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Kenyamsterdam

Dateline: Middle of August

Dutch penguins Here’s where we are. Jessica and I have just returned from an amazing honeymoon/ vacation in Kenya and the Netherlands, inspired by the wedding of Jessica’s brother Martin to his fiancée Jennie. While Martin
and Jennie met in Las Vegas where they live, Jennie is Kenyan, and Kenyans like to have weddings in Kenya. Can you blame them?

So, a relatively small American contingent of twenty or so of Martin’s intrepid relatives have schlepped to Africa — certainly to see Martin married off to the excellent and lovely Jennie, but also: how many excuses do you need to go to a whole freaking new continent?

Jessica and I have been married four months, and had not yet had a honeymoon, so we decided to use this trip to Kenya in such manner, with an added jaunt of a few days in Amsterdam on the way back. Why Amsterdam? You can’t fly to Kenya directly; might as well go somewhere nice on the half-way. I had spent an afternoon in Amsterdam a few years ago, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s an utterly pretty city, and totally kitschy at the same time. Lots of water, lots of idiotic t-shirts: it’s the Niagara Falls of Europe. So hey, honeymoon!

Anyway, we’re back, and I’d like to tell you all about our buon viaggio. I’m going to lay it out day by day (with fudgy timestamps as if I’m blogging from the limpid past), so although I’m writing after the fact and all, it will be like you’re RIGHT THERE IN THE ACTION. To really give you the full monkey, I probably should write it in the second person. You like the second person. You wish more people wrote that way. You are thrilling to the possibilities: not merely able to experience Africa vicariously, but dare you say it, I-cariously.

Actually, you’re glad that I’m abandoning that approach to travel writing, starting just over here –>. Whew! How about I’m just going to tell you about each day as it happened, and illustrate it with a few pictures from all the good times?

If you feel like cheating somewhat before I get this all writtenated, and have a high tolerance for pictures devoid of sociological context, you can always see the pictures swimming through our Flickr streams:

Ryan Flickr
Jessica Flickr

bk_keywords: Kenya honeymoon Amsterdam.

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Emily said,

August 24, 2006 @ 10:45 pm

Bring it on.

Hoe gaan dit?

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amye said,

August 25, 2006 @ 8:21 pm

Emily slipped into her Afrikkans for the occasion?
I can’t wait! The introduction was great!

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Emily said,

August 27, 2006 @ 9:01 am

Ryan,
Happy birthday!! Hope you have a great day.

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CL said,

August 28, 2006 @ 9:58 am

Hey, Jay McInerney! Get it all writtenated, but mayhaps no second person. Your fans await breathlessly.

C

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Sallie said,

September 6, 2006 @ 9:48 pm

Looking forward to this - especially the soda dance and the lion that almost ate Oveyon.

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CL said,

September 7, 2006 @ 3:22 pm

You are a pro at crastinatin’!

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Emily said,

September 8, 2006 @ 9:33 am

I am but a crastinatin’ amateur, but would love to go pro. Any tips?

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CL said,

September 8, 2006 @ 12:34 pm

Ask Ryan! …eventually.

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Emily said,

October 22, 2006 @ 11:36 pm

Leaving us hanging! Ryan, by the way, and Jessica, thank you very, very much for the beautiful tapestry from Kenyamsterdam. That was so awesome of you. I love it. I’m half African, you know.

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CL said,

October 23, 2006 @ 3:26 pm

OK, this assignment is no longer due.

Are you guys gonna be at writers’ house new york? I probably won’t be off work in time to get to SoHo, but I might pop in. The sushi is always excellent.

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Emily said,

November 20, 2006 @ 7:38 pm

Ryan, is there another website these days where I can go to read your delicious offerings?

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CL said,

January 23, 2007 @ 9:14 am

you vill post somethink creative here by the end of the calendar year, or ve vill kick your tushey.

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Jessica said,

February 19, 2007 @ 10:05 pm

Do we have an update? I’m forgetting what happened –

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Dorothy Gale said,

March 27, 2007 @ 2:06 pm

What happened was just this:
The wind began to switch
the house to pitch
And suddenly the hinges
started to unhitch
Just then the witch,
to satisfy an itch
Went flying on her broomstick
thumbing for a hitch

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Dorothy Gale said,

July 30, 2007 @ 3:22 pm

It’s almost the anniversary of this post. Hurrah! Hurrah! (Pennsylvania!)

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Sarah said,

August 14, 2007 @ 3:14 pm

Time to update brother.

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Dorothy Gale said,

October 12, 2007 @ 9:39 am

Aren’t you telling a falsehood about not speaking other languages? Don’t you speak Italian? OK, I’ll believe you. I think you are an undercover spy.

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CM (nee cl) said,

December 19, 2007 @ 9:47 am

Time is running out….post something, you creative genius, or your tushey gets kicked!!!!!

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