I've been wanting to post some of the GPS coordinates logged over the last several months, actually, I'm only putting the coordinates from Italy and Kenya on for now. We'll share the rest of our coordinates later (i.e. Bryan doesn't have enough time to copy and paste each individual coordinate right now with Finals and stuff to get ready for.)
So here they are. On some of the coordinates in Pompeii, I had accuracy readings of +/- 8 ft, so pretty accurate coordinates so to speak.
On a side note, I'm not sure why I didn't get any coordinates from the Maasai...I could have sworn I made some waypoints.
March 21st
Pantheon - N41 53 57.0 E12 28 35.7
Trevi Fountain - N41 54 03.1 E12 28 59.6
Spanish Steps - N41 54 21.1 E12 28 58.0
March 22nd
Roman Forum - N41 53 32.9 E12 29 01.0
St. Peters Basillica - N41 54 11.1 E12 27 25.5
Basillica Entry - N41 54 07.6 E12 27 17.6
Great Gelatto Spot- N41 53 21.0 E12 28 11.2
March 23rd - This day was cool, from the top of Vesuvius, we could see down to Pompeii. On Google Earth, enter the coordinates exactly how you see them below, and then go from Top of Vesuvius down to the "Inside the Ampitheater" location. You can see the trail we were on when I marked our location on the GPS. If you zoom out, you can see that the current mountain is just a small part of what used to be the entire mountain. Shane...do you see what I mean when I said "This thing is huge?"
Pompeii Tombs - N40 44 58.2 E14 29 41.6
Pompeii Entry - N40 44 58.2 E14 29 36.5
Ampitheater – 80 BC - N40 45 05.8 E14 29 38.4
Inside the Ampitheater - N40 45 05.2 E14 29 42.6
Fugitive Garden - N40 44 58.5 E14 29 33.9
Main Street - N40 45 05.1 E14 29 28.8
Roman Bath - N40 44 58.9 E14 29 16.2
Mt. Vesuvius - N40 49 09.4 E14 25 27.8
Top of Vesuvius 2861 ft - N40 49 07.6 E14 25 32.5
March 24th
Pisa - N43 43 23.5 E10 23 47.3
March 26th
San Croce Church - N43 46 06.8 E11 15 43.0
March 27th
View of Florence - N43 45 47.5 E11 15 52.9
April 7th
Equator - N0 00 00.0 E37 04 12.6
April 8th
Isiolo - N0 19 56.0 E37 34 32.1
Samburu - N0 34 34.4 E37 30 02.1
Wasonyro - N0 33 50.8 E37 31 54.6
April 9th - The Great Rift Valley location on Google Earth is pretty cool...you can definitely see the sheer cliff just north of the location marked on the GPS. Driving down (and back up) both sides of the valley was quite nerve-wracking as it seemed the only people besides us on the road were really huge semi-trucks. African semi-trucks have very bad brakes...just a little scary! The high point was a village we drove through and just outside the village, we stopped to go to the bathroom...I think that's the highest spot I've ever taken a pit stop at! If you zoom out from that location, you'll see Lake Nakuru on the map.
Maunorauk - S0 37 54.4 E35 59 56.5
High Point – 9472 feet - S0 39 03.3 E35 58 54.5
Milunne - N0 01 31.3 E36 24 29.7
Thomson Falls - N0 02 38.5 E36 22 09.7
Great Rift Valley (Spot the pic was taken from) - N0 00 41.3 E36 15 51.4
Subukia - N0 00 01.4 E36 13 53.4
April 11th
Maasai Mara - Sarova Mara Tented Camp - S1 31 48.97 E 35 19 6.52
Hope you enjoyed!
Wednesday, May 30, 2007
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
Our Fearless Boss
Last Sunday, Kara and I thought it would be enjoyable to get off of the compound and go watch the Jr. High Band play at a local venue called Muson Center over on one of the islands across from VI. However, because our driver only works Tuesday through Saturday, we needed a ride. We put out an APB earlier that morning and got a response from the band director who told us we could ride with the kids and her at 3:00 (the concert didn't start till 5). As Sunday is one of our more coveted days off, we figured we would take her up on the offer only as a last resort if nobody else offered. A few minutes after she responded, we got a response from our boss, Mr. Shearer.
"If you want a ride, be in the garage at 4:30." No problem, this will be nice to get an extra hour and a half of planning and relaxation in before leaving. So we get down to the garage at 4:30 and Tom is in the driver's seat, ready to roll in his super nice SUV. It's a Sunday, the traffic won't be too bad, plus he's been doing this for awhile and he has experience (When we get home, we'll have to tell you about his first stay over here 10 years ago with his family and his little "excursion" to the Embassy with a Nigerian police officer holding on for dear life in the passenger seat.)
So we hop in the car and had a nice ride to Muson. As we arrived at the center, Mr. Shearer decided he wanted to park next to the AIS buses instead of the regular parking lot, so he dipped into a space in between two buses. As he pulled into the space, he accidentally cut off an Okada driver. This angered the okada driver, and so he pulled up next to Tom's window. He was all fired up about something, and so Tom looked at him, and slammed his hand up against the window with a particular finger extended (It doesn't mean too much here I guess) but anyway, the Okada guy started saying, "Fa me? Fa me?" I was trying to figure out if he was speaking Yoruba, Igbo, or if he had a hard time translating the gesture. So I'm thinking, what the heck is Tom doing?!?! So he opens his door, the okada guy is semi-smiling now, and he says something and all I hear from the other side of the truck is "Shuuutuuup." in a very casual, matter-of-fact fashion from Tom. It was hillarious. So anyway, before we know it, there's another okada guy coming up to see what's going on, and then about 20 AISL workers (they came along in the bus to help unload all of the instruments and set up the stage) come rushing out to basically make sure these okada guys didn't get cute. Tom just kept walking and we ended up in Muson smiling away.
So the concert was amazing. We left at about 6:15 or so. It was supposed to be a quick trip over Fallamo bridge and we'd be home. Nope. Of course not. Tom went the wrong way outta the place, and before we knew it, we were headed to Lagos Island (Not recommended by the American Embassy.) Of course we weren't worried though, we're with Mr. Shearer...he's gotta know what he's doing. About a minute later we're on an offramp surrounded by yellow buses filled with Nigerians wondering why there's 3 Oyibos on "this side of the tracks" so to speak. But, that's okay, we're not worried, we're with Mr. Shearer...he's gotta know wh- "Where the heck are we?" he blurted out, completely interrupting my reassuring thoughts (Maybe that wasn't his exact quote, but we're trying to stay kid-friendly here.) Okay, so much for Mr. Shearer knows what he's doing. So we drive around for a bit, trying to find a building we recognize. We go the wrong way down a couple of one way roads, get honked at by Okada's with car horns attached to them, drive right through the middle of a wedding, go into downtown Lagos Island only to find a city block resembling the downtown area in the movie, "War of the Worlds"...you know the part where the thing comes outta the ground and tears up all the pavement...just like that. So the road was closed due to damage, and we had to turn around and head back...Mr. Shearer found his way back to Muson and we ended up on the right freeway back to V.I., laughing about Mr. Shearer's ability to find our way home. I think he was more concerned about how mad Lori was going to be if he made them late to dinner that evening dilly-dallying around Lagos Island with the Slaters. It was quite the adventure and we weren't stressed out at all thanks to Mr. Shearer's calm demeanor even while not knowing where the heck he was going.
We got back home safely, in time for some dinner...and it wasn't even dark yet! All on a Sunday evening. Anyway, just a little story to file away in our "Crazy things that happened in Lagos" drawer. Hope you enjoyed!
"If you want a ride, be in the garage at 4:30." No problem, this will be nice to get an extra hour and a half of planning and relaxation in before leaving. So we get down to the garage at 4:30 and Tom is in the driver's seat, ready to roll in his super nice SUV. It's a Sunday, the traffic won't be too bad, plus he's been doing this for awhile and he has experience (When we get home, we'll have to tell you about his first stay over here 10 years ago with his family and his little "excursion" to the Embassy with a Nigerian police officer holding on for dear life in the passenger seat.)
So we hop in the car and had a nice ride to Muson. As we arrived at the center, Mr. Shearer decided he wanted to park next to the AIS buses instead of the regular parking lot, so he dipped into a space in between two buses. As he pulled into the space, he accidentally cut off an Okada driver. This angered the okada driver, and so he pulled up next to Tom's window. He was all fired up about something, and so Tom looked at him, and slammed his hand up against the window with a particular finger extended (It doesn't mean too much here I guess) but anyway, the Okada guy started saying, "Fa me? Fa me?" I was trying to figure out if he was speaking Yoruba, Igbo, or if he had a hard time translating the gesture. So I'm thinking, what the heck is Tom doing?!?! So he opens his door, the okada guy is semi-smiling now, and he says something and all I hear from the other side of the truck is "Shuuutuuup." in a very casual, matter-of-fact fashion from Tom. It was hillarious. So anyway, before we know it, there's another okada guy coming up to see what's going on, and then about 20 AISL workers (they came along in the bus to help unload all of the instruments and set up the stage) come rushing out to basically make sure these okada guys didn't get cute. Tom just kept walking and we ended up in Muson smiling away.
So the concert was amazing. We left at about 6:15 or so. It was supposed to be a quick trip over Fallamo bridge and we'd be home. Nope. Of course not. Tom went the wrong way outta the place, and before we knew it, we were headed to Lagos Island (Not recommended by the American Embassy.) Of course we weren't worried though, we're with Mr. Shearer...he's gotta know what he's doing. About a minute later we're on an offramp surrounded by yellow buses filled with Nigerians wondering why there's 3 Oyibos on "this side of the tracks" so to speak. But, that's okay, we're not worried, we're with Mr. Shearer...he's gotta know wh- "Where the heck are we?" he blurted out, completely interrupting my reassuring thoughts (Maybe that wasn't his exact quote, but we're trying to stay kid-friendly here.) Okay, so much for Mr. Shearer knows what he's doing. So we drive around for a bit, trying to find a building we recognize. We go the wrong way down a couple of one way roads, get honked at by Okada's with car horns attached to them, drive right through the middle of a wedding, go into downtown Lagos Island only to find a city block resembling the downtown area in the movie, "War of the Worlds"...you know the part where the thing comes outta the ground and tears up all the pavement...just like that. So the road was closed due to damage, and we had to turn around and head back...Mr. Shearer found his way back to Muson and we ended up on the right freeway back to V.I., laughing about Mr. Shearer's ability to find our way home. I think he was more concerned about how mad Lori was going to be if he made them late to dinner that evening dilly-dallying around Lagos Island with the Slaters. It was quite the adventure and we weren't stressed out at all thanks to Mr. Shearer's calm demeanor even while not knowing where the heck he was going.
We got back home safely, in time for some dinner...and it wasn't even dark yet! All on a Sunday evening. Anyway, just a little story to file away in our "Crazy things that happened in Lagos" drawer. Hope you enjoyed!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Another Day in Lagos
We know, we know… you haven’t heard from us in a little while. Relative to Bryan’s last blog, that’s a good thing! Other than the busyness of school, things have been quite low key here. BUT, to sate your curiosity, here are some of the goings-on of Bryan and Kara in Lagos during May 2007:
o Kara has her green belt in Shotokan karate!!! Bryan has been a little nicer lately : )
o Only three weeks left in school, then off to Greece before we head home
o We made plans to visit a chocolate factory (Kara’s dream since watching “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” all too often throughout her childhood), Alcatraz at night (Bryan decided that) AND the Jelly Belly Factory before heading up to Lake Tahoe for our IB training
o We just got done watching Season 5 of “24”… in less than a week and now Bryan has a bunch of Jack Bower-isms. I’m sure you’ll hear more about those in the near future
o The terrestrial (land) crabs continue to fascinate Kara
o We have “secret connections” to get stuff over to us from the states. The most recent American products, unavailable in Lagos, brought to us by a student were red vines, Butterfinger bars and crystal light.
o We will be having a day off from school due to the Nigerian national holiday of "Democracy Day" on May 29. A nice little bit of irony for us all
We’re doing well and are so excited to see many of you over our summer break!!! Take care and stay tuned…
o Kara has her green belt in Shotokan karate!!! Bryan has been a little nicer lately : )
o Only three weeks left in school, then off to Greece before we head home
o We made plans to visit a chocolate factory (Kara’s dream since watching “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” all too often throughout her childhood), Alcatraz at night (Bryan decided that) AND the Jelly Belly Factory before heading up to Lake Tahoe for our IB training
o We just got done watching Season 5 of “24”… in less than a week and now Bryan has a bunch of Jack Bower-isms. I’m sure you’ll hear more about those in the near future
o The terrestrial (land) crabs continue to fascinate Kara
o We have “secret connections” to get stuff over to us from the states. The most recent American products, unavailable in Lagos, brought to us by a student were red vines, Butterfinger bars and crystal light.
o We will be having a day off from school due to the Nigerian national holiday of "Democracy Day" on May 29. A nice little bit of irony for us all
We’re doing well and are so excited to see many of you over our summer break!!! Take care and stay tuned…
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)
