Trip to the Gower

My friend Tim took Crazy Joe and I to the Gower today. The Gower is a rural peninsula right near Swansea with a lot of sheep, cliffs and obviously beaches. It's about a 25 minute drive I'd say, of winding narrow roads. At some points its not even lined and you have to almost scrape by cars going in the opposite direction. Time, an aspiring pilot, took the curves like a champ. It's fun but a lot scarier I think just because I'm on the opposite side of the road and I feel like I should be controlling the car. It was a clearer day earlier, but really, if you can see suns rays through the clouds here it's a nice day. The weather was also quite warm. the ocean was really pretty, we met a few friendly dogs, skipped some rocks and walked a mile or so down the pebbly beach and climbed some rocks, ascended a hill, climbed another rock, etc and so forth. The rocks by the ocean are really neat because of all the smooth grooves and passages made by the water. We tried to do some bouldering, but the faces were pretty small, and the one that would have been the coolest was a bit crumbly. Once we hiked up the bluff/cliff/whatever it was crazy to see how far up off the water we were; birds were way below us and whatnot. I forgot my camera like a duff, but luckily Tim had his, so I've posted a couple here and on my flickr . Just as I was finishing scambling about the rocks in character as smeagol, and commenting on how it was just like the shire up the hill on the grassy part, we found a miniforest that would be perfect for hobbits. We tried to go through it to get to another rocky part but there ended up being brambles and thorns and whatnot in the way, and it was getting dark so we headed back. We ended the day with my first Fish and Chips since I've been here. They were just alright though.

Oh yeah,

The page where you can contribute is: http://justgiving.com/jamiegoestomorocco


....Although, if its possible, it might be a better idea to do this through my mom or something because that justgiving site, while making things simple, takes a portion of your contribution, so... if you'd like all your money to get to the charity just give me a shout, via comment, email (jeb6706@uncw.edu) or facebook or whatever.

Dig deep people

or dig small, every little bit counts. For my Moroccan sojourn I have to raise 350 pounds for the charity LCD. Link Community Development work to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the most disadvantaged schools in Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, South Africa, and Uganda. So while you are contributing to my great adventure, more importantly you are contributing to the good of the whole world. Education means self sufficiency, better minds which can solve more and prevent more problems that ripple into the whole of Africa and affect the stability of the whole world. :) I think education is probably the best cause to contribute to: give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he'll eat for a lifetime.

More Pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamiebibo/


Also in recent news, our kitchen failed every category of inspection: Too much Rubbish, too many dishes, dirty cabinets and fridge, floor too dirty, stove too dirty, and we were missing a table.
Well, after a few days of intensive washing and scrubbing and general cleaning and recovering the lost table, our kitchen has passed inspection with flying colors and is now a beautiful place to be. I would almost eat off the floor. I wish I had gotten a picture of it when I first got here though; there was an intense tower of dirty dishes complete with dried baked beans, peas, cigarettes, crusted porridge, rib bones and tea bags. impressive.

Mid February

Well, this weekend was really good. James got in thursday night. he was an hour and a half because of a train delay and a missed connection, so i was worried but just happy he made it here. I had gotten a delicious side of salmon a couple of weeks ago for only 4 pounds (half off). i had been saving it, and now was the occasion. We went out to a club called Sin City. Everyone I know goes there on thursdays, its pretty fun and decently cheap. Once we got home everyone was up for a while, just kind of being drunk and loud, so at about 5 o clock we realized we probably wouldnt get up the next day early enough to see much unless we stayed up. that we did. James and I and my flatmates crazy Joe and Dan Hopkins took a long walk once the sun was out. We got big breakfasts at what they call a greasy spoon here which is basically a diner. We dressed up in ties to look respectable so early on a saturday. except i had on sweatpants. we walked all the way to the beach. James brought his nice new camera and took a lot of really good pictures (it was beautiful and sunny out) but his camera was kind of pooping out, so i don't know if we've lost them or not. :,( I also showed him the university. we got home at about 12 and slept until dark. well worth it i thought. it was a great morning. we both left that night: he on a bus to a ferry to a bus to cork, ireland where his friend mary is studying; me on a train to Katy's in Cardiff.

I brought my laundry in my camping bag. their dryer is broken so my wet boxers decorated the radiators on saturday. we dropped into a house party and then to young sarah clay's boyfriend's house where they were smoking a hookah. Me and katy traded outfits and i did my gollum impression. on saturday we worked on getting everything for the hitch ready. we had some forms to fill out and whatnot. we've bought our plane tickets back to london from marrakech so we're properly committed. i need to raise 350 pounds so if you would like to contribute to a charity that helps support impoverished african communities by building schools and hospitals then send me a message and some money!!! :-) We walked around for a long time trying to find a place to eat but the wales england rugby game was on which was a big deal. we also intended to do a little fundraising just by asking people in the pubs; the game was a bad time though, everywhere was too crowded and loud and people were focusing on the game. I don't like the idea of approaching strangers but I guess i'll have to. So instead of raising money we went out drinking later and spent a good deal of money. Vacation justification. It was really fun though, way better than the average night. we went to 4 or 5 different places as opposed to last time i was in cardiff when we only went to the one.

In the morning there was a mysterious mess in the bathroom: an empty styrofoam container of chips(fries) save a couple and some smeared ketchup on the floor and bathtub. We deduced that it must've been me because katy doesnt like ketchup. she must have pushed me into the tub, but i guess i might have been throwing them or something.

We slept in and watched tv most of the day. i felt pretty rough. she made me a lovely lunch of a chicken kiev, a potato waffle and a spinach salad. i took an evening train home. On the walk from the train station to the bus station i gave a bum some change which i never do which led to some very good karma. waiting for the bus i met a very nice christian computer science major named Tim. We talked about our majors, what i was doing in swansea, and the Hitch. He had apparently been to morocco on a mission trip himself and gave some tips about bartering and staying healthy. If one promotes christianity in Morocco they can be killed. But more importantly he gave me the first 20 pounds of my fundraising!!! Positive Vibrations. I was really thankful for sure. I couldn't believe a stranger, especially a student, would be so generous, but then just from that meeting he did seem the type. Thanks Tim. The African Children thank you too.

Other news, my laptop cord is kind of broken, but I jimmy rigged it with some electrical tape and a pocket knife, i.e. i taped it to my computer with the disconnected frayed wires tight in the hole. wooooo.

Here's some pictures that don't have anything to do with this segment of my journey:
Swansea:


Bath:

Hello friends and family

Hiya everyone. I'll hopefully be updating this blog a couple times a week so if you want you can keep updated on my adventures. You could email or facebook me too, but this will be for everyone i guess.

This has been my second week of class. Not much class actually happened though. Monday was normal, with my one class, but it snowed and we got tuesday off, and I don't have class on Wed. anyway. and then it snowed again, but apparently not enough to get out of class. I saw snow in the morning and just assumed that we'd get out. oh well. The snow was quite a lot of fun, they normally don't get any here at all. The student village I live in is pretty big, with multiple streets and cul de sacs and it seemed like everyone was out that first night throwing snowballs. i haven't activated my phone yet so i did a lot of solo wandering, seeing people i knew here and there, and moving on. I'm very mysterious. everyone was having a lot of fun pelting cars with snowballs, which got a little out of hand, and then it was even more fun. someone up the road would yell "car!!" and everyone would get ready. pretty soon people were blocking the road with dumpsters and then blocking the car itself in. some people were pissed but some took it in good fun. #

last night i saw slumdog millionaire. w/ the student discount and this two for one deal it was only 2.40 which was nice. pretty good movie, though i just felt bad for the guy the whole time. and he does it all for a girl who is not so awesome in return. the music was cool though, and i don't see many films from india so that was inherently interesting. as i was leaving the theater i was planning to go home but then saw a bunch of the americans that i know, will soule, jeph etc. all in neon colors and whatnot. they were going to a club that was having an american night. i was pretty easily convinced. it was a pretty good time. i get anxious in clubs and can't say they are my fave, but i always end up going anyway. anyways i was just getting warmed up when we ended up leaving. oh well.

i have a lot of options ahead of me for travel. i don't know what i can do though. i've signed up for the hitch, whitch is a little scary. on top of the daunting journey, a whole lot of unknown to be afraid of, is the task of raising 350 pounds. i'm thinking a series of keggers, a classic college event this country lacks. i don't know if I could raise 350 on that alone. also, a lot of the americans are urging me to hop on the bandwagon to amsterdam: theres a relatively cheap group trip organized by the school. another option is majorca with the mountaineering club. its only a hundred pounds for a whole week. majorca is a spanish island with incredible climbing apparently. that trip honestly sounds the best, especially because its so reasonable. a week of getting juiced on the rock supplemented by beachtime and europartytime. only problem is its kind of in the middle of the time i'm allowing for the hitch.


well, thats all for now. please do post.