Knowing

Windhoek, Namibia

I know more things now than I did before this trip, things such as:

• Many babies in Peru have granadillas (a type of passion fruit) as a first food. It’s full of vitamins, tastes sweet, and is easily swallowed.

• A group of giraffes is called a "tower" of giraffes and if they’re walking, the group is called a “journey.” And, giraffe spit has an antiseptic quality, which is helpful since the acacia trees they eat are full of thorns.

• “Biang” is the Chinese character requiring the most strokes to write (58!) and, when said twice (“biang biang”), refer to tasty, thick wheat noodles.

• The limestone stalactites in New Zealand caves grow drop by calcified drop, only 1cm every 200 years.

• White rhinos are grazers, so have flat, wide mouths. Black rhinos browsers and have more pointed mouths for grabbing leaves off bushes. Both white rhinos and black rhinos are gray.

• Drillers in Namibia must go 130 meters (!!!) below the surface before hitting water.

• Mayan leaders are believed to have used ayahuasca-induced images in their planning of Machu Picchu.

• Kabadi is a full-contact professional sport popular in India where two teams of 7 send individual players to the other side of the court to tag as many players as possible in 30 seconds.

• The clicking sound of eland hooves are said to have inspired the development of some southern African clicking languages, like Damara.

• The bite strength of humans is about 140 psi while crocodiles can bite down at 4000 psi.

Beyond facts, I’ve learned things from being with others and being with myself in different places around the world, such as:

• Most people are kind and helpful, but there are jerks in everywhere. (And, maybe the jerks are normally kind, helpful people having a bad day.)

• We take ourselves with us wherever we go. We are the same in Beijing as we are in Cape Town or rural Namibia. Josh still snores, Leo still sings in the shower, Ari still recites basketball facts, and I still love making lists.