Bubye USA, Jambo Kenya

Homestay

2012-02-27T21:04:00.001-08:00

From February 19^th to March 9^th I will be staying with the Okello family. On that Sunday, our compound set up a huge white tent to accompany the incoming families that would be picking us up. Issiah our cook made finger food and chai for the 22 families that arrived between 4 and 6. My family was one of the first families to arrive. There is Audrey 10, Vanessa 11, Nicole 15, and the mom Joanne who is a banker and the dad Maxwell who owns his own business called Xtinguish. The goal of this home stay excursion is to introduce us to the lifestyle of the urban area and compare it to our first rural homestay in Meru. During these three weeks I will be traveling from my home to the UKC where I take classes, therefore I will be able to see the other students and keep up with classes. Some students live near each other and walk to school together, others have their parents drop them off. I am in the second category. I live on Mombasa road in Executive Estates- a new neighborhood that has mini apartment/condo living areas. The apartments look very modern and the inside is very nice- tiled floors, a huge dinning room table, leather couches, plasma screen tv, and two floors. I live in my own room on the first floor that has a huge square glass table for doing my work, an armoire that covers the length of my wall, and a bunk bed that I don’t share with anyone. The rest of the family lives upstairs and the housemaid, Katherine, lives in a separate living quarters connected to the outside of the house. Nicole does not live at home right now because she is attending boarding school (high school) about two hours away as most rural and urban students do at this time. Luckily, Nicole came home for a mid-semester weeklong break so I was able to meet her.

Every morning I wake up at 6 AM to get ready to leave for school at around 6:45. The family only has one car so Maxwell, the dad, must drop off Vanessa and Audrey at primary school, drop me off at the UKC, drop off Joanne at her bank, and then drive himself to work. So, its necessary that we wake up early and leave early so everyone arrives to their destination on time. When I wake up breakfast is on the table that usually consists of bread and jam or mandazzi (fried dough pieces), and of course chai. We all eat breakfast fast and I usually burn my tongue on the chai because I have to chug it down before I get in the car. Before leaving Katherine usually hands me a snack- usually a mango and a banana or more mandazzi- greeeeat that’s healthy eating. When we leave at 6:45, we normally arrive at our first stop- Vanessa and Audrey’s school at 7:30. The school is probably about ten minutes away however with the enormous amounts of traffic it takes us a really long time to get there. Eventually I make my way to school- depending on traffic at about 7:45 or 8 and my first class Swahili starts at 8:30. The traffic is so bad here and the roads are terrible which makes for a pretty brutal ride in the car. To keep myself occupied I usually read Citizen or The Nation- two of Kenya’s prominent newspapers, or I’ll fall asleep. At school my favorite part is when I don’t have classes because I am free to roam around the city, find lunch, and go shopping. We have found some great places to eat such as KP’s Lounge which has a bar with leopard couches or Zaytoons which has flat screen tvs and outdoor seating underneath the shade of draped tapestries.

This weekend I didn’t really do much to my surprise. On Friday night I was allowed to go out and the group decided to meet up in Westlands- the hub of bars and nightclubs. We were tipped off about this place from one of the student’s host sister. It is such an ordeal to coordinate going out in a foreign country- we all live in different parts of the city and no one wants to travel alone for very long so I had to take two separate taxies to finally arrive at Westlands which is about 15 minutes from my house. I live the farthest from the city, which really stinks because I have to pay a lot for a cab to take me into to where all the bars are. On Friday from school I went right to Rachael’s house because I didn’t want to pay for a taxi to and from my house because it would have cost me $30 USD. When I was at Rachael’s house we went to a local running park about a ten-minute walk again. This was awesome, I was so happy to be running on trails and there is an extensive network there at the park called the Aboredom. At this park we saw tons of marathon trainers wearing matching sweat suits looking very legit. After going to the park we returned, showered, and got ready to go out. Once we at dinner, our cab driver went and picked up Frances who lives in a huge house equipped with a guard dressed in camo carrying and AK-47. Frances lives with the secretary of state to Kibaki, the president. Lucky. Westlands was a really fun time- we bar hopped to about six different bars, met locals, and plenty of Europeans.

On Saturday we didn’t do anything really- I woke up, had breakfast, and watched NEXT, an old MTV tv show that got canceled in the US, with my host sisters. I did some homework, took a nap, and watched more tv. At around 8 PM we all went out to an Indian Restaurant in Westlands. I liked the concept of this restaurant because families would come and they could cook their own dinner- like camping. Or, what we did was we made someone make is for us in a cooking area right next to our dinner table. The food was delicious! We had curried chicken and nan and for dessert gelato. Sunday was pretty laid back as well. Church started at 11:30 and no one went except Nicole and I, and we arrived an hour late at 12:30. The church service was for teens and it was held in a huge white tent equipped with a band, flat screen tvs flashing lyrics to songs, and plenty of teens dancing and singing. What was different about this church was that I didn’t get stared at, followed, or bombarded with questions as happened in Meru.

Later, Maxwell’s sister and friends came over who just moved back to Kenya after living in Ireland for four years. Her kids- Jeremy and Teddy around the age of 10 accompanied them. My host sisters, Ted, Jeremy and I all played upstairs while watching the Tottham vs Arsenal game as the adults also watched the game while drinking mini-kegs. The Arsenal team is very popular among Kenyans so the household was bumping with excitement and screaming. The victory put Maxwell in a very good mood! He even invited me to go to a game on Wednesday- Kenya vs Togo, an international game held at a grand stadium close to my house. I am pumped!!!

Baobab Trees

2012-02-23T06:53:00.000-08:00

Tanzania and the Hadza Continued

2012-02-23T06:42:00.002-08:00

I felt very awkward taking pictures and observing the very real lifestyle of the Hadza. I didn’t want to view their culture as a museum piece and therefore take a passive observer approach. Instead we all asked questions, participated in their daily activities- we didn’t accept things instead we challenged them. This way the Hadza learned a lot about us and we learned a ton from them. The Hadza always LOVE to have tourists come see them- when there are active participants. The St. Lawrence Program has been going to Tanzania to spend time with the Hadza since the 1980s and every semester they look forward to seeing new kids. The Hadza are not completely cut off from society as I first imagined. They smoke a lot of weed and tobacco so this has to come from somewhere since they don’t grow it- they are not farmers or pastoralists. They don’t grow anything on their own. They survive completely off the land- their source of nutrition does not change as the weather does. In other words, their diet is completely sustainable. When game runs out of their area, or if their water source dries up and there is no rainfall they will pack up and move to a different area. When we arrived the Hadza has been living in the area for about eight months- a longer stay than usual. On average the Hadza stay in one area between 4-6 months. Since game has been plenty and they have a reliable source of water close by and an abundance of baobab trees for honey they have decided to stay.

After our day’s excursion of gathering and climbing baobab trees to collect honey we returned to the camp exhausted. The sun is so strong in the valley that it really drains you. As I said before eating has not been a problem- although we stay with the Hadza we do not eat like them. If we did we would probably get sick and there is no way their day’s hunting can support their community and 22 kids. They have about 20-30 members in their community and in the Yaeda valley there were about 750 total members of Hadza.

The next day we woke up at about 5 AM, packed up our tents and all of our belongings, loaded them onto the Humvees and set off to cross the Yaeda valley. A group of 10 Hadza men accompanied us and showed us the way across the valley. The purpose for this journey was 1, to see the Yaeda valley, 2 meet up with another group of Hadza, and 3 accompany the Hadza men while they hunt. The hike was completely flat but with no shade. We carried plenty of water but the water was never cold or refreshing- it tasted like the container of gasoline it was carried in. The hike took about 7 hours including the multiple times we stopped for water or snack breaks. During these hours it was imperative for all of us to be as silent as we could- hunting requires silence and stealthy movement, which was obviously a challenge for our group of 22. At one point during the trip we all stopped dead in our tracks as a huge warthog ran by. The 4 Hadza men that accompanied us leapt into action like clockwork but the warthog was too fast and ran away. But let me tell you, this animal was HUGE and we could tell they were disappointed that they didn’t catch it. If they caught it there would have been a huge celebration. The food they catch is always distributed to their other communities- they are focused around sharing and community network building. Alas, they warthog were too quick and we moved on. Since the men didn’t have breakfast they located a big dove in one of the trees, took out their bow and arrow and shot it with no effort. They made a fire, stripped the bird of its feathers, and cooked it.

For our lunch break we met up with a group of Hadza that lived at the bottom of the valley. From the bottom of the valley we looked up about a couple kilometers and saw a huge rock- the summit, or highest point of the valley wall, and looked at our campsite. It was awesome to think that as I was climbing, I was climbing a valley wall, the site of tribal exchange for tens of thousands of years. As we climbed, some women from this particular Hadza community came with us. Once at the top we ran up the side of rock and got an amazing view of the entire Yaeda Valley. We could see gazelles running around looking like little specks at the bottom of the valley.

After the long hike we all decided to go to bed early, we were all really tired from the hike. The next day were finally allowed to sleep in- until 7 which to me was not sleeping in at all but the past couple days our wake up call came at 5 or 6 AM. In the morning we set out to conquer climbing a baobab tree. This one didn’t have any honey in it or any bees to worry about. Mochi, one of the Hadza that accompanied us across the valley cut us wooden pegs and hammered them into the tree for us. Afterwards the other Hadza men climbed the tree with ease to the very top and sat there and chilled out while they watched us struggle to climb. The men climbed with easy and swung from the branches, they didn’t even need to use the pegs to climb the tree; they were so natural about it. We all took turns to climb and sit in the tree. When we were finished we were allotted time to sit together and plan our presentations for Friday- yes we had homework and my assignment was to research-using our Tanzania package, the development of the Hadza and outsider’s perspective on the Hadza.

Later in the evening, the Hadza collected these special thin tree branches that are used to make bows. To make the bows: step 1 heat them up by holding them over the fire step 2 when the thin bark was hot, peel it off- it comes off pretty easily, step 3 sharpen the end, step 4 heat the bow up and straighten it out by using your teeth (hold the bow between your teeth and pull on either end of the bow, the bow is pretty flexible and bendable). After our bow was completed they aided us in making designs on our bows and attaching feathers at the end. In the time it took me to make one bow, they would crank out 5- this skill is so first nature to them.

The next day was a hunting day so we set our alarm for 5 AM, which was a struggle. The previous night we slept on top of the huge rock and star gazed. The sky is so clear and the constellations were crystal clear, even the Milky Way. I also saw a couple shooting stars. On top of the rock it was very cool and windy which was a nice change from the hot tent. The night’s sleep was so comfortable and the rock was very flat on top to accommodate many people sleeping. The only time I woke up was at about 1 AM because the moon finally appeared and it was huge and shinning so bright. In a few hours I awoke, got breakfast and brought it up to the rock to watch the first rays of sun come up beyond the valley. Next we were paired up with two Hadza for each group of 4 and spent the entire morning hunting. From 5-12:30 we hiked across the valley in search of giraffes, warthogs, gazelles, birds, bush babies etc to hunt. After about two hours of walking quietly in the hot sun we found a little rabbit like critter. One Hadza man shot it straight on with an arrow. He tied a rope around its neck made from bark and gave it to Tyler, a member of my group, to carry for the next couple hours. Lucky him… not. It was dripping blood everywhere. To get better views of the area and the animals running around we could climb various mountains not more than 100 yds high. We would scramble up rocks, sit on top, and look out over the valley for animals. We did this each time we found a mountain. Sometimes we would just go up and chill out for a half hour to rest, other times we’d frantically search the ground for any signs of movement. The Hadza didn’t want to eat the critter just yet, when we returned to the camp they would skin in and eat it. When we were on top of a mountain we noticed that this rabbit like creature looked rather fat. One of the men cut it open and noticed it had a baby inside!!! L He pulled out this wet naked mole rat with its eyes closed. How terrible but to them they were very lucky because they were going to eat it. Poor baby.

When we got back from hunting we noticed that no other group got any food except for our group! You see that hunting can be hit or miss but since our group caught something they will share it with all. The Hadza community shares and values the community well being. They didn’t eat a lot today so tomorrow they will hunt for a longer amount of time in order to eat their full. I asked if they ever go hungry since every day can be hit or miss. They said no because they smoke a lot of tobacco and only eat when they are starving so they are used to feeling hunger. This group is doing a lot better than any other traditional tribe like the Masai. We were allowed to pose questions to the Hadza that were translated by Maggie or K-Dog. We asked various questions about their culture and traditions and I was most blown away about their responses. It was truly amazing to hear their responses. We asked them if they ever thought about developing- try agriculture, go to school, interact more with urban society, since their land is being encroached on by a variety of different parties. Their culture and identity relies on land and if it is being taken up they will no longer have their tribe. They said no they will never change; they are never tempted to modernize or try and develop their so called ‘primitive’ lifestyle that many Tanzanians view it as. They are so confident and proud of their culture, they are proud to have visitors come that they never want to change. People call them primitive, the government does nothing to stop other groups from encroaching on their land, and the president once called them a disgrace to the nation. Yet this tribe has tremendous pride. They laugh it off and joke with each other and will not take any of the negativity to heart. They will no fight back and they will not fight for their land because they are non-confrontational and only live in the present. They are not worried about their future despite the threatening availability of land. Their attitude was truly amazing and admirable. After the trip I was blown away by their ability to live a symbiotic life with nature and with other tribes. Their whole lifestyle is completely sustainable and their joy for their own heritage was powerful- they don’t want or need much to survive and they love the life they lead.

Nighttime was so much fun and it got pretty crazy! The Hadza all came, lit a huge fire and taught us dances. We would dance around the fire while singing their songs. At some points we’d all pair up and do a certain combination of steps. They would teach us one of their dances and then we would teach them something. We taught them the Macarena, the hokey-pokey, “When The Saints Go Marching In,” (For ST. Lawrence) and many other popular 90s pop songs. It was an awesome experience to teach them some of our culture as they taught us some of theirs. The campfire dancing was a medium of cultural exchange and it was so much fun. We would imitate them when they would grunt and chant as they did with us as they tried to mimic our words to “Jump On It.” One Hadza would play this home made instrument of a gourd with strings on it and he would play it with a bow made of giraffe tails. After we’d alternate with Matt playing the guitar he brought. It was such a fun night. The little girls that joined us for the night loved the step dance I learned from Marissa and Destiny and my crumbing skills. It was such a fun night and I have so many unforgettable memories. This was by far the best part of the trip!

School Days

2012-02-10T03:21:00.000-08:00

Each day of our school week are essentially the same: wake up at 7 go to Swahili at 8, from there travel to Nairobi for a full day of classes, return home by 5:30. The schedule gets pretty monotonous but luckily, in total out of the entire four months we are here classes are crammed into seven weeks. These school weeks are spread out in the semester between field components. The benefit of this is that we only have 7 weeks of classes, however in those weeks we have a lot to accomplish. The Swahili class is located in Karen, about a fifteen minute drive from our compound and this class is from 8-10. At around 9ish all classes take a chai break and sit on our wooden benches in the shade of indigenous trees. We lounge around for about a half an hour before we make our way back to class for our final half hour of Swahili. I love having chai breaks because it makes the class go by so much faster. The teachers all love their chai- they usually have about 2 cups in our half our break, and take one back into class with them. Another option if one does like chai is uji or porridge. Chai is always accompanied by pure sugar cane to put in our tea which tastes delicious. After Swahili we travel to the UKC (United Kenya Club) for our regular classes. I don't exactly know what the UKC is- it is a apartment complex, outdoor/indoor dining, banquet hall, and mini gymnasium all located under the heading United Kenya Club. Our classes are held in an apartment building in the UKC. We have our own kitchen, bathroom, and lounge area and each class is held there at different times. Classes are not regular and are at random times throughout the week. I am taking biodiversity and conservation and critical issues in socio-economic Kenya that focuses on the post-2007 election violence. What I look forward to the most is our hour and a half lunch break where we are free to roam around Nairobi and look for places to eat or markets to browse through.
   For lunch we all like to break into little groups so were not a huge heard of white people, and it is also easier to cross the congested streets when there are less people. Getting lunch in Nairobi is quite a process. Crossing the street is almost impossible because there are no road signs or street lights- we cross at our own discretion. We usually cross when we see a native crossing and we tuck in behind them quickly scampering. Our favorite places to go are the Java House, Nick's Grill, and Zaytoons. These places offer a mix of westernized foods and African foods which is nice to alternate. On average I spend about 2 USD or 150 kshs on food a day and the portion sizes are perfect for lunch. Each week we are allotted a food stipend of 1500 kshs which is more than enough to spend on food. The extra money I saved from my stipend went to buying traditional African fabric (kanga) to tailor into a skirt. Another problem with the process of getting food is the language barrier. Although English is included in Kenya's national languages- not everyone has the need for English unless conversing with a mzungu (European). (By the way, I have not heard that term in a while which shows that the people around Nairobi are getting used to our presence.) Anyway, I ordered a egg sandwich one day and he didn't understand what egg sandwich was even though it was written on the menu.
Going to local markets in Nairobi can be very tiresome. Upon entering into the market we are swarmed by owners heckling us to venture into their shop. They see that we are white and immediately assume that we are rich and have come to buy many things at ridiculously high prices. However, after being here a month we know that despite any "student discount" or "special American tourist sales" we are getting ripped off. It is impossible to slowly meander through shops at my own pace because people will grab my arm and insist that their shop is the best of them all. All of the shops essentially have the same items in them yet they all claim to be the artist, or jewelry maker, or weaver and that I should support their business. It is draining because I am constantly saying no thank you, I'm just looking- people will NOT leave you alone until you buy something. I tried to buy some post cards of African paintings but the man tried to charge me 400 kshs or $4.50ish. Hell no. Once I spoke to him in Kiswahili he immediately lowered his price.
Returning to the compound by our bus can be very frustrating. The traffic in Nairobi during the rush hour 4:30-6 is impossible to get through and we move at the pace of molasses. An 8ish mile drive from Nairobi back to Karen that should usually take 15 minutes take us an hour or more because of the traffic. What's worse is that the bus is very hot and there is obviously no air conditioning. Once arriving back on the compound I am usually too exhausted to even think about running but I force myself every day to run 4-5 miles with my usually running crew. I mostly run to avoid sickness, and to air my body out after being in the congested city. Also, it wouldn't be normal for me not to run- I don't remember when the last time I took a day off. This upcoming week I will not have the opportunity to run at all for the group is going on a week-long visit to Tanzania. Tomorrow we will travel 8 hours by our driver Njau and stay with the Hadza/ Maasi people.
   These indigenous groups are one of the few that still practice traditional practices of hunter-gathering. Similar to the rural families in Meru we visited, the Hadza people have specific gender roles that require females to gather and men to hunt. However, what is different about this group is that the community depends largely on the gathering contributed by women which gives rise to women empowerment. We have a tentative schedule for this trip where we will largely stay with a Hadza community for a couple of nights- set up for us by Dorobo tourist company, and a couple days on a safari.
I am relieved that this week is over- I had a paper on the history of conservation in Kenya and had to decide three choices from my independent study that I will do at the end of the semester for one month. I was constantly busy doing work, exploring Nairobi, and researching what I wanted to do with my study. As of right now I am thinking of working with an organization called Soft Power Education Project located in Jinja Uganda. Jinja is situated right next to the Nile River so on my free time apart from working with school children and refurbishing infrastructure I will be able to swim and kayak. Other ideas include Heifer Project International, Kenya Marine Fisheries Research Institute, Africa Yoga Project, Study on Decline of Kenya Tourism Gede Ruins, Malindi Coral Reef Study, Kigio Wildlife Conservancy, and Ocean Road Cancer Institute. These options all vary and do not have any common theme but I choose these options because I want to visit another beautiful part of Africa that hold a lot of cultural significance and something what will be life changing. I do NOT want to work behind a desk. These options may not have any of my academic interests, but I can always turn it to cater my strengths. Now I have to narrow them down... I don't know where to begin.
I will post more on my trip to Tanzania when I return next Saturday. In the mean time Happy Valentines Day lots of love.

Pictures (in order): look out point, map of where we were, crater wall, the trail, mamma monkey & baby, Lake Naivasha, waterbuck, and a hippo

2012-02-10T02:40:00.000-08:00

Mt. Longonot & Hell's Gate

2012-02-10T02:35:00.000-08:00

Over the weekend the our group of 22 went to two of Kenya’s most renowned national parks located outside of Nairobi. After driving for about two hours we stopped at a touristy lookout area that gave us an awesome view of the Great Rift Valley. At the lookout point we could see rolling hills for miles, rocky terrain, and exotic flowers covering the landscape. Then after 30 minutes ride onward, we reached our destination of Longonot. This place is the home of Kenya’s oldest volcano that looks like a giant crater. I mentioned in my first post that while I was flying over Kenya about to land, I remembered seeing a huge crater- now I know it is real and I wasn’t just overly tired imagining things. The group hiked up the side of the crater which was at a steep 60 degree angle that took about 50 minutes then hiked around the entire rim of the crater, which took about 2ish hours. The ascent to the top of the crater was really tough. The trail was covered in sand, ash, and pumas rock (spongy rock that you use for scrubbing feet). Therefore, with every step we would slip and stumble on the very fine sand. The landscape was absolutely gorgeous on the way up. We had a beautiful view of the terrain that had many rifts and open grasslands where we could see zebras in the distance. Once we reached the rim we stopped a little to get our breath- even though we only hiked for 50 minutes we were higher than Mt. Washington.

The hike to the rim was about 6km and around the rim was another 8km- we had a long hike ahead of us. The rim was very mountainous and to get all the way around we have to summit many mini peaks and travel through rocky caves and dodge fire. Because it was so hot out the grassy/dry area on the sides of the crater would often catch on fire! The flames would be bigger than 20 feet so we would have to wait until the wind blew down the crater so the fire would travel and we could safely cross the terrain. Fortunately the fire never lit the path because it was made of sand. The hike around the rim was actually very scary- the path was about 3 feet wide and on either side it went straight down. The crater went for a couple miles downward so falling would be deathly. We all stayed as a group and helped each other through steep uphill climbs and sharp downhills. The total hike was 20km and by the end of it we were all covered in dirt and sweat. The altitude was really difficult to deal with but it was a lot of fun to travel around the crater.

After the hike, a group of 11 wanted to stay and explore the other park- Hell’s Gate. Njau, our driver drove another hour and we found a campsite called the Fisherman’s camp where we rented two large tents. The campsite was beautiful- it have flowers that were overflowing on trees, and a huge lake that is the home of hippos! The owner Moses, offered the whole group a ride on motorboats so we could see the hippos. We took him up on this offer and proceeded to ride around Lake Naivasha for an hour and a half looking at hippos and we saw 20 of them! Their eyes would be peering from above the tops of the water and they’d occasionally twirl their ears around. We even got to see some hippos lounging on land- they’re huge!! We also got a great view of the crater from far away as well as other mountains and valleys. As we were heading back the boat driver noticed some giraffes in the distance. There were about 4 of them with their heads in the trees about 30 feet away! Then ten feet away from the giraffes were water buffalo wading in the water. Thennn on top of that a huge waterbuck appeared! We saw so many wild animals, I couldn’t believe that what I was seeing was real and not just something I saw in a zoo or on tv. Back at the camp baby baboons attached to their mothers would run around looking for loose food campers would leave behind. This place was filled with animals!

In the morning we set off for Hell’s Gate where we rode around on bicycles, on a self-guided safari. After about biking for 20 minutes we spotted a huge group of zebras crowded around a watering hole. As we kept riding zebras would cross the path- they were everywhere and there were so many of them. We got about 20 feet from them! Other animals we saw included gazelles, and baby warthogs. The park had a lot of open grassland dotted with indigenous trees and stone pillars. We also came across a gorge that inspired the makings of the Lion King. At the top of the gorge is Pride Rock and a view of all of Hell’s Gate- a view that additionally inspired the Lion King. It was a long day at Hell’s Gate, we biked for about 5 hours and spent most of our time exploring the caves and gorges. After living off of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for about 3 meals, we were ready to call it a day and return back to the compound exhausted. In all, it was a great weekend that only cost us $20 USD for a boat ride, admission to Longonot and Hell’s Gate, bike rentals, and tent rentals. We were all amazed at how inexpensive the weekend would and if we were to do this in the US it would have cost is three times more!

Church, Waterfall, Meru

2012-01-30T11:24:00.000-08:00

Meru

2012-01-30T10:45:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I have updated my time spent in Kenya. The last week or so I have not had any access to internet or a cell phone because I have been staying in a village called Meru- about a 5 hour drive from our compound in Karen. As I mentioned before Meru is an agricultural village that thrives on farming. The majority of this town does not have running water, electricity, or a kitchen with a gas stove. For the past week I have been living like the pilgrims did, and I survived. Coming to Meru I had no idea what to expect- whether I'd be sleeping in dirt with the bugs or I'd be in a shack made out of sticks or what. I was surprised to see that I was living in a house made of stones that had a TV, and a toilet inside but no running water, and the electricity was sketchy staying on for only a couple hours then shutting off. This family, the Gitonga's were part of the 1% that had these things. Our next door neighbors had ten people living in a shack put together by loose sticks, no water- they had to walk to the river a mile away to get it, and a latrine outside. Although Meru to our American standards is very poor, I saw alot of contrast. Everybody in Meru relied on their farm for a source of income as well as the means for survival. They bought very few items at the store such as bread, butter, and salt. The rest was grown or killed. Every day for lunch and dinner we had beans, rice, stew, mashed potatoes, corn, and bananas or some variety of these items. Their traditional dish was githeri (beans and corn) that every house hold ate for at least one meal a day. After about 2 days I was already sick of it, but when I asked my host sister what her favorite food is she said githeri...lolz.
        On my hosting sheet, our coordinator informed me that I would be living with a mom (Ester), a dad, and her three kids. However when I got there I realized that the kids were all away at boarding school and the father was a police officer who didn't work at home, rather 5 hours away in Western Province. I then lived with Ester who is a teacher, and an orphan she adopted named Justice (about 16 years old). They both spoke English but everything I told them had to be restated in a couple different manners in order for them to fully understand- that got tiring after a while. Justice's parents both died when she was about 10 years old from AIDS. Ester who went to the same church at Justice and her parents, noticed that she was obviously struggling after her parent's death and decided to take Justice under her wing. Lucky for me, while I stayed at the house I was able to follow Justice around because her school doesn't start until February. Meru values education highly, so the majority of kids after primary school, or after they complete 8th grade they are sent off to boarding school. They have to apply to boarding school and the schools will accept those who scored well on the KCPE's (Kenyan equivalent to the SATs). It was during this time that Justice was waiting to here back from these high schools.
           When I first got the house, I was not prepared for how uncomfortable I would feel. When my host mom picked me up from the Meru Nakumatt, I immediately went to the market to buy some cooking ingredients (this was a special case for my arrival). This day was a Friday and the most popular day to go to the market. I followed closely behind my host mom as I was pushed and shoved around this marked that was clustered with hundreds of people and hundreds of tiny stands. I was the only white person for days. Meru does not receive many white visitors. Although it is situated by the base of Mt. Kenya, it is not a luxurious place to stay for those wanting to climb Mt. Kenya. Needless to say, for some Kenyans, it was their first time seeing a white person. All eyes were on me and I could sense it. People would blatantly stare and call out to me in Swahili. Many people I passed jostled me around a called me mzungu (white person/ European). I thought to myself that it would not be acceptable to openly call an African American "black person" as they walked by. Some were rude and indifferent, others looked at me with amazement and excitement. They'd say mzungu, anakuja! (White person has come!) One lady at the market tried to charge my host mom more money for the goods she bought because she say that I was with her, a white person and for them white skin means money. I quickly realized that people only saw the color of my skin and associated it with money. Someone at the market got pick pocketed and a huge mob ran after him, it was kinda scary and chaotic.
          The first couple days was basically me just observing the daily activities of Justice and the farm boys on the weekends. Ester assumed that I was not used to such farm work and cooking (which I wasn't) so whenever they were doing chores she's pull up a chair for me to watch. I got frustrated because I didn't want to watch, I wanted to participate and actually be a part of the family which means doing the chores. There were times when I would be watching Ester, Justice, and the farm boy sorting through bad beans while I was sitting in a chair eating a mango. I didn't feel comfortable watching them do the work! After a bit of watching, the next days I requested to participate and be assigned jobs. From then on, I followed around Justice and helped her with the daily chores which included: washing the floors and tables of the house, cooking lunch, feeding the cows, pigs, chickens, and goat, collecting firewood, hand washing clothes, picking mangos, collecting ripe macadamia nuts, and milking the cows. I also had alot of down time that I spend reading in the sun- got a nice tan goin! The household also had a grandma who was about 80 who would spend her time sitting under the shade of a tree drinking chai and talking to whoever walked by. It was frustrating because most everyone talked in the local language KiMeru. Therefore, people usually spoke three languages: English, Swahili (the two national languages), and their mother tongue KiMeru. Around the household the grandma, Justice, and Ester spoke KiMeru so when my ears got tired of hearing them talk I'd read.
        I found the grandma hilarious. She was so old and literally did nothing all day. Whoever passed by her she'd accost them, distract them from their work, and tell them stories. Apparently she was very funny because everyone was laughing when they were around her. She'd constantly hack up spit, and everyday forgot that I didn't speak KiMeru, and little Swahili. She'd try to talk to me but I'd just laugh because she'd also forget my name. It went from Emily, to Emma, to Hamey, to finally wewe (you). When I'd walk by she'd yell at me wewe! (w-eh, w-eh) because she loved to talk. Families in Meru take good care of elder family. Instead of putting them in nursing homes, they build a separate little house for them to live in. Family is another one of Meru's values.
         Everyday the two neighbors, Sharon 5 and Mwenda 11 would come over to play. The first time they saw me they were very shy and excited. They'd hide around the huge water bin dumpster that collected water, and spy on me. They finally got used to my presence after a couple days when I brought them crayons to draw with- they've never seen them before. Even Ester who is a teacher has never seen crayons before. The kids loved to draw and they'd copy whatever I would draw. It was difficult to communicate with them, so we had fun drawing pictures of the things around the farm. Both Sharon and Mwenda were too young to know much English we we conversed in my broken Swahili. It was a great way to learn Swahili by acting things out with the kids and they'd tell me what the word is in Swahili. Other times I brought them jump rope and little Sharon was so good at it! We'd also play in the Shamba by climbing banana trees, jumping over piles of sticks, and playing with the old banana tree leaves that turned into what looked like confetti after a few weeks. It was so much fun to play with them because they would find so much joy in the simple things such as playing with the shell of a macadamia nut, and playing with the string of woven bean satchels.
         On Sunday I went to church for 3 hours. Other kids said they went to church for as much as 6. The church I went to was a Methodist church about a 20 minute walk away. The church community seemed very close and they all had their respective spots that they sat in during church. The women sat in one spot and sung together, and so did the men and children. This church was so much different than the one at home: they had political debates, and an auction at the end. The church secretary would bring out rabbits, live chicken, eggs, and milk that would be up for auction, and the money would go toward helping to pay for some children's schooling. During the songs an old grandma would pound on this drum, and everyone would clap their hands and whistle- they were very enthusiastic about singing. However I couldn't understand a word they were saying since it was all in KiMeru. At one point during the mass I was asked to introduce myself, tell where I'm from, why I am in Kenya, and what I am doing in Kenya- all in Swahili! I was super nervous but my mom said she was so proud of me after, and the church members thought I have been living here for years because I was so confident....haha not true.
        At the end of my stay I went took some trips to Ester's school, her other farms, and to waterfalls. This waterfall was gorgeous surrounded by tons of banana trees, and a awesome view of Mt. Kenya in the background. The ride to KiMeru was incredible. I was so tired but I refused to sleep on the bus because the landscape was breathtaking. We passed by fields of purple pineapple, huge farms, rock formations, and spotted some gazelles. At one point we had to stop the bus because monkey's were crossing the road! The monkey's were so intrigued by our bus that they stopped and one was right next to my window standing on it's hind legs! Next to Mt. Kenya is one of East Africa's largest forests that is home to many elephants, monkeys, and giraffes. It just so happened that Ester's school called Katheruine was located on the edge of this forest and during lunch hour we were able to see monkey's hiding in the tree. Their long tail gave them away, and they'd peak through the branches to see what all the commotion as about down below.
         We saw the poor side of Kenya and the rich as well. Kenya has many contrasts so after staying in the poor community of Meru, we stayed in a luxurious hotel by the equator that had peacocks running around, a squash court, swimming pool, tavern/bar, and a snooker room. I enjoyed my stay at Meru, it was a humbling experience, and it was a huge eye opener to their values, and adherence to a patriarchal society. The women had specific jobs, and the men had their receptive jobs that included being the head of the household. Although I did not have a dad at my host home, I learned alot from the conversations I had, and from what I observed in other families. When the father's phone would ring it was the mother's responsibility to get the phone and bring it to him. Also, when the father needed more food, the mother would have to get more for him. The men never cooked, or cleaned and they were astonished to learn that my dad cooked. I asked the farm boy, Francis, if he ever washed is clothes and dishes and he just laughed and said never. Every family had a farm boy that would work the farm while the parents were at work. Francis was funny and was always carrying a machete, chewing Khat (MIRRA), a drug that Kenyan's chew that gets you high. Many families actually grew it in their own farms and sold it while other chewed it every day.
       I was definitely ready to leave at the end of the week and ready to join the rest of the group. We all had alot to share about our families and we all learned a ton about ourselves, and how to be patient, accepting, and open. There were many times when I was uncomfortable, and there were other times that I had a ton of fun. I will definitely not miss the people- kids and adults alike all staring at me in wonder. I made babies cry, herds of students stop dead in their tracks, and old ladies sing welcome songs to me. All in all, it was a very very very interesting experience. I will write more later about the education in Kenya- it's a very interesting topic. I also think I gained 2 pounds this week because as a guest they would feed me so much food! They did not listen when I told them I was full- they kept on piling on the food! Additionally my host mom asked me if I like Chipati (oily flat bread), I said I did so she proceeded to make me it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for the whole week! I found ways to give it to the farm boy (shamba boy), the grandma, and Justice. I was also relieved to get away from all the chai they gave me. We would have chai breaks at least 4 times a day. The chai was made with milk from the cows and boiled with tea leaves so it was pretty strong. My mom at school said she would have chai 10 times a day!
   TODAY I had my first day of actual classes. We go to Hekima (language center) for a 8 AM Swahili class and from there Jau takes us to Nairobi for regular classes. I am taking biodiversity, and critical issues in modern Kenya, and the whole group has a culture, and development class every Friday at the compound. Depending on class schedule we have at least an hour for lunch where we find cheap places to eat, and go to the market. Still continuing to run every day although I couldn't run while I was in Meru- there were so many farms and orange dirt roads that every road looked the same and I would often get lost walking because the crops were so high I couldn't see any of the houses!

Carnivore

2012-01-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

Carnivore

2012-01-18T13:38:00.000-08:00

For dinner today, the SLU program paid for our dinner at Carnivore. Njau drove us 20 minutes to a well-known restaurant in Karen that serves different kinds of exotic meats. All 22 of us sat down with Wairimu and were ready to taste some interesting foods. We walked into the restaurant which actually didn't look like a restaurant, it was a huge bungalow with an open court yard in the middle of tropical trees. This bungalow had a very rich feel to it- dim lighting, comfy chairs, long tables, intricate silverware, and an enormous staff that dressed in zebra print. The concept of this restaurant is very interesting: each table gets a spinning rack of different sauces that has a flag on top. The waiters come around with different kinds of meat, approximately one serving size and ask us if we want a piece. Different waiters will circle around the table offering meat: duck, lamb, African lamb, pork, pork sausages, beef sausages, ham, turkey, chicken, chicken wings, crocodile, ostrich, and ox balls. Yes I said OX BALLS and I did try one. When in Africa right? It tasted okay...the texture was interesting...I didn't like it. Crocodile, ostrich, and African lamb were the three weird ones and of course I was willing to try them. This restaurant used to serve lion, giraffe, tiger, panther, etc and other wild game. However in 2004 the government outlawed this because it encouraged poaching. This restaurant was an awesome experience...I even made a friend during the dinner. One of the many cats that roam around the restaurant was sitting by my leg staring up at me waiting for me the drop something. There were about 4 cats I saw wandering about the restaurant but they don't bother anyone. What I thought was really fun about this restaurant was the fact that when the waiters would come around with the meat, the pieces would be on huge metal shikabob-swords. They would slam the end of the sword on your plate right in front of your face and say "Crocodile?" or "African Lamb?" Later on in the dinner the whole restaurant sang to Matt because it is his birthday in a couple of days. They all came with drums, belting out happy birthday then Jambo jamo sane, nzuri, nzuri sana (random words in Swahili) to the beat of happy birthday- that was really funny.
Tomorrow I am going to Meru to live with a host family for a week. I will have no access to a phone or internet so if you don't hear from me in a ten days do not be alarmed I am probably milking cows or playing soccer with the neighborhood children. I will post updates about my stay next week. For now enjoy these pictures about Carnivore!

Walking in Karen

2012-01-18T13:14:00.000-08:00

Before dinner one day I went walking with a few other girls around the neighborhood. We have maps of loops to do so we don't get lost or wander too far out of our neighborhood. As we were walking a school bus carrying girls and boys from private schools stopped not far ahead of us. When the bus stopped three girls hopped off and ran over to us with huge smiles on their faces. They didn't say anything they were just star struck with smiles on their faces and held up their hands to hi-five us. We tried talking to them in Swahili but they didn't say anything- just stood there staring and smiling. It was so cute to see them so excited to see new people in their neighborhood. I think the Kenyans here can tell that we are new as well. Not just because we are white- there are a few white families in Karen, but because they can tell by the look on our faces. We cannot hide our insecurities, curiosity, and sometimes discomfort- and they can read this on our faces. They know we are new.
        I try and explain as much as I can about Nairobi and about Karen and the people that inhabit these places because I am in most cases forbidden to take pictures. It is against the law to take pictures of government buildings in Nairobi and people take offense to getting their picture taken. Once I recognize the buildings that do not belong to the government, I will take picture! I am here for 4 months and the compound, Nairobi, and Karen are not going anywhere. I figure once the natives around here realize I am no longer a tourist, I will start taking pictures. I need to settle in first and establish myself here.
        In Karen there are Massai markets. The massi people are the single story image that comes to mind when you think of Africa: women wearing many beads, multiple piercings, and brightly colored cloths. These people make intricate art, jewelry, and kangas (fabric that can be made into skirts). They usually have vendors that can speak English for them since they are so attached to their roots they do not feel to need to learn English. The vendors always always always rip you off. They say to me "sister sister I give you good price, you are student, we are friends, good price for you but shhh!" I don't believe them but they do need to make a living too. Once I learn how to bargain in Swahili, I will be more respected and then I will be able to buy cheap things and eventually save myself alot of money. Jau our bus driver sometimes accompanies us to the market and stands in the background laughing at how these vendors try and rip us off. I always feel so frivolous bargaining with these people who are trying to make a living- we try and bargain something that cost 500 shillings to 200 shillings (about 5 USD to 2 USD). They are trying to make a living and we are trying to not get ripped off. We want to be treated like Kenyans too- we are living among them for 4 months, we want to be treated fairly. But I do understand their need to make a living and new 'rich' white people are the perfect target. We do not know the real prices, we do not know what is a good deal so the vendors win. Once I learn the culture of the massai markets I will start buying!
        A few days ago when I was running I passed by a huge open truck of soldiers each holding a rifle and all in green and black uniform. I was so scared to look at them thinking that giving them the wrong look might set them off. Instead, they called out to us and said Jambo, Welcome brothers and sisters. This isn't my first encounter with men with guns- another image that many associate with Africa. Police officers do not keep a baton or gun hidden in their belt, they carry an AK-47 so that everyone can see it. They had never used it and there have been no reports of any accidents, they just want to give off and aura of power. Ever since the recent troubles in Somalia with the al-shibab, Kenyan police are taking nothing to chance. They flaunt their AK-47s so that no one will even try of doing any funny business.

Orientation

2012-01-18T07:39:00.000-08:00

As we were reviewing greetings this morning in Swahili class, I asked my teacher other ways to respond to Jambo-hello, other than nzuri (zoo-ree). We have been taught to say nzuri whenever someone asks how how day is, how we are, hows your morning, etc. Well, what if I was having a bad day or what if I was upset about something, then what do I say. Elias, my teacher told me that you cannot say anything else- to other people you are always having a good day! There are no words that translate to "alright" or "fine" or "okay"- it's always good! Nzuri! Despite the poverty, unemployment, poor housing conditions that many Kenyans are plagued with, they are always having a good day. That's the Kenyan way, it is all about being polite and courteous. Another example is when someone is entering a room they say hodi (ho-dee) and the people/ person in the room have to respond with karibu (car-ee-boo), you cannot say 'no you can't come in,' you must let them in- its being polite!
         On my morning runs I am beginning to recognize familiar faces and they recognize us too and ask us how we are as we run by. We no longer get stared down, or turn arounds- the workers walking to work every morning are used to our presence. As we were running I was practicing my Swahili with Landen I was saying "No I do not, live in Germany" which is "Sitoki Ujerumani" and as I said that a group of walkers turned around and said yes correct sitoki sitoki sitoki!!! I got a real kick out of that. One walker even started running with us for a minute just to be funny. So far I have recruited one other person to our running group and I anticipate more coming along- hopefully. It's still pretty hard to run with the altitude, especially in the neighborhood I live in- there are many steep uphills.
           My neighborhood is filled with overgrown plants, trees, and wild flowers. I can barely see the other houses in the neighborhood let alone the other small houses that belong to some teachers on the compound because there is so many trees. I will put up pictures of this later!
          The rest of the day was orientation and learning about the region of Meru- where I will be staying for the next week. Meru is located at the base of Mt. Kenya about a 5 hour drive from here to the middle of Kenya. I have found out that my host mom is a teacher and my host dad is a police officer and I have a couple host sisters and brothers who are 16, 22, and 24 however I anticipate having more host siblings for most families are not nuclear. I will write more about Meru and my host family later tonight but for now I am going out to dinner at Carnivore with the group! Here I will be able to try different kinds of meat such as lion or crocodile. Yikes!

The Kenyan Way

2012-01-17T07:43:00.000-08:00

I ran again this morning with the regular xc group, but this time we ran a 6k, and still I was dying. I felt like a smoker who's been smoking for 10 years. Needless to say the altitude is awful! Workers on their way to work were walking some said jambo, others stared, and others weren't phased by our presence. I am sure soon enough they will get used to seeing us run every morning- I plan on being consistent on this! If my high school xc coach were here, he'd love the way people respond when you say jambo. 10/10 WILL respond if you say some sort of greeting.
                  Kenyans are all about being polite, this I have noticed in many instances. For example, the first day we arrived it was pretty obvious that we were exhausted and completely drained. It is considered disrespectful to even start up conversations with someone who as just arrived and haven't eaten. Warimu served us fruit and chai and we relaxed for an hour until we were well fed, and then we talked about orientation. During school we have Swahili for 3 hours and the teachers realize that this is a long time to be focusing and practicing. About an hour and a half through we will stop for a chai break. As you may remember, chai is HUGE in Kenya, that's what they live off of: chai at breakfast, chai mid-day, and chai during dinner. I always smell Isaah cooking chai at the compound. Anyway, we stop for a chai break which last for however long the teachers want it to. If they sense we need more time to socialize and sit in the sun we will have chai for 45 minutes as we did today. Yesterday we only had chai for 15 minutes. I always look forward to chai breaks- they come at a perfect time! Also served at chai time is uji or porridge which is a more liquid version of oatmeal which people usually sip on. I really enjoy Swahili class because our classes are small- about 7 people and we each have the opportunity to hear ourselves talk and practice with the teacher. If we mess up we usually burst out laughing because the words are quite funny to pronounce and our American accent makes the words even funnier. The teachers laughs at us too but it is all in good fun.
           After class we came back to the compound for lunch which consisted of delicious pizza, vegetables, and chocolate covered bananas- yum! From there we went to the Nairobi hospital to meet our assigned physician for the semester and to be issued our insurance cards. Every hospital/doctors visit is covered by the university. The doctor was very thorough, and made us feel at ease about all the possible contracted diseases that exist here. He assured us that our medication and vaccinations will keep us very good health- he explained that no student has ever left the compound in poor condition. So all of you out there worried about my health- DON'T :).
           On my way to the hospital I sat in the front seat next to our driver Njau on the bus and I was able to get a great view of the landscape. One of the things that I have brought up in earlier posts is the Kenya driving- it is absolutely insane. I had multiple heart attacks sitting in the front seat. I was so amazed by the lack of rules, road signs, stop lights, etc. They don't exist! It is a complete free for all! I thought that multiple times Njau would hit people crossing the street. People would literally cross the street at a snail's pace as speeding cars are flying toward them- they don't care. No one is ever in a rush, no one is every upset, and no one is every angry. The roads here are very skinny- probably the length of a single lane on the highway. Additionally these roads are bumpy and not well paved. Potholes are filled with rocks and dirt and there are some places where the road gets as skinny as 5 feet wide. A good example of how reckless the driving is was an instance that happened as we were driving home: a mutatu (cab bus) was stalled on the slope of a big hill. Noticing this, cars passed him from either side of him speeding up the hill- not caring if anyone was coming down the other side. It was a clusterfuck of traffic and it was a complete free for all- cars were driving on either side of the street. However no one was honking, giving the finger, rolling down their windows, or throwing their hands up in the air. In the US if a car pulls out in front of you- you roll down your window or give them a face that says "are you serious?!" Not here. Pulling out inches in front of someone is the norm, and it always have been, so people like Njau have been driving like this forever. Seeing this all happen in front of me I was gripping the arm rest and saying my Hail Mary's. Motorcycles and pedestrians go where ever they want too. I saw a motorcycle driving in the middle of the road as cars went past him on either side. I even saw pedestrians walking in the middle of the road leisurely- like where are you going!!
          On either side of the disheveled streets are rust colored dirt paths about 20 feet wide that people walk on- and or sleep on. Everyone is walking. Herds and herds are people are walking to and from work. Some men that are friends are even holding hands- a norm here. What I thought was funny was the amount of people sleeping on the side of the road. They would post up and take a nap anywhere: in a tree, in the dirt, on a small patch of grass, everyone is taking their afternoon nap and they will take it where ever they can find a spot.
On the way to the hospital our bus suddenly stopped. I thought it was another traffic jam but nope it was another regular occurrence- camels crossing. These lazy creatures were just chillin, crossing the street looking to and fro like whatever don't care, shakin my head. They didn't belong to anyone, I didn't see an owner anywhere in sight, they were just living in the wild. I also saw a mob of goats on the side of the road too. Again they didn't have an owner either they were just skittishly dodging traffic and hopping around. I couldn't believe that these animals roam around like that!
          As I mentioned before the rich and the poor live cohesively here. The hospital that looks like a resort- wild flowers are over flowing through the windows, is placed right next to furniture shops that have tin roofs, and markets that are selling dirty fruit. As we were driving out of Nairobi, a relatively rich city, is placed next to one of the largest slums in Kenya- Kibaru. Looking out you could see miles and miles of tin houses placed on orange plots of land. What a horrible way to live. I always feel so terrible when kids come up to me asking for money but if I gave money to everyone that asked me I'd be broke!
         The landscape here in Kenya is absolutely gorgeous. Although the slums I saw looked horrible, exotic flowers and trees decorated the perimeter. I recently found out that our compound has avocado trees! I have to go to class now but I'll write more later! Qwaherini!

Swahili Time

2012-01-16T08:58:00.000-08:00

This morning Tyler, Landen, Caroline, and I woke up a bit before 7 to go running before breakfast was served promptly at 7:30. We didn't realize that at this time, everyone and I mean everyone is walking to work. As I mentioned before Karen is pretty isolated from the slums of Kenya- the whole neighborhood is an oasis of affluent white people, and so we don't see too many natives walking around our neighborhood. However this morning, and I suppose like most mornings, the natives walk into Karen in search of work, or walk through Karen as a short cut to other destinations or to catch the bus. Because Karen is quite wealthy and is a place for the super-rich, many come literally knocking on the gates in search of any kind of odd jobs or construction. The inhabitants of Karen quite often are adding on to their already huge houses, building pools, or need landscaping so the natives take advantage of these opportunities. As we were running we saw mobs of people flocking to houses desperately begging for work. Because of this fact, many houses who don't want the constant flooding of distraught workers, put up signs that say NO WORK HERE in red letters. There are also many signs posted up around the neighborhood that say "Need marriage counseling or love advice? call this number" or "Have asthma or diabetes? We have medicine for you!" You can see that many people on the outskirts of Karen will do anything to get money from this rich neighborhood. Right when you exit Karen and go beyond the bus stop you see how some people really live. They "hang out" or take naps underneath the shade of tall weeds or even in the dirt. If they cannot find work, they nap and that is their day. Anyway while we were running we had to weave in and out of these people who were staring us down. Surprisingly enough, although East Africa is know for its runners, these people do not run for leisure they run to get to work first! It was like the walking dead- herds of people were walking in the opposite direction of us staring. I was glad I had Landen and Tyler by my side. HOWEVER I am confident to say that IF I was running with just Caroline, I know they would do me no harm. Just looking at the Kenyans they look unhappy and they stare at the white people but if you give them a simple "Jambo!" their faces light up and they will immediately start up a conversation with you. But just like in any country, one must be weary of strangers. The Kenyans are genuinely interested in us, where we come from, and what we think of Obama.
For the majority of the day we were at Swahili class. Njau, our bus chauffeur drove us 15 minutes to a small local university where we met three Swahili professors. We broke into groups and began our day practicing Swahili. Elias, my teacher, only spoke in Swahili. He knew English but he acted things out and only spoke in Swahili which made things confusing at first but it was a very good way to learn. I learned alot today and I even used some of the greetings and vocab at the market. After about 1 hour of Swahili we took a "chai break"- these happen alot here! Kenyans want to make sure we are rested and well-fed, no sense learning on an empty stomach and chai does just the trick.
          After eating lunch outside, we encountered another chameleon but this one was really cool! It had three horns on its head! Chameleons in general seem very weary, when they walk across your hand they feel around first before planting it. I anticipate seeing alot of these chameleons around the compound. Later Njau dropped us off in the town of Karen which has a few bars, a "Walmart" called Nakumart, some outdoor markets a shopping mall. We exchanged some money and went browsing for a while. I didn't want to buy anything because I knew they would rip us off. I am here for 4 months and I want to wait until I know how to bargain in Swahili before I buy anything! I wanted to buy everything- the jewelry, bags, belts, and kangas were all homemade authentic African pieces and they were all beautiful. It took alot of self control not to buy anything! Some of the women who were selling their pieces looked like traditional tribal Africans wearing many heavy earings and colorful clothes. Some women didn't know English and kept saying "karibu dada" meaning welcome sister. They kept wanting us to come over to their area of items, come here! welcome! student price! come look! I felt bad turning them all down but these people will literally do anything to have us come look at what they have to sell. I tried to strike up a conversation with one of the vendors but he talked so fast I couldn't catch a word he was saying! They really appreciate when we try and talk Swahili, and said I was really smart for just knowing the word hello- Jambo.
         Later today another one of our liaisons, Sinari, came to talk to us about a general history of Kenya. He is very enthusiastic, and let us have class outside of our compound since it was such a nice day. Kenyan teachers in general are very funny, hospitable, and are very smiley- at least the 5 that I have met. He would even answer his cell phone in the middle of a lecture. This guy is great, he says the reason why he doesn't want to go to the united states is because we are too mechanic and don't drink and sleep as much as we should! haha
   I am constantly woken up by the Kenya rooster, it makes really weird noises and is somewhere on the compound. I WILL find it, and chuck it over the fence. I will probably run again tomorrow, but I am not looking forward to it because today was brutal. The altitude makes running extremely hard. We ran about 4k so a little less than 3 miles and I was in a hurt locker. My lungs felt like they were going to explode and it took me a while to catch my breathe. At least when I come back I will be in very good shape!

Surviving Nairobi

2012-01-15T10:07:00.000-08:00

Here at the compound we have a adviser/liaison named Warimu, who schedules our day and is essentially our "mom" for the next four months. She was born and raised in Kenya but moved to Philadelphia to study and finish her schooling, therefore she is fluent in Kiswahili and English. She has been with the program for a very long time so she is really in touch with how we are feeling, and what is going through our minds. Today Warimu split our group of 22 into small groups of 4 and 5 and set us on our way to navigate through Nairobi, Kenya's cosmopolitan capital. As our group was looking at the map, Warimu came around to see our plan of action. Our task was to navigate to Nairobi's Java Cafe to have lunch, and then to the National Museum of Kenya at 2:30 where we would meet with the rest of the groups. Each group was given a map and directed to a different Java Cafe in Nairobi- there are about 6 or 7 of these Cafes stationed around Nairobi. As Warimu was floating around, she noticed me looking very anxious and overwhelmed just simply looking at the map. She was laughing a little and told me that everything would work out. She didn't describe what we would expect out of this excursion at all- she wanted us to find out for ourselves and processes it our own way. We were each given 1,000 shillings or 10 USD to buy lunch, ice cream, coffee, etc, and most importantly our bus fare to Nairobi. At 10:30 our sent off from Karen and entered into a different world, with no one to guide us but our own senses.
          The walk from the compound to the bus stop took about 10ish minutes. Mohammad, our guard who was dressed in combat boots and a gray ski mask let us out of our gated "dorm area." During the ten minute walk we were able to see our neighbors- our white, rich neighbors I might add. The whole street we live on is populated with affluent Westerners who drive Land Rovers and live in gated areas who's elaborately decorated fence probably costs more than my house. To give you a sense of how rich this neighborhood is- the neighbor to the left of us collects vintage cars, and has a 25 yard lap pool in his back yard. It was when we got to the bus stop was when we really woke up and realized we were in Africa.
        Landen, Kirsten, Courtney, and myself stood under a tree, shaded from the heat- so hot that 5 minutes in its rays would cause my back to become soaked in sweat. As we stood, various buses would fly by and come to a screeching halt in the orange dust. A man would bust out of the door waving bills between his fingers yelling something in Swahili to accost us to come onto the bus. Then noticing we were English, would try to dance and convince us come on to this particular line of buses. After noticing we weren't interested, he's bang on the side of the bus and it would take off, the man still hanging off the door waving bills and yelling. We were instructed to take any line of buses that led to Nairobi except Compliant Moa. Apparently this line of buses is very dangerous and drives recklessly- ha everyone in Kenya drives recklessly! I am always so nervous when I am in a vehicle, as I said before there are NO rules for driving in Kenya! Anyway, our group had some trouble getting a bus, they would drive up so fast and yell so we were scared to approach them. Eventually, a bus that had some other white people on it came speeding up. After waiting a half an hour we were all becoming impatient and decided to buck up and take this bus (also the presence of white people looked promising). We took a seat on the bus and after about 20 minutes of a very bump fast ride, a little girl sat down next to us before she went off and handed our group a note that said "There are pick-pocketers on this bus, inform your group." I was so impressed that this little girl new English and would actually be looking out for us, it was very sweet.
         Getting around Nairobi wasn't very hard. Surprisingly it is not that big of a city as I was expecting. There are not any tall sky scrapers, just old looking buildings and dirt roads combined with cement side walks. We were advised not to take any pictures today because it was our first day here the "natives" of the city could see by the looks on our faces that we were new and anxious. The city wasn't very busy because it was a Sunday, and seeing that most of the population is Christian, they were all at church. Despite this, there were still a fair amount of people in the city who would look us up and down as we passed by, or would say hello! or welcome! It was refreshing to see how friendly and nice everyone was- all they wanted to do was talk and shake our hand. However, I do realize that some people's friendless have a purpose behind it- usually money. People here are very poor and do not have the luxury of eating every day, alot of people asked me for money but I politely said no.
   Many people gave us Safari information cards or wanted to take our pictures. Our group was pretty nervous so whenever someone would try to talk to us we would anxiously keep walking and guard our purses. But once we actually stopped because we were at a stop light and someone came up to us to talk about Obama. Then once others saw us talking to a Kenyan others came to talk too. Pretty soon we were surrounded and being followed by 6 Kenyans. I felt very fortunate to have Landen in the group because he was taller than all of them and would politely tell them that we are students and we didn't want to buy anything or give any donations. It was as if they had to "go through" Landen in order to talk to us, since he was the male of the group and kind of presided over us.
After exploring and walking around, we sat down for lunch at Java and no problem finding it. Java was a Western-style lunch area that served traditional western food. I had a chicken panini that was served with a fruit cup and a mango smoothie. It was delicious!!! Warimu didn't want us going to traditional Kenyan restaurants or cafes because she wanted us to ease our stomachs into a new environment. After lunch we went to a park and saw tons of people taking naps under the shade of many "lion king" trees. Lion King trees are the trees in background of this blog. Among the business of the city, the park is a perfect place to relax and eat ice cream and escape the hot sun. People looked like they were literally passed out spread eagle on the open grass! I actually wanted to do the same thing, I am still pretty tired and jet lagged. As we sat relaxing in the park- the only white people in the whole park I might add, a little girl with face paint on came up to us. We looked at me and said "What is my name?" I assumed she meant what is your name. She was adorable!!! She was so young, probably about 4 years old and already knew some phrases in English. I asked her Hibari gate? which translates to how are you? She responded mizouri meaning good and then blushed and ran away. I could see her parents in the distance laughing and waving at us. I could tell that this little girl was so intrigued by our presence- about how differently we dressed and looked. Nairobi, out of all African cities, has the most white tourists but little children are still very intrigued, and adults are always friendly and questioning toward us.
        After relaxing we went to the National Museum of Kenya where we looked at how Kenya is depicted through art. There were alot of traditional images of women in Kangas carrying babies with pottery on their head, or communities dancing around tribes wearing lavish jewelry. There was also an exhibit that showed the native Kenyan animals, and the evolution of mankind. The best part of this museum was the snake exhibit. I got to be only inches away from King Cobras, Pythons, and Black Mambas. There was even a space where they put a group of snakes, geckos, and turtles- the walls of this space were so low that I could reach down and touch a turtle. At one point, a turtle came right up against the wall, I was only inches away but I didn't want it to bite me so I didn't touch it. Later on, a guide told me they don't bite... oh well. I did however get to hold a chameleon!!! It's eyes were spinning around its head and as it walked across my hand, it seemed very anxious, feeling around my hand before it stepped. When it was comfortable it wrapped its tail around my finger and clamped its hands around the tip of my finger. It's hands and feet felt like sand paper, probably useful for hanging onto trees, and my hand! After walking around the museum we listened to drummers for a bit then Njoa our chauffeur for our SLU bus took us back to the compound. It was again, a very bumpy ride but surprisingly I fell asleep.
       Back at the compound we ate beans, stew, green potatoes, chipati (Kenyan flat bread), and mango salsa. Everything was delicious- I can really get used to Isaah cooking for us! I am so tired, gonna hit the hay and run with the xc kids tomorrow morning!

Just Touched Down in Kenya

2012-01-14T09:07:00.000-08:00

The trip from NYC to Nairobi took a total of 30 hours. Words cannot describe how happy I am to be on the compound and not standing in line any more with customs, security, etc. We had a 12 hours lay-over in London and previously I was pumped and ready to go exploring. However when I got there I was zoned out and so tired from the time change but I forced myself to go out--surprisingly the majority of our group chose to stay in the airport and not go out. It took us SUCH a long time to go through customs, security, and round up the troops and decide where to go, eventually it ended up being me, Caroline, Landen, Tyler, and Libby. We took the tube to the center of London where we saw Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Bridge, St. James Park, and some other parks. We spent the day walking around and enjoying the scenery. The double decker bus didn't end up working out- we were all soo tired that we spend most of the day in a pub relaxing, drinking beer and having a traditional English breakfast: bread pudding, toast, poached egg, sausage, beans, thin sliced ham, and a fried tomato. The beer and breakfast was delicious but everything there was so expensive! All in all it was a great experience and I am really glad I got out of the airport and explored. The city is beautiful and the architecture is just amazing. It was a nice atmosphere- no high buildings, history, and everyone seemed very proper. The plane ride to Kenya was an easy one, I slept most of the way because my TV wasn't working....I was more than okay with sleeping. When we were descending the landscape of Africa looked awesome- unlike looking above from the USA, Kenya was so green and mountainous, I even saw a huge crater!! My first impressions of Kenya was there are not extensive road networks. However the roads that DO look as though they are plopped right in the middle of the set of Lion King. There are low trees and dirt paths on either side of it, and plenty of tropical looking flowers. It seems that Karen, like most Kenyan cities is bipolar. There are rich people who own cars and drive to work, and there are men in suits and loafers running or walking to work.
The ride to Karen from the airport took 45 mins and during that time I was looking out the window trying to spot a giraffe- its pretty common! They drive on the opposite side of the road and the steering wheel is on the other side. The rules of traffic don't apply here, its whoever drives fastest has the right of way- it was pretty scary. We took a huge safari bus to get to the compound. When we arrived we were shown around the compound and had a delicious breakfast of fresh fruit, cereal, and yogurt. The fruit is to die for, it is so fresh! The internet here isn't the greatest, it can be pretty slow but at least it works! We also have fresh running water, something that most neighbors don't have the consistent luxury of, the water comes and goes some days. I am living with Caroline, Kari, and Francis, and everyone else has rooms scattered around the house. We all live in one big house with a common area, kitchen, and each room has their own shower and bathroom. The teachers live on the compound and we have a guard that guards the door and barbed wire around the whole perimeter of the compound. There are many tall trees and shrubbery- it really is a nice oasis! There are places to play volleyball and soccer and also to lounge around. Tomorrow the group of 21 of us will explore Nairobi and the runners and I will additionally explore the running routes.
So far I have had no bad encounters with bugs of freaky animals, but I am sure it is inevitable. I recently found out that there are many iguanas and chameleons that live on the compound with us. I will be looking out for them!