Kenya Dig It?

OK so to start this off- I love it here. The people, the place, the program, I am beyond happy to be here. And this is going to be an extremely long post.

I'm going to back track and start off with Friday, since I was super busy the past two days and exhausted by the time I got back to my apartment.

FRIDAY:
My first day out in Nairobi. Of course Thursday night I couldn't fall asleep since I got in around midnight, and slept both of my plane rides, then unpacked a little, and of course from the excitement couldn't sleep, so I woke up Friday morning at 8 only sleeping about 3 hours (not what you want to do here). We all got up met for a quick breakfast and I met our program leader, Lynsey, who is great. She has been living in Kenya on and off since 2002 (more permanently since 2007, working on her dissertation). I met the other group members and we all got in taxi's, I got into Lynsey's car and we drove to USIU.

Ok let me tell you driving here is a scary thing. First because of Kenya's colonization by the British everyone drives on the left side of the road (kind of). There aren't really any rules, and definitely no stop signs or lights (except in center city) it's kind of a free for all, be aggressive or get no where. There are also people walking along side of all the roads and just crossing highways wherever (including myself- I have to get used to looking the opposite way when crossing, and booking it to get across or you will be run over). And since it's a developing country most of the roads are dirt or under major construction. Please excuse my language but the only thing I can think of to explain the roadways and highways is that they are an enormous clusterfuck of activity.

Once we arrived at USIU (the university we are all enrolled in, which isn't the most accurate portrayal of Kenya because it's such an expensive school and mostly wealthy international students studying business or IR) we had a quick tour, got our schedules and got our ID photos taken. I'm taking Visual Arts of the World and International Organizations.

After that we split up into groups, I was with one of the orientation assistants (also a senior at USIU) Amin, and two other AU students. We walked down the road (we do A LOT of walking here) and I got to cross my first highway. That was interesting. Ok so to explain how most people get around in Kenya, including myself. Cars here are expensive, like twice the price they would be in the US so it's mostly Matatus, Buses, and Taxis. Again, all of these are kind of a free for all. The Matatus are the cheapest, they're about the size of a 15 passenger van but they squish in seats to fit anywhere from 14+ people (not including the driver and money collector). There are "official" stations where they pick people up, but really they stop on the side of the road wherever people are, which really messes up traffic (there are no lines on the roads making lanes remember). One guy hangs out of the side of the van and says a price to the destination (I also have to learn all the numbers of the Matatus and what part of Nairobi they go to). Riding one is a whole different story, you are squished with no leg room (luckily I'm smaller) and you have to be completely aware of your surroundings ,aka your bag and pockets, because one of the most likely places to get robbed are on these because everyone is so tightly packed together, and it's usually fairly hectic getting on and off. But oh man are they cheap, it's about 20-30 ksh (the exchange rate is 93 shillings to the US dollar) so basically like 30 cents to get into the town center.

However, it was lunch time when we went into town so not many Matatus were running, and everyone was going to lunch so they were crowded, so we took a bus into town (which are slightly more expensive, and about the same as Matatus but bigger) that ran us about 50 ksh. This was a mjor highlight of my day. This one little girl and her mother got on the bus in front of us and (of course) i started making silly faces at her, before I got off I gave her one of my silly bands, and in return she gave me her hair clip as her mother told me that "she wanted you to have something to remember her by" I almost melted on the spot. Also just a reminder kids, especially smaller children are NOT used to seeing white people or wazungas in Kiswalhili which literally means white people. You do stick out being white, it's kind of how it is everywhere. And kids are fascinated and immediately grab at you or stare. When we went into town Amin gave a quick tour of they city (and yes we were expected to remember it) and we went to lunch, I tried goat (probably one of the more popular meats here) and it was tasty, but had lots of bones. Also I will definitely be eating a ton of rice and this meat stu sort of thing (I can't remember the Kiswalhili name of it). At lunch was the first time I had a little kid just grab at my leg and just look confused at me. I've gotten a lot more of that since then.

Now mom I know you want to see a million pictures, but it's really hard for me to take them because it really isn't smart to show that you have any sort of valuables on you at any time. I'm already an easy target for being a small white girl, and until I get to know and understand they city better I definitely won't be drawing more attention to myself with a camera. But I do have pictures from yesterday and last night I will eventually post, I promise!

Also town (or city center) in Nairobi is crazy. Absolutely nuts. The traffic is 10x worse than the roads I had traveled on, and the people- there are SO MANY PEOPLE everywhere. My one friend Steven (who spend the summer in Thailand said he thinks the inner-city infrastructure may actually be more hectic than in Bangkok., just to give you an idea. The street are not only for cars, taxis, matatus, etc but carts, and people pulling carts, and people. ONe safety thing we were told is not to walk on the sidewalk between parked cars and a wall (unless there are shops to go into). Because that makes you an easy target for robbery. So apparently it's safer to walk in the street between the moving traffic and the parked cars (I would say it's debatable, but I won't argue) you have about a foot of room to walk, and you have to pay attention if you don't want to get a foot run over. But it's fun, it's so busy and well I love it.

After seeing the city and eating (I now was in a huge food coma, and absolutely exhausted- we had been walking around since 9am and I still hadn't really slept, and well they city is overwhelming, but in the best way) we went to the grocery store and got a few things for the group dinner we were going to cook, and by we I mean some of us, the rest (including myself) helped cut veggies/ fruit and clean up. We also got some beers, Tusker is the more famous local beer, and it's delicious, and only $1. Also dad you'll appreciate this, Johnny Walker ( 1liter) of red label was about 18$, and black label only about 25$. EVERYTHING is so inexpensive.

We got back from grocery shopping and I looked at my feet, note to self- keep to shoes not sandals. Everything is dirt around here basically, and where there is grass it's usually illegal to walk on it. So we are walking on the side of dirt roads with cars kicking up dust everywhere, and trash all over, like everywhere. No bare-feet here, there is way too much broken glass or wires, or just in general crazy sanitation problems in the streets. But it definitely adds to the experience. This sounds ridiculous that I"m excited about trash on the roads, but I really do love everything about this place (so far). This is why I came here. The most frustrating thing so far is trying to figure out this Nokia phone. Biggie and Colin I know you two could help me out on this one.

OH also! I found out that Steven (the only boy out of 15 people) on the trip actually lived across the hall from me all of last year in spring valley, small small world.

We headed back to our apartments and all good a DELICIOUS dinner with everybody under the direction of Barrel and Sabina (also orientation assistants, and by now friends). We all pushed Amin into helping, but gender roles are slightly different here, let me tell you. Steven of course being an AU student knew he would have to help out or probably get yelled at by the ladies of the trip. He has learned well. I'm kidding of course (but really only partially). After dinner and a few beers we all started to watch The Constant Gardner (for our Politics and Culture Class that we start this week with Lynsey in the AU Abroad Center) but I fell asleep about 20 minutes into it and slept through the night until 7am yesterday when I had to wake up.

OK i finally finished Friday, on to.... drum roll please...

SATURDAY:
After an awesome night's sleep I got up and showered (you have to turn the hot water on before you shower here, so we don't waste a lot of money on utilities). Also our last roommate Quinn moved in! I felt so awful for the 3 girls who got it at like 1am, and 5am and had to get up at 7am. But I also felt their pain the day before.

For the first time we all walked to the AU center- where we have Kiswalhili (also Kiswalhili is the language, and Swahili are the people which are from both Arabic and Bantu descent). Now we have to do this walk 3-4 days a week at 7:30am it's about a 25-30 minute walk and be there by 8am for class. I am going to be in such great shape by the end of this semester. I also figured out I absolutely can't wear sandals (no matter how hot it is) because of all the construction we go over a tiny foot bridge and it's pretty dirty (which I don't mind) but some of it is uphill, which is rough without real shoes. We got a tour of the classroom and the AU site itself then Lynsey gave of 3 talks, externships (we went over individual options for our internships out in Nairobi), health (what to watch out for), and Victor the AU program assistant and our "everything" guy gave us the safety talk. We also had breakfast made by the "group mom" who stays at the center most of the time, which was yummy. The fruit here is so good, like really really good.

We broke off into groups and I had my first Matatu ride and Victor was our leader this time and went over the Matatu/ Bus stops with us again (except this time we expected to now just know it- my memory will also be getting much sharper, you're told something once and well you have to know it). Also Instant Coffee and I are becoming closer friends.

We also did a few touristy things in Nairobi which was pretty cool. We went to the old US Embassy, where the bombing in 1998 (i think) took place and toured there. That was a little rough for me, I left early and waited outside. The 10 year anniversary of September 11th is coming up quickly, and I'm far from home. I think that's probably the hardest part, and when we were at the memorial is when I realized that. Thankfully Belle (who I was friends with prior to coming to Kenya) understood immediately and just sat outside with me while I caught my breath. I definitely am going to call the US Embassy on Monday though, not only to register with them, but to see if they are doing anything for the anniversary, or if there is something else in Nairobi that I could go to for the day.

After we left there we walked down Harambee Avenue, which meaning pulling together (i think) where most of the ministries were, and we went to the roof of this hotel/ building that I can't remember the name of (about 32 stories up- which is one of the tallest in Nairobi) and got to see an aerial view of Nairobi right from the city center, which was awesome. I will have pictures of that to post mom, don't worry.

During this touristy morning I learned a lot about Kenya and the corruption and older politics, and not by being told but by experiencing it, which was incredible. For example: we got out of the Matatu that we took from AU into town and Victor asked why it cost us 30 in stead of 20 ksh because it was a Saturday, the man replied there aren't a lot of Matatus running because of the major police presence on the roads that day (there were heavily armed military men all along and on the roads) so they could charge more and use the extra money to bribe them. Good thing we contributed to corruption. Again this is why I came here, to have experiences like that, and hopefully, eventually try and do something about it.

We had lunch again, and then got to go to the Masai Market. We were given 100 ksh (about a 1$) and had to see who could get the best thing for that amount. I ended up bargaining with silly bandz! Kenyans here love them, and therefore love me for having them (which is way better than everyone back home making fun of me- rude).

We were taught how to keep a "bitch face" to try and make people think we knew where we were, or where we were going, but I couldn't keep a smile off of my face, and well people took really well to it. No one believed that I had only been in Kenya for less than 48 hours, which is a huge compliment here! After the market we met everybody for a group dinner and had a typical Swahili dinner at a local restaurant about a 10 minute walk from our apartments. We made it back just in time before in down poured. It is the "rainy" season here, or spring, but it's not like DC or NJ spring. It's probably in the high 70s low 80s in the sun during the day, and cools off at night to the low 60s. But remember we are only 1 degree away from the equator, so the sun is hot, hot, hot. I wear sunblock out everyday, something you cannot find here, thankfully I brought a ton with me.

After we all rested for a little we decided to all go out (except those who hadn't really slept obviously). There is one girl in our group who was here last fall, and has a boyfriend, so they know their way around pretty well and a large group of us went out with them to a club last night. It was such a great time. Our group really got to know each other, had a few beers, and danced! We danced so much and I loved every second of it!

Now mom and dad- don't be too worried we were all safe only took taxis to get to and from the club (and got the taxi drivers number because he works nights, and wasn't too expensive, about 400 ksh, when split it only 100 ksh each), and stayed in a large group, if anyone went anywhere we had a buddy system. But the club scene itself is different, for one there are prostitutes everywhere. Which was unsettling at first, but by the end of the night you didn't even notice. And (almost) everyone else at the club is respectful of you (being a girl, well a white girl) but I learned quickly as long as your vocal if someone is bothering you they back off immediately, but it honestly didn't really happen nothing that wouldn't happen in general on the streets of Nairobi during the day, plus we each had 9 people looking out for each other. We were all exhausted by the time midnight rolled around and called taxis to take us home. Then we all spent the next few hours talking which was great. I had an awesome time learning about everyone last night, and can't wait to know more as time goes on.

Also a few fun facts about life here: you have to turn on each outlet before you use it, of course we have to boil all of our water before drinking, I will indefinitely be very sick soon from the food and/or water, the local beer Tusker is delicious, I have a balcony at my apartment, and it's fantastic. Also just a reminder that I'm 7 hours ahead of EST. So it's about 6:40am your time, about 1:40pm my time.

Ok I have to wrap this up everyone's waiting on me to go grocery shopping. Today is out day off before classes start first thing in the AM tomorrow. Time to navigate our way around Westlands (our neighborhood) because we have to go pick up a few things in town, then when I get back I plan on cooking food and putting on a disney movie and getting lots of sleep. Maybe skyping?

Also sorry if there are any horrible typos or bad grammar, there was a lot of information I was putting down, and I have NO time to reread it.

love and miss everybody, I will post pictures on facebook probably later today.

...don't forget to smile today!

Ok so I want to make this short, but I know it's not going to be. I need to sleep because it's after midnight and I have to be awake by 8am tomorrow- woohoo!

So I've had horrible luck with traveling this summer, and of course it continued for this trip. My trip to Morocco was canceled because of the bombings and unrest in the area, then my Visa for Ghana came too late, then of course Hurricane Irene canceled my original flight to Kenya. But oh no that wasn't all, when my parents and Nancy took me to the airport I had to rebook my ticket because the card we used to pay for my flight was lost and we couldn't confirm. The flight to Amsterdam wasn't too bad, I honestly just slept the whole way.

Once in Amsterdam I had a few hours and had a coffee at the airport and continued to read this book, Bitch: In Praise of Difficult Women which I can't take my nose out of, it's incredibly clever and the author, Elizabeth Wurtzel and I have very similar views when it comes to feminism, and the whole female empowerment saga- which of course I will have a whole new out look on after this trip.

I finally got on the plane, and of course something on the plane was not working and had to be replaced- while we sat on the runway for an extra 2 hours (lucky me). I ended up sitting between a Kenyan who had moved to the UK and started his own business and an older German man who teaches German at a private school in Kenya. Both were entertaining to talk with and informative. Again I slept a majority of this flight and read a little.

Once I arrived in Kenya (mom you'll be proud of this) a Spanish woman came up to me and asked if I spoke Spanish- of course I don't, but I took it for a few years (way back in elementary/ middle school) and both of my sisters take it so I knew enough to explain to her what everything was asking on the Entry Visa form, and talked with her a little bit about why I'm in Kenya- in horribly broken Spanish and some expert charades.

Our Program assistant, Victor, was waiting for me at the airport with another student who had flown in a few hours before me- her flight also had to be rescheduled thanks to good old Irene.

We then drove to my new home, and I finally got to see my apartment, and meet my roommates. Only 2 were here, and the 3rd is coming in in about 5 hours.

Now I have to try and figure out my cell phone, and fill out some paper work, and of course, unpack!

Hopefully I'll be able to get some sleep tonight, before our big day tomorrow, we are heading to USIU and into Nairobi for orientation.

don't forget to smile today!

Kenya Dig It?

Sunday, 4 September 2011

post number 2 of the day

Weekend Adventures

Friday, 2 September 2011

beyond exhausted.

Thursday, 1 September 2011

there's no place like home, except maybe a new home.

Wednesday, 31 August 2011

Finally Leaving.

Sunday, 28 August 2011

So I'm still in New Jersey.

Thursday, 11 August 2011

Pre-departure