00.001-05:00

Hello!

I realize we have not been in contact in a few weeks- this is my fault as I was asked by my boss, Dr. Lubkemann, to come down to Key Biscayne National Park and work with the National Park Service as head of ceramic analysis on a colonial English merchant shipwreck that burned off the coast of the Florida keys. As such, I had to postpone trip to South Africa until August so I could accommodate this new project time-wise. I may actually be returning for a few days to Florida to work with the NPS, before I leave for Cape Town, because they want me to finish up some more analysis. Now, as anyone in museum studies will tell you, the analysis is usually the most boring part haha no shipwreck diving for me unfortunately- but i did get a chance to go snorkeling on top of the site which was pretty amazing.

I emailed you all to tell you the progress on my trip- I am just a couple hundred dollars short of my $3500 goal so I am really excited about that and wanted to thank you all again for helping me make this happen. I bought a new website called www.lostark.org to replace my old blogspot website, so if you all want to check it out, I put up some pictures from Key Biscayne shipwreck and pottery- i am still getting the hang of creating a website so if ya'll could bear with me, I know its not that pretty yet but I am trying. When I leave, this will be the site to keep up with video, pictures, blogs of all my travels in and around Cape Town. I have only two pages up for now, but one is a guestbook page, so if any of you want to leave comments or have discussions, I would really love to hear what you think!

Cheers,

Justine

So close to a thousand!

2011-06-06T22:31:00.000-04:00

Hello Bloggies,

We are so close to a thousand dollars already, I am hoping that by the end of this week we will have surpassed a thousand. As I looked at today's date, I am really feeling the heat on the timeline.

Hope to have more updates very soon!

Yay for Updates!

2011-06-02T11:00:00.000-04:00

In a most pleasant and generous turn of events, I can report that we are gaining speed with our mission! Thank you to all the charitable donors thus far! If we keep going at this rate, I might be able to buy my ticket before I need to sell my firstborn to the airlines :) wouldn't that be fantastic??

Thank you and hopefully there will be more and more updates!

Welcome to South Africa Research Trip, Step 1-Donations

2011-06-01T11:13:00.001-04:00

HELLO ALL!!

This is my first entry for my Research Trip to South Africa!! As you are well aware of by now, I have sent you- my supportive and respected family and friends- a request for donations for my trip to S.A. I want to reiterate in this entry that all donations no matter the size are much appreciated and will go towards this career-fulfilling expedition. Again, if you can't help, please do not feel guilty, I appreciate help in other ways too, like advice, and I want everyone to feel free to check out this blog to keep up with my adventures!

Here is just a quick taste of what the Iziko Museum in Cape Town looks like. I have obviously not been but it doesn't look too shabby :) I think I could force myself to work there for two months haha

25 Queen Victoria Street
Cape Town 8001, South Africa
tel: 021 481 3800
Open Mon-Sat 9am-6pm

http://www.iziko.org.za/index.html

'Iziko' is an isiXhosa word, meaning "a hearth". Since the hearth of a typical African homestead usually occupies the central space, Iziko symbolizes both a hub of cultural activity, and a central place for gathering together South Africa’s diverse heritage. The Iziko Museums of Cape Town include The South African Museum of Natural History, Planetarium, Maritime Center, SAS Somerset, the Wine Museum at Groot Constantia, the Slave Lodge, Bo-Kaap Cultural Museum and a number of historic houses alongside the Iziko South African National Gallery.

Hope to have many updates for you all very soon! And thank you again to our first donors!

Istanbul tomorrow!!

2010-06-24T06:52:00.000-04:00

Hey all,
So turns out I don't have to sleep at Heathrow tonight in the airport lounge because my dad's friend was very very generous and gave me £ to take a mini-cab to the airport in the morning (BTW Daddy you owe Craig and Julie dinner :P) because they couldn't stand the thought of me wandering around london looking for transportation in the middle of the night. They are right, i couldnt stand the thought either.
Last night the BM function was awesome, got tons of free wine (classy wine not table) and alot of free canapes which is just a silly word for fancy finger food, but finger food that was delicious! my group of friends at the museum and i postioned ourselves at the front of the Iran gallery so we could snatch (literally) all the food before it made it to anyone else (anyone else find it odd we were getting crunked in and Islamic gallery with a 1400yr old Quran watching over us??). Then Meghan and I had a lovely dinner with Craig and Julie (dads friends) at an Indian restuarant, no comment. Tonight I am packing and moving out of the ILSC, so next time we speak i will be in Istanbul, which is going to be fantastic.
PS Sean emailed me from FL Keys and he said that they found the shipwreck they were looking for and the water is really rough (oil spill affecting you baby??) and people were getting seasick but other than that, they found an f*ing shipwreck, sounds freaking unbelievable to me!! cant wait to do it in South Africa!!

Last Weekend: Lake District, Glasgow, Edinburgh

2010-06-23T07:06:00.000-04:00

So I am writing my last blog before I head off to ISTANBUL this coming friday morning as stupid o'clock in the morning, I literally have to go to Heathrow the night before and sleep at the bloody airport. Bollocks.
Anyways so for the literal first time in my entire life an apple product has failed me, my computer display has failed and i cannot use my computer for the next two weeks, you have no idea how sneaky i hvae to be to write this blog and add pics while i am at the BM. Speaking of the BM, I am sad that it is my last week here because everyone is just beyond friendly here and is constantly giving me amazing recommendations for what to do and where to go around the UK. Tonight there is a BM interdepartmental function for cocktails and canapes (whatever those are- fingerfood??) so that should be a nice way to bow out of here. I am going to puruse the BM gift shops tomorrow because I get 30% off merchandise, so if you want something let me know asap.

A bit late but this past weekend was my last weekend here :( and of course i didnt even stay in london; Meghan and Joanne and I went to the northern UK to the Lake District at Windermere and Bowness for thursday-night and friday-day. This place is truly magical, like I can literally understand why there are so many people believing the lochness seacreatures exist(Bowness has their own- Bownessie!). We stayed at a backpackers hostel in Windermere and then Bowness is like a mile away (all downhill- the way back up was a bitch) and is down next to the lakeside. We went hiking all morning up to the tops of the Bowness mtns (well really like large hills but pretty big ones) and there was an awesome viewing point. We also found a sheep farm/pasture where the farmer allowed visitors to frollick along his land which had an even better view, as long as you dont disturb his sheep- apparently people bring their dogs who frighten the sheep to death, literally. Anyways that was just gorgeous but pretty windy at the top.

The weather didnt turn phenomenal until the early afternoon when we reached the bottom by the lake, and we really had no idea the weather was going ot be so fantastic all weekend- we packed warm clothes and were like dying of heat alot of the time. There were swans every f*ing where btw. We had our first afternoon tea at the Old English Hotel which was so delicious. If I lived here permenantly or if Americans discovered this amazing ritual, i would literally quit my life and only work out all morning everyday so i could have afternoon tea everyday at 3pm, the pics explain everything.

We arrived in Glasgow, and it is just as sketchy as everyone in London told us it would be, but truthfully i found it fantastic. Edinburgh was really picturesque and old-looking with deep-history, but to go out and be in your 20's Glasgow was the place to be. Our hostel here was the nicest I have stayed in so far; we had a private room and everything was very clean and the staff was super helpful and nice. there was free wifi at the bar downstairs and good breakfast for 16£ a night. so the first night (friday) Joanne and I just wandered around all night in the city central- because it was so close to the summer solstice that it didnt get dark (like at all) until around midnight, which actually really threw us off. ps apparently thousands of 'druids' flocked to stonehenge on the summer solstice, too bad there was no druid festival this year for me to try drugs at- haha jk daddy.....

(haha yes i found Edward Cullen)

The scots are a whole other breed of people I have to say- no manners or etiquette among them and they are always dressed day or night like they are going out to the clubs. I could live in a place like that lol. Saturday we trained it over to Edinburgh (JK Rowling wasn't there, le sigh- she was opening the Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando- which i am going the second i get bck from Mongolia) and we wandered around the sites. Edinburgh Castle was just so pretty, i love castles, William Wallace (a good impersonater but no Mel Gibson) was actually standing outside the castle reciting his famous Braveheart speech and painted in blue). Inside the castle it was 14£ to get in so we skipped the tour but took pics outside. I found something very special for Sean (who is scottish) inside so i hope that he enjoys that (no spoilers).

Next we wandered around the neighborhood and found Greyfriars Bobby statue/gravestone (look him up) he is a famous dog who when his master died in like the 1800s waited by his gravestone for 14years until he himself passed away. It reminded me of Niobe and loyalty, i can only imagine she would do the same for me, hopefully however that doesnt need to happen :/ Then we got some whiskey samplings because you have to if youre in Edinburgh.

That night we went out for dinner and drinks and Joanne and I wandered around the bars and clubs, glasgow people are alot different than Londoners, not as easy to meet people as in London.

We tried this soda at dinner called Irn Bru (pronounced I dont fucking know), its the national Scottish drink and its apparently banned in most places because its main ingrediant is quinine and makes you 'feel phenomenal' it tastes like bubblegum and its orange and its amazing fyi i am bringing a bottle home.

On sunday we just wandered around the Clyde river in Glasgow before our train which was 6 hours to get back to London, sooo boring but pretty countryside.

(mural along the river-couldnt resist)

of course the second i got home my computer broke, which i am freaking out about inside, its giving me naseaua just thinking about it. Meghan and I also went to Harrods for afternoon tea on monday- also phenomenal. Pic again will show why I need to do this everyday for the rest of my life. Also i have included a pic of Diana and Dodi memorial in Harrods Egyptian Hall for my mom who I remember cried for a week when it happened.

Also not to be forgotten- HAPPY BIRTHDAY(S) TO MY LOVES COURTNEY AND AUZIN TODAY !!!!! LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH!!!

I am really sad to be leaving London but I am excited to go to Istanbul and finally after 6 years see my friend Melis and stay with her for a week. I will hopefully be able to blog or communicate from her house computer or somthing, I come back to london for one day and leave for USA on July 2.

love and miss you all

skype me hello!!

Last weekend trip

2010-06-17T16:22:00.000-04:00

Hey so I will be leaving Londontown for the Lake district this evening, which is in the NW corner of the UK before Scotland, look it up on the website, its freaking so pretty, one of the curators recommended it to me and we head off there before our trip to Scotland. So one night in Windermere, Lake District, and then off for two nights in Glasgow, hopefully with a day trip to Edinburgh (a whiskey tasting might be scheduled.....) get back on sunday the 20th, will update soon after

It will be so close to the longest day of the year that we could potentially get only an hour or two of darkness since we are so far north, i am excited for that, last time i was in Alaska that happened.

anyways I am always on skype because of my phone, so if you want to reach me, just call or IM my skype

just a quick note, Happy Father's Day and Happy Birthday Sean who is turning 26 which is old (not that old) and who better skype me while i am gone and before you leave for florida ;*

love you all

Quick Cool Note from British Museum

2010-06-16T18:48:00.000-04:00

Just thought i would say that I am already mentioned in the acknowledgments of my first article here at the BM from my boss Neal Spencer, heres a pic:

A brilliant time so far

2010-06-16T18:20:00.000-04:00

Hello all!

again forgive me for the rambling, maybe you can already assume I will be doing that so i don't have to preface each week.

So last we left off I was in my first week of work at the British Museum, which I have to say its pretty cool flashing my badge, it makes me feel all important. Basically what I am going to do the majority of my time is be illustrating excavation drawings etc on adobe illustrator, I've attached a photo of my first completed image from this past week. Its not as hard as i thought and the images come out looking professional so that's good at least, but it does hurt ur eyes after a while.

So this past weekend I finally went to Stonehenge and to oxford for the night. Our friend Joanne was in Paris that weekend so Meghan and i went by ourselves on Saturday and stayed the night. We took the bus to get to Stonehenge and i was massively exhausted, as Joanne and I had gone out the night before until 5am hopping around old street underground bar scenes, you wouldn't believe how easy it is to meet people, we actually have to leave each place because ppl were too friendly at times, although the phrase "i have a bf" came out awful fast, and ironically most ppl would keep talking to us; once you say you are from NYC ppl automatically have a story related to the city, so its a good conversation starter.

Anyways, so Stonehenge was really sweet after all these years of reading about it, I yelled at the guides a few times because they were incorrect with their info. I was really surprised but we could get reallllllly close as you will see in the pics. it was cool albeit just a circle of rocks but still cool to finally experience. Getting there from the bus was a nightmare though, it literally dropped us off on a dirt path and the bus driver was like just walk straight, ull see it eventually and we walked for like 15 min in the middle of farms and were like wtf??? but finally in the distance we saw it, and of course everyone else had come from a different direction so it was very touristy and bustling with ppl.

then we trained it to oxford (it was later by this point) and we stayed in my first hostel, which was surprisingly clean, although ppl sleep in their underwear which i was shocked by and a bit weirded out honestly. but so Meghan and I first, (all of these places were recommended by Sean since he studied abroad in oxford) went to the Eagle and Child which is where Tolkien and CS Lewis used to shoot the shit together over beer, i was really geeking out. We ran into a few groups of guys who were very nice and part of a stag (bachelor) party so that was fun. Then we wandered around oxford, took photos, and kind of poked our heads into different bars. we were told it was end of term for all the colleges there so everyone and their mother was out dressed up in all different sorts of getups from carnival theme to pirate theme to gothic lingerie theme. Then we went to the purple turtle which is a place that was highly recommended by Sean, not for the atmosphere in meghans opinion lol but i can really see him there. it was sketchy and crowded and awesome. loved it. we chatted up a bunch of ppl and then danced, well i danced while meghan watched me from the corner because she isnt one for dancing haha.

the next day we explored oxford, going to christ church *Harry potter great hall was filmed there* went in the gardens, saw Alice in Wonderland shop, went to the Ashmolean museum which is a trove of archaeology. We also ate at the Turf which is where bill clinton used to get into trouble when he was a rhodes scholar *cough cough*. Then we were about to jump on the train home but someone jumped in front of the tracks at another station and killed all trains southbound, so we switched to the bus.

since then meghan and i have been just staying in (joanne was in paris until two days ago) and saving money, im eating alot of peanut butter and toast. and i have been going to work everyday and everyone there is really splendid. Last night we went to a wine bar called gordons, which is the oldest in london, its an underground wine cellar and was some english kings' gay lovers place and its where port wine was invented or something. but its super cool and really popular, u like need to snag a seat the second u see one, everyone pretty much shares tables.

btu so this weekend to give ourselves a break from traveling, we are staying in london to check out the scene and we booked our trip to scotland's glasgow and the UK's lake district (look it up its beautiful) for next weekend.

love you all!

Cheers,

Justine

AND HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY JUNE BABIES!!!!!!! I AM MISSING ALL OF THEM :(

(out clubbing)

(perfect scenery)

(baller pic from stonehenge)

(in the hostel)

(pretty canal)

(where Sean studied abroad)

(tolkien and lewis and their letter to Eagle and Child)

(at the purple turtle)

(alice in wonderland shop)

(christ church gardens)

(gordons wine bar)

First few days living in london hipsterdom

2010-06-15T13:53:00.000-04:00

Cheerio everyone,

i really suck at these comprehensive emails so forgive me if i ramble, i warned you. well i landed on saturday and meghan met me at kings cross and she literally let me put my bags down at our dorm center and then dragged my ass to the national gallery of art so i would get acclimated timewise. i literally almost pulled a "i fell asleep and ripped a painting to shreds by passing out on it" because i was so tired. then we wandered around trafalgar square and ate chinese food and i passed out at like 8pm, surprisingly i managed to stay awake that long. Meghan had met a girl Joanne who is from yale and she has been hanging out with us nonstop pretty much and fills in the gaps for me where meghan doesnt, as in joanne likes to go out and dance and stuff and meghan isnt really into that

the next day my jetlag was gone and we wandered around oxford street and yes i already went shopping, i just literally couldnt help myself, i would rather starve here then not buy clothes. everyone is a london hipster and their street fashion is something i am hoping to capture, i set up a personal shopping appt with topshop here (its free) to see if someone can help me out, because seriously this is not american fashion at all, ppl mix the craziest things here, stuff i will probably look retarded trying to replicate but im going to try or die failing. then Joanne and i decided last minute to go out to see the dj Diplo and a ton of other DJs (it was a bank holiday here on monday) at this secret location where we had to buy advance tickets and get a location through email, which turned out to be an underground car parking lot in southern london which was literally overrun with london hipsters (read- Sean and Stevie I missed you guys seriously), see photos at the bottom. i mean like over a thousand people were there in the grimiest of places and it was literally amaizng, the music was fantastic and we made friends with this group of people who we chilled with all night, and we literally danced from 11pm to 6am without stopping and got back at 7am the next morning (daddy don't judge lol i had one drink if ud even believe me) and passsssed out, thank god for bank holidays.

Yesterday after we recovered from sleeplessness we went to the Tate Modern to see the free exhibitions- read: cheap (turns out my British museum badge gets me into any museum paid exhibitions for free which i found out today), which was awesome, i loved the warhol room. then we chilled and tried to skype people but everyone sucks i decided and hasnt given me their skype name/hasnt signed up yet/ or isnt logging on!

Today was my first day of work at the BM and its pretty great, i work from 10-4 and get a mandatory hour for lunch and a tea break, love these lazy brits. I will be working with a curator in the ancient egypt dept and working on his Amara West excavation which is an egyptian village in the Sudan. today i did data entry stuff and got a sweeeeeet tour of the back of house of the BM, like seriously probably 15 storage rooms fulll of egyptian stuff, the inner geek in me was pleased. I live only like 8 blocks away from the museum so i walk to work and I joined a gym that i pass on my way back from work so i will be going atleast 4x a week (went today!) so hopefully i will be fit for my trip to mongolia when i return (and i can snag tons of free tea). went to a cool eatery tonight but i havent been to a pub yet strangely enough, im the only one of us three who actually drinks and likes beer so i dont know how often that will be on the agenda.

now im lazing around in my room and might play boardgames with the girls later, who knows

miss you all so much it hurts and wish you were here with me, it would be so amazing for so many reasons i dont have words

love you

justine

Got here safely

2010-06-15T07:02:00.000-04:00

Hey all,

I am f*ing exhausted and Meghan and I are relaxing for a brief moment in my room, the digs are pretty nice i have my own room and the bed is actually not rock hard but pretty soft and its clean and i have fast internet which is nice. Meghan is giving me no rest already we are going to the national gallery of art this afternoon after i shower and maybe tomorrow we will train it to scotland, which will be very harry potter of us.

love you all and i will send a better email soon once i have a minute to myself and am not passed out
~just