Merry Christmas

   Christmas is a time a the year that everyone looks forward to. It is an exciting time of the year, with all the christmas trees, lights, ornaments, shopping, It is really fun. But is that just what christmas is about?  I got this definition of christmas from Wikipedia:
     
        "Christmas or Christmas Day (Old English: Crīstesmæsse, literally "Christ's mass") is an annual commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ, celebrated generally on December 25 as a religious and cultural holiday by billions of people the around world."

  The meaning of Christmas has been redefined. Christmas is the celebration the birth of Christ, SIMPLE, not of Santa Claus leaving the north pole or any other reason. Even as a christian, I know I'm guilty of getting caught up in the whole hype. So, I'm just here to tell you that don't forget the reason for this day.

  Anyway, considering the fact that everyone celebrates christmas (not just Christians), as you celebrate  with your families and friends, may you home be filled with warmth and happiness this holiday.

  Moving on, the following pictures I took are christmas inspired. Hope you like them.

A candle close up with christmas lights in the background.

Buzz Lightyear with the tree and lights in the background. I was going for the "Bokeh" effect, as you can see I had some success (The christmas lights are blurred and now looks light balls of light). 

Toy Story was one of the animations I grew up with, so I love Buzz lightyear.

That's me in the reflection, hehehe. 

Pardon my laundry in the background

This year I'll be spending christmas with most of my family (not all of them, but thats good enough for me). I usually have exams around this time of the year (can you imagine????), with only Christmas and boxing days off, so I hardly spend christmas with my family because I have to stay back in school and they are so far away. However, this year most of us happened to be in the same continent. So I am excited to be spending it with them.

So, thats it. I wish everyone a Merry Merry christmas and Happy new year.

Haus Des Meeres

Some time ago, I was privileged to visit Haus Des Meeres ( it means "House of the Sea") in Vienna, Austria. It is a public aquarium housing over 10,000 aquatic beings. I think i just love animals and love taking photos of them even more. This outing was not an exception. 

    There are about 9 floors and a lot to see. I started from the topmost floor. I had a good view of the city of Vienna from up there.

Look well into the distance and you can see the Danube tower.

  Now, back to Haus Des Meeres. I had a lovely time taking these photos. It was a bit challenging because I had to do it through glass and glare is a problem. 

   Sorry, I didn't even bother remembering the specific names of the animals, because I was busy taking photos. There are also snakes, crocodiles, a few birds and monkeys. I had a wonderful time and I hope you enjoy the photos.

Photo from wikipedia

Beautiful colours!!!!!!

Loved the way it curled its whole body on that branch.

It just stared straight at me

The tank was dark, but I love the blue light. It gave the photo some nice effect.

Close up, love those eyes.

A school of Fish.

`Lunch time: They were been fed at that time, thats why there's a lot of grains in the water.

The largest tank, It spanned about 3 floors. It contained a Shoal of fish. Look, there's shark in front of me.

Till next time........xoxo.

End of Autumn

Autumn has long ended and winter is clearly here, the temperature has been below 0º for a long time, and the leaves have all fallen off. However, it rained today and the temperature went up to about 10º. Woohoo. Even though everywhere looked dull, it was nice to have relatively warm weather. So I took some photos which I would like to share.

Love the way the naked branches intersect. 

The leftovers of Autumn.

I also tried playing with the settings on my camera. I am now shooting in manual mode cos I want to improve my skills and this is what I came up with (totally unrelated to Autumn, by the way):


I got a few tips on some photography blogs and went straight to my bathroom and kitchen to try, and then>>>>>>

My favourite.

You can actually see the tiny bubbles in the flowing tap water.

And the splash... <3

This is what I do in my free time and I love it.

Stay blessed.........

Elective Africa PART 3/3

Read Elective Africa PART 1 HERE and PART 2 HERE before you continue below.


  The next few weeks were ones that i will never forget. The people I meet, friends I made and the whole experience in general----I will never trade. I can't begin to give day to day account of my time in Kenya, That will have to be the longest blog post and you'll get bored. Luckily I already did some posts while I was in Kenya. These are the highlights.......
1. First weekend-----trip to masai mara. Check out my previous posts on the following links Rift Valley, Masai Mara National Reserve,  The Masai Tribe,  Camping site.
2. Places to visit in Mombassa Mamba Village,  Haller Park, Fort Jesus, and the beach---->>>> Definitely

   
4. Other places to visit in Kenya------->>>>> Malindi, Diani beach(pictures below)

Malindi

Malindi

Diani

Diani

    We had very good food as well. Dollars and Lilly cooked for and took care of us. Thank you, miss you.

Chapati and fried vegetables with some kind of soup. YUMM.

    Finally this post will not be complete if I don't take out time to remember "Pebbles" the cat, the official pet for the house. Unfortunately she died before we got back from Masai mara. A very confident, beautiful cat she was.

   And as the day finally came for me to leave this place I had grown to love, these people who I had come to call friends, I was very nervous. I had a cocktail of emotions running through me because I knew I would greatly miss this place, these people and that wasn't even the part that hurt the most. It was the fact that even though we had added each other on facebook, and had exchanged email addresses, promised to keep in touch and even to probably plan a reunion, I knew that distance and indeed time does separate people and that we would get busy when we got back to our normal lives and that this summer of 2011 will just be a memory we will always treasure in our hearts. If any of you guys (anyone i met in Kenya, 2011) are reading this right now, just know that in your own individual unique ways, you made Kenya very special for me and this I will treasure.

  As 6.30pm came, time to leave for the airport, everyone came out to see me off, we took last minute photos, hugged and hugged and struggled to fight off the tears. On the way to the airport, the driver (not Bernard) who could speak very little English, looked up to the centre mirror to speak to me and said "your trip, very good?" and I answered "indeed It was very good."

    Now I know that this is one of the best things I have ever done, one of the best experiences I've had. And now I say Kwaheri Mombassa, Kwaheri Kenya. (Swahili........Kwaheri----Goodbye)