After spending Christmas and New Year’s in Indiana with my family, I posted this on Facebook: In many ways, it does feel like I have two homes – one in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and one in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I have friends in both places. I have a house in both places. I have…
Author: Abi
Elite mountain bike racer, data science student, former teacher...
Victoria Falls Adventure, days 6-7
After a breakfast of bread, peanut butter, and coffee, I met “John,” one of the staff at Adventure Lodge for a trip to the bank to reverse the accidental duplicate charge on my credit card. While waiting, I began reading Zambezi: the first solo journey across Africa’s mighty river, by Mike Boon on my phone’s…
Victoria Falls Adventure – day 5
Over a year ago, before I moved to Tanzania, my brother and I were browsing YouTube and came across some “Zambezi Rafting Fails” highlight videos. After watching them, we decided that if I only did one thing during my stay in Africa, I needed to raft the Zambezi River. Today, I rafted the Zambezi River….
Victoria Falls Adventure – day 4
Just after breakfast, I set off for the fourth country in four days: Botswana. The Day Trip to Chobe National Park started with a bus ride to the Botswana border, where we split into two safari vehicles after getting our passports stamped. From the border, we drove to Chobe Safari Lodge, piled onto a large…
Victoria Falls Adventure, day 3
This (Sunday) morning, I ate breakfast at the hotel bar and made reservations for my activities here in Victoria Falls. There were so many choices–everything from helicopter rides over the Falls to cage diving with crocodiles in the Zambezi River. I settled on whitewater rafting, swimming in Devil’s Pool, a sunset cruise, the gorge swing,…
Victoria Falls Adventure, days 1-2
For the last several months, I have been planning a trip to Victoria Falls for the first week of Christmas break. Friday, that adventure began. It didn’t happen quite like I had planned. The plan was for myself and a friend to take the train from Dar es Salaam to the Zambia border, then to…
Job Fair
I am writing this from Mugg & Bean, a coffee shop in Johannesburg, South Africa. Mugg & Bean offers a “bottomless coffee” for 18 Rand, or about $1.50, which is a cup of coffee with unlimited refills. Starbucks, take note. This, my friends, is brilliant. If Mugg & Bean had free wifi and a power…
Heart Thanksgiving
I saw this post by Bonnie Gray on the (in)courage blog today, and it spoke to the place my heart is at right now. Here’s a short excerpt, but you really should read the entire thing….its worth it: I woke up with my heart a blur with worries. A competing bevy of voices. All driving…
Back to Tenth Grade: HOPAC-style
I went back to tenth grade today. In an attempt to understand what it is like for students at HOPAC and to improve my teaching, I shadowed the tenth grade class for the entire day. As a homeschool graduate, the experience was entirely new for me. The morning started with homeroom, which contained the typical…
Celebrating Little Victories
Besides being International Day, Friday was also a day for great celebration. Just before the (incredibly awesome and fun) Black Out Young Life club, one of my students came over and told me that he had gotten the approval to go to the Moshi Sports Tournament in two weeks. I couldn’t even contain my excitement….
Ride Fierce Racing 