December 22, 2008 by Stephen Day.

I am back home in West Virginia in the wonderful USA. I am very glad to be home and tired from travelling. I had a great time in Europe with my mom, but I am eager for a little quiet time. On Christmas day I will travel to North Carolina to spend time with my sister, brother in law, and niece and nephew. I am eager for that experience. I will share some more of my experiences from Europe and Tanzania soon. Do not worry! I still have one Sunday available for speaking - the second Sunday in January.

Check out pictures from London.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

December 20, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Well, I am now out of Paris. I am on the train from Paris to Amsterdam, almost to my destination. I will be in Amsterdam for less than 24 hours and will then fly home to the United States. I am eager to see yet another European country and city and hope to be able to see Anne Frank’s home.

I am travelling by train. This is the fourth train trip I have been on in a week. It has been a very busy week, but enjoyable. In Paris, I was able to go up the Eiffel Tower, visit the palace of Versailles, toured the city of Paris, cruised down the River Seine, quickly visited Notre Dame and the Louvre. Paris was nice. It was a good bit warmer than London and sunnier, which made it a bit more pleasant.

I am very eager to get home and share my Tanzanian experiences with my friends and supporters. Also, I have some work to do… have to prepare a presentation for my visits, prepare for next semester’s courses, finish grading a few papers from last semester and a few other things. Well, by for now!

Right now I am quickly approaching Rotterdam .

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

December 20, 2008 by Stephen Day.

Well, London is not really gone… it is just that I have left it. I had a wonderful and brief visit. I went touring for two and a half days and saw many interesting sights. I went first to the London Eye, which is a huge Ferris-wheel like thing and saw lots of London. Then I went to a famous wax museum. Later I got to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, Parliament, a cruise down the Thames, the Tower of London, Bath, Windsor and Stonehenge. It was quite a busy, but good couple of days. I also have been enjoying a real winter after spending 14 months in sub-Saharan Africa. It is quite a nice change. I love the cold!!!!

Right now I am on the train from London to Paris and we have just come out of the Chunnel in France. We should arrive in Paris within about an hour or so. We will be here for two full days (after today) and then we will go to Amsterdam. I will be in Amsterdam for about 15 hours before flying home but my mother, because of some confusion in our plans, will be there an extra 24 hours. I look forward to being back in the US after so long away.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

December 13, 2008 by Stephen Day.

I am writing this blog entry on board the Eurostar train from Brussels, Belgium to London, England. I think we might almost be in France by now. We will be reaching England via the “Chunel” which is actually a set of three train tunnels underneath the English Channel (put channel together with a tunnel and what do you get?) Anyway, it has been a very long 36 hours or so.

My “day” started at 8 am on Friday in Dar Es Salaam (that is in the East African Time Zone, or EAT, which is 8 hours ahead of the east coast of the USA). I awakened at the Passionist Fathers Guest House. I didn’t do much during that day - I went into town for a very nice brunch at the Movenpick and stopped by the main shop for the cellular provider I use to stock up on minutes. Then I returned to the guest house and rested. I left the guest house at 8:30 pm EAT for the airport. The plane did not actually end up leaving until about fifteen minutes after midnight on Saturday, December 13 (EAT). I was surprised by how many people got of the plane that I eventually boarded. The plane came from Amsterdam, landed in Arusha/Kiliminjaro and picked up new passengers and dropped off others. But it seemed like the plane completely emptied out in Dar, which is surprising because ti is not a very popular tourist destination (Arusha/Kiliminjaro are popular because of the mountains and the well publicised safari circus in that region).

While I was waiting to board the plane to Kilimanjaro I was pleased to meet a nice older man who had worked on development projects in Tanzania for several years in the 1990s. He had just been back to the country to help his son with a project. It was wonderful to hear his stories about the country form that time period and much earlier. He had some familiarity with DCT and its bishop and we shared stories. I am always happy to learn more about my new home.

Anyway… The plane that went from Dar to Amsterdam was a new one (at least to me). It was a Boeing 777 and is the most comfortable plane I have been on. As anyone who knows me can attest, I am a large man and often find some planes very uncomfortable, but this plane was quite roomy - lots and lots of legroom. I enjoyed the flight, but it was a long 9 hours or so. I didn’t get any sleep except for about 15 or 30 minutes.

The plane landed in Amsterdam around 7 am local time which is six hours ahead of the east coast of the USA or 9 am EAT. So when the plane landed I had basically been up twenty-four hours. I was very impressed with the Amsterdam airport… it is beautiful and huge. The immigration process was quite easy. After I got my luggage I went to an ATM to get some Euros and was quite surprised and displeased when it gave be 100 Euros in the form of two 50 Euro bills. Imagine going to an ATM in the USA and asking for $100 and getting it in the form of a $100 bill, when you need to buy a bottle of water. It appears that no one wants to take 50 Euro bills…. This is quite a big change from Tanzania where the highest denomination bill is 10,000 or about $8 US. Often when you go to an ATM there and ask for 200,000 TSh (about $150) you get that money in 5,000 TSh bills (about $4).

After I went to the ATM I found the train ticket offices and was pleased to be able to get a ticket to London on a train that left directly from the airport. I have to applaud Europe’s use of trains and especially the Netherlands. The international and local train routes are built around the international airport in Amsterdam. That leads to a smooth and seamless blending of air and train travel. Very impressive. Unfortunately this is just too foreign of an idea for America - the country that invented the idea of suburbs and the two-car garage.

I have enjoyed travelling by train for the first time as an adult. It is more convenient (here) and more casual than flying. On the train from Amsterdam to Brussels a man who was from Nigeria saw the ring I was wearing (which is from Peterkin, the camp and conference centre of the Episcopal Diocese of West Virginia) and the African print shirt I was wearing and somehow assumed I was a Catholic priest from Africa. I explained the truth (very briefly) and told him how glad I was to enjoy winter.

In Brussels I went through customs and British immigration since that was my final destination. This was an interesting experience… I went through several different customs and immigration conversations in the past day and a half and this was a unique experience. The British immigration officer asked me why I was going to Britain, where I was staying and how long I would be there. I answered those questions pretty easily. Then, I think out of curiosity, he asked where I had been coming from and where I would be going after Britain. I explained that I would only be in Britain for four days, three days in Paris and a night in Amsterdam. He asked what I had been doing in Africa and I explained. He asked how I supported myself and I briefly explained that I was a missionary for the Anglican (or Episcopal) Church in America. He then asked what I did for a living in America and what my job qualifications were… these were tough questions to answer. I found these to be very interesting questions and I assume these were out of curiosity… since I stated I was not staying in Britain or seeking employment there. But it reminded me of my interesting situation.

Well I just wanted to jot down some notes. I will arrive in London within an hour and will then take a taxi to my hotel, meet my mother, get a shower, drink a lot of water and SLEEP. I have now been up basically for 33 hours at this point. A long day.

Have a wonderful day!

Updated… we have emerged on the other side of the tunnel and it is 3:36 pm GMT and it is dark here…. I am starting to understand all that I have heard about England having somewhat bleak winters… oh well. I am really happy to experience winter for the first time in two years.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

December 12, 2008 by Stephen Day.

I am now in Dar es Salaam staying at the wonderful Passionist Fathers and preparing for my journey to Europe and America. I leave Tanzania in about 28 hours - my flight leaves around 11 pm on December 12 (East Africa Time, which is eight hours ahead of Washington and New York (this time of year). I came a day early because travelling in Tanzania does not always go as planned - busses break down, especially when they have 373,000 km (or 231,000 miles) on their odometer. That was the mileage on the bus I was on today (it didn’t break down).

So I am excited to see Europe and get home. I am spending a week in Europe with my mother who is flying to meet me. I have been many places on this amazing planet, but never to Europe. I will spend four days in London, two or three in Paris and one night in Amsterdam. I will arrive back in West Virginia on December 22. I am quite excited.

I have tentatively scheduled visits to parishes on the first and last Sundays in January, which only leaves two Sundays available. I am eager to share my amazing experiences with others.

When I got into Dar I went to a supermarket so that I could get some bottled water (Dar is hot and humid right now) and some snacks and was quite surprised by a few things. This is a supermarket much like those back in America, but still the similarities I saw today were quite eerie. The sound system was playing traditional American-style Christmas carols, their was a special aisle in the store dedicated to Christmas decorations, and all of the employees were wearing Santa hats. Most of the customers and all of the employees here were Tanzanians . It was amazing to see a scene so familiar so far from home.

Well, have a wonderful rest of advent. I will post more once I get home.

Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »