So I know I said I was going to attempt a blog post every other day until Mombasa, but I've failed so far. So I'm going to try again this week, even though I have just as much work to get through. I just want everyone to read/see everything I've been doing, so maybe I get less amounts of overwhelming questions, like (but not limited to) "how was Kenya?" "How was Africa?" "Did you have fun?" "What did you do?". I'd like more targeted questions like "TELL ME ABOUT THE NILE!" or "I want to hear stories about your rural homestay week where they don't have water or electricity!" or "what are matatu's?" haha. A girl can dream, I guess. But I'm going to try to keep them fairly broad so that I can cover a lot of the basics that I haven't really shared yet. Feel free to leave questions or comments so I have ideas as to what you guys might even be interested in knowing. I think I'm going to start with just Nairobi as a city tonight or tomorrow, so get ready for that one!
xo
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Memory 4 Life
I cooked for Thanksgiving and it actually turned out to be absolutely wonderful and delicious. Even got to skype the family after their dinner, which was fantastic cause I sure miss them :).
However, we passed out early in order to make it to our 9:30AM bus in town to go to Uganda for the weekend! Oh, 14 hour bus rides. WHAT JOY YOU ARE. It was awesome to get a new stamp in my baby passport, though! (Less awesome that as soon as we crossed the border, it cost 10x as much to call the US than it does in Kenya. That was a burden. But we finally got to our hostel at about 2AM in Kampala, after riding around in a cab for 45 minutes because our driver had no idea where we were going. Immediately went to sleep and got up at 6 to be ready for our 645AM pick up time to go rafting. Another fun matatu ride this time, I slept most of the ride (oh, carcolepsy...). We got there, met our new rafting friends, had some breakfast, and we were on our way to the Nile, eek!
It was quite a terrifying/exhilarating day. We flipped a few times, which was absolutely horrible. The third flip, we actually made it through the rough rapid and thought we were good to go, and then this wave came out of nowhere and just slaughtered us. You can see our excitement in the photo...oh how fleeting it was. haha. My favorite moment of the day was lunch when we sat back, ate pineapple on the nile, and went swimming. SO MUCH FUN.
After our exhausting day, we headed back to our Jinja hostel (which was totally awesome and included in our rafting price, along with meals!) to compare brutal sunburns and take cold showers. Then it was time to try some of Uganda's famous "Nile Special" beer, which was good, but doesn't hold a flame to Kenya's Tusker. I spent the next few hours into the night chatting with our new British friends who were doing development/education work in Kampala and around Uganda. It was an awesome night, discussing politics, education, how everyone in the UK stayed up to watch our 2008 election results (WHO KNEW?!) because it had such important repercussions for the world, Kenya, Uganda, and tons and tons of other things. It just made me so grateful to be abroad in general, to be having these experiences which I otherwise would never have had. It was a little strange to be around so many white people though. There were some serious hotties (hello: accents, spend their days rafting the nile, wearing plaid) but Courtney told me I had on my Kenya goggles-which I think it BS-but I chose not to pursue anyway.
The next day we headed back to Kampala, spent about 20 minutes there before having things stolen and then just took a cab back to our hostel to take a 4 hour nap and get some food. Another 14 hour bus ride followed on Monday, as did some unexpected costs at the border which made us really frustrated. But we made it back in one piece and with almost all of our stuff, after enduring a bus ride where a 5 year old hit me constantly until I forced his mother to take him back.
We had mixed emotions getting back to Nairobi. On one hand, it was nice to be home. On the other, we want to be for real HOME and are kind of done with Nairobi. But all in all, as cool as rafting was, it is nice to be back in Kenya and to have the comfort of living here and not being a mzungu (white person) tourist, which was rough. Have a ton of homework this week and then finals next week and then a week on the coast in Mombasa! And then, hopefully, I end my trip with a safari in Amboseli, need to do some research for realsies though. I'm happy I went on this weekend trip, though, cause how many people can say they rafted the freaking NILE?! :)
 |
| From Kenya Part 2 |
However, we passed out early in order to make it to our 9:30AM bus in town to go to Uganda for the weekend! Oh, 14 hour bus rides. WHAT JOY YOU ARE. It was awesome to get a new stamp in my baby passport, though! (Less awesome that as soon as we crossed the border, it cost 10x as much to call the US than it does in Kenya. That was a burden. But we finally got to our hostel at about 2AM in Kampala, after riding around in a cab for 45 minutes because our driver had no idea where we were going. Immediately went to sleep and got up at 6 to be ready for our 645AM pick up time to go rafting. Another fun matatu ride this time, I slept most of the ride (oh, carcolepsy...). We got there, met our new rafting friends, had some breakfast, and we were on our way to the Nile, eek!
 |
| From Kenya Part 2 |
It was quite a terrifying/exhilarating day. We flipped a few times, which was absolutely horrible. The third flip, we actually made it through the rough rapid and thought we were good to go, and then this wave came out of nowhere and just slaughtered us. You can see our excitement in the photo...oh how fleeting it was. haha. My favorite moment of the day was lunch when we sat back, ate pineapple on the nile, and went swimming. SO MUCH FUN.
 |
| From Kenya Part 2 |
 |
| From Kenya Part 2 |
After our exhausting day, we headed back to our Jinja hostel (which was totally awesome and included in our rafting price, along with meals!) to compare brutal sunburns and take cold showers. Then it was time to try some of Uganda's famous "Nile Special" beer, which was good, but doesn't hold a flame to Kenya's Tusker. I spent the next few hours into the night chatting with our new British friends who were doing development/education work in Kampala and around Uganda. It was an awesome night, discussing politics, education, how everyone in the UK stayed up to watch our 2008 election results (WHO KNEW?!) because it had such important repercussions for the world, Kenya, Uganda, and tons and tons of other things. It just made me so grateful to be abroad in general, to be having these experiences which I otherwise would never have had. It was a little strange to be around so many white people though. There were some serious hotties (hello: accents, spend their days rafting the nile, wearing plaid) but Courtney told me I had on my Kenya goggles-which I think it BS-but I chose not to pursue anyway.
The next day we headed back to Kampala, spent about 20 minutes there before having things stolen and then just took a cab back to our hostel to take a 4 hour nap and get some food. Another 14 hour bus ride followed on Monday, as did some unexpected costs at the border which made us really frustrated. But we made it back in one piece and with almost all of our stuff, after enduring a bus ride where a 5 year old hit me constantly until I forced his mother to take him back.
We had mixed emotions getting back to Nairobi. On one hand, it was nice to be home. On the other, we want to be for real HOME and are kind of done with Nairobi. But all in all, as cool as rafting was, it is nice to be back in Kenya and to have the comfort of living here and not being a mzungu (white person) tourist, which was rough. Have a ton of homework this week and then finals next week and then a week on the coast in Mombasa! And then, hopefully, I end my trip with a safari in Amboseli, need to do some research for realsies though. I'm happy I went on this weekend trip, though, cause how many people can say they rafted the freaking NILE?! :)
 |
| From Kenya Part 2 |
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Thanks For The Memories
I'm having a rough time with this thanksgiving business. Honestly, the idea of missing thanksgiving didn't really even occur to me as a big deal when I was deciding to study abroad. I was way more worried about missing halloween, my third favorite holiday. But it turned out that I didn't miss a whole lot for halloween and I was also having the best week of my life, so it didn't really faze me.
Thanksgiving, though. Man. Hit me like a truck yesterday. I swear, EVERYONE on facebook had a status up about going home /being home/ being with family/etc. and I was just like, shit, I want to be home with my family too. I guess I just never valued thanksgiving enough. It's hectic and sometimes awkward, but it's also family time, and I miss that unbearably. I want to be there and be kung-fu fighting with Julia, and lecturing Nichole about college choices, and telling Lance to stop giving me attitude. Don't get me wrong, I also really am going to miss the actual FOOD, but I'm gonna miss this family time too. My family has been having a pretty rough couple of months and missing this time is upsetting to me. Then, of course, I get more bad, worrying news from my Momma this morning and it just pushed me over the edge of the homesickness cliff.
I have this amazing weekend planned in Uganda- spending time wandering around Kampala, rafting the Nile in Jinja, embarrassing David with inappropriate comments. But all I want to do is get on a plane and come home. I'd come back, of course. But I just feel like I should be there and it's freaking me out. I know I only have a month left, but it's not about the time. It's about this specific day. Who knew I would never fully appreciate thanksgiving until I couldn't be there. It's kind of a sucky feeling.
I hope everyone has a really good time though, and I will be home SO SOON. And I love you all, more than you know! And I'm so thankful for you, too.
Thanksgiving, though. Man. Hit me like a truck yesterday. I swear, EVERYONE on facebook had a status up about going home /being home/ being with family/etc. and I was just like, shit, I want to be home with my family too. I guess I just never valued thanksgiving enough. It's hectic and sometimes awkward, but it's also family time, and I miss that unbearably. I want to be there and be kung-fu fighting with Julia, and lecturing Nichole about college choices, and telling Lance to stop giving me attitude. Don't get me wrong, I also really am going to miss the actual FOOD, but I'm gonna miss this family time too. My family has been having a pretty rough couple of months and missing this time is upsetting to me. Then, of course, I get more bad, worrying news from my Momma this morning and it just pushed me over the edge of the homesickness cliff.
I have this amazing weekend planned in Uganda- spending time wandering around Kampala, rafting the Nile in Jinja, embarrassing David with inappropriate comments. But all I want to do is get on a plane and come home. I'd come back, of course. But I just feel like I should be there and it's freaking me out. I know I only have a month left, but it's not about the time. It's about this specific day. Who knew I would never fully appreciate thanksgiving until I couldn't be there. It's kind of a sucky feeling.
I hope everyone has a really good time though, and I will be home SO SOON. And I love you all, more than you know! And I'm so thankful for you, too.
Monday, November 15, 2010
Never Grow Up
I haven't been writing much lately because I haven't been doing much. I've been super overwhelmed with school work and it's getting pretty frustrating. This past weekend was one of my last free weekends and I had to stay home to work on school work. Not fun. I thought this was supposed to be a slacker semester- that's half the point of study abroad. You go to another country, don't do a ton of school work, and get totally immersed in a new culture and new experiences and everything. Learning about the new culture is half of your studying. And I'm sitting in my apartment typing away at a grant proposal. It makes me slightly resentful of all of my friends in Europe who are doing all of this amazing traveling and crazy stuff. I know my program is different and that's why I chose it, I just wish I had more time to explore Kenya and hang out with my Kenyan friends.
We did throw a party this weekend, which was really fun. Teaching a bunch of Kenyans what fraternities are and how to play beer pong was pretty entertaining.
And we all know now to stay as far away from Sambuca as humanly possible-anything that tints your teeth when you drink it really shouldn't be ingested. Sitting in my apartment Sunday morning, all I could think about was how much I wanted some McDonalds breakfast. It was a rough morning. If I learned anything from the night, it was that I'm going to die on my 21st birthday. I will have zero tolerance built up and just be such a mess. Looking forward to it, though, TWO MONTHS TO THE DATE.
On a more serious note, yesterday was a rough one on the harassment end. Usually I can kind of get around without standing out too much, so people leave me alone. But for some reason, guys were just total assholes yesterday and it was kind of not fun. I had a pretty funny exchange with a guy on my matatu trying to get to a friend in Kibera, though.
him: "i love you, will you marry me?"
me: "no."
him: "but you are so sexy"
me: "exactly, so why would I marry you"
and then he walked away without bothering me anymore.
I just wish there was a way for me to totally explain how that feels when it happens 15 times in a day and everyone is laughing at you and making comments about you being white and just being really, really rude. I was talking to a friend last night and trying to tell her about my day and my frustrations. And she asked me an interesting question, "Do you like Kenyans?" And I thought about it and thought about it and told her that I have met some really, absolutely wonderful Kenyans (and people in Kenya that aren't Kenyan), and then there are people that are just very hateful for no reason except my skin color. As a whole, I think I like Kenyans who are open and receptive and nice because they become good friends, or even just good encounters on the street. But, like everywhere else in the world, there are mean people here too and they really suck. It will be so nice to come back to America and have concepts like "customer service" again, hahaha (but I'm not joking, there's no customer service here, the customer is always WRONG), and people not trying to rip me off everywhere I go since "mimi si fala" (i am not stupid). Being thought of as a constant tourist can be really insulting, but it's one of those things you gotta shrug off most of the time. I can't imagine how weird it's going to be to have white people around me all the time when I get back; that's going to be serious reverse culture shock.
But back to work now. We're going out of the city this weekend to stay at the base of Mt.Kenya in a beautiful lodge so I'm really happy about that and hopefully will have some good stories and pictures when we get back!
**EDIT: I want to play devil's advocate to myself for a minute. Some days in Nairobi are perfectly fine and some matatu/bus rides are pleasant. I just had one where the man across the aisle from me was wearing a "DC" flat-brimmed hat so I had this huge grin on my face and explained to him that his hat was from my city. Not sure if he totally understood, but he smiled big. Then the man sitting next to me starting asking me where that was and I told him, Washington, D.C. and he asked me how long I had been in Kenya and how I like it here (EVERY person you meet in Nairobi asks this, like they want confirmation that their city/country isn't terrible). I told him I liked it very much, and we left the conversation at that. No pestering, no harassing, just pleasant conversation. I felt that after this post this morning, for that to happen was the world's way of putting me back in a positive mindset about Nairobi men on transportation- just to remind me (and in turn, you guys) that not every day are things as bad as they were yesterday.
We did throw a party this weekend, which was really fun. Teaching a bunch of Kenyans what fraternities are and how to play beer pong was pretty entertaining.
 |
| From Kenya Part 2 |
On a more serious note, yesterday was a rough one on the harassment end. Usually I can kind of get around without standing out too much, so people leave me alone. But for some reason, guys were just total assholes yesterday and it was kind of not fun. I had a pretty funny exchange with a guy on my matatu trying to get to a friend in Kibera, though.
him: "i love you, will you marry me?"
me: "no."
him: "but you are so sexy"
me: "exactly, so why would I marry you"
and then he walked away without bothering me anymore.
I just wish there was a way for me to totally explain how that feels when it happens 15 times in a day and everyone is laughing at you and making comments about you being white and just being really, really rude. I was talking to a friend last night and trying to tell her about my day and my frustrations. And she asked me an interesting question, "Do you like Kenyans?" And I thought about it and thought about it and told her that I have met some really, absolutely wonderful Kenyans (and people in Kenya that aren't Kenyan), and then there are people that are just very hateful for no reason except my skin color. As a whole, I think I like Kenyans who are open and receptive and nice because they become good friends, or even just good encounters on the street. But, like everywhere else in the world, there are mean people here too and they really suck. It will be so nice to come back to America and have concepts like "customer service" again, hahaha (but I'm not joking, there's no customer service here, the customer is always WRONG), and people not trying to rip me off everywhere I go since "mimi si fala" (i am not stupid). Being thought of as a constant tourist can be really insulting, but it's one of those things you gotta shrug off most of the time. I can't imagine how weird it's going to be to have white people around me all the time when I get back; that's going to be serious reverse culture shock.
But back to work now. We're going out of the city this weekend to stay at the base of Mt.Kenya in a beautiful lodge so I'm really happy about that and hopefully will have some good stories and pictures when we get back!
**EDIT: I want to play devil's advocate to myself for a minute. Some days in Nairobi are perfectly fine and some matatu/bus rides are pleasant. I just had one where the man across the aisle from me was wearing a "DC" flat-brimmed hat so I had this huge grin on my face and explained to him that his hat was from my city. Not sure if he totally understood, but he smiled big. Then the man sitting next to me starting asking me where that was and I told him, Washington, D.C. and he asked me how long I had been in Kenya and how I like it here (EVERY person you meet in Nairobi asks this, like they want confirmation that their city/country isn't terrible). I told him I liked it very much, and we left the conversation at that. No pestering, no harassing, just pleasant conversation. I felt that after this post this morning, for that to happen was the world's way of putting me back in a positive mindset about Nairobi men on transportation- just to remind me (and in turn, you guys) that not every day are things as bad as they were yesterday.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Boondocks
So I just got back from a week in rural, western Kenya (Bunyore/Luanda area and specifically the Esibakala village).
I've been postponing this blog post for a few days, because I'm not really sure how to put my experience into words. It was, hands down, one of the best weeks of my life. When I was struggling a few weeks ago with homesickness and everything, my program director told me rural week was a huge turning point for people on the program in the past. That was such an understatement for me. The experience made me remember why I was here and even went so far as to refocus my understanding of development and create this enormous interest in rural development. Who knew that the city girl who couldn't even be in New Hampshire for more than 2 hours because of the trees and lack of cell phone signal would fall in love with the beauty and the people of Western Kenya. I mean, I had to pee in a hole and had no electricity. We are talking SERIOUS roughing-it. And I loved every moment of it. I had a really embarrassingly hard time leaving and cried a lot and was super stressed about coming back to Nairobi.
My favorite thing was the quiet. Just the silence I could have, from outside stressors and even from inside myself. I quieted all of my worries and concerns while there and it was beautiful, and poetic, and cliche and all of that jazz. I wrote so much in my journal and detailed everything I was thinking, feeling, and doing. I can't wait to go back in March or something and read it all.
I guess it didn't help that there were also hordes of wonderful, adorable children that loved me and played with me all of the time. I definitely picked favorites, and this one was mine (also PLEASE check out my picasa for more pictures):
And here is my mama, and two of my little sisters:
I know that I only have less than 2 months here to get everything done that I want and I just need to stay positive and use this week to "enrich my experience" or whatever- use it to refocus myself and make friends here and enjoy myself and just fall in love with a place that I just wanted to leave 2 weeks ago.
And now I'm sitting in the westernized coffee place we frequent, drinking an iced tea and eating a chicken pesto panini while they play David Bowie through the speakers. And it occurs to me that, though I found my happiness in Esibakala, it's still with me and I just need to focus on it all of the time, even when Nairobi can be a rough place to be.
 |
| From Kenya |
I've been postponing this blog post for a few days, because I'm not really sure how to put my experience into words. It was, hands down, one of the best weeks of my life. When I was struggling a few weeks ago with homesickness and everything, my program director told me rural week was a huge turning point for people on the program in the past. That was such an understatement for me. The experience made me remember why I was here and even went so far as to refocus my understanding of development and create this enormous interest in rural development. Who knew that the city girl who couldn't even be in New Hampshire for more than 2 hours because of the trees and lack of cell phone signal would fall in love with the beauty and the people of Western Kenya. I mean, I had to pee in a hole and had no electricity. We are talking SERIOUS roughing-it. And I loved every moment of it. I had a really embarrassingly hard time leaving and cried a lot and was super stressed about coming back to Nairobi.
 |
| From Kenya |
My favorite thing was the quiet. Just the silence I could have, from outside stressors and even from inside myself. I quieted all of my worries and concerns while there and it was beautiful, and poetic, and cliche and all of that jazz. I wrote so much in my journal and detailed everything I was thinking, feeling, and doing. I can't wait to go back in March or something and read it all.
I guess it didn't help that there were also hordes of wonderful, adorable children that loved me and played with me all of the time. I definitely picked favorites, and this one was mine (also PLEASE check out my picasa for more pictures):
 |
| From Kenya |
And here is my mama, and two of my little sisters:
 |
| From Kenya |
I know that I only have less than 2 months here to get everything done that I want and I just need to stay positive and use this week to "enrich my experience" or whatever- use it to refocus myself and make friends here and enjoy myself and just fall in love with a place that I just wanted to leave 2 weeks ago.
And now I'm sitting in the westernized coffee place we frequent, drinking an iced tea and eating a chicken pesto panini while they play David Bowie through the speakers. And it occurs to me that, though I found my happiness in Esibakala, it's still with me and I just need to focus on it all of the time, even when Nairobi can be a rough place to be.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
All That I See
Lots, lots, lots to recap, so I'll try to be brief.
2 weekends ago was my best weekend staying in Nairobi. Friday, we found some delicious Ethiopian food in town after class and hung out there for awhile. Then we went to the Nairobi Gallery to see this photography exhibit. It was interesting and a very different way to showcase photographs (projecting them onto the wall), but a good way to spend an afternoon all in all.
Saturday proved to be one of my more intense "cultural" experiences. We had some friends score us tickets to the Nairobi vs Uganda national teams football game. We had assumed we would be attending with some Kenyan friends, but at the last minute found out we were going by ourselves! So we were tough and totally ready for the lines...until people starting throwing things and fighting and the dogs were brought out to do crowd control. We retreated back into the crowds until I finally went up to the police at the gate and looked like a scared mzungu so they let us in without a problem. WIth that much tension inside and outside the stadium, it was probably good that the game ended in a 0-0 tie.
After the game, we went out to dinner with Collins and some other friends and had good time!
Sunday morning, Emily and I got up bright and early to go see the orphaned elephants!! We got super lost and it took us way too long to get there, but the trek was SO WORTH IT. definitely one of the coolest things of all time. Upon seeing the baby elephants playing, I immediately reverted to baby voice "AWWW wook at da baby ewephants pwaaaaaying" and just about DIED of happiness.
Quite a lovely, lovely weekend all in all. Met some new friends, played with elephants, had some yummy food. It was a good weekend to be in Nairobi.
2 weekends ago was my best weekend staying in Nairobi. Friday, we found some delicious Ethiopian food in town after class and hung out there for awhile. Then we went to the Nairobi Gallery to see this photography exhibit. It was interesting and a very different way to showcase photographs (projecting them onto the wall), but a good way to spend an afternoon all in all.
Saturday proved to be one of my more intense "cultural" experiences. We had some friends score us tickets to the Nairobi vs Uganda national teams football game. We had assumed we would be attending with some Kenyan friends, but at the last minute found out we were going by ourselves! So we were tough and totally ready for the lines...until people starting throwing things and fighting and the dogs were brought out to do crowd control. We retreated back into the crowds until I finally went up to the police at the gate and looked like a scared mzungu so they let us in without a problem. WIth that much tension inside and outside the stadium, it was probably good that the game ended in a 0-0 tie.
 |
| From Kenya |
After the game, we went out to dinner with Collins and some other friends and had good time!
Sunday morning, Emily and I got up bright and early to go see the orphaned elephants!! We got super lost and it took us way too long to get there, but the trek was SO WORTH IT. definitely one of the coolest things of all time. Upon seeing the baby elephants playing, I immediately reverted to baby voice "AWWW wook at da baby ewephants pwaaaaaying" and just about DIED of happiness.
 |
| From Kenya |
Quite a lovely, lovely weekend all in all. Met some new friends, played with elephants, had some yummy food. It was a good weekend to be in Nairobi.
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me
Quite a busy few days to recap here.
Friday after class, some girlies and I went to the StoryMoja festival where we heard Micaela Wrong (author of It's Our Turn to Eat- which we are reading this semester) speak. It was super interesting and a great way to see how festivals and things operate here. Definitely different to an extent, but similar to festivals of the same nature in the US. As we left, I decided the clouds were just breathtaking and had to be really obnoxious and take pictures. Something about the clouds here just blow my mind.
Saturday was our grant proposal workshop. Which was super boring and exhausting but also very informative and helped me start formulating some ideas, which was definitely necessary.
Sunday we went on another excursion to Kitengela Glass Factory which really isn't that far from city center, but 100% got us out of the city. We went on the most ridiculous "nature hike" of my entire life- jumping across rocks and scaling walls. It was intense to say the least. My camera pooped out on me at this time, so I got absolutely no pictures of the factory which was really unfortunate. It was like it knew the exertion it was under and decided it just wanted to rest for a bit. The factory was absolutely fantastic. I don't think we learned anything about development, but it was beautiful and I got some awesome presents to attempt to bring home with me. The biggest thing for me, though, was the suspension bridge made of wire and glass that we had to use to cross a river to get the the factory and back across. I'm not particularly a fan of heights. To the point where as I was debating coming on this trip, the idea of that bridge held me back a little bit and made me pretty nervous. NO JOKE FRIENDS. So I crossed it, with tears in my eyes and gripping the edges like my life depended on it (which is obviously did)- but I did it, damnit. Quite an accomplishment.
It was insanity, basically. Afterwards, we hit up the Maasai Safari Lodge for some dinner. It was kind of a weird place- kind of a country club vibe with a pool, lots of drinking, and mediocre food. We did see a crazy food stealing monkey, a wild boar, some adorable birds, rock hyraxes, and TONS of baboons so that was all cool. It was nice and exhausting. And then I came home and got to skype with lots of people and that was super great! It made me miss home a little bit/ a lot bit, but it was worth it to see some shining faces on the computer.
Friday after class, some girlies and I went to the StoryMoja festival where we heard Micaela Wrong (author of It's Our Turn to Eat- which we are reading this semester) speak. It was super interesting and a great way to see how festivals and things operate here. Definitely different to an extent, but similar to festivals of the same nature in the US. As we left, I decided the clouds were just breathtaking and had to be really obnoxious and take pictures. Something about the clouds here just blow my mind.
Saturday was our grant proposal workshop. Which was super boring and exhausting but also very informative and helped me start formulating some ideas, which was definitely necessary.
Sunday we went on another excursion to Kitengela Glass Factory which really isn't that far from city center, but 100% got us out of the city. We went on the most ridiculous "nature hike" of my entire life- jumping across rocks and scaling walls. It was intense to say the least. My camera pooped out on me at this time, so I got absolutely no pictures of the factory which was really unfortunate. It was like it knew the exertion it was under and decided it just wanted to rest for a bit. The factory was absolutely fantastic. I don't think we learned anything about development, but it was beautiful and I got some awesome presents to attempt to bring home with me. The biggest thing for me, though, was the suspension bridge made of wire and glass that we had to use to cross a river to get the the factory and back across. I'm not particularly a fan of heights. To the point where as I was debating coming on this trip, the idea of that bridge held me back a little bit and made me pretty nervous. NO JOKE FRIENDS. So I crossed it, with tears in my eyes and gripping the edges like my life depended on it (which is obviously did)- but I did it, damnit. Quite an accomplishment.
It was insanity, basically. Afterwards, we hit up the Maasai Safari Lodge for some dinner. It was kind of a weird place- kind of a country club vibe with a pool, lots of drinking, and mediocre food. We did see a crazy food stealing monkey, a wild boar, some adorable birds, rock hyraxes, and TONS of baboons so that was all cool. It was nice and exhausting. And then I came home and got to skype with lots of people and that was super great! It made me miss home a little bit/ a lot bit, but it was worth it to see some shining faces on the computer.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
America the Beautiful
Feeling pretty patriotic today and definitely listening to my "goodbye america" playlist on itunes as I write this. It was a rough day to be an American in my International Humanitarian Law class today. Last thursday, we watched the movie Green Zone. It has Matt Damon in it (yum), just came out this summer, and is about the hunt for mysterious WMDs at the beginning of the war in 2003. Our assignment was to answer some questions about the type of warfare, classifying the conflict, blah blah blah. Basically, write about it as if it were a true documentation of the war and the events preceding it. I had a problem with this, since I knew the kids in my class would think the movie was REAL and not fictional, which would ultimately cause problems. Never in my life did I ever think I would DEFEND the war in Iraq, but that's exactly what I found myself doing today. People were being mean about America and I had to defend my homeland with all I had.
After reminding a few people that the movie was a MOVIE and not a documentary, things turned to Guantanamo Bay and got reallllly ugly. [Just to really put this into perspective of how much it bothered me, I honestly just spent over an hour researching Guantanamo Bay instead of doing more important work]. So, Guantanamo. Yeah, it's not the best, it's pretty damn controversial, but most people in the US are going to agree on those two facts. This one girl in my class, Yvonne, spoke up and expressed an interesting opinion (interesting in the way that it wasn't entirely Anti-American) saying that she understood the motivations behind the creation of Guantanamo but couldn't understand that if the US was treating prisoners SO BADLY, why nothing was done about it. I found this point really interesting and would have loved to discuss it in detail to find out what people though. However, it caused both our teacher and the entire class to get into quite a tizzy. Somehow from this, they called her a murderer and made it seem like she thought everything done at Guantanamo was okay.
I have actually never seen anyone so disrespectful in a classroom environment as our professor got, though. She interrupted/cut off the girl speaking more than once while she tried to defend herself. She raised her voice and told the girl never to speak in class again until she had facts to back up her arguments. And the kicker, really, was that not 15 minutes prior to this conversation, the professor had said how open she was to opinions and that not everyone had to suckup/agree with her. She reiterated this "free to express opinion" point while tearing Yvonne down, and the girl retorted with "that's exactly what I did and you completely threw my opinion away." I have never felt so bad for anyone in a class before; poor girl was so targeted and yelled at by everyone in the class that she issued an apology by the end of the class period.
I ended up walking out of the class early because I couldn't really handle her hate-mongering speech any longer. For a professor who stresses having our own thoughts and opinions, it sure seems like she only wants to hear what she agrees with, and that will 99.9% of the time be Anti-American/western world feelings. I can usually keep myself calm and collected in classes where I disagree with what is being said, but I think this blatant prejudice and hatred just overwhelmed me today. I actually felt unsafe to even voice my own thoughts, even though we would obviously be the most educated on the topic. Oh and my favorite part? When she told the girl that she just must be getting her information from CNN. Wait, what? Since when did CNN become a defender of the war on terror/Guantanamo/president bush/etc. Maybe she should try watching CNN once in awhile to actually know what the hell she is talking about.
After some research, I have actually found out that a few things my professor claimed as 'facts' are actually false, and I definitely plan on bringing these points to her attention on Thursday. I feel the need so strongly to defend my country and defend what we stand for that I will risk my grade in this class to stand up for myself. Not really a choice I ever hoped to make, but it seems like a necessary evil at this point.
After reminding a few people that the movie was a MOVIE and not a documentary, things turned to Guantanamo Bay and got reallllly ugly. [Just to really put this into perspective of how much it bothered me, I honestly just spent over an hour researching Guantanamo Bay instead of doing more important work]. So, Guantanamo. Yeah, it's not the best, it's pretty damn controversial, but most people in the US are going to agree on those two facts. This one girl in my class, Yvonne, spoke up and expressed an interesting opinion (interesting in the way that it wasn't entirely Anti-American) saying that she understood the motivations behind the creation of Guantanamo but couldn't understand that if the US was treating prisoners SO BADLY, why nothing was done about it. I found this point really interesting and would have loved to discuss it in detail to find out what people though. However, it caused both our teacher and the entire class to get into quite a tizzy. Somehow from this, they called her a murderer and made it seem like she thought everything done at Guantanamo was okay.
I have actually never seen anyone so disrespectful in a classroom environment as our professor got, though. She interrupted/cut off the girl speaking more than once while she tried to defend herself. She raised her voice and told the girl never to speak in class again until she had facts to back up her arguments. And the kicker, really, was that not 15 minutes prior to this conversation, the professor had said how open she was to opinions and that not everyone had to suckup/agree with her. She reiterated this "free to express opinion" point while tearing Yvonne down, and the girl retorted with "that's exactly what I did and you completely threw my opinion away." I have never felt so bad for anyone in a class before; poor girl was so targeted and yelled at by everyone in the class that she issued an apology by the end of the class period.
I ended up walking out of the class early because I couldn't really handle her hate-mongering speech any longer. For a professor who stresses having our own thoughts and opinions, it sure seems like she only wants to hear what she agrees with, and that will 99.9% of the time be Anti-American/western world feelings. I can usually keep myself calm and collected in classes where I disagree with what is being said, but I think this blatant prejudice and hatred just overwhelmed me today. I actually felt unsafe to even voice my own thoughts, even though we would obviously be the most educated on the topic. Oh and my favorite part? When she told the girl that she just must be getting her information from CNN. Wait, what? Since when did CNN become a defender of the war on terror/Guantanamo/president bush/etc. Maybe she should try watching CNN once in awhile to actually know what the hell she is talking about.
After some research, I have actually found out that a few things my professor claimed as 'facts' are actually false, and I definitely plan on bringing these points to her attention on Thursday. I feel the need so strongly to defend my country and defend what we stand for that I will risk my grade in this class to stand up for myself. Not really a choice I ever hoped to make, but it seems like a necessary evil at this point.
Monday, September 20, 2010
It's Nice To Go Traveling
So this weekend we finally got the hell out of Nairobi for a bit and it was EXACTLY the refresher I needed after such a rough week. Our first stop was Olorgesailie to check out some bones and handaxes and make us feel how young we were compared to the earth! Crazy! It was fun, but a little boring and super hot even though the sun was nowhere to be seen; thank goodness it wasn't out or we would've roasted. After that, we met up with a Maasai warrior named Joseph who has actually been to AU once this year so knows kind of who we are and what we're about. He showed us a bunch of development projects he's working on with some funding and lots of donor assistance. Then he took us to see giraffes in the wild, NO BIG DEAL OR ANYTHING. It was pretty freaking cool and made me really happy to be here. Then he took us to his house which he is basically operating a non profit out of and made us all food and we sat around and watched some boys dance and sing and it was all around a lovely, lovely, lovely day. Later saturday night, a few of the girls and I met up with a friend for some drinks and dancing and had lots of fun. Good weekend, all in all. I can't wait to get out of Nairobi this weekend or next weekend, already though. haha. It's not that intense of a city, it's just the constant pressure of being the only white person around and being stared at and harassed and asked for money-it just gets overwhelming pretty quickly, even for this total city girl.
Then today I was back at Lea Toto for the day with Beth, who I worked with last monday and really enjoy being around. She is very open with me and explains things and always translates for me, which I appreciate. We spent about 6 hours in the Kangemi slum doing home visits with clients. It was probably one of my favorite days here. Everyone was surprisingly nice to me, the kids all loved me and sang silly songs to me, even if they were a little scared at first (we've decided some of them are scared of us because they think we are albinos, which is a big scary thing in Kenya right now), and it felt like a productive day. I even managed to squeeze in buying a kanga to keep me warm and some vegetables for dinner. So nice to eat something other than peanut butter and carbs.
Also, for those of you looking at my pictures, it turns out that Flikr really sucks so I made a Picasa instead, which is linked to this blog AND my email so you can search it by that. AND it's currently updated with all of my awesome pictures from this weekend, so check it out!
Lots of love.
Also, is it too much to ask for someone to mail me some hummus? It's killin' me.
Then today I was back at Lea Toto for the day with Beth, who I worked with last monday and really enjoy being around. She is very open with me and explains things and always translates for me, which I appreciate. We spent about 6 hours in the Kangemi slum doing home visits with clients. It was probably one of my favorite days here. Everyone was surprisingly nice to me, the kids all loved me and sang silly songs to me, even if they were a little scared at first (we've decided some of them are scared of us because they think we are albinos, which is a big scary thing in Kenya right now), and it felt like a productive day. I even managed to squeeze in buying a kanga to keep me warm and some vegetables for dinner. So nice to eat something other than peanut butter and carbs.
Also, for those of you looking at my pictures, it turns out that Flikr really sucks so I made a Picasa instead, which is linked to this blog AND my email so you can search it by that. AND it's currently updated with all of my awesome pictures from this weekend, so check it out!
Lots of love.
Also, is it too much to ask for someone to mail me some hummus? It's killin' me.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Let It All Out
I'll say it. I'm feeling a little lost and homesick this week. This is our first week of our internships and the emotional turmoil of mine, combined with the bullshit of USIU, and feeling pretty sick just really is dragging me down. Monday I had a pretty good day at Lea Toto. I went with Beth, a case manager who deals with all of Kangemi and has 250 kids on her caseload, to bring a girl to the hospital to get checked for sexual abuse. All turned out okay though, but we still brought her to this rehab place since her father is neglectful and she doesn't get to take her medicine and doesn't get fed well. Hopefully she will be healthier after spending a month there and we can find her a new permanent, safer placement. I really like Beth because she's very open with me and I'm not afraid to ask her questions, and she will always translate for me. It was a tiring day, but all in all, I felt good about it.
USIU on Tuesday proved to be a nightmare in getting one of my classes changed. All ended well there too, but it was bad and an advisor was just unnecessarily rude and disrespectful to me. Got home and went to the movies for some American time, which was very much needed.
Wednesday I was back at Lea Toto for food distribution day. Basically the most needy families come once a month and get food provisions like flour, corn, and oil to ease some financial burdens. All was fine until I was left to do the process with clients entirely alone for 20 minutes. I wasn't about to just sit there and not help these people, but the language barrier made things kind of difficult. Finally, the worker I was helping came back and things were fine. After that (and scarfing a quick pb&J since they don't have lunch breaks here?), I went out into the field with another case manager, Faith. Her area that she oversees is much more rural and outside of Nairobi proper- I think in Western province. So it was quite a trek and it really just hit me on that ride that I was actually here. Everyone spoke Swahili or Kikuyu without translating for me, even when I timidly asked. The families we visited were literally more poor than the slum families I've seen, and one father was very obviously not taking his ARV's and looked horrible. The kids were all just pretty confused as to who the HELL I was and what I was doing there. Since they're much more rural, a few of them had never even seen a white person before, so they were pretty scared of me at first. That's probably one of my biggest obstacles here. Kids always LOVE me, that's why I work with them; and facing kids who burst into tears because of my skin color is a huge blow for me. Most of them were really shy, but would come up to me and want to play, but those few who I just TERRIFY really get me down. It just got to the point yesterday where I thought to myself, "what am I doing here? And how am I possibly helping anyone?" I just felt like a tourist to poverty and that made me feel terrible.
I'm really just looking forward to this week finally ending, and getting some downtime. We're going on a little excursion Saturday to look at excavated bones and stuff and I'm really happy about that. I feel like I need it to remind myself of all of the good things in Kenya and why I'm here. It will be nice to get out of Nairobi for a bit.
also, sorry for the lack of pictures. I'll try to take some this weekend.
xo
USIU on Tuesday proved to be a nightmare in getting one of my classes changed. All ended well there too, but it was bad and an advisor was just unnecessarily rude and disrespectful to me. Got home and went to the movies for some American time, which was very much needed.
Wednesday I was back at Lea Toto for food distribution day. Basically the most needy families come once a month and get food provisions like flour, corn, and oil to ease some financial burdens. All was fine until I was left to do the process with clients entirely alone for 20 minutes. I wasn't about to just sit there and not help these people, but the language barrier made things kind of difficult. Finally, the worker I was helping came back and things were fine. After that (and scarfing a quick pb&J since they don't have lunch breaks here?), I went out into the field with another case manager, Faith. Her area that she oversees is much more rural and outside of Nairobi proper- I think in Western province. So it was quite a trek and it really just hit me on that ride that I was actually here. Everyone spoke Swahili or Kikuyu without translating for me, even when I timidly asked. The families we visited were literally more poor than the slum families I've seen, and one father was very obviously not taking his ARV's and looked horrible. The kids were all just pretty confused as to who the HELL I was and what I was doing there. Since they're much more rural, a few of them had never even seen a white person before, so they were pretty scared of me at first. That's probably one of my biggest obstacles here. Kids always LOVE me, that's why I work with them; and facing kids who burst into tears because of my skin color is a huge blow for me. Most of them were really shy, but would come up to me and want to play, but those few who I just TERRIFY really get me down. It just got to the point yesterday where I thought to myself, "what am I doing here? And how am I possibly helping anyone?" I just felt like a tourist to poverty and that made me feel terrible.
I'm really just looking forward to this week finally ending, and getting some downtime. We're going on a little excursion Saturday to look at excavated bones and stuff and I'm really happy about that. I feel like I need it to remind myself of all of the good things in Kenya and why I'm here. It will be nice to get out of Nairobi for a bit.
also, sorry for the lack of pictures. I'll try to take some this weekend.
xo
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Red Right Ankle
So I'm sick of just recapping stuff until the end of time. SO I'll just start with what's going on now and go back later when I have time to talk about some other crazy stuff that's happened in the past 2 weeks. We started classes at USIU this week. It's a beautiful campus, but the kids are really immature that we go to school with. I love one of my classes since it's a senior level class, so everyone is older and more mature and reasonable (except for the one girl who blamed America for there being homosexuality in Kenya...?). Adapting to the way classes are here is a little strange, as it seems like the professors don't have much control over classes. It's definitely different.
I PLAYED WITH GIRAFFES ON WEDNESDAY.
It was probably the coolest thing I have ever done. There are tons of pictures on my flickr too, so check those out.
Basically we're just been riding matatus around and exploring Nairobi (but mainly just our neighborhood, Westlands). I do have an infection in my ankle where that crazy ass wasp stung me over a week ago. Had to go to the doctor today to get antibiotics and stuff. Glad that it will finally heal now though, cause walking on it this week probably would have killed me.
I start my internship tomorrow at an organization called Lea Toto that deals with HIV+ kids, giving them services and helping them and their families with counseling services to try to deal with the stigmas of AIDS. I'm nervous but also excited to see what I can do in the organization to maximize the impact of me being there. I'm supposed to be stationed in the Kangemi slum which is fairly close to our neighborhood, but I really want to talk to them about bouncing around to fully understand the entire organization and to see the differences in the neighborhoods and the way HIV is dealt with around Nairobi. I hope all goes well.
We went out to our first bar experience on Friday night. It was pretty fun and funny and the DJ played super awesome music that I'm pretty sure was added to the playlist just for us (a lot of old American pop music). We hung out with the prostitutes since they were the only ones who were being nice to us, and made baby Megan take ridiculous birthday shots. It's cool to be legal in Kenya, haha.
I've been dealing with a lot of internet issues here so far. Some places have really good wireless for free so I've been taking advantage of that this weekend (that's how I'm posting this now). I bought a wireless modem to try to use in the apartment but the service is embarassingly bad. I planned on taking it in today to the store and demanding they make it work better, but it's Sunday so they're closed, duh. I'll see what I can do this week. So it seems, though, that I can skype pretty well in the coffee shop that I frequent- talked to Momma for 20 minutes today. So I will be online there on Sundays or Saturdays so coordinate with me on weekend skype times!
More to come soon. Always so tired here.
I PLAYED WITH GIRAFFES ON WEDNESDAY.
It was probably the coolest thing I have ever done. There are tons of pictures on my flickr too, so check those out.
Basically we're just been riding matatus around and exploring Nairobi (but mainly just our neighborhood, Westlands). I do have an infection in my ankle where that crazy ass wasp stung me over a week ago. Had to go to the doctor today to get antibiotics and stuff. Glad that it will finally heal now though, cause walking on it this week probably would have killed me.
I start my internship tomorrow at an organization called Lea Toto that deals with HIV+ kids, giving them services and helping them and their families with counseling services to try to deal with the stigmas of AIDS. I'm nervous but also excited to see what I can do in the organization to maximize the impact of me being there. I'm supposed to be stationed in the Kangemi slum which is fairly close to our neighborhood, but I really want to talk to them about bouncing around to fully understand the entire organization and to see the differences in the neighborhoods and the way HIV is dealt with around Nairobi. I hope all goes well.
We went out to our first bar experience on Friday night. It was pretty fun and funny and the DJ played super awesome music that I'm pretty sure was added to the playlist just for us (a lot of old American pop music). We hung out with the prostitutes since they were the only ones who were being nice to us, and made baby Megan take ridiculous birthday shots. It's cool to be legal in Kenya, haha.
I've been dealing with a lot of internet issues here so far. Some places have really good wireless for free so I've been taking advantage of that this weekend (that's how I'm posting this now). I bought a wireless modem to try to use in the apartment but the service is embarassingly bad. I planned on taking it in today to the store and demanding they make it work better, but it's Sunday so they're closed, duh. I'll see what I can do this week. So it seems, though, that I can skype pretty well in the coffee shop that I frequent- talked to Momma for 20 minutes today. So I will be online there on Sundays or Saturdays so coordinate with me on weekend skype times!
More to come soon. Always so tired here.
Monday, September 6, 2010
I Fought The Law
TUESDAY
We basically passed out Monday night and then had to get up bright and early to hop on the bus to Naivasha. I literally have never felt so carsick in all my life than I did on that bus. There wasn’t much of anything to eat in the apartments so my tummy was pretty empty. That combined with the malarone from the night before, the bad jetlag, and the bumpy ass ride it did not bode well. I really thought I was going to be the first person to throw up, but just before it got really bad, we stopped at the Great Rift Valley viewing point. Ugh it was disgustingly beautiful and we all took tons of touristy pictures and it was fun.
The rest of the ride to Naivasha was interesting and we passed some former IDP camps that are in the process of becoming little legitimate towns and it sparked lots of stories and info about the post election violence. When we got to the hotel, we had lunch and then went on an adventure to find an atm which was interesting. Everything else that day was just orientation information yada yada and learning about lots of things. We went back to the hotel, had some Tusker and chilled. Dinner was delicious and we were having super intense conversations throughout it. As we left and went upstairs, Emily realized she didn’t have her purse. Turns out it was stolen from the dining room in the hotel which was really upsetting and horrible and a really bad bad second day experience. Victor decided we should go to the police station so I went with EM for moral support (cause for real, who would want to go to a Kenyan police station alone as a mazungu girl with a stolen purse issue? I know I woulda peed myself). So we give the “police report” of sorts and basically just listen to a lot of Swahili, which was great practice. Then we went outside and started talking to one of the police guys. All of a sudden, all of the men-including Victor-start having an intense conversation in Swahili as Emily and I just stand there sort of awkwardly. Finally Victor explained that they were discussing how there was a cannibal living in the woods right around the police station. They described him as having demons in his head so that was why he was crazy and eating dogs and young women. But the police were quick to tell us that they had killed him. Probably our first truly intense cultural experience. They asked “this does not happen in the US?” and we pretty much said that that was rare, but I did tell him that many people believe in demons in the head (to an extent, and to find common ground) so that was helpful. Then we discussed animals/trees, and I had to describe what a ZOO was and also explain how Americans like getting rid of trees to build businesses and houses and things which was probably the weirdest thing he had ever heard in his life. It was an interesting chat and helped us practice our Swahili a little bit too. We finally went back to the hotel and passed OUT cause it was such a crazy evening. But not before Victor (he travels with us as security but also does programming) pulled the defense sticker thing off of a grasshopper so we could play with it. Weird? Yeah, a little bit. But we just went with it and played with the grasshopper before he flicked it away. Basically a really strange ass day.
p.s. just made my flickr, here's the link: check it out
hope that works!
We basically passed out Monday night and then had to get up bright and early to hop on the bus to Naivasha. I literally have never felt so carsick in all my life than I did on that bus. There wasn’t much of anything to eat in the apartments so my tummy was pretty empty. That combined with the malarone from the night before, the bad jetlag, and the bumpy ass ride it did not bode well. I really thought I was going to be the first person to throw up, but just before it got really bad, we stopped at the Great Rift Valley viewing point. Ugh it was disgustingly beautiful and we all took tons of touristy pictures and it was fun.
The rest of the ride to Naivasha was interesting and we passed some former IDP camps that are in the process of becoming little legitimate towns and it sparked lots of stories and info about the post election violence. When we got to the hotel, we had lunch and then went on an adventure to find an atm which was interesting. Everything else that day was just orientation information yada yada and learning about lots of things. We went back to the hotel, had some Tusker and chilled. Dinner was delicious and we were having super intense conversations throughout it. As we left and went upstairs, Emily realized she didn’t have her purse. Turns out it was stolen from the dining room in the hotel which was really upsetting and horrible and a really bad bad second day experience. Victor decided we should go to the police station so I went with EM for moral support (cause for real, who would want to go to a Kenyan police station alone as a mazungu girl with a stolen purse issue? I know I woulda peed myself). So we give the “police report” of sorts and basically just listen to a lot of Swahili, which was great practice. Then we went outside and started talking to one of the police guys. All of a sudden, all of the men-including Victor-start having an intense conversation in Swahili as Emily and I just stand there sort of awkwardly. Finally Victor explained that they were discussing how there was a cannibal living in the woods right around the police station. They described him as having demons in his head so that was why he was crazy and eating dogs and young women. But the police were quick to tell us that they had killed him. Probably our first truly intense cultural experience. They asked “this does not happen in the US?” and we pretty much said that that was rare, but I did tell him that many people believe in demons in the head (to an extent, and to find common ground) so that was helpful. Then we discussed animals/trees, and I had to describe what a ZOO was and also explain how Americans like getting rid of trees to build businesses and houses and things which was probably the weirdest thing he had ever heard in his life. It was an interesting chat and helped us practice our Swahili a little bit too. We finally went back to the hotel and passed OUT cause it was such a crazy evening. But not before Victor (he travels with us as security but also does programming) pulled the defense sticker thing off of a grasshopper so we could play with it. Weird? Yeah, a little bit. But we just went with it and played with the grasshopper before he flicked it away. Basically a really strange ass day.
p.s. just made my flickr, here's the link: check it out
hope that works!
Goodnight, Travel Well
TRAVELING: SUNDAY/MONDAY
I left Dulles at about 6pm on Sunday night. I stupidly left my cell with momma so I couldn’t call her or text anyone or get on the computer, etc. the entire time I was waiting at the gate for my flight to take off. I tried to figure out a pay phone but it was so complicated, I honestly had NO idea how to work it, hahaha. UGH. So anyway, I started the trip nervous about not making contact and everything and then I got on my United flight which and it was kind of miserable. There was very little room, I didn’t sleep more than an hour off and on, and the TV options were super bad. By the end of the flight, I was so nauseous I had to get up 2 times during landing (seatbelt time) cause I thought I was totally gonna vom. Managed to get it together though and landed in Amsterdam alone at about 730 AM. Walking through the airport there was hella intimidating—my first time in an international airport, ya know?—but I managed to find my gate and 3 people were already there, which was super comforting. But then I freaked out about calling my mom to tell her I was there and AGAIN couldn’t figure out the phones. I finally had to call the customer service number from the payphone, give them my credit card number, and then call. SO TECHNOLOGY INCOMPETENT. A bunch more peeps met up with us at the airport and 9 of us were on the flight to Nairobi. The KLM flight was sooooo nice, TONS of food and I finally got to see Avatar. It was aight and I definitely got more sleep that flight.
Finally got to Nairobi and was super intimidated by everything. Going through immigration was INTENSE and I definitely thought I wasn’t gonna be let in the country ha. Mainly I think I was just nervous since it was my first passport stamp!
Once in the airport, I was pretty much in a state of shock and awe. Then we met everyone else and got room assignments and it was sweet. But then, we went outside to put our bags in the bus and it hit me that I was in fucking Kenya and who the fuck did I think I was? So the excitement was quickly replaced with WHAT DA FUCK feelings and being just straight up terrified. We made it home to the apartments to no power on and had to try to move in stuff in the dark which was super fun. But we managed with cell phones and flash lights. As soon as we were in, I called mom and just cried. It hit me immediately that I was nuts for doing this and not knowing anyone and OMG OMG basically. But I'm glad I had those feelings to begin with, since I hope it means I won't flip like 3 weeks in with culture shock. We'll see.
I left Dulles at about 6pm on Sunday night. I stupidly left my cell with momma so I couldn’t call her or text anyone or get on the computer, etc. the entire time I was waiting at the gate for my flight to take off. I tried to figure out a pay phone but it was so complicated, I honestly had NO idea how to work it, hahaha. UGH. So anyway, I started the trip nervous about not making contact and everything and then I got on my United flight which and it was kind of miserable. There was very little room, I didn’t sleep more than an hour off and on, and the TV options were super bad. By the end of the flight, I was so nauseous I had to get up 2 times during landing (seatbelt time) cause I thought I was totally gonna vom. Managed to get it together though and landed in Amsterdam alone at about 730 AM. Walking through the airport there was hella intimidating—my first time in an international airport, ya know?—but I managed to find my gate and 3 people were already there, which was super comforting. But then I freaked out about calling my mom to tell her I was there and AGAIN couldn’t figure out the phones. I finally had to call the customer service number from the payphone, give them my credit card number, and then call. SO TECHNOLOGY INCOMPETENT. A bunch more peeps met up with us at the airport and 9 of us were on the flight to Nairobi. The KLM flight was sooooo nice, TONS of food and I finally got to see Avatar. It was aight and I definitely got more sleep that flight.
Finally got to Nairobi and was super intimidated by everything. Going through immigration was INTENSE and I definitely thought I wasn’t gonna be let in the country ha. Mainly I think I was just nervous since it was my first passport stamp!
Once in the airport, I was pretty much in a state of shock and awe. Then we met everyone else and got room assignments and it was sweet. But then, we went outside to put our bags in the bus and it hit me that I was in fucking Kenya and who the fuck did I think I was? So the excitement was quickly replaced with WHAT DA FUCK feelings and being just straight up terrified. We made it home to the apartments to no power on and had to try to move in stuff in the dark which was super fun. But we managed with cell phones and flash lights. As soon as we were in, I called mom and just cried. It hit me immediately that I was nuts for doing this and not knowing anyone and OMG OMG basically. But I'm glad I had those feelings to begin with, since I hope it means I won't flip like 3 weeks in with culture shock. We'll see.
Thursday, September 2, 2010
A Little Help From My Friends
OH MAAAAAN. I'm in Africa? How did this even happen? Since I've been here for about 4 days now, it's impossible for me to write everything in 1 post. Theres just too much. But I want everyone to know that I'm alive and okay and had to pee standing up today after being dropped off in an area in town by myself. What a day.
This is honestly nothing like anything I could have possibly prepared myself for. Being my first time out of the country, I have nothing to compare it to. But it's been so overwhelming so far and kinda scary. I'm so happy to have people here that I like already though, because being so disconnected from family and friends at home leaves me kinda with no support system. So I'm glad they're here for that and that Kelsey and I had a nice little cry together last night.
Ok so since I don't want to pay for internet while I just sit here contemplating posts and shit, this is it for now. But I will write out some lengthy ones and have them up within 24 hours.
ALSO
kenyan number is 2540727910574 if anyone wants to text/call. not sure what the rates are or anything, but you can give it a shot.
can't remember my address right now. Shannon, if you see this can you post it as a comment? My apartment is T10.
I MISS YOU ALL GREATLY. MORE SOON.
This is honestly nothing like anything I could have possibly prepared myself for. Being my first time out of the country, I have nothing to compare it to. But it's been so overwhelming so far and kinda scary. I'm so happy to have people here that I like already though, because being so disconnected from family and friends at home leaves me kinda with no support system. So I'm glad they're here for that and that Kelsey and I had a nice little cry together last night.
Ok so since I don't want to pay for internet while I just sit here contemplating posts and shit, this is it for now. But I will write out some lengthy ones and have them up within 24 hours.
ALSO
kenyan number is 2540727910574 if anyone wants to text/call. not sure what the rates are or anything, but you can give it a shot.
can't remember my address right now. Shannon, if you see this can you post it as a comment? My apartment is T10.
I MISS YOU ALL GREATLY. MORE SOON.
Monday, August 23, 2010
This Ain't Goodbye
So somehow it's become less than a week until I leave. How did this happen? I'm not quite sure where this mysterious "summer" went... But now it's pretty much time to go and, not gonna lie, I'm pretty freaked out. Saying bye to people this past weekend was horrible and I was so super upset. I was starting to think that I was making a horrible decision and that I totally shouldn't go. Then I went to my cousins house tonight and they got me these surprise going away gifts, and it made things sooo much better.
It's a huge map of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, a new SWEET journal, and this beautiful stationary kit. I was just so surprised and it really helped me get back to the excited and jittery state I was in for the beginning of the summer. I can't wait to use all of it! Also it was my momma's birthday (almost), as noted by the birthday princess crown.
So we'll be celebrating that some more this week and getting me ready to go. Still have a few doctor/dentist appointments and my prescriptions to fill and stuff. Boring. And I have a few more necessities like sandals and a suitcase I need to buy, but for the most part, I'm fairly ready which is weird.
And I'm starting to be okay with leaving since it's only a SEE YA LATER, friends. For some of you, it's a long ass see ya later, but a see ya later nonetheless. And we're all going to have such adventures and so many things to talk about, so it's okay.
YAY for being excited again!
It's a huge map of Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, a new SWEET journal, and this beautiful stationary kit. I was just so surprised and it really helped me get back to the excited and jittery state I was in for the beginning of the summer. I can't wait to use all of it! Also it was my momma's birthday (almost), as noted by the birthday princess crown.
So we'll be celebrating that some more this week and getting me ready to go. Still have a few doctor/dentist appointments and my prescriptions to fill and stuff. Boring. And I have a few more necessities like sandals and a suitcase I need to buy, but for the most part, I'm fairly ready which is weird.
And I'm starting to be okay with leaving since it's only a SEE YA LATER, friends. For some of you, it's a long ass see ya later, but a see ya later nonetheless. And we're all going to have such adventures and so many things to talk about, so it's okay.
YAY for being excited again!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Lisztomania
Things I am going to miss in the next 4 months:
- The new Harry Potter movie. When I found that out, I actually cried.
- Football season. HORRIBLE REALIZATION.
- Halloween. Only my second favorite holiday after my birthday (WHICH IS A LEGITIMATE HOLIDAY, don't judge me).
- The only time the Lakers come to DC to play the wizards this season. Really, guys? We couldn't have done this is January maybe? Has to be December 14th? OK, COOL.
- Sushi.
- Glee. I know I will be able to watch it online and stuff but it's not really the same as actually watching it. I just hope they save the BSpears episode for really late in the season.
- Casey's sisters wedding. BOO. Oh and Casey's birthday. double BOO.
- Fall. OH GOD it's going to be SO COLD when I get back. Especially having like a 7 month summer. UGH.
- The beginning of AU Basketball. If you know anything about me, I'm sure my absolute LOVE of AU basketball (and players) has come up. I take my team spirit seriously and it always upsets me when Bender is empty on a huge game-day. As soon as the 2010-2011 schedule comes out, I will pick a big game and make it a huge facebook thing. BAM.
- Starbucks. oh my gosh, white girl problems.
- ICE CUBES. Shannon and I were discussing this the other day and agreed that this was a pretty huge thing to do without.
- Showing my shoulders and knees.
- Community of Hope, tutoring, my kiddies, etc.
- Oh wow, Thanksgiving. That kind of sucks. Hadn't thought of that one. Damn.
UGH why am I doing this? I'm annoying myself. Next post will be on everything I'm SUPER EXCITED ABOUT.
*disclaimer: I did not include people on this list since 1. I figured it would be a given and 2. the list would be astronomically too long.
- The new Harry Potter movie. When I found that out, I actually cried.
- Football season. HORRIBLE REALIZATION.
- Halloween. Only my second favorite holiday after my birthday (WHICH IS A LEGITIMATE HOLIDAY, don't judge me).
- The only time the Lakers come to DC to play the wizards this season. Really, guys? We couldn't have done this is January maybe? Has to be December 14th? OK, COOL.
- Sushi.
- Glee. I know I will be able to watch it online and stuff but it's not really the same as actually watching it. I just hope they save the BSpears episode for really late in the season.
- Casey's sisters wedding. BOO. Oh and Casey's birthday. double BOO.
- Fall. OH GOD it's going to be SO COLD when I get back. Especially having like a 7 month summer. UGH.
- The beginning of AU Basketball. If you know anything about me, I'm sure my absolute LOVE of AU basketball (and players) has come up. I take my team spirit seriously and it always upsets me when Bender is empty on a huge game-day. As soon as the 2010-2011 schedule comes out, I will pick a big game and make it a huge facebook thing. BAM.
- Starbucks. oh my gosh, white girl problems.
- ICE CUBES. Shannon and I were discussing this the other day and agreed that this was a pretty huge thing to do without.
- Showing my shoulders and knees.
- Community of Hope, tutoring, my kiddies, etc.
- Oh wow, Thanksgiving. That kind of sucks. Hadn't thought of that one. Damn.
UGH why am I doing this? I'm annoying myself. Next post will be on everything I'm SUPER EXCITED ABOUT.
*disclaimer: I did not include people on this list since 1. I figured it would be a given and 2. the list would be astronomically too long.
Over It
So I decided that trying to nanny next week while couch surfing was just going to be impossible and detrimental to my health and well-being and would add even more stress to my plate right now. So I think I will be able to make it home this weekend for a few days and then come back to DC like Thursday or so and stay a few days for welcome week festivities (like I would miss B.o.B or basement happenings. let's be real). Hopefully this means I will be able to maximize friend-seeing and mom-spending-time-with, etc. in order to rest up a little and keep some sanity before my world implodes on the 29th.
I'm sad I'm leaving them hanging for a week without me, but my relief overwhelms that sadness.
I'm sad I'm leaving them hanging for a week without me, but my relief overwhelms that sadness.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
It's Like a Heat Wave, Burnin' In My Heart
Today was quite an interesting day- new developments on many fronts. MOST IMPORTANTLY THOUGH, I finally had a conversation with Lifeguard. dun dun duuuun. I guess I should briefly explain Lifeguard though. So I take the boys to this pool they're members of and the lifeguards there are lovely. One day a few weeks ago, one I had been eye-ing decided to wave at me. It was cute but then we sadly had no more interactions after that besides longing glances. Last week, as per Maie's suggestion, I posted a missed connection (AND GOT REALLY WEIRD/MEAN RESPONSES which I will cover at a later date), but nothing from Lifeguard. I knew nothing about Lifeguard except that he had a little tattoo on his neck that I found intriguing. UNTIL TODAY when he waved me over to chat with him as I was leaving with the kids. He made me take off my sunglasses and asked what color my eyes were. And it was awkward, but also kind of cute, and then he introduced himself. Immediately I knew I was now dealing with an Eastern European man, per the accent. The Pollock ladies do not have the best of luck with this specific category of foreign men, so I was very taken aback by the heavy accent. And then I was all "OKAY WELL SEE YOU LATER BYE" as I as so shocked at the encounter.
I guess I had built up this person in my head and he is absolutely not what I was expecting, so it totally threw me and then I called my mom to tell her that the allure of Lifeguard was over since we finally spoke. I am pretty disappointed in myself for not picking up on the Eastern European vibe earlier- since I totally figured out early on that another lifeguard totally was. But his accent is so strong, I had to make him repeat what he asked me (awkward). I still find him highly attractive, but only know his first name and that he's Russian/Ukrainian/Moldovan? So I guess there is still some mystery. But I'm a little disheartened. Also he only has 63 facebook friends. Can we vote on whether this is too weird or acceptable since he's obviously foreign and probably, like, just came to the US or something (much like Max a few years ago, so I guess I should be nicer). It would be nice to know if he's like 20 or 37 though, I guess that should be my opener next time I drag the boys to the pool during a heat wave specifically to see him?
I guess I had built up this person in my head and he is absolutely not what I was expecting, so it totally threw me and then I called my mom to tell her that the allure of Lifeguard was over since we finally spoke. I am pretty disappointed in myself for not picking up on the Eastern European vibe earlier- since I totally figured out early on that another lifeguard totally was. But his accent is so strong, I had to make him repeat what he asked me (awkward). I still find him highly attractive, but only know his first name and that he's Russian/Ukrainian/Moldovan? So I guess there is still some mystery. But I'm a little disheartened. Also he only has 63 facebook friends. Can we vote on whether this is too weird or acceptable since he's obviously foreign and probably, like, just came to the US or something (much like Max a few years ago, so I guess I should be nicer). It would be nice to know if he's like 20 or 37 though, I guess that should be my opener next time I drag the boys to the pool during a heat wave specifically to see him?
Thursday, July 29, 2010
got caught out in the rain
I have white girl problems right now, as SHaack would say. I am so tired of spending 10 hours a day with 2 spoiled rotten only children. It sounds so obnoxious to complain about, but I swear this job is harder than working at Chick-fil-a (which I also wasn't much of a fan of). I'm just ready for it to be over and to have some time to myself to think.
I'm also starting to get kind of nervous about going abroad. I wouldn't say that I'm "scared" per se, but I'm HIGHLY nervous. More about missing things here than actually being there. And I'm sure that once I am there and into the swing of things, it will be all good. Also, goodbye party will be August 7th so be there or be square.
I went to the Nationals/Braves game last night with Heidi, Ellie, and Maie. It was fun and entertaining since none of them had ever been to a baseball game before (obviously anti-American). To sum up the evening: Ellie had one beer and was trying to lick my face, Heidi was being foot-fondeled by the older man in front of us, and Maie was tired. Pretty typical evening.
I'm going home for a few days this weekend, which is much needed. Also, getting out of my apartment will be a welcomed relief. Everything had been so nice and calm for the past 2 weeks, I had forgotten it could be any different.
I JUST POSTED A MISSED CONNECTION ON CRAIGSLIST. this is so exciting/terrifying/i'm sure not that gratifying since he probably won't ever see it. but STILL. I did it! That's a success on it's own. I'll keep you updated on any developments in the case.
I'm also starting to get kind of nervous about going abroad. I wouldn't say that I'm "scared" per se, but I'm HIGHLY nervous. More about missing things here than actually being there. And I'm sure that once I am there and into the swing of things, it will be all good. Also, goodbye party will be August 7th so be there or be square.
I went to the Nationals/Braves game last night with Heidi, Ellie, and Maie. It was fun and entertaining since none of them had ever been to a baseball game before (obviously anti-American). To sum up the evening: Ellie had one beer and was trying to lick my face, Heidi was being foot-fondeled by the older man in front of us, and Maie was tired. Pretty typical evening.
I'm going home for a few days this weekend, which is much needed. Also, getting out of my apartment will be a welcomed relief. Everything had been so nice and calm for the past 2 weeks, I had forgotten it could be any different.
I JUST POSTED A MISSED CONNECTION ON CRAIGSLIST. this is so exciting/terrifying/i'm sure not that gratifying since he probably won't ever see it. but STILL. I did it! That's a success on it's own. I'll keep you updated on any developments in the case.
Thursday, July 22, 2010
This is the first day of my (blogging) life
So I'm really stoked to be blogging again. It's been awhile since I have shared my thoughts on life on the interweb. Mainly I was just super jealous of the success of 2birds1blog and I want to be Madison McBlogger. Also, I plan on using this as my travel and work blog so everyone can have updates on my life i.e. read my complaints about everything, probably, and look at pictures of elephants.
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