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Ivor Tossell | Off into the night Story, memory, and the road back home again Read more...   Ivor Tossell | Paragraphs It’s been six years since I was introduced to the concept of “killing all your babies,” which is really less interesting than it sounds. It refers to the necessity of chopping your writing down to size, even if it means cutting out words or paragraphs that you really liked. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Ubuntu As I pack my bags, I can tell you the following about Ubuntu.ca: it's a small corner of the web, and never broke into mass circulation. I think I like it that way. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Empire Making sense of the British Empire after ten months in Kenya Read more... Ivor Tossell | Damn you, Idi Amin Fighting it to the finish with the big fat Ugandan Read more... Ivor Tossell | Medicare Getting poked, getting pills Read more... danielle | de condom gurl Well I bet you thought that I had forgot about ubuntu! Well I haven't, just been working like crazy at a place with no internet access. Read more... Ivor Tossell | The Head-of-State Thug Quotient, redux Now, here's a happy update on the state of Kenya. Read more... Ivor Tossell | The New Canada My Canada includes appliances. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Imaginary friends Here in Nairobi, we’re never sure if we’re on the front-lines or the back-nine of the war on terror. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Shot on location Unpleasant words for unpleasant television Read more... Susan White | Some Final Thoughts A homage to India and its affect on me Read more... Susan White | And I'm done I can hardly believe that after all this time I only have a week and a half left. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Tom makes an announcement “Oh my,” said the Director-General. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Getting fleeced in Dar es Salaam You learn to trust people; with no real law enforcement, it’s the only way to get things done these parts. The problem is that once one party has breaches that trust, all bets are off: without police and with the streets unsafe after dark, there’s no fallback. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Sunny cities Business travel requires tight schedules and a very low tolerance for the unexpected. Africa, for its part, hasn’t really mustered any expectations in the first place, on top of which it has a very, very low tolerance for schedules. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Jomo and his aeroplanes In 1978, so the story goes, Nairobi was Africa’s jewel, its garden city, its beacon of prosperity and purpose – and it was when the Mzee died that the long, meandering descent began. Of course, this isn’t exactly true, but everyone seems to agree that there weren’t potholes back then, and that’s proof enough for most. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Terror, water, askaris Since the small picture has a stomachache and is supposed to be on a flight to Tanzania in a couple of hours, let’s look at the big picture for a moment. Read more... Susan White | Photos again Here are some pics from various travels over the last couple months. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Run for your lives The recent news of bodies piling up on Toronto’s street corners – the first outbreak, not this latest – has struck a chord in Nairobi, and not a happy one, either. As Toronto cried foul over being lumped in with Bejing and Hong Kong – and the rest of Canada cried foul over being lumped in with Toronto – residents of the world’s last great pariah state were looking on with comprehension, but not much sympathy. Read more... Kellee Ngan | The Executive Summary: Australia, Thailand, Vietnam and a bit of NZ in one post Ah, the guilt I get from not posting! It can be bad for the soul, so I am attempting to make up for things here. Read more... danielle | Unemployed in Guyana Disappointment, rum, and a very hard job... Read more... Ivor Tossell | These are the people in my neighborhood “The landlord ignores me, the guards are no help,” I said. “Did you see the flying termites last night?” Read more... Davey Johnston | Bye bye dreams ... hello suenos, sogni, and reves! Read more... danielle | Where the hell is Suriname? I had no idea what to expect when I came to Suriname. I wasn't really interested in going actually, but I needed to get out of Georgetown, I needed a break, and Suriname is right next door. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Termites “We’ve been waiting for you,” said the termite. “Where were you?” Read more... Susan White | Ali B-I-S-C-U-I-T spells ‘biscuit.’ Read more... Susan White | Through the desert on a hump My turn on the camel safari, four months after Anna's. Read more... danielle | Groetjes uit Suriname A slight change of plans, hopefully just a postponement, because Guyana has gone (in my friend's apt description) ape-shit bananas... Read more... Ivor Tossell | Pants, batik, flood The roof keeps giving out, and it’s costing me pants. Read more... Susan White | The Legend of the Rajputs I've been slack about posting lately but I promise to be better! Read more... Ivor Tossell | Under African skies When I started Ubuntu.ca, I promised myself that despite having all the hallmarks of a weblog (date-stamps, woe-is-me entries, lurking readers), I wouldn’t treat it as an online journal of daily activities. People’s desire to entrust their gory details to no-one but their closest personal internet has always turned me off. Doesn’t stop me from reading them, of course, but I myself would rather be the subject of your passing interest, not your morbid fascination. Read more... danielle | Jus Now This is my last week in Georgetown. People I know here ask when I am leaving, and then nod and ask when I am coming back. I am expected to come back – it is a ‘when’ question not an ‘if’. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Street boys This one came shooting at me – they always do – like a little brown torpedo. Remarkably, though, he shot clear across all four of Ngong Road’s matatu-infested lanes, divided by a scrawny dirt median that makes every crossing feel like a high-stakes game of Frogger. Read more... Janine Cocker | Umm...Hai! A little too late.... Me, I'm a bad UBUNTU-er. Read more... Ivor Tossell | The final report So with my contract three days from calling it quits, I find myself writing my Final Report to the Commonwealth of Learning. They want to know about Kenya. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Swept off the floor and vacuum-packed Three problems, urgent as ever, in the kitchen Read more... danielle | Pictures! Pictures from my recent adventure over the rainforest: Read more... Ivor Tossell | In sickness and in health Apparently I'm mostly not dying, which is helpful. But wait 'till you hear about the hospital. Read more... danielle | Amidst the Contradictions It was really hard to reconcile my world with the one that was preparing for war and the one that was preparing for the invasion. Read more... Ivor Tossell | On an evening such as this I wonder if there’s a war on outside. Read more... Davey Johnston | I hate losing things This is dumb cause I just spent 40 minutes writing a heart-felt, "my internship is almost over" message and it got erased. Sometimes no language has curses that are descriptive enough you know? I will try to write the gist of the message here: Read more... Kellee Ngan | The Big Island Warning: Perhaps only swimmers will understand. Read more... danielle | Iwokrama pinch me - no wait, don't. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Small victories The small-disaster approach to business travel in Uganda makes me some unexpected contacts. Read more... danielle | Mashramani It hasn't been a case of being bedridden, Its just March in the Caribbean.... Read more... danielle | Not Yet! I should hate it here, but oddly enough.... Read more... Davey Johnston | Postmodernism is pretty cliche, isn't it? My roomates in 4th apartment during my stay in Italy are: Read more... Ivor Tossell | Where's Ivor? a) Bedridden b) Uganda c) Bedridden in Uganda Read more... Anna Grimes | A Healthy Dose of Namkeen Bits and Pieces from the Subcontinent Read more... Anna Grimes | Did Someone Say Cricket? World Cup fever is as contagious as the Ebola virus, and it is virtually impossible to escape news of the Indian team’s exploits in South Africa. Read more... Anna Grimes | Some Photos - more to come Read more... Anna Grimes | Dashing Through the Sand We had come to Jaisalmer with a mission: we had decided to go on a camel safari in the Thar Desert. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Dispatches Kenya, Kenya. Whatever happened to Kenya? Read more... Ivor Tossell | Torontonians on safari "Go ahead. Pull my tail," said the leopard. Read more... Davey Johnston | Hot on the heels I like puns, and its interesting that I've had to define it a couple times lately to Italians and Syrians alike. Read more... Kellee Ngan | Duct tape, basketball, and a woman from Karamea Connecting the dots between different people and different places in these turbulent times. Read more... Davey Johnston | Decisions are hard to make In the last year or two of my life, I have discovered that one of the things to do in life is go shopping. Its a cool thing cause you get a little peice of someone's imagination and put it in your pocket, your backpack, or on your legs (like a pair of pants). It can be hard to do cause there is infinite selection, limited amounts of money and time to buy with, and you need an instinct for it. I believe that I have some of all of the above, but truth be told, everything looks pretty to me until I have to figure out how much it costs and whether I really want it. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Odds and sods Ronald Reagan buys the farm, GI Joe rides again, and why I hate Rosie DiManno. Read more... danielle | Beauty and… well, just beauty A sampling of questions and answers from the Miss Guyana/Universe Contest intelligence segment. "If I was Miss Guyana....." Read more... Ivor Tossell | War and a haircut Conservative commentators from Pat Buchanan to Margaret Wente are fond of deriding those protestors who claim, sounding somewhat breathless themselves, that George W. Bush poses as much a threat to America as Saddam Hussein. Read more... Davey Johnston | Catching up (in more ways than one and hopefully for real) Every possible theme in life is found in every person and in every culture, but do varying degrees (or so I believe I've noticed). I say this because when I arrived to Italy I started thinking, "Italians seems to embody all the things I want to strive for to be, but for some reason I don't really feel like I want to try to be Italian." Read more... Ivor Tossell | Your questions answered! (Part IV) More questions and answers from the heart of darkness. Read more... Susan White | A Tale of Two Cities, Part III How can you love and hate a place at the same time? Read more... Kellee Ngan | Scenes from Tuvalu (a visual representation) Finally, I can weigh in with some photos of my own. Read more... Susan White | A Tale of Two Cities, Part II Bombay is dying. Read more... Kellee Ngan | Good things come in Sevens In a rugby-mad nation, it doesn't get much better than this. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Picture pages, picture pages In which names are put to faces for the Zanzibar expedition Read more... Susan White | A Tale of Two Cities, Part I Bombay is opulence and extravagance. Read more... Ivor Tossell | The bachelor It was the Maxim that pushed me over the edge. Read more... Davey Johnston | Almost front row for Iraq vs USA The Iraq war issue is pretty interesting for me to talk about since I am in one of the neighboring countries. Read more... danielle | Crazy Mr. Gibson He took us on a hunt for jaguars – we were armed with sticks... Read more... Ivor Tossell | Columbia Between shoeless kids and space shuttles, a tragedy of the imagination is a tragedy nonetheless. Read more... danielle | The Oh, my God Trail The forest was still, not a leaf falling, but with a terrible gasping breathing coming from within, louder than I thought possible - like the forest was screaming at us... Read more... Susan White | Giovanni We strode to our destination: an open-air beach hut/restaurant that also served as Giovanni’s tattoo and body piercing parlor. Read more... Susan White | I love pictures To test the sanity of those at home buried in snow... Read more... Susan White | And at long last... One more... Read more... danielle | Overland to Kaieteur You can fly to Kaieteur, but I like to do things the hard way... Read more... Ivor Tossell | Lessons learned In which I finally put up and shut up. Read more... kellee | Risk What one Kiwi taught me about playing the game. Read more... Susan White | My Scooter Story If Ivor is still writing about his Christmas vacation, than I can too! Read more... Ivor Tossell | Two miles from Bububu In which a scooter named Blue Lightening gets the author in over his head. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Underwear across Zanzibar In which we pick up the most pressing threads, where we left off. Read more... Ivor Tossell | A note to our Canadian readers Not to distract myself from the topic at hand, but a brief and timely note from myself (and perhaps others) to our dear family and friends back home. Read more... Ivor Tossell | In Jambiani In which a scene of sun-blasted desolation is surveyed, and legs get burnt. Read more... kellee | Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus What am I doing this for? Fun, of course. Read more... Ivor Tossell | A beacon to Scandinavians everywhere In which a funny thing happens on the way to Zanzibar Read more... danielle | The Adventures of Flat Stanley Stanley was a student that had been crushed by a falling blackboard, he wanted to see the world, so he travels by envelope... Read more... Ivor Tossell | Scenes from a Dar In which is related continued embarassment to the author, as well as an important moral for proprietors of tourist bureaus everywhere. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Oh, for a Greyhound In which Ivor learns too much, too fast about bussing in Africa Read more... danielle | HIV in Guyana Warning: this is not a funny post. I will write later about the misadventures in my internship including being tear-gassed, negotiating a job in the rainforest, and finding myself drinking strawberry daiquiris and smoking cigars with the president’s advisor at 4am. Spurred on by an article sent to me by Helena from the Commonwealth of Learning (thanks Helena), I decided to take a look at what I have learned about the HIV situation is Guyana. And it’s not good, but then, we are talking about the spread of a deadly infectious disease, so that’s to be expected. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Ahmed In which one of Planet Earth's less traveller-friendly cities is explored, the hard way Read more... Ivor Tossell | Midnight train to Mombasa You can take the train out of Nairobi, but... Read more... kellee | How I spent my summer holiday First things first: Kate, I'm sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry! I have lost the lovely silver bracelet with the purple cat's eye you purchased at the Portobello Market when you were abroad at Oxford...the one I have been borrowing ever since because I really liked it and you're too nice to ask for it back. And well, now you can't. Sorry. The bright side? It couldn't have been in a prettier place. Read more... danielle | The Magical Waters of Tobago In Georgetown, the smallest cuts turn into festering infections and abscesses that don’t heal. You can never really get clean in Guyana because the water you shower with is about the colour of weak tea and is full of bacteria. But after only a few days in Tobago, everything started to heal up, the physical and mental toll of Guyana. Read more... danielle | The Screaming Half of the Sun The tourist symbol for Trinidad and Tobago is a sun divided in two, one half a cool yellow smiling contently, the other half red and screaming – the perfect representation for the two island country. Tobago is the yellow half, the beautiful unspoiled island where you can’t help but mellow out. But Trinidad is wild cosmopolitan center. Read more... Susan White | Christmas on the Beach Christmas this year found me at a beautiful beach village called Palolem in the tiny west coast state of Goa. Read more... Ivor Tossell | Back in the saddle A note of return... Read more... |
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