Category: Miscellaneous | Page 3

Miscellaneous

San Diego Safari

I cracked up this morning when I heard on the news that San Diego Zoo’s “Wild Animal Park” is going to change its name to the San Diego Zoo “Safari Park.” It’s hilarious to me because in Swahili a “safari” is a journey — sure, driving around looking at animals is technically a journey, but really any old road trip qualifies (even if there are no lions). Hopefully they left all the annoying guys handing out safari pamphlets back in Nairobi!

I don’t know when the word “safari” entered the American lexicon, but the Beach Boys definitely went on a Surfin’ Safari in 1962. Americans are apparently good at integrating words from other languages into English, though. Off the top of my head, we have kindergarten from the Germans and smörgåsbord from the Swedes, and hakuna matata! You did know that’s Swahili too, right?

On a semi-related note, I just went on a surfin’ safari in Pacific Beach. The water was freezing and the waves were small and blown out, but I managed to get twenty minutes of good body surfing in before my body was numb and I was tired of floating around out there. I had to take a walk down the boardwalk to warm up afterwards. Brrr!

Miscellaneous, Travel

Surrounded by Idiots

My mom’s husband was telling me the other day how, sometimes, he feels like he’s surrounded by idiots. I felt the same way today when, as I was merging onto the freeway, some guy cut in front of me. After he swerved over from the “going straight” lane, he slowed down to yield to an obviously empty on ramp which joined ours. I found myself yelling, “WHY ARE YOU BRAKING?!” out of nowhere. I haven’t driven in two and a half years, but hellooo? So I’m visiting California for a few weeks… welcome to CA!

Last week, when I was still in Kenya, my mom asked what I would want in the fridge when I got home, something I missed; the only thing I could think of was strawberries. Not that we can’t get strawberries in Kenya, I guess they’re just expensive or something, so I never eat them. Anyways, I’ve been eating strawberries and blueberries every morning in my Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with almond milk and I’m officially addicted to breakfast again.

Don’t get me wrong, I love mandazi and chapati, but this tastes good and is actually good FOR you! The almond milk isn’t a must, and could be substituted with soy milk or even the kawaida (usual) “moo” juice. Try it out, you won’t be disappointed!

Miscellaneous

Sita Sings the Blues

Has anyone seen the movie Sita Sings the Blues? It’s an animated full-length movie which has some interesting ideas behind it. A note from the artist on the official website:

I hereby give Sita Sings the Blues to you. Like all culture, it belongs to you already, but I am making it explicit with a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License. Please distribute, copy, share, archive, and show Sita Sings the Blues. From the shared culture it came, and back into the shared culture it goes.