50 life-size fiberglass models of two-year-old Mali have been decorated by artists and placed throughout the city. Afterwards, they'll be auctioned off to raise money for Fight Extinction. I'm terribly excited about it, and I want to find them all! And I vow that I will not drive, I will not take public transport ...I will walk to find them all! What a great way of getting outside and getting some exercise.
Anything worth doing has its hurdles, though. I found out pretty quickly that there's a Mali in the City app, and downloaded it as soon as I could. It has a map of where each elephant model is and details of the artists, along with a Progress Section where you can tick off each one as you find it. There are rewards for reaching certain milestones. I got all excited and planned out which elephant I was going to look for first. I thought I'd start with an easy one - it's only half a block from my work! So I went down there, took a picture of it, and went to log it in the app. Only!........
When I got there, I realised the log function doesn't work on my ipod! It must use GPS to check that I'm actually at the spot where the model is, because it wouldn't let me log it, saying "I don't know where you are." So it must only work on phones and other devices with internet access. But I don't have that! I was so upset I nearly cried! I was ready to throw in the towel completely!
But then I calmed down a bit and realised - I can still do this! Instead of logging my finds on the app, I'll log them on my blog! Yeah! Sure, I won't be eligible for their rewards (not that I even know what they are), but I'll make up some of my own! It'll be even better, because I'll calculate how far I walked to find each model (that'll be easy using the walk/jog/run website). Then at the end I'll have a grand total of how far I walked; imagine how good I'll feel!
OhMiGawd, I just had an idea! I'll call it the Baby Elephant Walk!!! Does everyone amuse themselves this much, or is it just me??
So anyway, I'll start out with determining the rewards for each milestone of the Baby Elephant Walk:
1 elephant found = a packet of chai tea
5 = jewellery-making accessories (ebay)
10 = crochet hook and wool
15 = lunch out (salad, of course!)
20 = a massage
25 = something from Etsy
30 = a trip to Daiso
35 = wool from BWM
40 = a trip to the book shop
45 = a longer massage
50 = new sneakers
I might change my mind at some point about what I want exactly, and how much I'm going to spend, but they're the main things that would get me walking right at this very moment. =)
The Journey Has Begun...
As I mentioned before, I found my first elephant today! So this is check-in No. 1. I was so upset when I couldn't use the app for the first elephant that I forgot to take a picture of it. So I'll use a picture of my reward instead.
Distance Walked: 0.14km
(There & Back)
It's not much now, but wait and see!