Let's try a new style

Hello!

First the shout-outs; Maureen- CONGRATULATIONS on your healthy and i'm sure happy and beautiful new girl!!!! I hope your health has recovered well and its all smiles for the Manbeck's!
Stevie- thanks for commenting! I can't wait to see the kids! I cant even imagine how tall Ben is now- and as ornery? :) and how beautiful is Adyson Grace?
Dan- I knew you wore the spandex!
Raza Visram- Thank you very much for your comment- your positive and encouraging words are much appreciated!
Elisabeth- For SURE!!! I'm not sure what type of work you were doing- but I was in Machame for awhile for a project with tree nurseries and indigenous speciation recovery What part of Moshi were you in? You would enjoy Tanga I'm sure! lots to love there...

It is emotionally and mentally draining to think through everything that has happened in the past months- and so i have decided to write in a different style so it's not just me tryin to hash over, edit and censor everything so its pleasing- also, because I am coming back to an 8.5% unemployment rate when i desperately need a paying job- i want to e able to stockpile as many stories as possible so that when someone says to me "so, what was Africa like?" I can reply "Well, i'd love to share with you if you would please give me a dollar"
an experience for a greenback- in addition to selling plasma i think i'll be able to get by :)

Here's the new format- I was inspired by Brandi Barhite's expert and professional reporting for the Toledo Free Press so there are two characters;
1. the journalist (played by Rachel Dove)
2. Rachel Dove (starring Rachel Dove)

RE- reporter
RD- Rachel Dove

RE- So, what's it like to work on an isolated eco-island?
RD- i often find myself staring into the deep blue while lying in an observation hut at the end of the island...listening to the numerous species of tropical birds serenade me, watching the skinks, geckos and crabs scurry around, smelling the salty spray as it hits me when the waves crash...sometimes i find myself singing simon and garfunkel "I am a rock." Then sometimes I am awakened from my dream reality only to find it's time to go to work and snorkel around the coral all day long- explaining the different types of coral and fish to students that come...i often wonder if there is any way to replicate the colors of the clams as the sun's rays hit the luminous colors, making the green and purples radiate and undulate...
today i felt adventurous so i swam to another island nearby...but it was all covered in coral rag- the real sharp rock- and the dangerously jagged solidified mussels that have collected over time...as i was trying to balance and pull myself up through the waves, my flipper slipped and i cut myself a bit- but im ok- doesn't that sound like the narrative of a mermaid??

RE; What is it with you and islands?
RD- I know, right? When I was staying in Dar I swam to an island off kigamboni- it took four and half hours of dodging jellyfish and trying not to get swept into the current with the tide...Sasha- my friend from Belarus accompanied me. By the time we had gotten to the island it was too dark to swim back without risk getting hit by a barge or freighter....so we swam a bit to get the attention of a fisherman...we negotiated with him in swahili that if he were to give us a ride back we would give him 30,000tsh when we got back- he left us...an hour later he showed up with a slightly bigger boat (think the inside of a tree trunk hollowed out so two ppl can fit with their knees up) so, there i was, scooping out the water leaking into the boat with an old oil jug...sasha was using his hands, and the fisherman only had one oar- against the waves and the current- we all struggled our darndest but we were too much for our craft- we capsized...twice. sasha ended up swimming behind the boat- half steering it and keeping it afloat- i scooped out water furiously and the fisherman paddled rigorously...
we made it back fine, paid the man for a job well done (it's not really his fault he didnt have a boat with a motor- who expects to pick up stranded people on an isolated island hours aways from other land?) and we treated him to a soda

RE: What's your favorite soda?
RD- I normally just drink water or mango/passion fruit juice....but if there is neither of those- i get this drink called "Stoney Tangawizi" written in old-fashioned 40's -style yello lettering- its a drink made from ginger and reminds me of my long lost love from toledo- 60% cocoa with crystallized ginger available for purchase at the Anderson's

RD- I'm sorry to cut it short- but I really have a lot i must get done...
RE; No problem, but uh, next time could you please post some pictures?

RD- I'd love nothing more than to do that and luckily- thanks to Sadiq- my camera was fixed in nairobi. but my computer is still broken- which means if i try to download the pics, they will be lost and deleted due to problems in my computer beyond the understanding of everyone i have taken it to...im sorry. i am going to try to find another location to do it!

RE: Thank you!
RD- Good night- thank you all so much for your comments! I really appreciate it- tell me if you can think of any other interesting style which would make this more enjoyable reading!