Mombasa

I had been wanting to go to Mombasa since I arrived. The coast and the Indian Ocean was calling my name but I didn't think I was going to end up going there since no one wanted to go with me and the first thing people would say when I mentioned it wasn't, "Its so gorgeous," it was, "Watch out for all the prostitutes!" Just when I had given up I got the opportunity of the lifetime Rebecca had a training to go to in Mombasa and she invited me go along with her. Since my budgetary situation is not what it used to, to much time in the Masai Markets, Natasha even said she would pay for the hotel. After only a 45 minute plan ride, which included a close up look at the peak of Kilimanjaro, I landed in Mombasa. The air as soon as you walk off the plane feels completely different so humid and fresh a complete change from polluted Nairobi. I had to wait for Rebecca at the airport since my plane arrived early and I didn't want to pay for a taxi. We got to the hotel just in time for dinner and I went to my room and watched a little World Cup before heading to bed.

On my first day I decided to just spend some time relaxing at the hotel. After getting my nails done which took 2 1/2 hours for just a manicure and a pedicure (I hope that doesn't say anything about the state my nails were in) I headed to the beach with my book, If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin. The book was so good but I kept on getting interrupted. A Nigerian guy asked me if we could be friends and take a picture of me, I answred with a resounding no! An Indian guy tried to talk to me in some language I didn't understand and finally walked away when he realized our conversation was going nowhere, people were offering to take my out on their boats and buy jewelry. Despite the distractions I finished my book and then went back to hang out with Martha who did my nails since Rebecca wasn't back yet from the training. When Rebecca came back we walked on the beach. The beach is so beautiful. The water was blue, the sand white and palm trees lined the beach, it looked like a postcard. After the walk we took a matatu to a shopping center for dinner, can you believe Rebecca never had quesadillas before?

On my second day I decided that I would be adventurous and go into town. I got directions from Martha and the front desk and headed out. It was surprisingly easily all I had to do was catch the matatu right in front of the hotel and take it straight into town and take a tuk-tuk straight to Fort Jesus. When I got to Fort Jesus, a fort the Portuguese built where slaves were transported and where they kept watch of the coast, it had started raining. By the time that my tour had just gotten under way it was pouring and I waited under the tree with my guide trying to wait it out. After the rain had been steadily getting worse we decided to make a run for it back to the museum. The museum was just okay it had a lot of artifacts that were left over from the Japanese and Chinese from trading but the best parts were the views and these drawing Portuguese soldiers did from 300 years ago. Being in the fort made me feel like I was in Cutthroat Island. I could just see Gina Davis saving Matthew Modine from pirates and running to their ship in the harbor. When the tour was over the guide asked me if I wanted a tour of Old Town and some of the other Mombasa sites. I said okay and we headed off. Old Town is really interesting with old buildings and winding, bustling streets. We walked around for like 40 minutes and he decided to take me to this nice restaurant so I could try some Swahili food for lunch. I sat down to eat and he asked if he could get some of the money for I said I would give him for the tour for lunch promising he would be back in 20 minutes. I didn't even give him all the money I said I would give him because I didn't want him to run off but after 35 minutes finishing my huge feast of rice and spiced vegetables I knew he wasn't coming back. I headed back to the street lost having no clue where I was but luckily a tuk-tuk came and took me where I could catch a matatu back to the hotel.

On my last day I had planned on going snorkeling with Martha in the morning but I woke up completely sick from the disgusting dinner I had eaten the night before at the hotel. So I had to cancel with Martha which I hated to do. I finally got up at 10 took a shower and called Martha to see if she wanted to go shopping instead. She said yes and we left. Our first stop was Bombalulu a workshop where handicapped people make different crafts. We got turned around and lost even though I got directions but luckily Martha was there to ask for directions. Bombalulu ended up being really nice they had a ton of stuff and everything was a super nice quality. I got a couple of things and we headed to Biashara St. On Biashara I read they had really beautiful fabrics. Every store had a huge selection of fabrics in every color imaginable. I felt like I was in a fabric wonderland, every kikois or kangas you could ever want was there. I was able to get a couple of really nice things and we headed back to take a swim in the ocean. It was already my last day and I hadnt gone in the Indian Ocean yet and that was the main reason that I wanted to go to Mombasa so I had to take a dip while I had the chance. It felt so nice in the water I couldn't believe it the sun was out and it wasnt nearly as cold as the Pacific. The water is was so salty it splashed in my mouth and tasted so gross and it burns your eyes when it get in them but not even the fact my eyes were constantly on fire could diminish how relaxing and fun it was. After a three hour swim I headed back to meet Rebecca for dinner. I was so sad that my stay in Mombasa was winding down I wish I could have stayed there for at least another week but next time I am in Kenya going back to Mombasa will be at the top of my list.

A Photo Update

Sorry I have updated in a long time. Here is some pictures of what I have been up to.

I went with Rosa Maria back to the Elephant Orphanage. It was so much fun!

At the Giraffe Center.

At the Nairobi National Park.

I have no idea what animal this is but it was huge and crazy looking.

At a Cameroonian Gala dancing with Harriette.

We got to meet the performer Sam Fran Thomas, he's a famous Cameroonian singer.

Amboseli Day Two

Rosa had never been camping before and the luxury tents we were staying in was the most wilderness-ey experience she had ever been in. All night she was waking my up, freaking out about all the sounds the animals were making outside. I am no camping expert but I had been enough times in my life to able to ignore all animal sounds and go to sleep. I felt a little mean telling her to stop being a baby and go to sleep because they are not going to come in our tent and eat us then promptly going falling back a sleep but hey what am I going to do, I need my beauty rest. In the morning we woke up and got ready to go out for our 6:30 am game drive. We saw a bunch of elephants and zebra but for the next hour and a half we just drove around looking for lions and we were not able to find anything. There was a lion spotting but by the time we got over to where we were we just missed them. The rocking of the van going over the bumps roads even lulled me to sleep for a while which is kind of embarrassing. Who goes to sleep during a safari?

We then headed back to the hotel for a quick breakfast and checking out so we could go on another game drive before we had to be out of the park. You only pay for 24 hours in the park and if you go over at all they charge you. So after eating way to much at the buffet again and packing we went out for the game drive in record time. Luckily for us the game drive was much more successful. We didn't see any lions but we saw tons of monkeys, ostriches, zebras. I saw my first hippo! It was really far away and I had to use binoculars but it was so huge and cute, they are so incredibly round. That wasn't event the best part of the day though. Right after we left the hippos we came across the hugest herd of elephants I have ever seen. The day before I saw a herd of 200 but it was so far away that it almost doesn't count but this one was a herd of over 100 elephants that walked right past us! There were elephants of every size tiny babies, ones with giant tusks. One elephant that was walking with a tiny baby turned and looked straight at us as all angry. I felt those elephants tiny beady eyes pierce my soul but after staring us down it just walked off. Some of the elephants were marching together in a straight line and I couldn't help but think of the elephant marching song from The Jungle Book, they looked exactly like that. I could have watched them walk in to the distance forever but we had to head back to Nairobi our time had run out. I have to say from the two safaris I have been on in terms of animals the Mara is the best but in terms of the scenery and landscape Amboseli is the nicest. It was a very successful and fun safari I think that I want to do one more before I leave maybe just to a park that is close by though.

Amboseli Day One

This weekend I went with Rosa to Amboseli. She had wanted to go on a real safari while she was here because honestly how often are you in Kenya or Africa for that matter you have to take your safari oppurtunities while they are there. Harriette planned the whole safari for us which was nice and above and beyond what I had initially thought she was going to do. We used the same safari company that we used last time and we even had the same driver. So we left a little before seven and were off. First though we stopped at the KWS headquaterers (Kenya Wildlife Service) to see if we can pay a student rate for our park fees. When we got there we kindly and politely asked and I gave them my I am just a poor student and volunteer please help me look but they said no. To get the student rate which is $20 as opposed to the adult rate which is $60 you have to apply at least two weeks in advance and have a signed note from your school about why you are here and want to go to the park! That is just crazy they should encourage more students to come not make them have to jump through ridiculous hoops. So we paid the $60 and hit the road. I always sleep on road trips and as soon I got in I fell completley asleep. I didnt wake up for about 2 and a half hours and by then we were already more than half way there.

As we were pulling up to the park gate we could see a glimpse of the top of Kilimanjaro and it was so beautiful. It was huge and you can see the whole montain from where it starts to the peak, it was amazing. When we finally got to the hotel they gave us a nice glass of passion fruit juice and hot towels to clean our hands. After checking in we went to see our rooms, which turned out to be so nice. It was like a big tent and with two nice sized beds and even a shower, toilet and sink inside! It was like the fanciest camping ever. Rosa and I then went to eat some lunch before the first game drive. The food was so good we singlehandedly ate half of their apple crumble type dessert. We were able to rest for a little while then got ready to head out for the drive. We saw tons of elephants. Amboseli is elephant country and they were everywhere. There also were tons of zebra, ostriches, vervet monkeys, baboons, wildebeests. I saw my first hyena. They are not very cute though they look like dirty homeless dogs. The whole day we were driving around all Rosa could talk about was seeing a lion and as the day was winding down they were finally spotted. When we finally got to where they were there were like 6 or 7 cars all around. But from where we were we couldn't even see anything. They were hiding behind like 5 bushes and were super far away, there isn't any off roading at all in Amboseli. So we waited around and finally were able to get in a better position and with the binoculars you could only see the sleeping lions outline camouflaged in the grass. So we decided to keep ourselves busy by taking funny pictures and after a while when they still weren't waking up headed back to the hotel hoping to try our luck the next day. Our evening was pretty relaxing eating a huge dinner and watching Glee episodes on my computer till we went to sleep.

My first African party

On Friday with much trepidation I went to a party with Harritte and Sjoerd. Harriette had been telling me about this Ivory Coast party for weeks and with my trip to Embu postponed I was able to go. When I had packed for coming to Nairobi for some reason it never entered into my mind that I would ever be going out and I didn't pack anything nice enough to go to a party in. Luckily, Rebecca is pretty much the same size as me and she let me borrow a nice shirt and a pair of heels. It was such a huge production to get ready I couldn't believe it. Harriette straightened my hair, I got dressed, Rosa Maria took pictures of me, Natasha lent me some jewelry and as if it could not get anymore embarrassing Natasha took pictures of me as I was leaving like I was going to my first school dance or something. We got to the party over a hour late and I was worried because they were serving dinner too that we might miss something but we ended up being one of the first people there. Everyone was running on Kenyan time so the restaurant where it was at really didn't start filling up for another hour. Everyone was speaking French at the party since it was Ivorian and I felt so left out luckily Harriette's friend was there and she didn't speak any French too. The food was good I had grated cassava which I had never had before, some tomatoes in pepper sauce, fries and rice but the ginger juice that I had was so strong and gross it was almost choking. After dinner Harriette dragged me to the dance floor. I have never danced at a party before let alone to African music and it did not come easy to me. I constantly had to think and be aware of every movement I was doing to make sure that I didn't start looking crazy. I am so bad at dancing, seriously bad. What are you supposed to do with your arms? I was wracking my brain trying to think of something to do with them because if it was up to me I would just leave them hanging aimlessly by my sides. After what felt like an eternity on the dance floor I sat back down and rested my feet. When we finally left the party at around 1 we were one of the first people to leave. All in all it was fun and a completely new experience I decided now I am going to be a fun, dancing, party person with a little more practice I will at least.

Plans and transitons

Now that everyone has arrived I have no idea what I was so worried out in the first place. Sometimes I really do psych myself out for no reason. Saturday I finished cooking and just started the dishes when I heard the door bell ring. I had been expecting a 30 year old Brazilian but Rosa Maria turned out to be a 24 year old Colombian grad student at Berkeley. She is a vegetarian which means that now I am not the only one now who get puzzled and shocked looks when I say I don't eat meat. The food I cooked surprisingly turned out well there were a few minutes there when I wasn't sure, she even liked it. Now I have someone to go to travel with already we were planning on going Nairobi National Park, the Giraffe Center, the Safari Walk, a real safari and a trip to Mombasa. She is only going to be here a month so we are going to try to cram in as much as possible. The next day Natasha came back from California and she is going to stay this time for two months. It does feel very different to have so many people in the house but its nice to just walk into the room across from mine and have someone to talk to. After a nice long talk with Natasha checking in on how things have been since she had seen us last. She entrusted me with taking Rosa around and on Sunday we walked to Ya-Ya to the Maasai Market and got some lunch at french bakery there. I feel kind of strange pretending to be this street street Nairobian but in comparison to her I am and I am sure that she will get the hang of it soon.

Final preperations

Tonight another volunteer is coming and tomorrow Natasha, is coming back. I am so nervous a hundred things are constantly running through my head. I feel slightly overwhelmed as I think of how things will change and all the things that I need to do to get ready. This morning Harriette took me grocery shopping at Nakumatt which was the nicest thing ever because since all the food was thrown out when the power was out there was nothing in the fridge. I spent way more money than I wanted to getting a whole shopping cart full of food but when I put everything away you could barely tell I bought anything, everything still looks empty. When I came back from the grocery store I started cooking some chapatis. I am going to have dinner ready for Rosa Maria when she comes, chapatis and peas. Yesterday at work I asked Rebecca to help me write out recipes for everything so I can make it on my own. The first part of the chapatis went very well I had no problems whatsoever. Janet, Harriette's nanny came and checked them and said they look good which was a relief. Now the dough just has to settle and in a couple of hours I will make them so they will be hot and fresh when she comes. For the past half hour or so I have been trying to decorate Rosa Maria's room. Natasha was planning on being here before the other volunteers came so she can buy beds and desks for their room but because Rosa Maria is coming early nothing was bought. So now she gets stuck with a couple mattresses on the floor. I thought of getting the end table and lamp from the third floor and the chair from my room and putting it in hers but it still ends up looking like a room in a psych ward. So I have been taping some pictures up to liven up the room a little, it helped but not as much as I would have liked. Now all I need to make a big sign that says Karibu which means welcome in Kiswahili and finish cooking. I am trying my hardest to make everything as nice as possible because I don't know her and Natasha isn't here. I hope that she likes everything. I just hope the cooking and everything goes off without a hitch and she ends up being nice. I have never lived with someone I didn't know before and I hope that she isn't mean but then I think how could she be mean she is coming to volunteer in Kenya for three months which not everyone would do. Starting now I am offically starting to think positive, everything will be okay, no everything will be great and this will just make my experience even better. Now I just have to start believing it.

The greatest luxury of all electricity

In the middle of the night Sunday I heard a big bang and the house slightly jolted for a second. I got up to see what was going on and the power had gone out. So I just went back to bed hoping it would come back on in the morning. That was three days ago it hasn't. Three days without power. All the food in the refrigerator has gone bad and every morning I have to boil water for a bath. Harriette was freaking me out a little bit yesterday saying how it could last up to a month because they have to send for a part in South Africa and with the power out soon there won't be any water with the pumps not being able to work. She didn't stop there then she went on about how there could be break-ins starting with the electric fence not working. Robbers could just go house to house taking whatever they want! I can handle the lights being out but no water, being robbed and probably murdered I wouldn't know where to begin coping with that. Right now the biggest hassle had just been carrying my laptop and chargers to work so I charge everything. The one good thing is I went to my Kiswahili class on time for the first time ever I am a lot faster in the mornings with nothing to distract me. I just hope it doesn't last for much longer I am missing having a hot shower in the mornings.

UPDATE:
The power came back on Thursday afternoon! I was so excited finally that hot shower I had been dreaming about and toast delicious, crispy toast!

Buruburu Day 2

On Saturday we had planned to go shoe shopping again and go to the big Maasai Market that happens every Saturday early so we can get the good stuff. Some how breakfast took way longer than expected and we didn't end up getting to town till 1. As soon, and I mean as soon, as we got off the matatu it started raining. Sometimes the rainy season can really put a crimp in your day. We decided to go ahead and see if they were still there. They were but all the things they were selling were under big tarps. The one thing I actually wanted was to get some Maasai sandles and you can't very well do that in the rain or so I thought. Being in the rain doesn't actually make that much of a difference because people will want you to come over to them even more. The rain finally stopped and I as we were walking around I was immediately impressed by how big it was. It was at least 4 times bigger than the one in Ya-Ya center that I usually go to. They had a variety of stuff and I got to try out my bargaining skills again. After Saturday I will no longer feel bad when I give someone a low offer for something. There was this one person who tried to sell me a picture made out of banana leaves, I wasn't interested so I walked away. His first offer was 700 shillings and when I passed him by later he said lowered his offer all the way to 200! From 700 to 200 he was just trying to rip me off because he can see mazungu, foreigner painted on my forehead. I just have to think of a fair price and then stick to my guns and not let them bully me. I still ended up getting a lot of stuff like a Maasai blanket, earrings, bracelets, a basket, a dress and sandles. After the market Rebecca took me around to show me some good places to eat in the area. When the other volunteers come I want to act like I know all these great African places to eat and go to town all the time. I will be like, "Oh yeah, this place I go there all the time, it one of my favorites," even though I had never eaten there before and will probably get lost on the way there. She showed me some fast food restaurants, Italian and African. I am excited to go back and taste them. It soon started raining again so we headed back to her house and got a start on dinner. When we were on the site visits I would eat chapatis for every meal they were offered because they are so good so she showed me how to make them. I had no idea how hard it is. Needing everything by hand is so tiring and takes so long. I tried out rolling them and cooking them my fingers were all burnt and red since she usually just flips them on the stove by hand. It is worth it though they were the best chapatis I ever had. On Sunday I woke up feeling sick so I ended up going home early but I defenitly am going to go back it was really fun and one of the best weekend I have had since I have been here.

Buruburu day 1

This past weekend I went to stay at Rebecca's house. I was supposed to go over Easter but after I had been robbed I didn't feel up to it and I was excited to finally be able to make it up. I packed up all my stuff and got ready to head to her house right after work. On the way to her house we made a stop in town to go shopping. The few times I have been to central Nairobi I never really saw any really nice places to shop I guess I just wasn't looking in the right places. First, we stopped off at Village Market which I had been to before but when I had gone most of the stores were closed so I didn't get to see it in its full glory. At village market there is a bunch of little stores that sells crafts, jewelry, shirts, nice well made stuff and even though they have little stores you can bargain. In the first and only store we went into I saw some of the most beautiful jewelry I had ever seen and it wasn't the usual kind of stuff that you can get at any Masai market. Rebecca and I both really liked a necklace and bracelet set that they had. They were made from this really beautiful stones that was beaded together in layers. I was impressed with Rebecca's bargaining skills because she was able to get two, one in white and one in blue, for less than the price for one!After that we went to a more traditional shopping center. She had promised to take me shoe shopping and at the store we went to there was some nice stuff that was my size but I didn't end up getting anything. We ended up having to rush out of the store because her husband was waiting outside for us and he had been waiting for a while. The area that Rebecca lives in Buruburu is actually pretty nice. The apartment she lives in is really central and she can walk right to the bank, grocery store, hair salon, restaurant in 2 minutes. I thought I lived close to everything but after seeing where she lives I am not so sure. We ended up getting to her house at 8 and we still had to cook dinner. She made these really good peas and I made sure to take mental notes of everything she was doing so I can make it again. We all watched a movie, Up in the Air, and I went to sleep I needed my energy for all the shopping we were planning on doing the next day.

Changes

I decided I would be adventurous and try something new. Harriette offered to dye my hair and have never dyed my hair before so I said sure why not it it will be fun. Boy was I wrong. The color Harriette got was a golden brown and the woman on the box looked nice so I wasn't too worried about it. Harriette said she had dyed her own hair before so I felt like I was in good hands. Right away I new something was wrong. We ended up starting way later than I expected and when she started applying the gel she was saying how Ros told her to do the roots last but she wasn't sure when exactly to do it. That was red flag number two. I tried to bush any skepticism aside because after all she already started but I was slowly getting more and more nervous until I felt a little bit nauseous. When we finally washed it out and I got a good look at the color I was in shock. The roots, shaft and ends of my hair were different colors and you could really tell in the front. The front was blonde and it got darker as it went down. I looked crazy. When she was combing it out the color blended in a little more but overall yikes. She said I should come over Monday morning before I go to my Kiswahili class and she will straighten it for me so I tried to reassure myself with this is not how it is really going to look and it will be okay. But after she was done with it in the morning I felt I looked like a cross between John Lennon circa 1965 and Ellen Degeneres, not cute. At work people were saying you look so much better that you did before...really?....REALLY?..your judgement now is officially in question. After awhile I decided I do kind of like it as long as I don't have to look at it.

A saturday of tourture

Harriette asked me in passing if I would come with her on Saturday to a outside market so she can sell some of her products. I said okay not actually thinking of what that would entail. Friday when she reminded me she said I should be ready at 7:45 a.m. What?!...What?! Can you say that again, 7:45 a.m on a saturday? To be ready at that time I have to wake up at 6 to turn the water heater on because it takes an hour to heat up. I had already said yes so I couldn't back out even though the more I thougt about it the more I didnt want to do it.

On friday night I didn't even go till sleep until 12 so I was exhausted when I woke up. Somehow I managed to be ready in time and we went to Karen for the market which was at a school. There was a lot of trafic as we got close and it was chaotic as we pulled in to unload all her stuff. Right away I knew that we had stumbled upon an American enclave. Americans were everywhere I didn't realize there were so many Americans in Kenya. Harriette owns a company called African Arts Products and she was selling some magnets, air freshners and luggage tags with the Kenyan flag. Also, some coasters, placemats and a memory game with African designs on them. After we set up some Harriette, she went with her friend Goodie who was sharing the booth with us to browse all the stands. So I was left alone to watch over Harriettes stuff and Esther was watching Goodies. I am not a natural saleswoman, and as people were walking by I was awkwardly saying hi and not knowing what to say when people would stop and look. When Harriette finally came back from browsing I felt like she had been gone for an eternity when it had only been about 45 minutes. I finally got a chance to look around with Esther. I had imagined the market was nice like Masai Market but what I realized as I was browsing was it was a yard sale. Most of the stuff was old books and clothes for like 100 shillings, definietly not like the nice stuff Harriette and Goodie had. There went many people who bought anything, only about 3 people in 4 hours. For most of the time I was sitting in the grass regretting the decision I made to wear a swaeter as I slow roasted in the sun. It was so hot, seriously, I was baking, not fun at all. Even though the time went by very slowly the day did morning did end and as soon as I went home I went straight to bed to go to sleep. I should start thinking of a good excuse to use for when Harritte asks me to do it again.

Small and beautiful

I decided to ditch work again on Monday and go and do something fun. During my break in class I called Harriette and asked her what plans she and Ros had for the day. She said she was planning on going to the Safari Walk which sounded fun and it is something right here in Nairobi that I haven't done yet. So I called up Rebecca and asked/told her I wasn't going in and made sure, to be polite, that I didn't have anything that I needed to do in the office. I then went right over to Harriette's after class. When I got there she wasn't even home and Ros wasn't ready. We didnt even end up leaving for and hour and a half and then when we did finally leave Jakobi fell asleep in the car and Ros had forgotton the stroller. So we had to turn back drop Jakobi back at the house and by the time that all happened it was to hot and no one (except me) wanted to go anymore.

So they decided to not waste the afteernoon and go to Kazuri Beads, a bead factory. Kazuri means small and beautiful in Swahili. The factory is only about fifteen minutes away in Karen and to tour the factory is free. When we got there someone lead us right to our tour guide who jumped right into our tour. First, he showed us a plaque with there mission statement on it. At the factory they employ 350 single mothers and half of all the sales goes to providing them and their immediate families with medical care. He then showed us where these big machines which make the clay. The machines were bought from England and when they broke they had to send for someone all the way over there to come and fix it. The machine has to be cranked by hand which seems fairly impossible because they are so huge I have no idea how they manage that. We then were able to walk through where they form the shapes for the beads, paint it, the machines for heating them up, and how they put the jewelry together. They say you can take pictures during the tour and then when we were in the factory there was two other people taking a different tour and the girl was in someone's face completely, super close, leaning in, with zoom, to take a picture. I was thinking I hope I don't look like that and tried to be more conscious of what I was doing. At the factory they not only make beads but they have pottery too, pitchers, cups, plates. After the tour we went to the shop they had and looked around. I really liked what they had even though the jewelry reminded me of something a middle aged hippie intellectual professor would wear but it was to expensive so I didn't end up buying anything but Ros did. I think I will come back before I leave and get something. Even though the day did not turn out the way I had hoped I do have to say it beats staring at a computer screen all day.

First day of Kiswahili class

Habari mabibi na mabwana?
Habari chula?

I think I just exhausted the full extent of my Kiswahili. In case you had no idea what what I was saying I wrote, "Any news ladies and gentlemen?" and, "Any news from school?" When I signed up for the class I had no idea that it would be so hard. Everyone kept on saying its so easy it was a trading language so its not to complicated and its phonetic, it'll be a piece of cake, boy were they wrong. Let me back track a little on Monday I woke up early because I had to leave by 8:00 am to walk over to the Language Center where I am taking the class. It is a pretty short walk only about five minutes but I had to get there early to get my book and pay for my classes for the week. I got there in time and paid for anything and then as I was lead by one of the people who work there to the classroom I was able to meet the two other people who are in the class. There was Desta who lives in Sudan but said she was from Ethiopia and Sister Collette who is an Irish nun who has been in Kenya for a week. Our teacher Asunta was very nice and had us go around and take turns saying what Kiswahili words we know now. From the two words I said, mambo and poa, she asked if I am around a lot of young people because they are slang which I thought was pretty funny.

After that we went over the alphabet and I learned a couple of weird thing. For example, there is not C by itself there is a Ch though. There is no Q and there is no X instead they have some other random letters to replace it. I can't remember because embarrassing as this was I didn't have my notebook during the first half of class I didn't bring one. During the tea and andazi (Kenyan pastry) break I went to the front desk and begged for some paper which I am eternally grateful for because the class was cranked in to high gear for the second half. We went over greeting which sounds simple enough but it wasn't. There are just so many ways to ask the same question. Hujambo, Habari, Mambo, Habari yako and Habari gani all basically mean the same thing how are you or news literally. Then Habari zenu, Habari and Hatujambo is news but plural when you are greeting a crowd of people. Then there are just so many ways you can reply, nzuri (good), safi (clean), njema (fine), poa (cool), salama (safe), hivi hivi (50-50/ so so), si mbaya (not bad). There is just so much vocabulary that you have to remember. Then there is all the things you can ask about, school (chule), mke (wife), children (watoto), friends (rafiki), it just goes on and on and on. I think I am the worst one in the class. I am always raising my hand and asking dumb questions and when the teacher asks me a question in Kiswahili it takes me so long so gather my thoughts translate what she is saying and then go through the Kiswahili rolodex in my head to find the right word to rely with. I really should go and practice dada, muhana, leo.....

The best weekend ever part 2

I didn't get much sleep. I am not going to say who but someone was snoring so loudly that I couldn't sleep at all. I finally got out of bed at 5:30 when the water heater gets turned on and packed everything for our early morning ride. The best times to see the animals is in the evening and the morning, there isn't much activity in the afternoon. We left at 6:30 and headed out. We saw more of the some Zebras, Impalas and Antelopes before we saw the something that caught our attention for the majority of our ride, lion cubs! We saw a male lion lying in the grass awake and alert and then Sjoerd, Harriette's husband, noticed someting out of the cornor if his eye a mother lion holding a cub in her mouth carrying it to another hiding place. We darted over trying to get a better shot and then went back over to the bushes where they were all hiding. There were six lion cubs in total. Three tiny little ones that the mother lion went and hid and three slighly older ones that eventually came out and started playing. When the mother lion was taking two of the cubs she passed our vans so closely she almost brushed it.
The cubs were so cute. They were wrestling, jumping, and biting each others tails. I knew that what we were seeing was pretty rare and I was just soaking it in with the dumbest smile on my face, totally happy and excited. There were two male lions and one female located around them as a barrier keeping a close eye on everything that was happening. The only bad thing was there were so many vans around that after awhile you couldn't ignore the voice in your head that was saying these are these lions children and we are invading there Sunday morning relaxation time and their personal space. Even though I was thinking that I didn't want to leave it was so amazing. I never though that I would be able to see something like that on only a one night safari. In total we saw like 11 lions and 6 cubs in two day, we had the best luck ever. We even were able to see the cheetahs again for a little while but they weren't doing anything just laying in the grass like the day before.

We had to get everything ready to be out of the park by 10:30 you have to leave 24 hours after you arrive or pay for another day's park entrance fees. As we were leaving the park Harriette mentioned that Ros wanted to see a Massai Village and Josephat just pulled right over and headed straight to one. To visit they charge 500 shillings, which includes a tour of a house, a dance and them showing you how they make fire. I wasn't really that interested in going not because I didn't want to but because I thought it was kind of invasive. We are just showing up unannounced to someone's house and expecting us to give them a tour. I went along because it was interesting and its not everyday you get the opportunity to do something like that. The chief's son who gave is the tour and just a side note has two wives said that the money helps to run their primary school so that made me feel like I was helping a little. They did another of the jumping dance/chants for a little while and it was very cute Harriette's son Qui joined them and was jumping too. We then got a tour of a hut which was very dark, they dont have electricty and it was very cramped. They make them out of cow's dung and we got to see a house that was just going to be built. The frame was all ready and they started a pile of dung and were waiting to finish building it when the pile got big enough. The chief's son said that when they have more than one wife they each get their own house and mostly everyone is related in the village so they have to find someone to marry from a nearby one. There were so many flies though and they would stick on you I was constantly swatting them. There were these little kids though with all these flies on the face and snot coming from their noses but they didn't even notice. After our little tour we went to a little market that they had to sell jewelry to people who came to visit. I got a necklace and bracelet for 400 which is way more than I would usually pay but I decided that I wouldn't haggle and would pay I know they need the money. The weekend was really eye opening and a completely new experience for me and for my first safari ever I think it couldn't have possibly been any better.

The best weekend ever part 1

Saturday morning after three hours of sleep I woke up excited and ready for a just your usual WEEKEND SAFARI! I went with Harriette's family, her friend Ros and her son. I am so grateful for Harriette letting me tag along all the time I don't think I could be able to do all this stuff, at least not as easily, without her. So we left at 5:30 am for Masai Mara National Park. A driver came to pick us all up in a big Nissan van for the five hour drive. As soon as I climbed into the car I carefully placed my pillow on my lap and fell asleep for the whole drive. I could hear the kids talking loudly, bumping me, throwing up but I just kept my eyes shut and tried to force myself to sleep so I could be well rested for the day ahead. We finally arrived at the gate at around 11:30 and we all had to get out and pay the park enterance fee, it was $60. From there it was a straight shot to the hotel. We were thinking of staying in tents but they were all booked so we ended up at a really nice lodge. At the lodge there were people from all over the world, Spain, the U.K, America, France, China, everywhere. During lunch it started pouring rain. We were all worried that it wouldn't stop and all the animals would be in hiding when we would go out but it soon stopped.

At 3 we were all ready to head out for a late afternoon safari. When you are on the safari you see all the white vans dotting the landscape in little clusters around all the most popular and rare animals. Right away we saw this huge group of elephants walking together. The sky was blue and beautiful and you could just feel the sheer size of the park it felt like it went on forever. There were these baby elephants and they were so cute! Our driver then spotted some lions and as we got closer we could see there were three lions on one rock, two male and a female and a single male sleeping on a rock near by. Lions are so lazy, the driver, Josephat, was saying that they sleep for 20 hours a day. I felt bad, disturbing them as they are sleeping but I got over that in a minute and kept on snapping away. When we were driving away they car got stuck for a little while and as he was spinning really loudly in the mud all the lions woke up and were staring at us. We then saw some ostriches that were chasing each other and I learned that male ostriches are black and the females are gray which seems like the most basic fact ever and I still had no idea. I saw a huge heard of buffalo and I felt like I was in Dances With Wolves when Kevin Costner sees the heard of buffalo that goes on forver for the first time and he was in awe. I was literally thinking about that as I was staring at them. We then drove past a bunch of giraffes. There were two males were necking, where they slam there necks up against each other. Josephat said that they could sometimes do it so hard that they break each others necks! Whoever said giraffes were peaceful animals was a liar. The icing of the cake for the drive was Josephat being the best driver ever and spotting two cheetahs in the middle of grass laying down when no one had even seen them since the morning. We were the only ones there and we just stared at them for a good 15 minutes before anyone even came.They were so beautiful, lean and long with spots all over. It was like seeing all these animals for the first time like all the times I saw them on T.V or in a zoo didn't count. We all went back to the hotel at 6:30 on a safari high.

That evening after dinner there was a Massai dance in the main seating area by the bar. There was bunch of Maasi that worked at the lodge you could tell because their earlobes were stretched out folded up. The dance was good but we had a bad seat we were looking at their backs. They were doing a little skip around the room while chanting and then they did started doing the jumping. With straight legs they jump super, high like 2 feet its amazing. It's like they had springs on the bottom of their feet. After the dance we went to a feeding of Hyenas which was very anticlimactic. Hyenas are so skittish that two little house cats that walked up to them scared them off and they didn't come back. All on all it was a perfect day and I went to bed excited for tomorrow.

A taste of the night life

Yesterday, Harriette invited me to go to a slam poetry reading in Westlands with Ros. I honestly really didn't want to but I decided to do it because I don't really have any opportunities to do anything fun and its not like I had anything better to do. I tried to wrangle something decent to wear and we got to the restaurant, Doss, at like 7:45. Harriette and Ros met the woman who put the whole thing together just the night before at a dinner party. The woman Imani is from Hawaii but has lived in Kenya for 16 years. The whole event was to benefit a program to teach poetry to girls in Kibera. She was the first person to read her poetry in front of everyone and it was amazing! I couldn't believe it, it was way better than I could have expected. She was reading some poetry prompts that she was using with a pen pal she has in some California prison. They were so emotional, confident and visceral. Mostly everyone else with the exception of a couple of Americans were Kenyan and it wasn't just poetry. There were musicans and beat boxers too. One of the groups who performed were I later heard have the biggest selling CD in Nairobi and I got one of them to sign their CD that I bought. They were so adorable, Kenyan hipsters are my new favorite thing. I took a picture and had another of the singers sign the other CD that I got. Her name was Dela and she had a reggae, R&B vibe. Her voice was really beautiful. After the fundraising part was over they had an open mic and one of the people who went up was this Rastafarian Kenyan and he did his poetry monalogue in Kiswahili and he had everyone in the place jumping up, screaming, and laughing hysterically throughout his whole thing and I had no idea what he was saying. It makes me happy that I am starting Kiswahili classes on Monday. It was funny someone shouted, "What are you saying," in the middle of his set and everyone started laughing. It was honestly one of the best nights I have had since being here and Harriette asked Dela when she would be performing again and I think we might go and see her again. It makes me want to start writing poetry, I can start using some of my creative writing tools I learned last semester.

Karen Blixen Museum more fun than you would think!

On Tuesday I went to visit the Karen Blixen Museum with Harriette, Ros, and Jackobi. Harriette told me to come over at 9am because they wanted to leave early but as usual we ended up not leaving until 11. Karen Blixen is the woman who the movie Out of Africa was based on. The movie is really boring but I decided it was something that I could check of my list of things I did. When we arrived no one was there which is generally a bad sign that the museum sucks but I decided to proceed anyway with some caution. The price for museums is 800 shillings for non-residents and for residents it is only 100, not fair. What would tourists think if Americans got a super good price for things and foreigners had to pay 8 times more, I don't think that would go over very well. Only Ros and I went into the actual exhibit, Harriette said that she had been there already to many times. You are not actually able to take pictures inside because of copyright infringement for the movie which was slightly weird. In the museum they have a bunch of clothes and stuff that Meryl Streep and Robert Redford wore in the movie, props and then her actual furniture. It only reason that it was interesting because it appealed to the movie buff inside me and it was exciting to be in a place where a big movie was shot. I will say the one thing that was nice about no one being there was that we were the only ones in the house during the tour so we could see everything close up and touch some stuff fun, fun fun! The tour only takes about 30 minutes and we then we went to take a look in the museum store. Everything in the shop was so expensive! They had some of the same things that I have seen in the Masai Market and they were like 4 times more expensive. Westerners will buy anything really, which makes it worse for people like me who actually have a budget to work with. When I went back to work in the afternoon I went straight upstairs to see what Rebecca had for me to do and she told me to check my email and hang out. I hate being at work with nothing to do. It makes me want to relax at home in my sweatpants. With nothing much going on it does make it easier for me to sneak off and have some fun!

Giraffes!

I am finally starting to do some fun things and it is coming at the perfect time. Harriette's friend and her two year old son are visiting from Boston so she is taking them on the touristy rounds and I get to tag along. On Friday we were supposed to go to the Giraffe Center, the Karen Blixen Museum and some bead factory which I can't remember the name of but we ended up only going to the Giraffe Center. At the Giraffe Center they give you these little pellets and you get to actually feed the Giraffes. The kind of Giraffes that they have are Rothschild the rarest of three kinds of Giraffes in Kenya and they are easily distinguished by their white legs. There was only like 100 left because loss of habitat and Idi Amin the Ugandan dictator in the 70s killing tons of them for fun and meat. I know all this stuff because we all sat in the a little educational presentation they have at the center. It was interesting that they mentioned Idi Amin because I had just started reading, The Last King of Scotland, so I actually knew who they were talking about. Back to the Giraffes, I was hesitant at first when I was watching all these people feeding them because it looked pretty gross. There were some people who were putting the little pellets in their mouths and it was so weird. I don't know if I am the only one who feels like this but making out with Giraffes is not my idea of fun. I decided to be brave and give (feeding them normally) a try and I got to tell you if you ever have the opportunity to feed a giraffe take it it's so fun. There tongues are like dark blue and super slimy and strong and they just curl their tongue around the pellets and slurp them up. I was holding Skye, Harriette's four year old daughter, and at first she didnt want to do it but eventually she started feeding them too and was having fun. There was a group of school children from Kibera, the biggest slum in Africa and a 5 minutes walk from my house, and they were so cute. They were all in line and in there little uniforms, smiling and laughing as they all took turns feeding the Giraffes. It is a super touristy thing to do but it is worth it and really fun.

Fun Face: The Giraffes tounge is blue because it needs to be able to reflect the sunlight and not get burned when they are sticking it out to eat all day.

My camera died so I don't have the pictures. I will add them on when I get them from Harriette's camera later.

Crime and perspective

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile but I am going to play the robbed card and say I just wasn't feeling like it after that whole incident. Last tuesday after spending the whole weekend in the house completely shut in and upset I forced myself to go to work and go to my neighbor Harriette's house for dinner. At the office I made it a point to put on a smiling face and act like I had a fun Easter holiday. I said I had fun relaxing which is code for I spent four days lying in bed and crying but luckily no one picked up on it. I was busy which was nice I spent my time fine tuning some repots on the site visits and sitting in on a really long staff meeting. During the staff meeting I kept myself busy by writing out the lyrics to Shirley Temple songs on my notebook which I still count as actual work its hard remembering all the words.

After work I went and relaxed for a couple minutes before I got up the strength and energy to go to Harriettes house. She didn't even remember that she invited me over but said it still was okay. She didn't have anything vegetarian so she asked if I would be okay eating bread, avocados and tomatoes for dinner. I said okay and luckily there was some rice and hummus to make it a more rounded meal, avocados, tomatoes and bread just sounds so sad and incomplete as a dinner. I told Harriette her husband Sjoerd and her two kids Qui and Skye, who are 8 and 4, all about what happened and they were really nice about it. They said a friend of there's was carjacked coming from work and then they made him withdraw the maximum amount from the ATM and then drive him around till midnight when he could withdraw more again. They even stole his passport. They lived in West Africa for many years and Kenya for one and a half and they said of all the countries they have been to Kenya is really hardcore which was comforting to know. It nice to think that I am not the only one that has had a less than pleasant experience. I heard that if you shout, "Thief, Thief!" when your robbed that many times bystanders on the street grab the robber and beat them and stone them sometimes to death. One of their nannies who stole from them and was fired was shaken one day when she came to work because someone on the matatu stole a phone and when he was caught he was dragged out and beaten. She was pretty sure that he died. He was killed because he stole a cell phone I couldnt believe it. I guess if I had to chose between having someone steal something from me and getting away or being beaten to death I would choose get away.

I dont even know what to say

Yesterday the single worst thing that could of happened to me did. I had been wanting to finally go out by myself to get to know Nairobi better and start being able to do things I actually want instead of just following someone around. So I decided Friday would be the perfect day to go to the Nairobi National Museum since it was a holiday and I didn't have to work. I got directions on what bus to take from David and I was all set. It was easy to get there. I waited a long time for a bus, I could have taken a number 46 or 4w but I wanted to wait for a 4w and after waiting like 10 minutes and letting like 6 number 46 go past I jumped on the next one and left. I was able to transfer easily to the next bus, it was a smaller mutatu and I had never been in one before let alone by myself but it was fine. The guy who takes your money made sure I got off on the right stop. I then got really lost going to the museum. I went the wrong way like 3 times and had to ask for direction twice but I eventually found it alright. The museum was definitely not as interesting as I imagined, in fact it reminded me a lot of the Oakland museum. The most interesting thing they had was a section on evolution and they had all these skeletons that were donated and found by the Leakeys which was cool, but I dont believe in evolution so it wasnt that great. I left after an hour and a half and decided to go back. I was waiting at the wrong bus station for awhile until I asked someone if I could get a bus to town from there. He kindly gave me directions to where I should be and I was once again off. I found the bus station and made it on a bus back to town. But I ended up getting off on the wrong stop and had to walk down Tom Mboya street back to where I could catch a bus back to my house. I got turned around alittle and it took me some time to figure out exactly where I was and where I needed to be going. It was really hot and I was walking around so I just took my jacket off and kept on walking. Getting a little lost is what happens when you are in a new city so I wasnt particularly panicked or anything. I was finally on the right path when I noticed this crazy looking person looking at me weird. I thought he was going to ask me for some money so I just tried to move away from them a little and keep it moving when he turned around snatched my mom's rings from the chain on my neck and ran away. I was immedietly in shock. I started shaking and when these two nice people came up to me who saw the whole thing asked me if I was okay I started crying in the middle of the street. I always wear my necklace I havent taken it off in almost four years. The two guys tried to help me find it I guess the person who stole it stays somewhere literally around the corner from where he snatched it so they were trying to buy it back but it didnt work out. Those rings were the most important thing I owned and I specifically asked Natasha if she thought it would be okay if I wore it around. She said Nairobi isnt as dangerous as people say and I should be fine. I am just so angry and frustrated with myself that that could have happened. I mean my mother left them to me in her will when she died and they aren't even that nice to get someone a lot of money. I have been crying constantly and just going over what happened over and over in my head. Why didn't I just pay better attention and not get off at the wrong stop? Why didn't I just leave my jacket on? Why didn't I think of tucking it into my shirt? Any way I look at it it is really my fault and I just hate myself right now. It is not that I got robbed I could care less about that it is what they actually stole. I mean it was my mothers, it is not something that can be replaced. Right now I just feel sick to my stomach, I cant see straight and I barely have any energy to move. I was supposed to go spend the weekend with my boss Rebecca but I canceled and just want to be left alone.

A Kenyan Burrito

My stove isn't working. Last week, no, two weeks ago I was boiling potatoes to make mashed potatoes, one of the only things I know how to make and when I came back downstairs to check on them the stove had turned off and I couldn't turn it back on. You have to press the button for the spark and then turn the knob. I did it about 50 times but I couldn't figure it out. When I talked to Natasha the other day on skype I asked her about it and she said that the gas used to light the stove must have run out and I need to take it to get it filled. Until I can get David to take me to the get it filled I have to eat out all the time. I always just go to Java House because they have some vegetarian food that it is pretty good and its a five minute walk away. Usually I just get the guacamole, cheese and tomato sandwich but tonight I decided to be adventurous and try a vegetarian burrito. It sounded pretty good and how can it be bad if it has rice, beans and cheese the standard burrito fare but boy was I wrong. The rice had the weirdest seasoning and the beans tasted like garbage. The guacamole and salsa were good but it would be pretty hard to mess that up. Luckily I had a mango juice that was so delicious to wash it down and cut the taste a little. I am in love with mango juice for some reason and I don't even like mangos. I think because regular mangos are to slippery, the texture is off putting. So just from friendly advice next time your in Nairobi skip the burritos. Rebecca said that said she is going to take me to a Mexican restaurant that she knows of and now I am scared. When I was walking back to my house the kids that live in the same court as me were telling me that there was a monkey a couple of minutes before I got there eating bananas on top of house number 7 and I missed it.

Distraction

On Monday I went to Kiambu to visit a school run by a CBO, Fofcom. Which was only about thirty minutes away from Nairobi. When I finally went to the school the children reacted in the craziest way. Some of the kids were standing with shaky knees, pointy and yelling. It was like people running from Godzilla, except I think they were excited. Some of the kids were jumping around and laughing. Seriously, I just got out of the car and started walking towards the teachers to meet them, you think with that reaction I was Justin Bieber or something. In the meeting as usual I just sat around half listening to the people in the meeting. My mind was wandering much more than usual during the meeting. I think it was because that morning I talked to my sister and she was telling me about my Grandpas funeral on Saturday and I was upset about missing it. During the meeting kids would slowly walk past the room pointing and staring at least they were a pleasant distraction. The school was at a primary school and I when I was out of the meeting and saying hi to all the kids and shaking there hands the older kids asked me what my name was which was nice. None of the kids in the other schools spoke to me in English so it was nice to actually feel like I communicated with them. I thought I was leaving so I said goodbye to everyone but I didnt actually leave for a while. I was standing by the car taking pictures and the kids noticed and they started jumping up and down, calling my name which they pronounced as Shalin and posing. It was so cute but I started feeling bad when I noticed some of the kids were poking their heads out of their classrooms in the middle of class. The longer I was there the more I wanted to hide, none of the kids could pay any attention while I was there. I felt guilty really I am singlehandedly being responsible for ruining their education, at least for that day at least. All in all this school definitely had the most exaggerated and excited reaction out of all the places that I went.