RE: Day 11, Part 2 – Team Beck tilts at windmills in Zaanse Schans
Hi @mialinnea, the place really looks like it's straight out of a fairy tale, or that human hobbits live there. I am so relieved I'm not the only one who thought they were pigs. Let's not tell the sheep.
I know what you mean about the power of green...coming from Montreal, I was used to the amazing green you get in spring followed by the deep green of summer, and the smells as you mow the grass...mmmmm! Add to that I spent my first six years in England, so I grew up with soft, sweet green grass.
South Africa and California have similar climates and that brown drab thing eventually works its way into your soul - you find you need green. The flowers and palm trees are beautiful, yes, but they aren't a substitute for green. There are a few places in South Africa with indigenous forest (there's one place called Hogsback which is where JRR Tolkien grew up and got his inspiration for Hobbiton), but the "green, green grass of home" doesn't really exist here. I can understand how you would miss the greenness of Finland.
Lovely to hear from you and I appreciate your comment! 😊😊
And then after the deep green of summer you get the, yellow, the orange and the red! You don't really realize how much you love something until it's no longer there. I might co camping tomorrow, so I hope to find some more green in the hills around Los Angeles. :)
I would love to visit South Africa one day, I have a friend who studied there for a few years and now works as a nature guide and the pictures he puts up on facebook and instagram are simply amazing! Looks like a paradise.
You are so right! Those colours are ingrained in us somehow. Camping in search of green sounds like a plan :-).
I was just catching up with a friend in Montreal this afternoon and our conversation turned, as it does with Montrealers, to the weather and the autumn leaves. So they've had temperatures over 35°C, but the leaves are still turning. That blows the hypothesis that it's frost and lowering temperatures that makes the leaves change colour, and rather supports the "it's the changing light" camp.
If you have a friend doing bush work in South Africa, all I can say is save up and visit him! There is nothing, nothing, nothing to compare with the southern African bush. (But it's rarely green ;-)).
Oh, if you do go camping, please take some photos and make a post about it :-).
😊😊
Hmm, that's interesting! I always thought it was the cold temperature that made the leaves turn colours but now that you mention it I think I have heard the light theory as well.
Yes, I have been planning on going to visit him since he left to go there but I have been saving most of my money for this exchange. He really loves it there though and will probably not move back to Finland anytime soon so I will go visit him at some point! Yes, the bush seems marvelous in pictures and I bet it is 100 times better in real life 😊
Growing up in Montreal, we lived with the accepted wisdom that the September temperature drop led to the change in leaf colour. Now I see friends questioning decades of certain knowledge being challenged! Fun stuff.
On the bush: nothing can prepare you for the wonderful smells, especially in the morning. 😊😊
Thihi, that is fun! Why did you move to South Africa if I may ask? :)
Oh, are the smells coming from the flowers around? I look forward to experiencing that!
Hmmm...why did I move to South Africa? I ran a technical assistance project based in Zambia on behalf of the Canadian International Development Agency (my company had won the project just before I started working there). The project lasted 9 years, was based in Zambia and covered the whole SADC (Southern African Development Community) region, and during that time I travelled a great deal from Montreal to the region. It was during my stays there that I became increasingly convinced "doing development" from outside the "developing" country was an exercise in false economies, and to be brutally honest, repressive to the local private sector. At the same time, I became convinced that the local private sector would be important to helping countries achieve greater economic equality by growing, providing jobs and reinvesting in their economies, and by contributing to attracting foreign direct investment. Companies "doing aid" were highly transactional which seemed unsustainable to me. Then my company opened an office in South Africa and asked for interested parties to head it up. I expressed interest.
...and was told Johannesburg was too dangerous for a girl.
So they gave the job to a "senior businessman" (that's what they said they were looking for) and I nearly moved to Vietnam. Then the senior businessman left Joburg since his family couldn't take it here, and they asked me if I was still interested. The rest is history.
About the smells? Oh my gosh, they are heady and heavenly. September is such a lovely time to visit Joburg. The beginning of summer can also be a lovely time to visit the bush, once the first rains have come. The grass is green and the smells of the bush are divine - wild thyme, for instance. Mmmmmm....
Hope you're getting ready to go camping this weekend! Cheers 😊😊
Sounds like your job is really interesting and fulfilling! I do not know very much about developmental work, but I agree with you that the local private sector is of great importance for helping a country develop. Have you been able to develop the projects to suit your ideals better since then?
Camping was great! We went up in the mountains and it was so beautiful, even though it was still very dry and not a lot of green. I will make a post about it soon! We had to go back to Long Beach today because a friend of ours is organizing a small live music party in his garden. So the fun continues :)
Hee hee, @mialinnea, I'll let you know how that whole career/ideals thing pans out in a couple of decades! On a more serious note, I met one of my current business partners over two decades ago in Zambia and we started then trying to develop infrastructure privately. Let's just say that lessons were learned and wounds were licked, and we now have a much better idea of our niche - where we can bring value, and who to.
Glad you enjoyed your camping trip! I look forward to that post. Enjoy the rest of your weekend 😊😊