Reflections on Kenya

 This is reflections on Kenya. I will say, for me, it was not easy.  The reason I say this is because we could not really go outside, which puts me in a bad mood. There was no basketball hoops or parks, and we had just come from Italy, so Kenya was a huge wave of real travel. Italy was so easy to travel around. It was super touristy and safe. I mean I could walk around all by myself and I would be just fine (might even get some free cheese and a baguette). So Kenya was a splash of reality. We stayed at someone’s house (Ms. Alice and William) while we volunteered at a school where a lot of displaced or poor kids went. William and Ms.Alice also had adopted 11 children, so I had some kids to play with even though they like soccer and I like basketball. 

One of the days that we were there we went to the giraffe center for my Dads birthday with another nice volunteer from Brazil named Amanda. The giraffe center was cool. I listened to the worker’s informational talk that he gave and that was interesting. And one thing that I do not understand is my parents really expected me to put my hand near the giraffe’s mouth! Anything that has a mouth that big, I don’t want to be anywhere near it. There was another time when they wanted me to stand next to the giraffe for a picture.Why would you stand next to one of those things? My parents said it was safe, but I trusted the sign on the boardwalk that said “Beware of the giraffes-they will headbutt if you stand too close”. And believe it or not everyone there was standing right next to them. Point is, that I am more comfortable and, I like more, to be observing.

A little while after that, we went on a safari! It was so fun! We got to see every safari animal in that park (Masai Mara) except the rhino. We even saw the really hard to find ones like cheetahs, rare cat thingy, crocodile, leopard with a kill up in a tree, and 3 prides of lions, one of which had a torn in half dead zebra! We even got to see a ton of my favorite safari animal: the Cape Buffalo (the one in the big five that looks like a buffalo)! We got to stay in this cool army tent (rhino tourist camp, if you want to search it up) and there was a herd of wild cows that came to our yard every day! I hand fed them grass because even though they have big mouths they are not scary; they’re actually really nice. After the days there, we went back on the 7hour drive on the pot-hole road: they call it the African Massage. 

At the end of when we stayed with William and Ms.Alice, we got gifts that I will show you in the pictures.

That’s pretty much it my dear readers. FWI I updated my Book List and Things I Do In My Free Time. Thank you guys very much and I will update soon.

 Me saying bye to my family at the border of Kenya and Tanzania

Cheetah that walked right past our Jeep.

 Me at the Giraffe Center.

 Sleeping on the way to the Safari.

  Giraffe.

 Two of the younger orphan kids.

Elephants.

My favorite: The Cape Buffalo!

 Safari Jeep.

Leopard lounging in the tree.

 Amanda and I at the school.

 Herd of elephants.

Me accepting my gifts.

 Giraffe.

Leopard on the tree branch.

 Dad and his gifts.

 Elephant baby.

 Wildabeast, I am very fond of them too.

 Leopard.

Giraffe looking off into the distance for Instagram photo.

My cow friends.

Me at the Giraffe Center.

Hyena chillin in warm mud. I love this picture.

Giraffe.

Male lion with zebra.

Zebra.

Recap on Rome

 Dear readers, today I am going to bring you back to my time in Rome. It was a sunny Monday morning when my family and I made our way to the Colosseum, one of my top bucket-list goals ever since I got into gladiatorial history! The night before we stood outside of the colosseum gates just so we could get a glimpse of what we where going to see the next day.

At the Colosseum we booked the full tour, which was awesome! We got to go to the underground, ground floor, and the normal inside tour! The tour was in Italian because those were the only tickets left but it was still awesome. And here is a link to what the colosseum underground was used for in the Roman times. Awesome Colosseum Underground Video. The history behind all of it is extremely fascinating! 

After that we went into the gift shop of course! I confess that I spent 40 dollars there😬! Though it was well worth it. I got a replica of an ancient Caesar coin, and a bronze model of a gladiator helmet! I picked up a few other trinkets along the way too, but those two were the main things that burned a hole in my pocket. I still admire them with all my heart even after all these weeks.😊

After that of course we went to the Roman Forum, arguably one of the best social spots in history  (other than the science and history section of the library). It was amazing luckily I did my research, so when we got there, I was basically the tour guide! It was so fun!

We also visited other attractions like The Spanish Steps and Trevy Fountain.

So, my dear readers I hope you all have a good December and I will update soon. FWI readers I updated my book list and the things I do in my free time blog posts. Also for my dear friends I am so sorry that I have not FaceTime in a long time. We have been busy and with not good internet.

Pic no.1  Colosseum underground.

Pic.no.2  My totally sexy Instagram photo.

Pic.no. 3  The Roman Forum.

Pic.no.4  My Instagram photo where I just happen to be lifting my leg and looking off into the distance.

Pic.no.5  View of the colosseum wall from the underground.

Pic.no.6  Gladiator helmet ( a secutor if you watched my other blog post video).

Pic.no.7  Another view of the colosseum from the underground.

Pic.no.8  Me just casually looking at the colosseum and my parents just happened to snap a photo.

Pic.no.9  View of the colosseum.

Pic.no.10  Temple of Romulus and Remus ( romes founders according to mythology) in the Roman Forum

Pic.no.11  The Roman Forum from the west side of it.

Pic.no.12  Trevy Fountain.

Pic.no.13  Guess what this is:  A: Eiffel Tower   B: The Pyramids  C: Colosseum  ( if you were paying attention by now you would know this).

Pic.no.14  Colosseum underground tunnel.

Pic.no.15  Replica of Roman Caesar coin.

Pic.no.16  Colosseum underground hallway.

Pic.no.17  Me on floor level of the Colosseum.

11

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

Salerno/Pompeii

 Hi my dear readers, I know it has been a long time since I have posted and I am sorry. FYI, now people should be able to comment because my parents fixed the problem with commenting. Now I am in the wonderful grassland of Salerno.

 But let’s rewind to October 31 (Halloween night). It was a dark and stormy night. Not really--it was the afternoon and pretty sunny, but that’s how all good stories start and this is a good one. So, it was a sunny afternoon one day when my parents suggested we go to Pompeii for Halloween. What isn’t scarier than lava murdering people? We all agreed that it would be fun to go, so we hopped on a train and went! 

When we arrived in Pompeii, it was AWESOME!!!! The reason why it was so awesome is because we got to see one of my biggest interests right now: an ancient Roman gladiator arena! I also can’t wait until I can see the Colosseum but let's focus on this. At Pompeii we walked around and got to see all of the old buildings and architecture. It was pretty cool. When we were done with that we checked out the gift shop and explored the city.

That takes us to the night! I happened to have fake blood and scars on my face and that turned out well when all of the kids started to go into the businesses and came out with candy and snacks! My parents pushed me to go and trick or treat, so I did it and had a lot of fun. The day ended so we went back and slept.

As I mentioned earlier of how I am in the city of Salerno, which is a rough city despite the pictures on the internet. It is ok here. I am going to show you pics of a grassland which is actually our park. Also my new fastest Rubix cube solve is 48 seconds! I will post a video of me doing my solve in later posts.