I've been sitting here for 20 minutes, waiting for this page to open so i could post. Sometimes I think I should just not check my email again or post a blog til i get home.
Thursday my class was cancelled AGAIN. That’s 0/3 this week in terms of actual University classes (Swahili is taught by a language institute). Luckily I knew about class being cancelled beforehand, so I slept in and hung out at home until about 12, then took a matatu into “town”. I had Swahili at 2:30, then met Olungah who brought Whitney and I to a place called Lilian Towers (a very fancy place) where they were having a Gender Forum (my life is full of these lately). I didn’t stay long, but the man who was speaking was making some interesting points. He was saying that you can pass by a house with a nice car and with two parents and kids and smell good things cooking and assume that this is a happy family who are well off. He said though, that the nice car might only be driven by the man, and the woman has to carry everything on her head and walk to where she needs to go, only coming near the car when she has to wash it. He said the men in the family could be eating the meat that you smell cooking, while the women eat soup. The boys could be going to good schools, and then on to University, while the girls go to poorer schools and then there isn’t money for them to go to University. His summarizing point was that we cannot assume anything. I am amazed lately when I hear men speaking for gender equality.
I had to leave the forum after about 15 minutes to go to Nakumatt (the grocery store) to get things to make dinner! I came home and made Chicken Massaman Curry. I am not the most amazing cook without supervision, and unfortunately no one was home, but it turned out great. It was a little harder than at home because I had one cutting board, two burners, one dull knife, no vegetable peeler, and I had to sort the good rice from the bad rice and the tiny rocks, but everything turned out well. Unfortunately Chipa wasn’t home because he isn’t feeling well and had to stay in the hospital, but Monica said she really liked it, and there are some leftovers for Chipa : ) I hope she wasn’t just being polite. Also, the sweet potatoes here are not orange. They are white! I spent about 10 minutes in the grocery store looking for sweet potatoes, even after I saw the little sign for them. I didn’t know they could be the color of regular potatoes. I learn something new every day. Or ten things : )
Friday, March 30, 2007
Thursday, March 29, 2007
fireworks and a good dinner
I want to start by saying that on Wednesday night I had the most amazing dinner. Chipa roasted a chicken and Monica made spinach (I love her spinach) and Chipa also made chips! (French fries). Then I had fresh mango for dessert. Oh man…so good. I came home from school and Chipa was on the couch and when I sat down he got up and said “ugh, I have to baste!”. He’s a funny guy.
Wednesday’s class was cancelled because the professor didn’t show up. So was Tuesday’s. So I have had no classes this week, except Swahili, where Whitney and I are the only students. This is the third week! Oh well. So Whitney and I walked around the city a for a while. I decided to try out yogurt for the first time since I’ve been here. I usually eat a ton of it in the U.S., but here it comes in cardboard cartons (like milk cartons in the U.S.) and for some reason that intimidates me. But I got some mango yogurt, brought it back to school, and took two bites before confirming that it had gone sour. I thought it might just be flavored differently than I was used to in the U.S., but no, it was sour. I will try again soon.
Wednesday afternoon I went to a debate about whether bride price was modern slavery. I was nervous it was going to be like the gender and sexuality events I had recently been to, and Whitney didn’t even come because of the past two events. To my surprise it was actually very calm and orderly and there were actually men who were speaking for gender equality! Where were these men when the other forums were happening?! It was really interesting to hear all the perspectives. There are some women who want a bride price because they would never want to be given away for free. There are some women who say they don’t want a bride price because they consider themselves priceless. There are some who want a bride price as a sign of appreciation from the man, but they don’t want the man to view them as property that he has paid for. One woman talked about how some men have to spend all their money to give to the woman’s family, and then he takes her back to live with him and they are very poor because he has spent everything he had on the bride price. Another person said bride prices are used to keep poor men from marrying a family’s daughter. My favorite quotation from the discussion was one woman’s response to a man who said “If a man beats a woman there is something wrong.” She responded by saying “I think you didn’t say enough. If a man beats a woman there is something wrong with that man.” I clapped for her : )
In other exciting news, Chipa and I were watching TV, when out the window a transformer in the power lines started sparking and exploding. It was like the Fourth of July…lots of sparks and colors. It only lasted about 20 seconds. Also, in the real news on TV, they have been showing film footage of MP’s (members of parliament) who have been sleeping during sessions. There are at least 10 different MP’s sleeping in these clips and local people are very upset because they have voted these people in and now they are sleeping! One guy they interviewed on the street said in Swahili that they should make the room colder. He’s on to something. I think the leaders should get more colorful wigs : ) They all wear those white powdered wigs here. It’s pretty silly looking.
That is all for now. I hope this post finds everyone well.
Wednesday’s class was cancelled because the professor didn’t show up. So was Tuesday’s. So I have had no classes this week, except Swahili, where Whitney and I are the only students. This is the third week! Oh well. So Whitney and I walked around the city a for a while. I decided to try out yogurt for the first time since I’ve been here. I usually eat a ton of it in the U.S., but here it comes in cardboard cartons (like milk cartons in the U.S.) and for some reason that intimidates me. But I got some mango yogurt, brought it back to school, and took two bites before confirming that it had gone sour. I thought it might just be flavored differently than I was used to in the U.S., but no, it was sour. I will try again soon.
Wednesday afternoon I went to a debate about whether bride price was modern slavery. I was nervous it was going to be like the gender and sexuality events I had recently been to, and Whitney didn’t even come because of the past two events. To my surprise it was actually very calm and orderly and there were actually men who were speaking for gender equality! Where were these men when the other forums were happening?! It was really interesting to hear all the perspectives. There are some women who want a bride price because they would never want to be given away for free. There are some women who say they don’t want a bride price because they consider themselves priceless. There are some who want a bride price as a sign of appreciation from the man, but they don’t want the man to view them as property that he has paid for. One woman talked about how some men have to spend all their money to give to the woman’s family, and then he takes her back to live with him and they are very poor because he has spent everything he had on the bride price. Another person said bride prices are used to keep poor men from marrying a family’s daughter. My favorite quotation from the discussion was one woman’s response to a man who said “If a man beats a woman there is something wrong.” She responded by saying “I think you didn’t say enough. If a man beats a woman there is something wrong with that man.” I clapped for her : )
In other exciting news, Chipa and I were watching TV, when out the window a transformer in the power lines started sparking and exploding. It was like the Fourth of July…lots of sparks and colors. It only lasted about 20 seconds. Also, in the real news on TV, they have been showing film footage of MP’s (members of parliament) who have been sleeping during sessions. There are at least 10 different MP’s sleeping in these clips and local people are very upset because they have voted these people in and now they are sleeping! One guy they interviewed on the street said in Swahili that they should make the room colder. He’s on to something. I think the leaders should get more colorful wigs : ) They all wear those white powdered wigs here. It’s pretty silly looking.
That is all for now. I hope this post finds everyone well.
Wednesday, March 28, 2007
a dot on a map
Tuesday was a frustrating day. Drumming was frustrating because the teacher doesn’t really teach in slow motion, he just plays something at full speed and expects me to repeat it, which I can usually do, but this time I couldn’t and he just kept playing it over and over. Then for the third week in a row, my Culture and Communication class was cancelled because the professor didn’t show up. Class has become something I look forward to every day because I get to meet new people and see new faces. I sort of feel like I am in middle school again, wanting to do things, but not being able to do them because I have to be home at a certain time or because I am not old enough yet. I have to be home every day by 7, because that’s when it gets dark…which means I have to leave school around 5:30 at the latest in order to walk to the matatu (about a 20 minute walk) and then get a matatu (sometimes takes 3 tries before there’s one that has room on it) and then sit in traffic on the matatu for sometimes up to 35 minutes for what should be a 7 minute ride.
ANYWAY…I am trying to look on the bright side of things all the time : ) Like I try to think of those long matatu rides as a 20 shilling tour of the city…parts that aren’t safe for me to walk through, I can see behind the glass of the windows. All along the streets there are women sitting on the ground with their really young children on their backs or sitting next to them. They sell small candies and boxes of matches and other little things. Some sell vegetables or fruit. I am amazed that these children sit there the entire day with their mothers. They are just babies. I see drunk men swaggering from side to side. I see hundreds, thousands of people walking and wonder where everyone is going or where they are coming from. Sometimes I get to listen to a radio station that plays music from the 90’s, which I love : )
Every time I meet someone at the university, whether it is a professor or a student, and they ask where I live and I tell them Kariokor, they give me these huge wide eyes and sometimes laugh or say “wow”. Apparently everyone knows this is not a “nice” neighborhood. It starts to get to me after a while. I don’t live in a huge house in the rich suburbs of Karen like Jenna, or have my own room separate from the main house at the YWCA like Whitney, I live in an apartment packed in among many other apartments. I feel lucky though, to have been dropped into this little neighborhood in this row of apartments, on this floor, in this flat with Monica and Chipa. I think all the time about how I never would have met these nice, extremely generous, and sometimes very funny people. I wonder what other really great people are in small corners of the world that I will never meet. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunities to travel here to this one part of a huge city and to Honduras, where I met some people I also probably never would have met in a small village in the mountains. It is interesting where life takes you.
ANYWAY…I am trying to look on the bright side of things all the time : ) Like I try to think of those long matatu rides as a 20 shilling tour of the city…parts that aren’t safe for me to walk through, I can see behind the glass of the windows. All along the streets there are women sitting on the ground with their really young children on their backs or sitting next to them. They sell small candies and boxes of matches and other little things. Some sell vegetables or fruit. I am amazed that these children sit there the entire day with their mothers. They are just babies. I see drunk men swaggering from side to side. I see hundreds, thousands of people walking and wonder where everyone is going or where they are coming from. Sometimes I get to listen to a radio station that plays music from the 90’s, which I love : )
Every time I meet someone at the university, whether it is a professor or a student, and they ask where I live and I tell them Kariokor, they give me these huge wide eyes and sometimes laugh or say “wow”. Apparently everyone knows this is not a “nice” neighborhood. It starts to get to me after a while. I don’t live in a huge house in the rich suburbs of Karen like Jenna, or have my own room separate from the main house at the YWCA like Whitney, I live in an apartment packed in among many other apartments. I feel lucky though, to have been dropped into this little neighborhood in this row of apartments, on this floor, in this flat with Monica and Chipa. I think all the time about how I never would have met these nice, extremely generous, and sometimes very funny people. I wonder what other really great people are in small corners of the world that I will never meet. I feel so lucky to have had the opportunities to travel here to this one part of a huge city and to Honduras, where I met some people I also probably never would have met in a small village in the mountains. It is interesting where life takes you.
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Flight Home
I just booked my flight home and unfortunately it was twice as expensive as I thought it would be because June is peak season to fly. But here is the information (mostly for all my parents).
Leave Nairobi at 11:25pm on June 27th, British Airways Flight 064
Arrive London at 5:55am
Leave London at 10:55am on June 28th, British Airways Flight 213
Arrive Boston at 1:00 pm
So there you have it : )
Leave Nairobi at 11:25pm on June 27th, British Airways Flight 064
Arrive London at 5:55am
Leave London at 10:55am on June 28th, British Airways Flight 213
Arrive Boston at 1:00 pm
So there you have it : )
FGM
Monday was chilly and rainy. It started out with drumming, and then I went to a St. Lawrence class about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM). It was really interesting. In Africa, 2 million girls and women per year are affected by FGM in 28 of Africa’s 52 countries. Of the 42 Ethnic groups in Kenya, only four of them do not perform FGM, including the Luo tribe, which my family belongs to. The tribes with the highest percentages of FGM are the Somali (97%), Ambagusii (96%) and Maasai (94%). The presenter said these numbers are underestimates. An average of 33% of Kenyan women have had FGM performed.
Culturally, FGM is extremely important. It is deeply routed in tradition and is a rite of passage for most women. The social pressure is HUGE and many girls are cut before they even know what it means, some even at birth. The main purpose is to reduce the sexual desire of women because women are controlled by emotions and if they were not cut, they would be chasing men around all the time and would enjoy sex and want more of it. There is a Muslim saying “Almighty God created sexual desire in ten parts, then he gave nine parts to women and one to men.” This is saying that women were given an unfair amount of pleasure, so they have to reduce that by performing FGM. Another reason for FGM is that men who have many wives need their women to have little sexual desire so they do not sleep with other men while the husband is making his rounds with the other women. Another quotation from a local person was “Women are considered like the property of men, an object that can be used by men. Their sexual enjoyment does not matter and they are not meant to show they’re happy as long as the men are happy.”
The health effects of FGM are pretty horrendous and we saw a lot of slides of women who had had FGM. One slide was of a woman, whose entire vagina had been sewn up, leaving one tiny hole to allow menstrual fluid and urine to pass through. This woman however, was giving birth and the slide showed this baby’s head trying to pass through the tiny hole, which as you can imagine, would be extremely harmful to the woman. It was pretty unpleasant to see. Actually, there is a 20% higher death rate for these babies because of trauma to the head.
FGM is a problem for men too because once they are married, if the man cannot penetrate the woman through this tiny hole, it brings a lot of shame to the man. The woman can even leave him at this point because this means he is not a man. This leads the man to try to force an opening, either by trying to enter her more forcefully or by using his fingers or a knife. FGM is illegal in Kenya, which means that when some people try to get it done more safely and hygienically in a hospital, they are rejected. It reminds me of the issue of needle exchanges in the U.S. It is such a complicated issue because while many westerners and even Africans see FGM as inhumane, many Africans see it as an essential part of life in terms of becoming a woman, and the wonder why foreigners are coming into their cultures to try and stop them from doing it.
Anyway that is my little summary of the presentation. On a lighter note, after this presentation 6 of us went to lunch at this great Ethiopian restaurant. We got three platters of different things and they were all delicious. To make it even better, in total we paid about $15. After lunch Whitney and I had our first kiSwahili lesson. Jina langu ni Sarah. My name is Sarah. Ninatoka Boston. I come from Boston. I like this language a lot. Ninapenda sana kiSwahili!
Culturally, FGM is extremely important. It is deeply routed in tradition and is a rite of passage for most women. The social pressure is HUGE and many girls are cut before they even know what it means, some even at birth. The main purpose is to reduce the sexual desire of women because women are controlled by emotions and if they were not cut, they would be chasing men around all the time and would enjoy sex and want more of it. There is a Muslim saying “Almighty God created sexual desire in ten parts, then he gave nine parts to women and one to men.” This is saying that women were given an unfair amount of pleasure, so they have to reduce that by performing FGM. Another reason for FGM is that men who have many wives need their women to have little sexual desire so they do not sleep with other men while the husband is making his rounds with the other women. Another quotation from a local person was “Women are considered like the property of men, an object that can be used by men. Their sexual enjoyment does not matter and they are not meant to show they’re happy as long as the men are happy.”
The health effects of FGM are pretty horrendous and we saw a lot of slides of women who had had FGM. One slide was of a woman, whose entire vagina had been sewn up, leaving one tiny hole to allow menstrual fluid and urine to pass through. This woman however, was giving birth and the slide showed this baby’s head trying to pass through the tiny hole, which as you can imagine, would be extremely harmful to the woman. It was pretty unpleasant to see. Actually, there is a 20% higher death rate for these babies because of trauma to the head.
FGM is a problem for men too because once they are married, if the man cannot penetrate the woman through this tiny hole, it brings a lot of shame to the man. The woman can even leave him at this point because this means he is not a man. This leads the man to try to force an opening, either by trying to enter her more forcefully or by using his fingers or a knife. FGM is illegal in Kenya, which means that when some people try to get it done more safely and hygienically in a hospital, they are rejected. It reminds me of the issue of needle exchanges in the U.S. It is such a complicated issue because while many westerners and even Africans see FGM as inhumane, many Africans see it as an essential part of life in terms of becoming a woman, and the wonder why foreigners are coming into their cultures to try and stop them from doing it.
Anyway that is my little summary of the presentation. On a lighter note, after this presentation 6 of us went to lunch at this great Ethiopian restaurant. We got three platters of different things and they were all delicious. To make it even better, in total we paid about $15. After lunch Whitney and I had our first kiSwahili lesson. Jina langu ni Sarah. My name is Sarah. Ninatoka Boston. I come from Boston. I like this language a lot. Ninapenda sana kiSwahili!
Monday, March 26, 2007
RUnning men
On Sunday I decided I would be brave and go for a run. I’ve wanted to run since I have been here, but I didn’t think it was a good idea to run around here. I have been thinking though that it isn’t very dangerous, so off I went. I left the neighborhood and was going to run down the main road, as far as I could go and the come back. As soon as I started on the road, three men started running after me, fully dressed. I thought they would run a few steps and then stop, but they didn’t. After a couple minutes, as cars started to slow down to a stop for men to talk to me and the guys behind me still hadn’t stopped running, I turned around and ran back home. The guys still followed me, but not into my neighborhood. As I entered the neighborhood though, a very drunk (or maybe just unbalanced) man held his arms out towards me, but I ran by. I ran around the apartment buildings a little bit, and then decided maybe it would be better to just do some sprints in the area between buildings. On the second sprint, some people on the first floor opened up their curtains and windows and were watching me and laughing and saying things. Ugh…I wish so badly sometimes that I could blend in just a little more.
Speaking of running, the Cross Country World Championships were on Saturday and were held in Mombasa. I watched them on TV and they were actually really interesting. It was extremely hot there, as Mombasa usually is…about 90 degrees and humid. The first race was the women’s juniors (under 18). A group of 4 Kenyans were in the lead, followed by 3 Ethiopians. Apparently Kenya and Ethiopia have a huge running rivalry, as both are really strong in the sport. Anyway, 3 of the leading Kenyans and all of the 3 Ethiopians thought that their second to last lap was their last, so they sprinted to the finish and stopped. But there was still one more lap! The 4th Kenyan kept running, and ended up winning. The Kenyan who was in first, tried to catch back up, but ended up passing out on the track and had to be carried off. It was a crazy race! Also, they showed the finish line as each girl crossed, and every single one of them collapsed from heat exhaustion immediately after finishing and had to be carried off. I really felt bad for the North Americans and Europeans who have been used to cold weather for the past couple months.
Then in the men’s Senior (over 18) race, this guy Bekele from Ethiopia was neck and neck with this Eritrean guy for a lot of the race. Then Bekele took the lead, but later slowed down as if to let the Eritrean guy (sorry I don’t know his name) catch up. Then they were neck and neck again, but a few minutes later the Eritrean guy took off and gained a HUGE lead. As his lead increased, Bekele (who has apparently won a ton of medals in cross country and set many records) just stopped and walked off the track! The announcers said later that he had stomach cramps. So the Eritrean won! Wow, I have never found watching running so exciting before : )
Speaking of running, the Cross Country World Championships were on Saturday and were held in Mombasa. I watched them on TV and they were actually really interesting. It was extremely hot there, as Mombasa usually is…about 90 degrees and humid. The first race was the women’s juniors (under 18). A group of 4 Kenyans were in the lead, followed by 3 Ethiopians. Apparently Kenya and Ethiopia have a huge running rivalry, as both are really strong in the sport. Anyway, 3 of the leading Kenyans and all of the 3 Ethiopians thought that their second to last lap was their last, so they sprinted to the finish and stopped. But there was still one more lap! The 4th Kenyan kept running, and ended up winning. The Kenyan who was in first, tried to catch back up, but ended up passing out on the track and had to be carried off. It was a crazy race! Also, they showed the finish line as each girl crossed, and every single one of them collapsed from heat exhaustion immediately after finishing and had to be carried off. I really felt bad for the North Americans and Europeans who have been used to cold weather for the past couple months.
Then in the men’s Senior (over 18) race, this guy Bekele from Ethiopia was neck and neck with this Eritrean guy for a lot of the race. Then Bekele took the lead, but later slowed down as if to let the Eritrean guy (sorry I don’t know his name) catch up. Then they were neck and neck again, but a few minutes later the Eritrean guy took off and gained a HUGE lead. As his lead increased, Bekele (who has apparently won a ton of medals in cross country and set many records) just stopped and walked off the track! The announcers said later that he had stomach cramps. So the Eritrean won! Wow, I have never found watching running so exciting before : )
Saturday, March 24, 2007
aaand my spirits are back up!
So after the emotionally draining day yesterday, Whitney and I met Olungah and his friend Frederick at a bar and had some beer and then two other students met us. Rose and Jackie. Rose is from Tanzania and Jackie is from nearby and they both live in the hostels at the University. We hung out for a while then went to a place to hear traditional Luo music. They dropped us off at Whitney's place and we met up with her sisters and went to a club in the Westlands (kind of like the Main Line of Philadelphia.)
The club was all open air and it was almost like being at a sweet 16 party from MTV...a lot of very wealthy kids. Michelle (Whitney's sister) and her guy friends were cool though and we danced and hung out with them. We had some interesting fellows come up to us (us being 2 of about 4 white people there). I haven't had guys dancing on me in....a long time...maybe since summer camp dances. One guy came up to us and was of middle eastern descent with a beard. He said "Just because I have this beard, doesn't mean I am the enemy." I said, "I didn't think you were the enemy". They he lit up a cigarette and said "This one is for Osama!" haha.
Another guy came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder and said "I have always wanted to talk to someone like you" Whitney chimed in and said "What do you mean? Someone with white skin? We're just the same as you, I promise". He said he was going to take me out some time. I said okay sure, then we left. When people our age go out to clubs, they leave around 11/12 and come home at 4/5. Clubs generally close at 6am. So we got home at about 4, slept for 4 hours, then woke up to go to the Elephant Orphanage!!
It was so amazing. This was the one we saw on 20/20 over christmas (for Dad, Vicki, and Laura). We saw three baby elephants who were between 4 and 7 months old. Then we saw a lot more that were between 12 and 24 months. I rubbed an infant elephant's head!!! Ah, it was amazing and I took a ton of pictures. I wish it were easier and faster to post pictures from here. They were adorable and played soccer and splashed in this big water/mud hole. They fed them too, so they drank from bottles and some of them even held their own bottle. They are funny animals and it's pretty apparent that they have widely varying personalities and interests. We were also going to go to the giraffe center where you can feed giraffes, but we were pretty exhausted, so we're saving it for another day.
Anyway, I am feeling much better since yesterday, though extremely tired. I'm going to head home soon on the dreaded matatu :)
Thanks for all your comments, I love reading them.
The club was all open air and it was almost like being at a sweet 16 party from MTV...a lot of very wealthy kids. Michelle (Whitney's sister) and her guy friends were cool though and we danced and hung out with them. We had some interesting fellows come up to us (us being 2 of about 4 white people there). I haven't had guys dancing on me in....a long time...maybe since summer camp dances. One guy came up to us and was of middle eastern descent with a beard. He said "Just because I have this beard, doesn't mean I am the enemy." I said, "I didn't think you were the enemy". They he lit up a cigarette and said "This one is for Osama!" haha.
Another guy came up to me and put his hand on my shoulder and said "I have always wanted to talk to someone like you" Whitney chimed in and said "What do you mean? Someone with white skin? We're just the same as you, I promise". He said he was going to take me out some time. I said okay sure, then we left. When people our age go out to clubs, they leave around 11/12 and come home at 4/5. Clubs generally close at 6am. So we got home at about 4, slept for 4 hours, then woke up to go to the Elephant Orphanage!!
It was so amazing. This was the one we saw on 20/20 over christmas (for Dad, Vicki, and Laura). We saw three baby elephants who were between 4 and 7 months old. Then we saw a lot more that were between 12 and 24 months. I rubbed an infant elephant's head!!! Ah, it was amazing and I took a ton of pictures. I wish it were easier and faster to post pictures from here. They were adorable and played soccer and splashed in this big water/mud hole. They fed them too, so they drank from bottles and some of them even held their own bottle. They are funny animals and it's pretty apparent that they have widely varying personalities and interests. We were also going to go to the giraffe center where you can feed giraffes, but we were pretty exhausted, so we're saving it for another day.
Anyway, I am feeling much better since yesterday, though extremely tired. I'm going to head home soon on the dreaded matatu :)
Thanks for all your comments, I love reading them.
Friday, March 23, 2007
discouragement
I was actually just starting to feel really good about being here, and going to both this poetry night and the Anthropology Symposium. But both turned out to be a little different than I had expected. This is going to be a really long post.
Last night we went to the poetry event at school. It was called “Empowering Women” and was put on by the Literature Department to talk about women’s struggles in this society and their strength. The poets were mostly women. There were two men. The poets would perform a few poems, then break and have a discussion about women in Kenya and what their roles are and whether they are oppressed or not. Most of the audience was male, and the two men sitting to my left happened to be pretty obnoxious. Any time a poet talked about being raped or beaten or oppressed by men, most of the audience laughed and cheered. Also, every time a woman came on stage who the men in the room thought were attractive, they whistled. It was sickening. I could not believe that this entire room of people was laughing when a woman cried in her poem because of her husband abusing her. There was almost constant laughter in the room and I didn’t hear one comical poem. I couldn’t believe it. Why did these men come to this event?
During one of the discussions I even spoke out to the crowd, which is unlike me, especially in situations where I am uncomfortable, but I couldn’t take it. The facilitator of conversation (a man) was asking about a woman’s role and he got to the point where he asked “so a man is supposed to wash the dishes?” And I said to the room “If they are both eating off of the dishes, they can both wash the dishes.” The woman a few rows ahead of me thanked me, while most of the men in the room seemed pretty mad I had said that. I whispered to Whitney that we might need body guards on our way out.
Ugh, what a frustrating time. Some of the poems were beautiful though, and the women were beautiful, most of them dressed in traditional Kenyan dress. It was so hard though because I wanted to leave in disgust of all the men around me, but I also wanted to stay to hear more of the women’s poems. There were one or two men in the crowd though, who said positive things towards women and how women were not treated fairly. Hopefully I can meet those men sometime while I am here.
Speaking of men, I am getting really tired of being blatantly stared down and asked questions about my relationship status. I have started going along with some men who ask me questions, rather than spend the energy correcting them. For example, while I was waiting for the matatu the other day, this older man started asking me if I was married, if I had kids, where I was from, what I was doing here. I ended up being from Canada, with a husband and two children. When I told him I was at the bus stop waiting for my friend (who happened to be my host mother), he said with a grin, “oooh I see, you have husband AND friend.” Ugh.
I was also awakened last night by some loud banging noises and then a woman screaming an ear piercing scream at the top of her lungs. Then more banging, mens voices, whimpering from the woman, more banging and silence. It was really scary and I had a lot of trouble sleeping after that, jumping at every noise. It seemed to sum up the night though and really make concrete the things the women poets wrote about.
Today we went to an Anthropology Symposium on Gender and Sexuality. There were a number of presentations. One of them was called “Sexual Freedom: Outward Expressions of Masculinity and Femininity.” The presenter of this spent almost his entire 30 minutes describing people who do not stay within gender norms, such as men who walk “femininely” at which point he would imitate that walk and the crowd (of about 500) would erupt in laughter. He also talked about women who wear men’s pants and shoes and who buy property and drive themselves around, making faces of disgust. And then there were those parents in Britain who actually celebrate their sons getting married to men, and then THAT bishop in America who wants to be married to a man. The entire time this man was talking about this the crowd was laughing and I was wondering what this had to do with sexual freedom. This is not freedom, this is confining people to things they cannot do because it is of the opposite gender. It made me cry at one point and made me want to run out of the room, the school, the country screaming. Sometimes I wish the world really was map-sized so that I could step out for a few minutes…or days. So I am feeling pretty exhausted and emotionally drained, after 8 hours of this. I can’t believe the collective immaturity of the people at a highly acclaimed academic institution. It makes me feel like I am 40 years back in time. Maybe this is my learning experience of things I was privileged enough to miss by being born in the late 80’s.
There was also a really interesting presentation of the results of the first ever MSM study done in Kenya. Unfortunately it was hard to follow because the crowd of people wouldn’t shut up and stop laughing at every word that was somewhat sexual or had to do with homosexuality. It was like being in a room full of 6-10 year olds. One interesting statistic from that was that 75% of MSM reported “always” using a condom. I found that amazing. Also, 57% had taken an HIV test, 23% in the last three months. I was very impressed with those numbers, especially after learning about significantly lower statistics among U.S. citizens, who have arguably more access to these things.
It is good that the school is having these forums for discussion. It's almost like they want to discuss it and know they should, but they individually and as a community are not ready to yet. It's the small steps that get you there though, I guess.
Last night we went to the poetry event at school. It was called “Empowering Women” and was put on by the Literature Department to talk about women’s struggles in this society and their strength. The poets were mostly women. There were two men. The poets would perform a few poems, then break and have a discussion about women in Kenya and what their roles are and whether they are oppressed or not. Most of the audience was male, and the two men sitting to my left happened to be pretty obnoxious. Any time a poet talked about being raped or beaten or oppressed by men, most of the audience laughed and cheered. Also, every time a woman came on stage who the men in the room thought were attractive, they whistled. It was sickening. I could not believe that this entire room of people was laughing when a woman cried in her poem because of her husband abusing her. There was almost constant laughter in the room and I didn’t hear one comical poem. I couldn’t believe it. Why did these men come to this event?
During one of the discussions I even spoke out to the crowd, which is unlike me, especially in situations where I am uncomfortable, but I couldn’t take it. The facilitator of conversation (a man) was asking about a woman’s role and he got to the point where he asked “so a man is supposed to wash the dishes?” And I said to the room “If they are both eating off of the dishes, they can both wash the dishes.” The woman a few rows ahead of me thanked me, while most of the men in the room seemed pretty mad I had said that. I whispered to Whitney that we might need body guards on our way out.
Ugh, what a frustrating time. Some of the poems were beautiful though, and the women were beautiful, most of them dressed in traditional Kenyan dress. It was so hard though because I wanted to leave in disgust of all the men around me, but I also wanted to stay to hear more of the women’s poems. There were one or two men in the crowd though, who said positive things towards women and how women were not treated fairly. Hopefully I can meet those men sometime while I am here.
Speaking of men, I am getting really tired of being blatantly stared down and asked questions about my relationship status. I have started going along with some men who ask me questions, rather than spend the energy correcting them. For example, while I was waiting for the matatu the other day, this older man started asking me if I was married, if I had kids, where I was from, what I was doing here. I ended up being from Canada, with a husband and two children. When I told him I was at the bus stop waiting for my friend (who happened to be my host mother), he said with a grin, “oooh I see, you have husband AND friend.” Ugh.
I was also awakened last night by some loud banging noises and then a woman screaming an ear piercing scream at the top of her lungs. Then more banging, mens voices, whimpering from the woman, more banging and silence. It was really scary and I had a lot of trouble sleeping after that, jumping at every noise. It seemed to sum up the night though and really make concrete the things the women poets wrote about.
Today we went to an Anthropology Symposium on Gender and Sexuality. There were a number of presentations. One of them was called “Sexual Freedom: Outward Expressions of Masculinity and Femininity.” The presenter of this spent almost his entire 30 minutes describing people who do not stay within gender norms, such as men who walk “femininely” at which point he would imitate that walk and the crowd (of about 500) would erupt in laughter. He also talked about women who wear men’s pants and shoes and who buy property and drive themselves around, making faces of disgust. And then there were those parents in Britain who actually celebrate their sons getting married to men, and then THAT bishop in America who wants to be married to a man. The entire time this man was talking about this the crowd was laughing and I was wondering what this had to do with sexual freedom. This is not freedom, this is confining people to things they cannot do because it is of the opposite gender. It made me cry at one point and made me want to run out of the room, the school, the country screaming. Sometimes I wish the world really was map-sized so that I could step out for a few minutes…or days. So I am feeling pretty exhausted and emotionally drained, after 8 hours of this. I can’t believe the collective immaturity of the people at a highly acclaimed academic institution. It makes me feel like I am 40 years back in time. Maybe this is my learning experience of things I was privileged enough to miss by being born in the late 80’s.
There was also a really interesting presentation of the results of the first ever MSM study done in Kenya. Unfortunately it was hard to follow because the crowd of people wouldn’t shut up and stop laughing at every word that was somewhat sexual or had to do with homosexuality. It was like being in a room full of 6-10 year olds. One interesting statistic from that was that 75% of MSM reported “always” using a condom. I found that amazing. Also, 57% had taken an HIV test, 23% in the last three months. I was very impressed with those numbers, especially after learning about significantly lower statistics among U.S. citizens, who have arguably more access to these things.
It is good that the school is having these forums for discussion. It's almost like they want to discuss it and know they should, but they individually and as a community are not ready to yet. It's the small steps that get you there though, I guess.
Thursday, March 22, 2007
ninapenda kuku
Yesterday I said my first sentence in Swahili. Ninapenda Kuku. I like chicken.
We had our first assessment/lesson. He assessed Jenna and Whitney and it was pretty clear I had never studied the language. I am really excited though. I am up to 24 words, according to a recent count.
Before Swahili we went to Java House and splurged. It is a restaurant known for its coffee and American-ish food. Whitney and I split a bagel with cream cheese and lox and a chicken quesidilla and Jenna had a veggie melt sandwich. We paid 80 shillings extra for sour cream, which turned out to be some think milky substance. EW. Little reminders that we were still not in the U.S. Whitney and I also had chai-frosties. To end it all we all split a big piece of chocolate cake. It was our three week anniversary : )
When I got home Chipa and I watched "divas live" which is celine dione, shania twain, aretha franklin, mariah carrey, and gloria estefon all singing together. Chipa's favorite singers are the Spice Girls and Madonna. He likes those divas!
I just had my first Anthro of Infectious Diseases class and it was really interesting, but the guys were annoying once again. I am calling that one guy (who seems to be in all my classes), dolphin boy. He is full of fun little irrelevant comments, and also controversial ones, like how Kenya should have just quarentined everyone with HIV/AIDS. Wow.
When I walked out of class there were some men with a lot of toilet seats and I got really excited, because toilet seats are no where to be found at this university (or most places in the city), as well as toilet paper. So maybe we will be getting seats soon, and then paper later? Just wishful thinking...
Tonight I am going to some poetry slam at school that on the poster said "empowering women". I am excited for that.
Well I tried to post this earlier but the internet conveniently stopped working when I did...
I had lunch and halfway through my fruit salad realized it had small chunks of watermelon in it. Just a teeny scratchy throat...nothing serious. Plus Whitney said she knew how to do a tracheotomy with a pen, so nothing to worry about.
I also went to drumming, and now am hanging out at Whitney's...well currently we are at the internet cafe across the street from her place.
I am trying to convince her to come to poetry with me...we will see.
We had our first assessment/lesson. He assessed Jenna and Whitney and it was pretty clear I had never studied the language. I am really excited though. I am up to 24 words, according to a recent count.
Before Swahili we went to Java House and splurged. It is a restaurant known for its coffee and American-ish food. Whitney and I split a bagel with cream cheese and lox and a chicken quesidilla and Jenna had a veggie melt sandwich. We paid 80 shillings extra for sour cream, which turned out to be some think milky substance. EW. Little reminders that we were still not in the U.S. Whitney and I also had chai-frosties. To end it all we all split a big piece of chocolate cake. It was our three week anniversary : )
When I got home Chipa and I watched "divas live" which is celine dione, shania twain, aretha franklin, mariah carrey, and gloria estefon all singing together. Chipa's favorite singers are the Spice Girls and Madonna. He likes those divas!
I just had my first Anthro of Infectious Diseases class and it was really interesting, but the guys were annoying once again. I am calling that one guy (who seems to be in all my classes), dolphin boy. He is full of fun little irrelevant comments, and also controversial ones, like how Kenya should have just quarentined everyone with HIV/AIDS. Wow.
When I walked out of class there were some men with a lot of toilet seats and I got really excited, because toilet seats are no where to be found at this university (or most places in the city), as well as toilet paper. So maybe we will be getting seats soon, and then paper later? Just wishful thinking...
Tonight I am going to some poetry slam at school that on the poster said "empowering women". I am excited for that.
Well I tried to post this earlier but the internet conveniently stopped working when I did...
I had lunch and halfway through my fruit salad realized it had small chunks of watermelon in it. Just a teeny scratchy throat...nothing serious. Plus Whitney said she knew how to do a tracheotomy with a pen, so nothing to worry about.
I also went to drumming, and now am hanging out at Whitney's...well currently we are at the internet cafe across the street from her place.
I am trying to convince her to come to poetry with me...we will see.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
camels, affirmative
I just wanted to say that I love reading all of your comments. Joy, you crack me up daily : )
So we are in fact going on the camel safari from April 13 to 20th. We will be riding camels through Samburu national park, or buffalo springs national park, not sure if they are different...and camping. Oh man. I'm a little nervous : )
WE had no class again yesterday so we found a bar and had beer with Olungah. That was fun and it was nice to be inside in a cool place, with good, cheap beer. (a pint is 100 shillings which is about a $1.50.
OH! before class we went to Massai Market, which happens every Tuesday and Sunday, but on Tuesdays it is near school. It is this huge market of mostly hand made crafts...a lot of beautiful beaded stuff. A fellow American warned us before we went not to wear anything (like a necklace) that they would want to trade us for because they would be relentless. I happened to be wearing my necklace from Senegal that Vicki gave me and the first person who came up to me was asking me what they could trade it for. I also got an offer for my headband (which is just a yellow bandana). I am going to bring some stuff with me next time that I actually want to trade. WE didn't get anything there because we were told we should get better at our Swahili so we can bargain better and not pay the muzungu prices, which are much higher, usually by a decimal place.
So I went home and had dinner. When Chippa sat down with this food, Monica said "CHippa, you have only taken two greens" I looked at his plate and he had a huge pile of rice and stew and only two tiny little green beans. Something about this was so hilarious and MOnica and I laughed for a while. Chippa seems annoyed by his mother a lot. HE didn't laugh.
Another thing-almost every day I wake up to some child who lives above my room running around in shoes made of plastic. THese people must not have carpeting and the floors are concrete...so it's like someone tap dancing in my room every morning...with no apparent rhythm. Pretty much everything that happens in the flats above and aruond mine, and outside sound like they are in my room.
I just had my first class! It was Psychological Antrho, but it was supposed to be Culture and COmmunication. Apparently they just switched it today, for fun? I don't know. It was interesting, but like being in 6th-8th grade again with all the boys (who are actually men) yelling out irrelevant comments to make other people laugh, such as when we were talking about whether you need language to think or to think to have language, and the guy behind me says "my pet dolphin talks". Cool. Thanks for your input : )
WEll that is my last 24 hours for you. I have drumming today at 1 and then a meeting about Swahili classes at 2. THen back to watch TV for hours : )
Until next time...
So we are in fact going on the camel safari from April 13 to 20th. We will be riding camels through Samburu national park, or buffalo springs national park, not sure if they are different...and camping. Oh man. I'm a little nervous : )
WE had no class again yesterday so we found a bar and had beer with Olungah. That was fun and it was nice to be inside in a cool place, with good, cheap beer. (a pint is 100 shillings which is about a $1.50.
OH! before class we went to Massai Market, which happens every Tuesday and Sunday, but on Tuesdays it is near school. It is this huge market of mostly hand made crafts...a lot of beautiful beaded stuff. A fellow American warned us before we went not to wear anything (like a necklace) that they would want to trade us for because they would be relentless. I happened to be wearing my necklace from Senegal that Vicki gave me and the first person who came up to me was asking me what they could trade it for. I also got an offer for my headband (which is just a yellow bandana). I am going to bring some stuff with me next time that I actually want to trade. WE didn't get anything there because we were told we should get better at our Swahili so we can bargain better and not pay the muzungu prices, which are much higher, usually by a decimal place.
So I went home and had dinner. When Chippa sat down with this food, Monica said "CHippa, you have only taken two greens" I looked at his plate and he had a huge pile of rice and stew and only two tiny little green beans. Something about this was so hilarious and MOnica and I laughed for a while. Chippa seems annoyed by his mother a lot. HE didn't laugh.
Another thing-almost every day I wake up to some child who lives above my room running around in shoes made of plastic. THese people must not have carpeting and the floors are concrete...so it's like someone tap dancing in my room every morning...with no apparent rhythm. Pretty much everything that happens in the flats above and aruond mine, and outside sound like they are in my room.
I just had my first class! It was Psychological Antrho, but it was supposed to be Culture and COmmunication. Apparently they just switched it today, for fun? I don't know. It was interesting, but like being in 6th-8th grade again with all the boys (who are actually men) yelling out irrelevant comments to make other people laugh, such as when we were talking about whether you need language to think or to think to have language, and the guy behind me says "my pet dolphin talks". Cool. Thanks for your input : )
WEll that is my last 24 hours for you. I have drumming today at 1 and then a meeting about Swahili classes at 2. THen back to watch TV for hours : )
Until next time...
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
night fright
I was just reading Joy's comment about music when she was abroad and sitting in this internet cafe where there are posters of Britney Spears and Bob Marley all over the walls and Elton John is playing. Tiiiimes they are a changin'. I just thought that was ironic : )
So last night there was an international student meeting at 4. Kenyans (and it turns out other Africans) love to talk...so this meeting went on and on because the board kept talking and then international students kept talking....and it was getting darker, and as soon as I decided to leave, the president of the school came up from the back and was talking, so when I finally left it was about 6. I rushed to the matatu stop, taking a short cut to cross over to the street I needed to be on. Then, my sense of MISdirection (that's what I'm calling it now) kicked in and I got lost. I have NO idea how. I was walking around and around and things were becoming less familiar as it got darker. FINALLY I got to the stop after asking 4 people how to get there. There was a huge crowd of people and when one bus finally came it was a mob scene. I don't know how i got on. Then there were no seats left and I squatted in the back to avoid being kicked off like the other non-sitters. So then of course, the matatu decides to take a different route (just to spice things up) down some crazy side roads I had never seen before...and it's dark. So I ask someone "is this Kariakor?" And he says yes. Then the guy next to him says no. I asked the guy who worked on the matatu and he wouldn't answer me. Then everyone behind me starts asking each other, like they were debating about where we were!! AAhhh. Finally some woman asked if I needed to go to the church, and I said yes! The one land mark I know! So she helped me and I made it home just as it turned pitch black. Oh. my. gosh. Kind of nerve wracking....
Otherwise things are good. I am getting a little sick of the food though. The words my mom said to me over and over growing up whenever I complained about food keep echoing in my head "most people around the world eat the same thing every day!". Every day for breakfast I eat two eggs. Then for dinner about three or four times a week we have dengu which is a greenish stew made from lentils. And rice. Or we have beef and cabbage, or beef and potatoes. That's about it. The beef is very hard to chew. But (mom) I am not complaining! Just mentioning : )
I have to go find Whitney and Jenna because we are trying to get this 7 day camel safari organized. That should be pretty crazy if we do it!
Love to you all
So last night there was an international student meeting at 4. Kenyans (and it turns out other Africans) love to talk...so this meeting went on and on because the board kept talking and then international students kept talking....and it was getting darker, and as soon as I decided to leave, the president of the school came up from the back and was talking, so when I finally left it was about 6. I rushed to the matatu stop, taking a short cut to cross over to the street I needed to be on. Then, my sense of MISdirection (that's what I'm calling it now) kicked in and I got lost. I have NO idea how. I was walking around and around and things were becoming less familiar as it got darker. FINALLY I got to the stop after asking 4 people how to get there. There was a huge crowd of people and when one bus finally came it was a mob scene. I don't know how i got on. Then there were no seats left and I squatted in the back to avoid being kicked off like the other non-sitters. So then of course, the matatu decides to take a different route (just to spice things up) down some crazy side roads I had never seen before...and it's dark. So I ask someone "is this Kariakor?" And he says yes. Then the guy next to him says no. I asked the guy who worked on the matatu and he wouldn't answer me. Then everyone behind me starts asking each other, like they were debating about where we were!! AAhhh. Finally some woman asked if I needed to go to the church, and I said yes! The one land mark I know! So she helped me and I made it home just as it turned pitch black. Oh. my. gosh. Kind of nerve wracking....
Otherwise things are good. I am getting a little sick of the food though. The words my mom said to me over and over growing up whenever I complained about food keep echoing in my head "most people around the world eat the same thing every day!". Every day for breakfast I eat two eggs. Then for dinner about three or four times a week we have dengu which is a greenish stew made from lentils. And rice. Or we have beef and cabbage, or beef and potatoes. That's about it. The beef is very hard to chew. But (mom) I am not complaining! Just mentioning : )
I have to go find Whitney and Jenna because we are trying to get this 7 day camel safari organized. That should be pretty crazy if we do it!
Love to you all
Monday, March 19, 2007
the weekend
So Friday night we met Wairimu and she to us to this fancy Italian restaurant behind a gate. The people that live and eat behind the gates in this country really know a different Kenya. It was perfect though after my day in the hot congested city. I even got to have fruit and ice cream. Then I wenthome and slept for 13 hours. My weekend was pretty low key. Saturday I washed some clothes, and read and watched TV. THe TV is almost always on, which wears me down sometimes, and my apt is so small, that thereis nowhere to be except in the TV room, unless I am in my room. But on Saturday night just as I was about to take my first bite of dinner, the power went out...which happens pretty often. The only other time it happened though, it was day time. THis time it was night and it was PITCH black. So we ate by lantern light and in silence. Then when we finished eating, Chippa said how boring it was with no electricity...meaning no TV. So I asked him ifhe knew any card games. Then we spent the night playing Kenyan poker (kind of like UNO) and "theif" kind oflike Old Maid, and a few other games.
On Sunday Chippa made French Toast and itwas SO good! I was just thinking about how I missed eating sweetthings, and voila! Hepresents me with some delicious French Toast. After lunch we took two matatus to go see a movie. We saw "The Last King of Scotland". As soon aswe sat down inthe theater, everyone stood up andI realized it was because the Kenyan national anthem was playing. I happened to get a coughing fit during the entire anthem, which was a little embarrassing. THe moviewas intense, and it was interesting to watch it and then leave and walk out into a country right next to Uganda. So many of the scenes in the movie looked exactly like Nairobi and Kariokor. A very interesting experience.
Today I had my drumming lesson andI have an international students meeting at 4pm. SO I am killing some time in between. I am still feeling homesick, which annoys me, and missing family and friends. I wonder when and if that will stop.
On Sunday Chippa made French Toast and itwas SO good! I was just thinking about how I missed eating sweetthings, and voila! Hepresents me with some delicious French Toast. After lunch we took two matatus to go see a movie. We saw "The Last King of Scotland". As soon aswe sat down inthe theater, everyone stood up andI realized it was because the Kenyan national anthem was playing. I happened to get a coughing fit during the entire anthem, which was a little embarrassing. THe moviewas intense, and it was interesting to watch it and then leave and walk out into a country right next to Uganda. So many of the scenes in the movie looked exactly like Nairobi and Kariokor. A very interesting experience.
Today I had my drumming lesson andI have an international students meeting at 4pm. SO I am killing some time in between. I am still feeling homesick, which annoys me, and missing family and friends. I wonder when and if that will stop.
Friday, March 16, 2007
SO hot
It is so incredibly hot here. Even the Kenyans are saying it's too hot. THey are even getting sun burned!! Unheard of! : )
I am getting 10x more sunburned than them though...I need to get an umbrella hat or something...then I will make lots of friends!
Last night I took the matatu home by myself which consisted of walking from the university to the matatu stop (almost a mile) through the city> (somtimes i get a ilttle sideways arrow instead of a period) Then I had to take the matatue and hope it didn't decide to change it's route in the middle of the ride, which it has done while I was on it before. Then I got off and walked another half mile through Kariokor to my house. Remember how I was saying that my neighborhood didn't look that good? My cousin (Whitney's sister) told Whitney it was a Ghetto of Nairobi. So that is where I live. I don't mind it though, it doesn't seem dangerous and Monica said it was safe for me to walk around. My house is nice inside, and I have my own room. So I am not complaining : )
Last night when we finished dinner, I took the plates and washed them. Monica said "asante" (thank you) for washing the plates and i said "Karibu", thank you for making dinner. At that point she looked surprised and kind of laughed like of course she made dinner, she has to be the one to make dinner. THen she said "asante", back to me. She seemed so surprised. It was interesting. I wanted to tell her that in my house whoever doesn't make dinner does the dishes, but I didn't. I will next time.
I had my first drumming lesson this mornig. It went well. He told me I have the music inside of me, that he can tell it comes naturally. He said smoetimes you teach students and it is just a headache. I can't tell if he is just being nice. We will see how it continues to go. He said drumming and music are things that cannot be planted. You can't plant the wind and you can't plant the river. THat's what music is like. It just flows.
Then we spent the next four hours walking aruond the city getting fabric and materials and giong to a taylor to have a bag made for my drum. I was hot and tired and not feeling well, so after a couple hours I left him there and I will pick up the bag on Monday if not some time this weekend.
I am in Olungah's office right now, as he graciously let me use his computer because the school computers (which there are about 20 for 20,000 students) are not working for internet. I am about to go meet Whitney and then we wil get a Citi Hoppa (bus) to meet Wairimu and chat with her at the Java House. I really don't want to go back out in that sun. It's exhausting.
I am getting 10x more sunburned than them though...I need to get an umbrella hat or something...then I will make lots of friends!
Last night I took the matatu home by myself which consisted of walking from the university to the matatu stop (almost a mile) through the city> (somtimes i get a ilttle sideways arrow instead of a period) Then I had to take the matatue and hope it didn't decide to change it's route in the middle of the ride, which it has done while I was on it before. Then I got off and walked another half mile through Kariokor to my house. Remember how I was saying that my neighborhood didn't look that good? My cousin (Whitney's sister) told Whitney it was a Ghetto of Nairobi. So that is where I live. I don't mind it though, it doesn't seem dangerous and Monica said it was safe for me to walk around. My house is nice inside, and I have my own room. So I am not complaining : )
Last night when we finished dinner, I took the plates and washed them. Monica said "asante" (thank you) for washing the plates and i said "Karibu", thank you for making dinner. At that point she looked surprised and kind of laughed like of course she made dinner, she has to be the one to make dinner. THen she said "asante", back to me. She seemed so surprised. It was interesting. I wanted to tell her that in my house whoever doesn't make dinner does the dishes, but I didn't. I will next time.
I had my first drumming lesson this mornig. It went well. He told me I have the music inside of me, that he can tell it comes naturally. He said smoetimes you teach students and it is just a headache. I can't tell if he is just being nice. We will see how it continues to go. He said drumming and music are things that cannot be planted. You can't plant the wind and you can't plant the river. THat's what music is like. It just flows.
Then we spent the next four hours walking aruond the city getting fabric and materials and giong to a taylor to have a bag made for my drum. I was hot and tired and not feeling well, so after a couple hours I left him there and I will pick up the bag on Monday if not some time this weekend.
I am in Olungah's office right now, as he graciously let me use his computer because the school computers (which there are about 20 for 20,000 students) are not working for internet. I am about to go meet Whitney and then we wil get a Citi Hoppa (bus) to meet Wairimu and chat with her at the Java House. I really don't want to go back out in that sun. It's exhausting.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
hooray!
Whitney and I just went over to the Kenya National Theatre which is right next to campus. We walked in to the theater and there were all these little preschoolers rehearsing for a little red riding hood/three little pigs play. It was adorable. So we sat and watched that for a while. Then I went and talked to a guy about taking djembe lessons. I got him to agree to give me 5 one hour lessons a week for only 1,000 shillings, which is about $12. I am also buying the drum and a case for 9,000. I am so excited!! I start tomorrow morning at 9:30am.
daily life
The language barrier here is a lot bigger than I expected from what i was told. Everyone speaks English, but they won't speak it unless talking directly to me. SO if I am in a room with 3 people they will all speak Swahili...leaving me to guess what they are saying. My first two days here I had a strong urge to speak Spanish all the time because that is the only language I can communicate in other than English. That was kind of weird.
On my way to school every day we drive past little booths on the side of the street with people trying to seel various things. THe most common is men's shoes, which usually sell for about 300 Ksh...about $4. There are also men pulling HUGE carts loaded with carrots or potatoes or other things, up a hill while three men push from behing. They literally inch along while their arms shake and their muscles look like they might pop out of their arms. I wonder how they have the strength to do this every day.
Today the car I was in almost hit a uniformed man with a very big gun. We slammed on the brakes and skidded a couple feet, but didn't hit him. We were about a block from the University. That would have been a good way to start the day : )
Class was cancelled again today. I went and the professor was there, and so was Whitney and one other guy. SO the professor called the class off. I was so excited too!! I guess I will have to wait til Tuesday. My class schedule is like this:
Tuesday 2-5 Psychological Anthro
Wednesday 9-12 Culture and Communication
Thursday 9-12 Anthro of INfectious DIseases
We are also fitting Kiswahili in there somewhere...to be determined.
SO hopefully I can go on some fun weekend trips. I think this weekend we are going to an animal refuge out in Karen (a suburb of the city, named after Karen Blixen). This is where the St. Lawrence compound is and where Jenna lives too. SO that should be fun.
TOday I am going to seek out some drumming lessons at the National Theatre. That is my project du jour.
Love to you all from Kenya
On my way to school every day we drive past little booths on the side of the street with people trying to seel various things. THe most common is men's shoes, which usually sell for about 300 Ksh...about $4. There are also men pulling HUGE carts loaded with carrots or potatoes or other things, up a hill while three men push from behing. They literally inch along while their arms shake and their muscles look like they might pop out of their arms. I wonder how they have the strength to do this every day.
Today the car I was in almost hit a uniformed man with a very big gun. We slammed on the brakes and skidded a couple feet, but didn't hit him. We were about a block from the University. That would have been a good way to start the day : )
Class was cancelled again today. I went and the professor was there, and so was Whitney and one other guy. SO the professor called the class off. I was so excited too!! I guess I will have to wait til Tuesday. My class schedule is like this:
Tuesday 2-5 Psychological Anthro
Wednesday 9-12 Culture and Communication
Thursday 9-12 Anthro of INfectious DIseases
We are also fitting Kiswahili in there somewhere...to be determined.
SO hopefully I can go on some fun weekend trips. I think this weekend we are going to an animal refuge out in Karen (a suburb of the city, named after Karen Blixen). This is where the St. Lawrence compound is and where Jenna lives too. SO that should be fun.
TOday I am going to seek out some drumming lessons at the National Theatre. That is my project du jour.
Love to you all from Kenya
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
daily life
first of all my address...drum roll....
PO Box 7453
code 00100 GPO Nairobi
That is what I was told. Hopefully it works.
My family's tribe is Luo. I was given a Luo name "Achin" which means born during the sunshine. I like it :) Whitney's name is "Acoth" which means born during the rain.
Last night on the news there was a story about these girls at a school in Mombasa who were posessed by evil spirits. They were all screaming and convulsing on the ground while priests and others tried to rid them of the spirits. They even slaughtered two goats to try and get those spirits away. My host mother was watching and she said "and they say there are no evil spirits, then what is THIS?". Interesting.
So my daily schedule pretty much goes like this;
7:45am wake up and shower-either with a bucket, or if the water works, the faucet.
Get dressed and go to the kitchen where there is scrambled eggs on the counter and chai.
Eat and watch the news or listen to the radio.
8:40ish get a ride to school with various men who drive taxis who are Monica's friends.
Go to class (theoretically)-there haven't actually been any yet
Hang out at or around school/the city
Take a matatu home around 5 (this is an adventure all in itself)
Walk home and de-filthify
Watch TV or write/read
Eat dinner around 8pm
TV with Monica and or Chippa
10/11 bed
I am hoping classes will start soon so my life will become a little more interesting and I will ave something to do. It's hard to make friends when I have to be home so early and I don't have classes, so I am feeling pretty lonely and missing the comforts of home and people I know. I'm sure once things pick up though, I will not be thinking about 7 hours behind so much.
I am pretty exahusted because I haven't been able to sleep at night. I went to bed early last night, but felt like I tossed and turned all night. My bed is really hard, which I will get used to, but the traffic and noise outside my window is so loud that it's hard to sleep. It seems like even at 3 and 4 am, the streets are as busy as ever. I also took some cold medicine this morning that made me really drowsy. I am not doing to well with the meds lately :)
Well I am going to go wander around I guess....maybe check out the library on campus. Olungah tells me all the books are very old, by which he meant not very useful. I will see what I can find.
PO Box 7453
code 00100 GPO Nairobi
That is what I was told. Hopefully it works.
My family's tribe is Luo. I was given a Luo name "Achin" which means born during the sunshine. I like it :) Whitney's name is "Acoth" which means born during the rain.
Last night on the news there was a story about these girls at a school in Mombasa who were posessed by evil spirits. They were all screaming and convulsing on the ground while priests and others tried to rid them of the spirits. They even slaughtered two goats to try and get those spirits away. My host mother was watching and she said "and they say there are no evil spirits, then what is THIS?". Interesting.
So my daily schedule pretty much goes like this;
7:45am wake up and shower-either with a bucket, or if the water works, the faucet.
Get dressed and go to the kitchen where there is scrambled eggs on the counter and chai.
Eat and watch the news or listen to the radio.
8:40ish get a ride to school with various men who drive taxis who are Monica's friends.
Go to class (theoretically)-there haven't actually been any yet
Hang out at or around school/the city
Take a matatu home around 5 (this is an adventure all in itself)
Walk home and de-filthify
Watch TV or write/read
Eat dinner around 8pm
TV with Monica and or Chippa
10/11 bed
I am hoping classes will start soon so my life will become a little more interesting and I will ave something to do. It's hard to make friends when I have to be home so early and I don't have classes, so I am feeling pretty lonely and missing the comforts of home and people I know. I'm sure once things pick up though, I will not be thinking about 7 hours behind so much.
I am pretty exahusted because I haven't been able to sleep at night. I went to bed early last night, but felt like I tossed and turned all night. My bed is really hard, which I will get used to, but the traffic and noise outside my window is so loud that it's hard to sleep. It seems like even at 3 and 4 am, the streets are as busy as ever. I also took some cold medicine this morning that made me really drowsy. I am not doing to well with the meds lately :)
Well I am going to go wander around I guess....maybe check out the library on campus. Olungah tells me all the books are very old, by which he meant not very useful. I will see what I can find.
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Detective work
I don't know my address yet...I keep forgetting to ask my host mother. I will try to remember to ask tonight....
So I got sick again last night (like my first night here)...and I think I discovered why. Both nights I took cough medicine a couple hours before I got sick. So I read the instructions that came with the bottle of cough syrup. The woman at the place I bought it told me to take two teaspoons, but she didn't give me a measuring cup. So I have just been taking sips from the bottle. After last night I realized it says to take 5mL each time...every couple hours. I looked at the bottle and realized that with my first sip and second sip combined, I took half the bottle. The bottle is 100mL, so that would mean I took about 25mL each time, meaning I had 5x the normal dose. Side effects were listed as gastrointestinal problems as well as confusion. Cool. So that's why my stomach has to spend an hour emptying itself of any speck of food I could have eaten in the past week, each time I overdose on this medicine. I am not going to take it anymore.
Anyway, I'm sure everyone wanted to hear about that. I don't think it was the fruit afterall : ) That's the good news.
My mother picked me up from school yesterday, I feel like I am in elementary school again. We took a matatu home and didn't get on one til the third try because we kept getting pushed off because they were too crowded. This city is CRAZY crowded and SO polluted. It's extremely hard to breathe because of all the exhaust. It's like sucking on the exhaust pipe of a car. Walking and driving is like every person for themselves. It's kind of nerve wracking, but I am getting used to it. (Cover your ears mom). : )
Anyway, I am at the YWCA where Whitney lives with her family. I am jealous of her big family and lots of sisters. It's kind of lonely at my house because it's usually just me and my mother. Chippa has been gone for a few days visiting cousins. I was alseep when he left on Sunday afternoon and I haven't seen him since. I hope he comes back soon.
Well that's pretty much all my news. Classes haven't started and most professors haven't even made course outlines or put out class lists. It's pretty lax here. Maybe by next week we will start.
So I got sick again last night (like my first night here)...and I think I discovered why. Both nights I took cough medicine a couple hours before I got sick. So I read the instructions that came with the bottle of cough syrup. The woman at the place I bought it told me to take two teaspoons, but she didn't give me a measuring cup. So I have just been taking sips from the bottle. After last night I realized it says to take 5mL each time...every couple hours. I looked at the bottle and realized that with my first sip and second sip combined, I took half the bottle. The bottle is 100mL, so that would mean I took about 25mL each time, meaning I had 5x the normal dose. Side effects were listed as gastrointestinal problems as well as confusion. Cool. So that's why my stomach has to spend an hour emptying itself of any speck of food I could have eaten in the past week, each time I overdose on this medicine. I am not going to take it anymore.
Anyway, I'm sure everyone wanted to hear about that. I don't think it was the fruit afterall : ) That's the good news.
My mother picked me up from school yesterday, I feel like I am in elementary school again. We took a matatu home and didn't get on one til the third try because we kept getting pushed off because they were too crowded. This city is CRAZY crowded and SO polluted. It's extremely hard to breathe because of all the exhaust. It's like sucking on the exhaust pipe of a car. Walking and driving is like every person for themselves. It's kind of nerve wracking, but I am getting used to it. (Cover your ears mom). : )
Anyway, I am at the YWCA where Whitney lives with her family. I am jealous of her big family and lots of sisters. It's kind of lonely at my house because it's usually just me and my mother. Chippa has been gone for a few days visiting cousins. I was alseep when he left on Sunday afternoon and I haven't seen him since. I hope he comes back soon.
Well that's pretty much all my news. Classes haven't started and most professors haven't even made course outlines or put out class lists. It's pretty lax here. Maybe by next week we will start.
Monday, March 12, 2007
church and family
Yesterday I went to church with my family for my nephew's baptism...or pre-baptism? I think it was called a dedication. I met my older sister (who's son it was). The baby's name is Mao and he's pretty funny. He's about a year old. My brother's name is Chippa and my mom's name is Monica. I live with both of them in a small apartment in Kariako. It looks like projects around Boston and New York that I have been to and seen in the U.S., but I think it is actually a pretty nice neighborhood. I live in a small apartment in a building. I have my own room and then Chippa and Monica each have a bed room. The toilet and shower are in seperate rooms and water doesn't always work, so sometimes we have to shower with just big buckets of water. Chippa and Monica are really nice and very hospitable. Monica is also a very good cook and I haven't had to eat ANY goat! I made a few neighborhood friends sitting outside of my building on the steps. Vincent, Victor, and Peter, and Peter's baby cousin who's name is Faith, but is nicknamed "small". She's really cute and really liked the elastic on my wrist and the light on my watch. I took a walk around my neighborhood and was overwhelmed by men calling out to me and people staring, so it was a short walk. I will get braver soon. I am trying to get some pictures up on the internet to show you all, but I don't know how well that is going to work.
Right now I am at the Univerity, we just registered for classes...but most departments have not put out course lists and professors haven't made their outlines for classes yet. I love it! So we probably won't have much class this week. So far my schedule is classes for three hours T/W/Th and then we have to fit in Swahili...but not too bad :)
I am going to try to post these pictures. Hope everyone is doing well.
Sarah
Right now I am at the Univerity, we just registered for classes...but most departments have not put out course lists and professors haven't made their outlines for classes yet. I love it! So we probably won't have much class this week. So far my schedule is classes for three hours T/W/Th and then we have to fit in Swahili...but not too bad :)
I am going to try to post these pictures. Hope everyone is doing well.
Sarah
Friday
Today (Friday March 9) I didn’t get to post so I am going to write this in word, save it, and hopefully post it sometime soon. Now that I just said March 9th, I realize that all day I have signed papers and talked with other people about how it was March 10th. I even said, “It’s my one month birthday!” Wow.
Anyway, today we met Olungah at 9am at his office for orientation. This man has the kindest face and smile. He is adorable, and so are his sons, which are enlarged in a picture hanging in his office (over the Bryn Mawr pennant flag). He was extremely helpful, he showed us all around campus and introduced us to a person every few steps who he made promise to help us and accommodate us if we had any trouble. We got our student ID cards. My skin is still extremely pale and there was a flash against a blue background, so I unfortunately look like Casper in the picture, but hopefully I won’t have to show it to too many people. We also looked at possible classes, but didn’t register officially yet, because although classes start Monday, most departments have not put out a list of the classes they are offering yet. Africa time baby : )
Then we went and met Lilian Owiti who is in charge of our home stays. She told us about our families. Mine is a single mother with a son who is older than me. The other two (Whitney and Jenna) got large families with lots of kids, which is what I requested, but oh well. I will have to save the bubbles and chocolate I brought for the little brothers and sisters I hoped for, for someone else. Whitney’s mother and my mother are sisters though, which makes Whitney and I cousins. So maybe we will do big family things together. I hope so.
We hung out in Olungah’s office for a while after that, talking to a few students who go to the University. One woman who was in her second year was extremely helpful and friendly. She is from Mombassa. I want to go there. We left the university around 2:30 pm, after eating lunch in the cafeteria. I was actually the only one who ate out of the three of us. I had some chicken with feathers still on it : ) And rice. And a coke. All for 200 shillings, which is a little less than $3.
We then went back to our guest house, rested for about an hour, in which I used up all my phone minutes calling people in the U.S. (which only took about 10 minutes)…but it was worth it : ) We then took a cab to Wairimu’s house which is on the compound where all the St. Lawrence kids are staying. They just got back from their home stays tonight and made pizza and had drinks and were playing all sorts of crazy games, including life-sized jenga, which we stayed for. They are a really cool group of people and I had some great conversations. ALSO…they have some weird inside joke/tradition at their school having to do with mustaches, so everyone that night had a mustache. The guys had to shave their beards off and just keep a mustache and the girls had to draw one on with eyeliner. IT was fun but I'm glad we were visitors and not there every day. I have pictures of this, which I will hopefully post sometime soon, as soon as I can figure out how to do that.
So we just got back from that exciting adventure. I am still a little tipsy and need to go to sleep because we are meeting our home stay families at 9:30am!!
Anyway, today we met Olungah at 9am at his office for orientation. This man has the kindest face and smile. He is adorable, and so are his sons, which are enlarged in a picture hanging in his office (over the Bryn Mawr pennant flag). He was extremely helpful, he showed us all around campus and introduced us to a person every few steps who he made promise to help us and accommodate us if we had any trouble. We got our student ID cards. My skin is still extremely pale and there was a flash against a blue background, so I unfortunately look like Casper in the picture, but hopefully I won’t have to show it to too many people. We also looked at possible classes, but didn’t register officially yet, because although classes start Monday, most departments have not put out a list of the classes they are offering yet. Africa time baby : )
Then we went and met Lilian Owiti who is in charge of our home stays. She told us about our families. Mine is a single mother with a son who is older than me. The other two (Whitney and Jenna) got large families with lots of kids, which is what I requested, but oh well. I will have to save the bubbles and chocolate I brought for the little brothers and sisters I hoped for, for someone else. Whitney’s mother and my mother are sisters though, which makes Whitney and I cousins. So maybe we will do big family things together. I hope so.
We hung out in Olungah’s office for a while after that, talking to a few students who go to the University. One woman who was in her second year was extremely helpful and friendly. She is from Mombassa. I want to go there. We left the university around 2:30 pm, after eating lunch in the cafeteria. I was actually the only one who ate out of the three of us. I had some chicken with feathers still on it : ) And rice. And a coke. All for 200 shillings, which is a little less than $3.
We then went back to our guest house, rested for about an hour, in which I used up all my phone minutes calling people in the U.S. (which only took about 10 minutes)…but it was worth it : ) We then took a cab to Wairimu’s house which is on the compound where all the St. Lawrence kids are staying. They just got back from their home stays tonight and made pizza and had drinks and were playing all sorts of crazy games, including life-sized jenga, which we stayed for. They are a really cool group of people and I had some great conversations. ALSO…they have some weird inside joke/tradition at their school having to do with mustaches, so everyone that night had a mustache. The guys had to shave their beards off and just keep a mustache and the girls had to draw one on with eyeliner. IT was fun but I'm glad we were visitors and not there every day. I have pictures of this, which I will hopefully post sometime soon, as soon as I can figure out how to do that.
So we just got back from that exciting adventure. I am still a little tipsy and need to go to sleep because we are meeting our home stay families at 9:30am!!
Thursday, March 8, 2007
"hands off"
So last night when I met the two girls from the other program they were laughing about how Wairimu is "hands off". Today we realized what that meant. WE met her at a coffee place this morning to talk and look at a map. Then she showed us where the "city hoppa" bus stop was and said that was how we could get back to our guest house. From there, she showed us, we could walk down to the city. So we spent almost an hour at the bus stop trying to get on a bus, but they were almost all full and couldn't take all three of us. One bus guy said "no room for the mzungus" Mzungu=white person. We walked a little up the street hoping that an earlier stop would give us a better chance of all getting on. At that stop we met a guy who talked to us and he said "oh man it is SO hot, it is like Arizona!" And we were like "Arizona!!....we know that place!" So I started talknig to him, his name is Jeremy and he grew up in the city and then went to grad school for his masters in networking at University of Colorado Denver. He had been there for three years and had gotten back three weeks ago. He was really nice. He helped us with the bus, and talked to us a lot. It was nice beause it didn't feel like he wanted something from us, just to talk about the States and about Kenya. He also gave me his email and phone number (didn't ask for mine) and said if we ever needed help to call him or email. He said he got lost in New York City once and he wouldn't have made it without the help of people he met there. IT was really nice.
So we got back to the guest house, ate lunch, and rested for about an hour. Then we ventured into the city. it was a bout a 20 minute walk, but very hot, and there are definitely no emission regulations for cars...it is SO hard to breathe. There are just clouds of exhaust in the air. SO we found our way to the University and walked around there for a bit. It's very pretty (on the outside). There is a really cool fountain of giraffes and it's HUGE and water is pouring down and we (maybe jut me) really wanted to go into it, but we were already getting stares as it was. We found out we are going to be the only U.S. students at the University this semester.
After that we walked and found where the St. Lawrence kids have class and we sat and takled to them for a while. They were all really nice, and it was fun to talk to people who were visiting here from the U.S. who had already been here for a while.
Then we walked to this internet cafe that is MUCH cheaper than the one back at the guest house that I have been using. It's about half the price, and the pages load a lot faster (which is notvery fast at all). Anyway, we have to head back in a minute before it gets dark. I think it's going to be an early night for me. I can't believe it's only 10am there. This time this is crazy.
Love to you all from Nairobi, where the weather and people are overly warm : ) in a good way.
Sarah
So we got back to the guest house, ate lunch, and rested for about an hour. Then we ventured into the city. it was a bout a 20 minute walk, but very hot, and there are definitely no emission regulations for cars...it is SO hard to breathe. There are just clouds of exhaust in the air. SO we found our way to the University and walked around there for a bit. It's very pretty (on the outside). There is a really cool fountain of giraffes and it's HUGE and water is pouring down and we (maybe jut me) really wanted to go into it, but we were already getting stares as it was. We found out we are going to be the only U.S. students at the University this semester.
After that we walked and found where the St. Lawrence kids have class and we sat and takled to them for a while. They were all really nice, and it was fun to talk to people who were visiting here from the U.S. who had already been here for a while.
Then we walked to this internet cafe that is MUCH cheaper than the one back at the guest house that I have been using. It's about half the price, and the pages load a lot faster (which is notvery fast at all). Anyway, we have to head back in a minute before it gets dark. I think it's going to be an early night for me. I can't believe it's only 10am there. This time this is crazy.
Love to you all from Nairobi, where the weather and people are overly warm : ) in a good way.
Sarah
Day One
So yesterday was probably one of the longest days of my life. By the time Whitney and Jenna got here last night I felt like I had been here for atleast 3 days. I woke up around 11 because Wairimu had said she would come around 12 to get me and we would go into the city. She ended up not coming until 3:30. I am learning about what she calls African time really quickly : ) She picked me up and we drove through a bunch of road blocks to the "yaya" which is like a vertical mall. At the mall I exchanged money, withdrew money from the ATM and bought a cell phone and some cough syrup. When I got my reciept from the ATM it told me my account balance in shillings. I never thought I'd see a receipt with six figures. It made me feel pretty good.
We then went to pick up Wairimu's co-worker, who she was supposed to have worked with at this inpatient psychiatric center, but she totally missed the appointment because we were shopping. We drove her friend home and then went to her house to pick up her son. At her house I met the tiniest little boy. Wairimu was talking to him in Swahili and he was being really shy and eyeing me and not talknig at all. She told him in Swahili to come over and say hi to me and he slowly walked over and looked way up at me (he came up to my mid-thigh) with these big slightly fearful eyes, and then stuck his little hand out to shake mine. My heart pretty much melted. He was adorable. He followed us around a little more until Wairimu gave him some oreos and sent him back to his house. I saw so many cute kids yesterday. I wish I coudl download all the images in my head and share them with you all.
So then we picked up Wairimu's son, Ndirangu, who is 11. He is pretty funny and likes to do the moonwalk and robot dance whenever he gets the chance. He had to go to the hospital to get a yellow fever vaccination for his class trip to Egypt. When we got to the hospital and were waiting in line and this little kid just started throwing up all over the floor. Anyone who knows me knows how well I enjoy hearing, seeing, or smelling throw up. It was lovely. I thought to myself that I should buck up though, so I sat there and listened and watched and though, this isn't so bad. It kind of was though.
After the vaccination, we went to a family's house right outside the city and had dinner there. There were two exchange students there, one from St Lawrence and one from Wash U, St. Louis. They were cool to talk to, and the food and other company were good. IT is amazing how welcoming everyone is here. So many hugs and kisses from peopel I have never met before who welcome me into their home AND feed me! It's really nice. WHen I got back Jenna was here and Whitney came shortly after. WE share travel stories and went to bed.
Now I am off to get a cab and meet WAirimu in the city for some orientation stuff. I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you and I wish you all could see this place. (Njuhi...I can't wait til you get here!!!)
Love
Sarah
We then went to pick up Wairimu's co-worker, who she was supposed to have worked with at this inpatient psychiatric center, but she totally missed the appointment because we were shopping. We drove her friend home and then went to her house to pick up her son. At her house I met the tiniest little boy. Wairimu was talking to him in Swahili and he was being really shy and eyeing me and not talknig at all. She told him in Swahili to come over and say hi to me and he slowly walked over and looked way up at me (he came up to my mid-thigh) with these big slightly fearful eyes, and then stuck his little hand out to shake mine. My heart pretty much melted. He was adorable. He followed us around a little more until Wairimu gave him some oreos and sent him back to his house. I saw so many cute kids yesterday. I wish I coudl download all the images in my head and share them with you all.
So then we picked up Wairimu's son, Ndirangu, who is 11. He is pretty funny and likes to do the moonwalk and robot dance whenever he gets the chance. He had to go to the hospital to get a yellow fever vaccination for his class trip to Egypt. When we got to the hospital and were waiting in line and this little kid just started throwing up all over the floor. Anyone who knows me knows how well I enjoy hearing, seeing, or smelling throw up. It was lovely. I thought to myself that I should buck up though, so I sat there and listened and watched and though, this isn't so bad. It kind of was though.
After the vaccination, we went to a family's house right outside the city and had dinner there. There were two exchange students there, one from St Lawrence and one from Wash U, St. Louis. They were cool to talk to, and the food and other company were good. IT is amazing how welcoming everyone is here. So many hugs and kisses from peopel I have never met before who welcome me into their home AND feed me! It's really nice. WHen I got back Jenna was here and Whitney came shortly after. WE share travel stories and went to bed.
Now I am off to get a cab and meet WAirimu in the city for some orientation stuff. I hope everyone is doing well. I miss you and I wish you all could see this place. (Njuhi...I can't wait til you get here!!!)
Love
Sarah
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Jambo!
So my flight got into Nairobi at 3:30am local time. I was confused when we were landing because I thought Nairobi was the biggest city in East Africa, but I could not see a single light out the plane window. I thought maybe the pilot was making a mistake...but he wasn't. I don't know if there weren't many lights on, or if the airport is isolated or what. I made it through customs quickly because no one was in the airport except the 30 or so people on my flight. I got both of my bags (miraculous!) and was greeted with a hug and a kiss on each cheek by Benson, my cab driver, who was so warm and instantly eased the anxiety of just arriving. On the way out of the airport we passed the Simba restuarant : ) I then rode in my first driver on the right car, which was interesting. When we got to the guest house, they had no reservation for me. They said I wasn't supposed to be here until 11am this morning (it was about 4:30 at the time). So we had this long confusing discussion and finally I got a room. I then tried my calling card to call home to say I got here and found that that didn't work because it is a call-back number, and you can only do that from certain phones...not hotel phones or pay phones. I finally got a text message to my mother saying I was okay, and then waited until 6am when the woman at the front desk said the internet would work. But at 7:30, it still didn't so I decided to sleep for a few hours, which I just woke up from and am now in the "Cyber Cafe" or something like that. Anyway, the weather is absolutely beautiful, I wish I had someone to share it with. Hopefully Warimu, one of the program coordinators will be here soon to meet me. She sounded very nice on the phone this morning at 4am, which says something : )
I have learned this morning that you can't count on having internet or phone access, so until the next available time I am thinking of home and the people I love.
Sarah
I have learned this morning that you can't count on having internet or phone access, so until the next available time I am thinking of home and the people I love.
Sarah
Tuesday, March 6, 2007
Egypt
Hello from Cairo!
I made it here after quite the interesting flight in which a bunch of men were passing around a bottle of whiskey and a copy of penthouse magazine. The drunkest one was wearing his air-sickness bag as a bonnet and kept trying to stand up when we were landing, only to have the flight attendants rush forward and push him back down. Ah...so much for that nap. I am about to go back to the place where they told me to be at 8:30...but I thought I would write real quick since there's free wireless, and who knows when I will see that again : )
Hope everybody is doing well.
I made it here after quite the interesting flight in which a bunch of men were passing around a bottle of whiskey and a copy of penthouse magazine. The drunkest one was wearing his air-sickness bag as a bonnet and kept trying to stand up when we were landing, only to have the flight attendants rush forward and push him back down. Ah...so much for that nap. I am about to go back to the place where they told me to be at 8:30...but I thought I would write real quick since there's free wireless, and who knows when I will see that again : )
Hope everybody is doing well.
Guten...something from Germany!
I am waiting at the gate and bought 15 minutes of internet for 2 euros so I thought I should post something while I am here. The flight here was a lot better than I expected. I got dinner and breakfast all within about 3 hours. So I am pretty full of tiny little food. We will see how the next three flights go. I hope they follow suit.
Until the next internet access (who knows when)
Sarah
I am waiting at the gate and bought 15 minutes of internet for 2 euros so I thought I should post something while I am here. The flight here was a lot better than I expected. I got dinner and breakfast all within about 3 hours. So I am pretty full of tiny little food. We will see how the next three flights go. I hope they follow suit.
Until the next internet access (who knows when)
Sarah
Monday, March 5, 2007
here I go...
My mom just handed my my horoscope from the Boston Globe and it says:
"You have a huge amount of ground to cover so hop to it."
I don't think those words have ever been more true.
The rest of it said:
"A chance to improve a personal relationship you are in looks promising. Speak from the heart about your intentions and goals."
What words of wisdom to part on.
My next post will be from Nairobi : )
"You have a huge amount of ground to cover so hop to it."
I don't think those words have ever been more true.
The rest of it said:
"A chance to improve a personal relationship you are in looks promising. Speak from the heart about your intentions and goals."
What words of wisdom to part on.
My next post will be from Nairobi : )
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