A Taste of African

 African cuisine, or more specifically Ethiopian cuisine is one of my favorite foods. There is an African Restaurant here in Lincoln, NE that is a must try for those of you who have never experienced African, and is a must go for those of you who have and love it.

Roy, the owner of The African Restaurant in Lincoln,  NE.
 Photo from his website: www.letseat.at/africanfood

However after many visits to this wonderful restaurant I decided to venture out and try to make it on my own with the help of my like-minded buddy Rachel :)

The most difficult part I anticipated would be making the injera, which is the bland spongy flatbread that you put the stews and vegetables on. Injera also acts as the dining utensils, as in this cuisine you tear off pieces and grab the food with it, instead of using a fork. 

The most amazing part of Ethiopian: The spices! Not only do they add a kick to the dish, they add a beautiful earthy color as well. These are all the spices the recipe calls for mixed together. 

We decided to cook a venison stew in spicy berbere sauce. The original recipe calls for beef, but venison was a wonderful subsitute. Here is that recipe:

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/beef-stew-spicy-berbere-sauce-10000001157813/

Spicy Venison Berbere Stew

Ingredients
2 medium onions, quartered lengthwise
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger

1 tablespoon each ground paprika and cayenne
1 teaspoon each ground cumin 
1/2 teaspoon each ground turmeric, cinnamon and cardamom
14 teaspoon each ground cloves and allspice
1 can crushed tomatoes in puree
1/4 cup dry red wine
2 1/2 pounds boned venison cut into small pieces
Salt

Preparation 

1.In a food processor, pulse onions until very finely diced (almost pureed)

This is the caramelized onions after adding the spices. 

2. Melt butter in 4 to 5 quart pan over medium high heat. Add onions and stir until browned, about 10 minutes..
3. Add all the spices ( I measured and put them all in a cup first, then threw them all in). Stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4. Add tomatoes, wine and venison. Bring to a simmer then cover and reduce heat. Let simmer for two hours, stirring occasionally. 
5. Add salt to taste.

Here the stew is simmering. I wish you could add smells to a blog, because the aromas were amazing. 

 Now I hope you noticed that this simmers for two hours, which is a perfect amount of time for you to get started on the injera and spicy vegetable side. For the vegetable side dish we chose spicy potatoes, cabbage and carrots. This dish takes your familiar potato and carrot dish, flips it on its head and gives it that bold but mild East African kick that makes you think you've never truly had potatoes or carrots before. Plus it's easy!

Here is the recipe we used: http://localfoods.about.com/od/sidedishes/r/potcabcarrot.htm

Spicy Potatoes, Cabbage and Carrots


Ingredients


2-4 Tablespoons of butter
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves of smashed or minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 head of savoy cabbage or 1/2 head of green cabbage cored and chopped
3 potatoes peeled and diced
3 carrots peeled and diced

Preparation:


1. Melt butter in a large frying pan or medium pot over medium high heat. Add onions garlic and salt. Cook for 3 minutes until soft, stirring frequently.


2. Add all the spices, stir for 1 minute. Add cabbage and stir, then cover and reduce heat to medium low. Cook the cabbage until it wilts, 5-10 minutes.


3. Add potatoes, carrots and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to a simmer.Cook until vegetables are tender. If there is too much liquid, cook with the cover off to reduce liquid. 


 Lastly, we fried up the injera. Here is where we had our trials, errors and lessons learned. When making something so out of the ordinary and out of your culture, there's bound to be something that doesn't go exactly to plan. But we learned, adapted and came out with delicious injera!

Injera is an Ethiopian staple that is cooked weekly and eaten daily in most East African households. It is made from teff flour and water, which is allowed to ferment for several days. This fermentation gives the injera a mildly sour taste, and gives the spongy texture to the flatbread. 

Injera is traditionally cooked on a large black clay plate. Photo from wikipedia commons. 

We decided to make the traditional injera with 100% teff flour. Here is the recipe:

http://www.food.com/recipe/authentic-injera-aka-ethiopian-flat-bread-96980 

It simply calls for teff flour and water, then fermenting it for 3 days. However after doing this and frying it up, the smell was terrible, and the taste was probably similar to what your dog leaves behind in the yard for you to pick up. It didn't look that great either...

Injera gone wrong...

So we continued in a different direction, with a recipe more like this: 

http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/bread/recipe-injera.html

This recipe only used a 1:4 ratio of teff flour to white flour. For a quick rise we put it in a bowl with about 2 tsps of yeast and let it sit for 30 minutes.

Injera

Ingredients

1/4 cup teff flour

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 cup water

pinch of salt

vegetable oil

The trick to injera is to pour the batter on a hot oiled pan, and wait for it to cook all the way through without flipping it. You will know it's done when you see many bubbles and it looks cooked. 

  After a couple of hours of chopping, stirring, simmering and frying, we had a beautiful plate of boldly tasting Ethiopian food. The venison was so soft you could cut it with a fork, the sauce tasted as intoxicating as it smelled, the spicy vegetables melted in your mouth and the bland tasting injera held everything together perfectly. The best part was it tasted 99% like the food we had at the restaurant! I'm excited to cook this again, maybe for my family? We'll see if they are ready for it :) Thanks for reading, and remember, no cuisine is ever too out of reach to try in your own kitchen!

Life Lessons I've Learned From My Dog

A year ago tomorrow, my best buddy Kingston was born. And since then he has made my life richer and happier in so many ways. This past year has been filled with memories, adventures, travels and of course many games of fetch. These are the lessons Kingston has taught me along the way.

Happy birthday buddy, I love you.

Whenever you see your loved ones wag your tail

Dogs don't battle their pride every day before they let us know how they feel. I admire that so much. Whether it's been 5 days or 5 minutes since Kingston has last seen me, his whole body wiggles and wags with excitement, which is a prelude to a lot of puppy kisses. It warms my heart and teaches me how important it is to tell our loved ones how much they mean to us. When is the last time I showed that much excitement just to see someone I loved?

Be grateful for all the treats in life

Whether it’s a chew bone, a  belly rub or a walk around the block, Kingston never takes a thing for granted, and is quick to show me how thankful and happy he is. How often in life do I expect something instead of show gratitude for it? It's so easy to take the tiniest things for granted, I'm so glad I have Kingston here to teach me to enjoy the simple things in life.

When making friends, judge them not on their appearance but their character

Being an only dog, Kingston loves making friends! Whether we're at the dog park, a lake or traveling, Kingston will get so excited at the sight of another dog, or in his eyes, another potential playmate. He doesn't distinguish the dog's size, color or appearance before deciding to engage in a game of chase.

You are alive! Be excited about that!

Kingston's enthusiasm for life is contagious, and when I see him so energetic and happy, I can't help but let it warm my heart. How often have I been upset or sad over the little petty things in life? Compared to people all around the world with real problems, I have it great. My reminder for this comes in a little black and furry package with a smile on his face every day :)

Always cuddle and kiss good mornings, good nights, hellos and goodbyes

Besides sticks, bones, squirrels and leaves, Kingston's favorite thing in the world would  probably be cuddles. I don't think there is a better medicine in the world than a sweet gentle puppy cuddling up to you. I am so grateful for that.

Be a loyal friend

Kingston is my best friend. He knows when I'm happy and shares my excitement for every day. He knows when I'm sad and I need a kiss or a laugh at his silly antics. We go everywhere together, step by step,  and we try to make the best out of everything. He is the best side kick I've ever had, and such a loyal companion.  My life is so much richer for having him in it.

It's ok to make mistakes

Don't get me wrong, Kingston is far from perfect. As a puppy and now an almost grown Lab-German Shepard mix, his energy and mischievousness know no bounds. He loves to sneak behind my back in the kitchen to see what tasty treats are in the garbage. And he would sooner jump up to reach your level then sit calmly for you when you get home. But he has learned a lot in the past year, one of which is it isn't the end of the world if you make a mess or forget a rule. We all make mistakes, its what we learn from them that counts.

Forgive easily, and love unconditionally

It's astounding how easily dogs will forgive you. Whether you had to scold them, or you had to leave them in the kennel all day, the minute they see you again they have already forgiven, forgotten and are ready to love you unconditionally. How long do I hold grudges? Are they worth it?

Turn every day into an adventure

Kingston came into the perfect family for this atitude. We love going on adventures, and now with this crazy dog in our life, our adventures are so much more fun.  No matter where you are, there is always something to be discovered. You just have to sniff every tree, run through all the bushes and toss a few rocks :)

Take time to play outside

I've always been an outdoors woman, but having Kingston has enriched that so much. It's a thrill to watch him pounce through a meadow in search of the next smell, little animal or leaf that is around the corner. His excitement just to be outside is contagious, and he takes in everything through all his senses. He's the best side kick an outdoors person can have.

Don't bite off more than you can chew

Kingston, like most dogs, has an affinity for sticks. But sometimes he gets a little cocky and chooses logs, or even "sticks" that are still attached to trees. I usually have to inform him that that is not yet a stick, but a branch. He's still working on this one.

Don't take yourself too seriously

If you want a cure to being uptight, rigid and serious all the time, get a dog. They teach you to let loose and have some fun once in awhile, (or in Kingston's case, most of the time).  Kingston could probably never be bored, he is always coming up with games to entertain himself. For example, one morning I was awakened by him jumping in the bed and tossing around in the covers. He kept pouncing on something and tossing it in the air, then diving in the covers and finding it again. I was annoyed that I was woken up so early on my day off, and was about to get angry with him. I looked to see what was so exciting that he couldn't wait to show me until I woke up: It was a dry kidney bean.  I broke down in laughter, and with such a funny and quirky start had an amazing day :) What if we all laughed a little more and argued a little less? What kind of world would that be?

Take time to listen to people

It warms my heart how much Kingston really tries to understand us when we talk to him. He cocks his head from one side to another in an effort to decode the garbled English language, even though he doesn't understand. How hard to I try to listen to people that I actually understand? 

Don't let being different hold you back

Kingston was the runt of nine puppies, and was born with a broken tail. We later discovered that he had some type of neurological condition that wouldn't let him separate his two front legs when he trots or runs, so instead he hops. We thought that he would grow out of it, but yet here he is one year old and still hopping like a machine. Yet he doesn't let this disability hold him back at all, in fact I've never seen a dog run faster than him at the dog park. Differences are only abnormal in a perception. Kingston gets along great, even though he does a lot of things differently. I was afraid of him drowning if he couldn't separate his legs to swim. But not only does he still swim with his disability, swimming is his favorite thing! He doesn't let anything keep him from enjoying his life, and has more character because of this. This is why we love him. 

Pumpkin Bliss

I'll admit, since graduating from college I've felt like your typical 20 something year old trying to go head on with the world and tackle its problems one by one. I really do pity action heroes; the need to save the world is a tough feeling. So most days I try and take joy in the simple things in my life that are making it so happy and meaningful; drinking coffee with Ben in the morning before we go off to work, waking up to a snoring puppy with his feet stretched in the air, the love pouring through from my family in things as simple as facebook posts or phone calls.

And lately, my own personal redemption against the chaos of the world; cooking. I've always loved it, but through college didn't get much time or have enough energy for it in such a get up and run out the door lifestyle. Since graduating I've learned to slow down and really immerse myself in the present moment in everything I do, especially cooking.

So yesterday, instead of tackling the world's problems, I tackled pumpkin butter :)

I bought three small pumpkins from the farmers market, and was excited to put them to use. I searched for recipes all over, until I came across this simple crock pot pumpkin butter recipe. Then I got to work. I’ve never done anything with a pumpkin before besides carve it (who knew it was edible?!).

The recipe calls for about two of these smaller pumpkins. I chopped them in half to get the seeds out, and then I peeled the skins off with a knife and cut the meat of the pumpkin into smaller inch long pieces. 

Then I dumped these into a crock pot, and added about a cup of sugar, ½ a cup of brown sugar, and a handful of cinnamon with a few pinches of nutmeg and allspice. I also added about a ½ cup of milk. 

Turn the crockpot on low, and cook for 8 hours. An hour into it I decided to help the process by blending the chunks together so it looked more pureed.

After this your work is done and the crockpot takes over cooking it while simultaneously filling your house with amazing autumn aromas. I made some fresh bread that was finished baking just as the pumpkin butter was ready to taste. A spread of the freshly cooked butter over a piece of homemade bread tasted like a perfect fall day melting in your mouth.  It turned out great and I look forward to making more of it maybe for Christmas gifts!

But of course, the pumpkin possibilities didn’t end there. I had saved the seeds, rinsed and dried them. 

But instead of salting and roasting them as usual, I incorporated them into my homemade granola. The result: pumpkin bliss.

Here is my granola recipe (Of course I change it everytime, so feel free to do with it what you want with whatever you have around)

About 3 cups of plain oats

1 cup of brown sugar

½ cup of honey

3 tbsp of melted butter

1 cup of crushed walnuts

1 cup of sliced almonds

1 cup of pumpkin seeds

Cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, or any other spice you can think of to taste.

Mix all together and spread out on a baking sheet. Bake for 60 minutes at 250degrees, stirring every 15 minutes.

The smell alone of this baking in your oven will make your mouth water. Plus, homemade granola is a lot cheaper, tastier and fresher than store bought, so why not make it yourself!

Moral of the story: Cook a lot, eat well, and relish the sweet, simple things in life :)

The Heart's Storm

The storm is brewing. I feel the cool breeze on my neck, the rustle of the leaves and my hair whipping against my face. This storm has been shaping for a couple of hours already, but the one in my heart has been quietly brewing for a long time, thundering in the distance since my birth. Each year my shell has cracked a little more, my intellect has widened and the facade built around me has slowly started to crumble. Something is growing inside me, something I brought into this world with me, more dangerous than a weapon, more powerful than an army.

Through childhood it brought me to curiosity, dared me to ask questions, and drew me outside more often than I can remember. Through adolescence it brought me confusion, alienation from my peers, a feeling of guilt heavy as a quarry, a burden too big for a girl's shoulders to bear. It began to grow in me like a virus, but I didn’t want it to stop, I only wanted to understand it.

Through college it began to unravel before me the more I studied. I learned of the consequences disguised as triumphs of our civilization that we as a human race have brought onto this world. The guilt was replaced with anger, the burden with hatred. The more I learned the more questions swam in my head. Why must we control all “resources”, manage all species, decide what to exploit and what to protect? For a people so entranced by religious deities all over the world, were we not putting ourselves into a god-like position? The earth is literally falling apart at the seams, but we put our blinders of ignorance and greed on, and we march swiftly and strongly forward towards the cliff which we are bound to fall off in the name of progress.

 Air pollution, water pollution, fisheries depletion, deforestation, rising water levels, massive amounts of extinction, exploitation and depletion of natural resources in a couple of centuries when most took millions of years to produce. We must be blind, deaf and dumb to keep all these realities out of our pretty little façade we’ve built up around us, filling our heads with sorting our recyclables, maintaining wildlife refuges and donating some money to “save our oceans” every year, thinking that these things will make the destruction go away, all the while we are being swept away with the current of the river that our society has created and are going to end up cascading off into a 1,000 foot fall.

Part of the thing growing inside me since birth is not answers but questions. How did things get to be this way? Were humans created with inherent flaw and desire to destroy the world? Where did we go wrong? And the other part of what has been bursting at the seams inside my mind is not an idea, but a memory. A memory that I did not experience directly, but my ancestors experienced and lived over 500 generations ago. 

This memory is of humans living within the community of life, not apart from it. Humans just like you and I, taking what they needed, leaving what they didn’t. Humans that didn’t have a need to kill off all their competition or wage war based on the beliefs of different religious deities. These humans lived in close family groups, and had no need to slave away at an 8-5 job that they hated only to pay off their bills, for wealth was not coveted, prized and possessed or unequally hoarded. There was no need to create religious deities and doctrines all over the world in order to be told how to live, because these humans knew how to live in a way that had worked for over 200,000 years. Today’s way of living has been around a mere 10,000 years, which is a blink of an eye for such a massive destruction of the earth to take place.

My ancestors knew the key to life that allowed them to live peacefully in the world. They lived as one of earth’s species, all woven together side by side like the beautiful tapestry that is life. They did not try to make order, control and dominate every aspect of the earth. They knew what we have ignorantly forgotten; the earth was not made for us, we were made for the earth.

Yet here we are today, trying to take control over every process and species that takes place on earth, and if nature doesn’t listen to us (which inevitable does and will happen) we will try to tighten the reigns and dominate even more. We are essentially at war with our world, yet what we don’t realize is if the world loses the battle, what have we really won?

There are still people all over living peacefully on this earth like my ancestors once did, yet our culture points and laughs and teaches us to find them barbaric and primitive. They are living the way our ancestors successfully lived for 200,000 years, yet we are taught to see them as failures, missing out on the joys of a proper human existence, complete with air conditioning, French manicured nails and funnel cakes. And after exterminating, enslaving and confining to prisons disguised as reservations most of these people, we are bound and determined to wipe the last of them out, because their homes are worth millions as exploited resources and they stand in the way of progress.

Yet I’m sure everyone has had that brief awakening from the amnesia we have suffered from our “civilized” lifestyle and asked “Is there more to life than this?” The answer is yes, there is, and there has been for a very long time. As we plow through the jungles, trek across the deserts and sail the oceans to knock down the walls of these last living remnants of our successful and peaceful ancestors in order to flood our way of life over every corner of the earth to gain progress, ask yourselves, what are we really gaining, and more importantly, what will we be losing?

A Traveler's Lessons

“Travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.”-Miriam Beard

Planning an adventure is a thrilling process. Your mind is filled with faraway sights and naïve expectations of what is to come. Partaking in the adventure is even more exciting. The first step off of that plane onto a different continent sends chills of anticipation through your body. Then three weeks of amazing activities, sights, smells, food (most of the time), people and places zooms by and you find yourself home in your own bedroom staring at your pictures with a reminiscent smile. Is this all you have left, pictures, distant memories and maybe a few souvenirs? At first it may seem that this is what Africa has left you with, material objects and captured sights on photographs. But I have found that Africa and traveling in general is much more giving and wise than that. Through my experiences abroad, especially my last experience in Namibia, I have grown in ways that I’m not even aware of yet.

            Namibia was full of amazing wildlife. This is one of the main notions that peaked my interest about the trip. From the bush elephants of the north and the lions of the Skeleton Coast to the endemic black faced impalas, Namibia has a lot to offer to a young aspiring wildlife biologist. And in this sense I was not let down at all. I lost count after forty different species of mammals, birds and reptiles. One of the most moving sightings was a herd of about 30 elephants, (Of course I am slightly biased, since this is my favorite animal). As we turned the corner of the road in Etosha National Park, I spotted a huge bull elephant. We drove closer and realized that the bull had company, a lot of company. There we saw several bulls, cows and even calves. Some of the babies were definitely less than 6 months old. I sat in silence and watched in amazement as these pachyderms lumbered along, browsing tree tops with their resourceful trunks, or spraying themselves with mud and water to cool down in the African heat. One obnoxious elephant strutted right in front of us with a big branch in his mouth, and then as if showing off, decided he didn’t like the taste of it and tossed it over his back. We watched the babies play in the mud hole, the mothers keeping an ever watchful eye. I could have sat there for hours soaking up the beauty and serenity of these amazing creatures, but of course they had other places to go, and marched on.

            Namibia’s landscapes were breathtaking. For hours all we would see were shrub dessert type land you might find in Wyoming or Nevada. Then looming in the distance would be giant rocks, sometimes jet black, and always full of distinct layers, telling a story of billions of years of formation. The Skeleton Coast was an unforgettable site. After driving along the Atlantic coast, we reached the famous sand dunes of the ancient Namib Desert. We stopped for a while and I attempted to climb all the way up a somewhat vertical sand dune that was probably 80 feet high. The sand easily gave way under my feet, making it much more difficult than I anticipated. However after many attempts, I made it to the top. The reward was completely worth it. I sat there, the fresh ocean breeze lightly kissing my face, the warm ancient sand under my toes. I looked out across the coast and saw a sight that is one of a kind; it is the only place in the world that it occurs. The rolling sand dunes of the Namib Desert plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, creating a unique ecosystem and a beautiful scene.

            The wildlife and landscapes of Namibia were truly amazing and unforgettable. But surprisingly, this is not the high point of the trip for me. The people I met in Namibia have changed my views, broadened my horizons and touched my life forever. We had the great fortune to meet and even stay with all walks of life; from farmers, game ranchers, wildlife rescuers, to local tribes and traditional farms. The chance to spend time with each of these types of people is something I took advantage of to the fullest. I asked them questions and had conversations with them about anything and everything; From their native language, sustainability, wildlife conservation, value of carnivores, trophy hunting views, to everyday living and wildlife management. I learned that the people of Namibia and their views are as varied as the landscape and the wildlife. However I discovered one thing they all had in common not only with each other, but presumably with the rest of the world. They all were doing everything they could with what they had to try and eke out a living and provide a life for their families. Sometimes it was not much at all. In the slums of Katatura people found whatever they could to turn a lean-to shelter into their home, using scrap metal and old signs, rocks and wiring. On community conservancies in their traditional farms they used every bit of the cattle and goats as a resource, from consuming their milk, producing butter, using their leather and even using their dung in the construction of houses.

This ingenuity and resourcefulness is something I will never forget. Coming from a culture where we use up our credit cards trying to fill a void in our life with material items, I watched in amazement as the eighty something year old Herero grandmother taught us to make butter from fresh milk using simply a gourd and a stick. As she explained that this was a staple in their diet, she kindly gestured for me to have a seat by her on a pad made of goat skin. In this moment I saw her, matriarch of her family, her skin weathered by the dry Namibian air and sun. She had a glow about her, a sense of pride that can only come when satisfied or at least happy about her life and her family.

            Africa has given me more than photographs, souvenirs and mere memories. It has given me these moments I have described and more,  and the lessons I learned from each. It taught me the patience and tranquility you feel when observing nature’s wonders, the sense of place it puts you in of your own role on this earth, the respect that grows for every living thing around you, and the appreciation of what you and your family have, when most of the world survives and thrives with a tenth of that.

Like a wise professor, Africa did not shove these lessons in front of my face, but patiently taught me through experience to open my eyes to the beauty of the natural world, open my ears to listen to all walks of life and their views, and open my heart to the full experience, letting it change me forever. 

For a video slideshow of my trip, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psfL8ahQzjM

Otize and Cattle Dung

Eye balls and mopani worms

"guys, I have eye ball in my teeth and need some floss"
-Amber
What a day! So many new experience, almost a sensory overload. We had a tour of the slums of Windhoek, named Catatoura. The name means"place where we won't settle" conveying the blacks resistance towards moving during the apartheid. Our expert tour guide Ouapi showed us the diversity of the slum. It was amazing to see how different one area was from another, ranging from concrete brick houses top tin shacks. One thing that was the same thought was the tenacity and ingenuity of the people in ecking out a living.
To end our tour we went to a local resaurant and tried a variety of traditional foods including a "smiley" which is a whole head of a goat or cow, grilled or roasted then boiled, causing it to grin. In our case we were treated to a goat. I have to say the cheek meat was not bad, but Amber went to an extreme and decided to eat the eyeball. Katie was kind enough to extract the eye while reminding us of how similar it was to making a European mount. After some hesitation Amber made good on her promise and ate it. According to her it tasted like "chalk and butt" or something along those lines. All in all it was an amazing day.
Love,
Ben

Otize and Cattle Dung

There is so much to tell and so little time! I can't wait to tell everyone in person about my favorite day in Africa so far, and that was on our friend Uapii's farm on a conservancy. He spent the day having us meet his traditional Herero family, grandmother mother and little sister. We got to learn the daily activities, and even take part in them!

 Us girls started off with a woman's duty of patching their hut houses. I was prepared to do whatever in order to immerse myself in their culture and really live the experience, but nothing prepared me for sticking my hands and fingers into a pile of warm fresh cattle  dung! But I did it with a smile anyways as I filled a bucket with the dung and carried on my head back to the hut. Then we mixed it with soil and water and formed balls. The balls were thrown onto the hut in places needing patched and then kneaded into the wall. The arid environment dries this mixture like concrete, making it a great insulator and a good foundation for their house. The old grandmother watched me work and said I was worthy of staying! She said I got the highest marks for how much I participated with a smile :)

Next the boys rounded up the donkeys and hooked them up with harnesses made of old tires to what we called the "Kalahari Ferrari" which was an old donkey cart! Then all of us got to ride and direct the donkeys. It was a blast!

After that we learned how to milk their cows. Uapii's mother strapped up her little 2 year old daughter on her back and we followed her into the cattle corral made of sticks. She leaned over and put the bucket between her legs and started milking like a pro. We each got to try it out, and pretty soon had a bucket full of milk.







Then we went up to the house and sat on cow hides as we poured the milk into a big gourd hanging by a rope tied on sticks and began to rock the gourd back and forth to make butter. She said she does this every day for an hour. The grandmother later showed us how she strains the butter and cooks it for a better taste.






The last thing we did was go into one of their huts and they showed us how they apply otize, which is a mix of butter and red ochre, to make a red paste that is applied to the skin. This paste acts as a sunscreen, and is also great for your skin. I was the only one who volunteered to put it on, and I put it all over my face and arms. I can still remember the grandmother laughing and laughing, she'd never seen a white girl with this on! Speaking quickly in Herero, she told me I looked so beautiful, and that she wanted me to marry her grandson Uapii. Uapii laughed and Ben told him "She's your for 15 cattle." Uapii said "Deal!" ha ha.

Later that day we visited another tribe the Himba. They greeted us with a traditional lion hunting dance, and after awhile I even joined in the dance. They all laughed and loved it! The kids were so cute. The Himba wear little clothing and are covered in the red otize. Their hair has red clay and otize in it, and it looks like painted dread locks. They are beautiful people and I'm so glad I got to meet them.

That night we camped by the river and parked our truck right over some elephant dung! We played in the river and I searched for tracks, then we roasted a whole goat from Uapii's farm. Pretty soon there were Himba men and Herero woman coming from all over throughout the forest to join in the feast. I spent the night practicing the little language I knew "Movango" means "want some?" as I passed around food. "Koda" is a greeting like "Hello how are you" and "Nowya" is the response meaning good. Even though we were all languages apart, we spent the evening enjoying good food and laughing and telling stories to one another as Uapii acted as the interpreter. The stars overhead so thick there were star shadows, the fire burning before us, and about 25 people from all different races and tribes sat together and enjoyed each other's company all night.

There is so much more to tell, and I'm sorry I don't have pictures. But this was by far one of the best days not only on the trip, but of my life. I learned so much, experienced so much, and put myself out there 100% to walk in the shoes of people across the world from me on so many levels.