The Instagram Diaries: July Special

July has been quite a busy little month for me so far. Between the Volvo Ocean Race and my incredible trip to Belfast to work on the Game Of Thrones set, it has been pretty good. Obviously while working on set and in the studios, I was under strict instructions not to take any photographs. Still though, it was an absolutely unreal experience and one that I won't soon forget. While there I also got to visit the Titanic museum that was opened in March and that was actually very cool too. If you are ever up in Belfast,  it is definitely worth a good look. 

So without further adieu, here - in full Instagram glory - is my July. 

Festivities in Eyre Square during the VOR

The boats

The newest additions to the Quigley household - Carrot (right) and Parsnip (left)

In preparation for my trip to Belfast, I bought some new stuff

The view from my hotel room

On my way to the studios

The Titanic Museum

In the Titanic museum

Cheers for reading, 

Jane

Zambia Part II

After all the hard work in Twapia was finished, we headed off to Nsobe Game Reserve for a weekend of R&R. The park itself was just breath-taking. See for yourself!

We took part in pretty much all of the activities the place had to offer - the Safari drive, fishing (bad idea), swimming, canoeing. We even got to hold some tiny snakes and a baby alligator (or crocodile, I can't remember which). There was also a spa - and I use the term loosely - where some of us got some interesting hot stone massages. 

Nsobe was such a cool place and it was great to spend some time in such a different kind of surrounding to the semi-urban one where we spent the majority of the trip. In all, Zambia is an amazing country. Although there is quite a bit of poverty there, the people themselves are so happy and friendly. The crime rate in Zambia is astonishingly low which is why, while in Twapia, we were staying right at the heart of the community that we were trying to help. It is a pretty incredible country and has a real wealth of what you would traditionally associate with Africa. 

Cheers for reading,

Jane


P.S I have some insanely exciting news that I will be sharing sometime at the end of the week!

Zambia

Now for a post about Zambia. This was my second time working with Habitat For Humanity (I went to Hungary in 2007) and it was just incredible - pretty tough work but so rewarding, and what an experience!
Please prepare yourself for a seriously long post. Epic post!

Also for any of you who don't know where Zambia is (just in case like) here is a little map.

After a day in the Zambian capital, Lusaka, we made the five hour bus journey to the Ndola where just a couple of miles outside the city, the township of Twapia was located. We were straight to work the day after arriving. The work was pretty hard and even though it was only between 24 and 27 degrees the whole time we were there, while you're working it would often feel way hotter. Not much of a tan was got though unfortunately as we were all constantly coating ourselves in sunscreen. 

This was what the site was like when we arrived. 

The kiln made out of bricks to bake the bricks 

Window Putty Man

Cutting the ribbon at the Closing Ceremony

For the building, our team of twelve students from NUIG was divided into two teams of six and we went to two separate sites (the site in all the pictures above was the site I was on) and we also visited a third site on two occasions. We were quite proud of ourselves with all the work we got done. As you can see we almost finished the whole house in the two weeks we were working on it. 

One highlight of our time in Twapia was the amazing kids that roamed around the township, constantly asking us how we were and what our names were. Their fascination with us meant that they were never far from the site or the houses we were staying in. They also loved getting their photo taken and seeing them displayed on the screen afterwards. 

They went apeshit for the bubbles!

My entourage 

One of the girls being brave

The living conditions in the township were very basic. No running water, plumbing or electricity. We were all even seriously missing chairs by the end of the first week. The toilet facilities were rough to say the least. Ladies who lived in the area cooked our meals for us and a lot of nights after eating the would come in to us and make us all sing and dance - no matter how tired we were, it would always be great craic! In return for them singing and dancing every night we would also have to sing some Irish songs for them, so after trying out pretty much every song we ever learned in primary school, we settled on the English translation of a very catchy Gaeltacht song called Baby Shark, and a shortened ten verse version of Ro Ro the Rattlin' - neither of which I'm sick of despite singing them about twice a night every night for two weeks! 

So that's all I have to tell ye now. I'm sure I think of something else to say and I'll just add it to the post I'll do about Nsobe Game Park (a safari park we went to after all the work was done).

Cheers for reading,

Jane 

Map via google.images.com

The Instagram Diaries

After my month-long blogging hiatus, I have finally returned to the keyboard and the first post that I shall bring to you will be a Zambia-themed Instagram Diaries. I have some amount of posting to do in the coming weeks, not only to make up for my recent lack of it but all because I just have so much to share. So here to get the ball rolling are some pictures from more recent trip to Zambia. Unfortunately since where we were staying for the main two week leg of the trip had no electricity the phone wasn't taken out much, it was though for the trip to Nsobe Game Reserve though. Expect to see pictures from Twapia - where the Habitat for Humanity work was being conducted - in future posts.

Terminal 2 showing some Euro 2012 support

Zambian sockets - what are the chances, right?!

Nsobe Game Reserve

Some long needed relaxation in Nsobe

After a ten hour flight, Heathrow is sight for sore eyes

Cheers for reading,

Jane