hell's gate

the past two days were spent near naivasha, about an hour's drive from nairobi. we didn't have class on friday, so a few of us decided to head to hell's gate national park.

we met at 7:00 friday morning, and took a matatu downtown. it was my first matatu ride, and i successfully made it out alive and with nothing stolen. when we got dropped off, we had to walk to a different matatu station, where the matatus heading to naivasha and nakuru leave. we had a hand-written map, but we still didn't know where to go. a matatu driver offered us to show us how to get there. as a mzungu in nairobi, you're always kind of suspicious of these sorts of offers-- it's very hard to tell if someone is genuinely being nice, or if they have alterior motives. luckily, this guy was just being nice and he got us to the station, which is good, since we probably wouldn't have been able to find it ourselves. we bought our ticket and boarded the matatu. we had to wait for it to fill, but we left the city by 10:00.

when we got to naivasha, we asked the matatu driver how to get to fisherman's camp, where we were going to stay for the night. immediately, swarms of guys come up to us, telling us that they will take us there. it was really crazy, but we just told them "no" and walked away. we decided that we would  take pikipikis to the camp. we didn't think it was too far away, but it ended up being almost a 25 minute ride. we checked into our banda, where we stayed for the night. the camp had a restaurant on-site, so we ate lunch there. i ordered penne pasta with what tasted like spaghetti sauce. it was probably the best food i've had since i've been here. then we rented bikes and made our way to hell's gate, about a 3 mile ride.

when we got there, i realized i didn't have my pupil's pass, which is a slip of paper that says i am a resident of kenya for this semester. resident prices at the national parks are much cheaper if you're a resident, so i ended up paying 2500 Ksh ($25) instead of 600 Ksh ($6), which was a real bummer. but then we rode our bikes into the park, and it was absolutely beautiful.

we then wanted to go see the gorge, which was the other site that's really popular at hell's gate. danielle wasn't feeling well, and doug's bike broke, so chris and i went on by ourselves. when we got there, we had to park our bikes and walk down to it. we didn't really know where to go, so we thought we'd just follow a school group. but they were going extremely slow (think high school girls not wanting to get their clothes or shoes dirty...) so we walked off by ourselves. we were obviously going the wrong direction when a man approached us, telling us that he'd show us the way. so he ended up being our guide. we were able to walk through the gorge, which is sometimes filled with quite a bit of water. then we climbed to the top of the ridge, and the view was spectacular.

we had to pay him for guiding us, which we really didn't want to do, but felt obligated. then we biked back, saw random giraffes, and waited for a buffalo crossing. when we got back to camp, we ate supper and had a campfire. we had to pay 250 Ksh for the camp guard to start a fire for us, but it went out about 20 minutes later. we all tried restarting it for over an hour, but with no luck. then two guys came and helped us out and got it started, but it went out again about 10 minutes later. none of us wanted to try to start the fire again, so we just stared at the hot coals. i think we were all embarassed and ashamed that we couldn't start a fire. then the guard walked by and started it up for us again, and it kept burning for another 45 minutes until we decided to go to bed.

the next morning, we ate fruit for breakfast and the pikipikis came to pick us up at 10:00. when we got back into the town of naivasha, we were again swarmed by people, trying to get us on their matatu. it was crazy, there was some pushing and shoving involved by some people, but we made it on a matatu. we had to wait for the bus to fill again, and then we headed back to nairobi.

the trip was really great... the park was definitely one of the most beautiful places i have ever been to. it was nice to travel in a much smaller group, but even the four of us attracted as much attention as it is. and now the rest of my weekend will be filled with researching information for my public health term paper-- disease eradication. i guess i am on a STUDY abroad trip...

ngong hills

last weekend (september 17-18), a large group of us made our way to ngong, which is a town about 30 minutes outside of nairobi. one of the student coordinators for msid, simon, runs a "resort" with his family, and he invited everyone on the program to come for the weekend and help celebrate his 5-year-old daughter's birthday.

21 out of 26 of the msid students went, so it was quite a large group. we all gathered at prestige plaza, dropped our bags off with simon so we didn't have to carry them, and got on a bus to ngong. we were dropped off in the middle of the ngong market, where we waited for our guide. to hike in ngong hills, you need an armed guide for protection-- from both wild animals and people that hide, waiting for unsuspecting hikers.

when the guide arrived, we walked into ngong, got food for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and then walked to the hills. we knew we had to pay for the guide, but we didn't know we had to pay to get into the actual hills. no one had enough money with them, so we decided that we'd just hike around simon's resort instead. so we headed back to ngong, where we got on pikipikis! pikipikis are motorbikes-- i was so scared at first, i only wanted the driver to drive slow, but they're actually a lot of fun.

after we got to the resort, it was time to start hiking. i thought it was just going to be a short hike, but then someone suggested we climb the extremely large hill near camp. we climbed up and over big rocks, scaled a rock wall that is sometimes a waterfall during the wetter rainy season, and eventually made it up to the top. the view was beautiful. it was definitely worth the long trek up to the top.

we made our way back down to camp, ate a delicious supper, and had a bonfire. it was extremely windy and cold in the tents, and i didn't sleep well at all. the next morning we woke up, and walked down to see simon's childhood home. he is from the maasai tribe. he has many brothers and sisters, and the maasai practice polygamy, so his father has 3 wives, and the youngest wife is younger than simon! he showed us his house and the farm area, and then we walked back to camp.

a little later, it was time for the birthday party. a bunch of kids came, we ate lunch, and then it was time for the kenyan cake-eating tradition. the birthday girl, bethany, was fed a small piece of cake, and then she came around and fed everyone a piece that was at the party.

afterwards, bethany opened gifts that we bought for her, and we headed back to nairobi. this time, no pikipikis. the bus ride back was filled with crazy african remixes-- cher's "do you believe in life after love" was my personal favorite. it was a really great weekend. it was nice to get out of the city for awhile-- the smog can get so bad some days, it's nice to breathe some fresh air. it was also really cool to see a traditional maasai home and help celebrate a 5-year-old's birthday. 



cultural differences

now that i've been in kenya for almost three weeks (crazy!) i thought i'd share some of the cultural differences i've had to adjust to.

--take your tea. kenyans drink tea like it's water. i'm not sure what kind of tea it is (it's special kenyan tea) but i don't like it. at all. luckily, my family also has sugar, drinking chocolate, and hot milk available, so i just drink hot chocolate instead. i have to have this every morning with breakfast and later in the afternoon. we also get a tea break at school, but there they only have the kenyan tea so i don't drink it then.

--breakfast in kenya is not like breakfast in the united states. all i eat for breakfast is bread with blue band (kenyan version of i can't believe it's not butter). some days i'll have a fried egg, but that's not often. i'm usually starving by lunchtime, but i think that since most kenyans have a mid-morning tea break with bread again, they don't feel the need to eat quite as much for breakfast.

--my family has "house help". her name is metrin, and she lives in the house with us. she cooks, cleans, and takes care of the 4 month old baby when my parents are at work. most middle class kenyans have house helps. since the unemployment rate is so high (close to 30%) most see it as their duty to hire a house help. my house help lives in the house since there is so much work to do with the baby, but some only work 3 or 4 days a week. my family also has a different person come in on saturday to do laundry and more cleaning.

-- clothes are handwashed and hung outside to dry. there are 26 students in the msid program, and 1 guy lives with a family that owns a washer. since my family hires someone to wash their clothes, i do not have to do my own laundry, which i am thankful for.

--kenyans eat supper late. my family doesn't eat supper until around 7:30, but it can range anywhere from 7:00 to 10:00. this was a big adjustment for me-- i was so used to eating around 5 or 5:30. also, supper can sit on the table for a half hour to an hour before anyone even eats it.

--my family eats ugali like there's no tomorrow. we have it almost every night for supper. it's a tasteless cornmeal substance. they mix it in with the other food they're eating; it's just a filler food. i think it's disgusting, so my family makes rice, potatoes, or spaghetti for me instead. also, it is eaten with their hands.

--limited dairy products. the only time i have any dairy is when i drink the hot chocolate. the milk we get comes in little bags, probably 2 cups worth of milk per bag. i'd kill for a piece of cheese right now...

-- spanish soap operas dubbed over in english. my family just has basic television service, so spanish soap operas are pretty much the only thing on tv. i'll never complain about the "farmer five" ever again.

-- i sleep with a mosquito net. although officials say malaria has been eradicated in nairobi, i don't want to take my chances. it's a huge canopy that hangs from the ceiling and then i tuck it into my bed like a sheet.

--they are no traffic signs. or stoplights. or speed limits. the only sort of road infastructure i've seen is huge 2 or 3 lane roundabouts. there are stoplights at some of the larger intersections, but many drivers don't even obey them. which leads me to my next point...

-- kenyans are CRAZY drivers. they drive way too fast, way too close to the other cars, and take way too many chances. i believe their motto is "drive fast, take chances". ;) they are also not very respectful to pedestrians. one of our professors always says "when we see someone crossing the road, we speed up to try to hit them." that gives me a lot of confidence when i have to cross a crazy busy road to get to school every day.

-- they like their cell phones. i was also kind of annoyed with the "texting while walking" i always saw in the united states. although kenyans don't do that, they do find it perfectly acceptable to answer their phones in places most americans would probably consider inappropriate. they say that part of their culture is keeping in contact with people, so that is why they talk on the phone so much.

--a clean car is a good car. every morning when walking to school, i always see people washing their cars, even if they aren't that dirty. although i've never asked anyone about this, i'm assuming that owning a car is much more of a "status symbol" than it is in the united states, so they want to show off a clean car.

-- the "thicker" the better. in the united states, there is so much hype with being skinny. here, being skinny is seen as malnourished, so more meat on the bones is better. one of the girls on the program was told that if her pants still fit, she's not eating enough. it's carbs up the wazooo, so i'm trying to eat those in moderation since i'm not getting a ton of physical activity. (i'd like my pants to keep fitting.)

-- beware of the matatus. matatus are the main form of public transportation in kenyakenya) account for 50% of traffic accidents in the world. with the matatus, there is the driver, and then another guy that tries to get people to ride. at a stop, if you're not careful, they'll physically force you towards the matatu to get on it. the drivers are crazy, trying to pick up as many passengers and getting to the destination as fast as possible.

-- markets, markets, and more markets. everywhere you look, there are tin-roofed fruit and vegetable stands, or secondhand clothing being sold. a few days ago, i went to toy market on the outskirts of kibera. it was huge. much of the clothes is from the salvation army from other countries. so if you've ever donated clothes, it's possible that it might end up at a market in kenya one day.

-- there is plenty of western influence here. right across the road from kibera is prestige plaza, a huge shopping/supermarket/movie theater. it contains nakumatt, which is the equivalent of a walmart supercenter. farther down the road, the second kentucky fried chicken in kenya just opened. apparently there was a line out the building.


although there are a lot of culture differences, i'm really enjoying learning about these differences.

week 2 of classes: completed

well, week two of classes are finished, which means i have already completed about 30% of the classroom phase. it's easy to see how this semester is just going to fly by.

last saturday (september 10) around 10 of us went to the giraffe center in KAREN, on the outskirts of nairobi. we left around 8:30, as we wanted to beat the big tourist rush that happens around lunchtime. we took a bus there, and once we got dropped off, we had to walk about another mile to get to the center. since we're technically  "residents" for the semester, we got in for 100Ksh (1 dollar). the center has a balcony so the giraffe's heads are right at you're level-- we were able to feed them, pet them, and kiss them (put the food in between our teeth and then let the giraffes lick your face). it was a cool experience to be that close to the giraffes.

 after lunch, half of the group went back while the other half wanted to stay and explore the area some more. i stayed. we thought we would be able to make a loop walking around the park. we weren't able to, got slightly lost, and ended up walking almost 2 hours before we made our way back to the bus stop.

later that day, a few of us went downtown for a performance put on by the kibera girls soccer academy, an organization that one of the guys in the program is volunteering/interning at. they put on a play about women's empowerment, and there was also music, poetry, and singing involved. it was really great. afterwards, we headed over to an ethiopian restaurant, as one of the girls in my program was celebrating her birthday. i didn't order any food, but i did get free cake. ;)

sunday was a day of laziness. i didn't want to go to church so i slept in. i'm glad i didn't go-- my family left at 8:45 and didn't get back until almost 2:00. the church services over here, although usually much more energetic and lively, are much longer than back in the united states.

classes throughout the week were pretty uneventful. every class i'm in, besides swahili, requires a term paper, so at the end of the semester, i will have written more than 50 pages worth. i'm not quite used to this-- i think i'd almost rather take an organic chemistry exam? writing just isn't my forte....

thursday after school, a few of us walked to uchumi (grocery store) to pick up some food items to donate to the burn victims of the sinai pipeline explosion. we then walked to kenyatta national hospital, where the victims are hospitalized. they were greatly appreciative of our donations, and even allowed us to see some of the patients. the whole experience was very surreal-- most had a lot of there skin burned off their face, and some were in full body casts. afterwards, we went to donate blood. i had never donated blood before, and was somewhat skeptical of having my first time being in kenya, but after seeing the burn victims, i would have felt quilty not donating. i really felt great about myself afterwards, but keep the victims in your thoughts and prayers-- some of them could be in the hospital for 3 months yet.

this weekend i'm going camping in ngong, outside of nairobi. it should be a good adventure!

gas pipeline explosion

for everyone concerned about me back home...

this morning, a gas pipeline exploded in one of the slums of nairobi. it happened on the east side of nairobi, not near where i live.

the population density in the slums is really high. to make things worse, many people went to the leak in the pipeline to try to collect some of the oil. people are so poor, they will do anything to make a dollar or two, and it ended tragically.

i am safe, do not worry, but keep all the people affected in your thoughts and prayers.

week two in kenya: first week of classes

hello to everyone back home! i survived my first week of classes in kenya.

on monday, we went to school and met some of our teachers. then we walked to the msid office, about a 15 minute walk from school. The msid office has computers and wireless internet, as well as books to check out for reading and writing term papers. then we took a bus downtown. we walked around a lot, got old school cell phones that look like what everyone had in middle school, and then came back home.

tuesday was the first real day of classes-- four hours of swahili. on most days, i have class from 8:30-10:30, a 15 minute tea break, class from 10:45 to 12:45, 45 minutes for lunch, and then another class form 1:30 to 3:30. i'm not used to being in class for this many hours-- i'm so used to the college schedule with two or three classes a day and then just studying. on tuesday and friday we had the afternoon off, which was nice. i think having the afternoon off will be somewhat frequent. although the classes are important, the program staff understands that part of studying abroad is going out to explore the country and getting a feel for the culture, something that cannot be done very well just sitting in class.  

i think i have finally adjusted to the kenyan culture. i need to drink tea every morning with breakfast and my house help brings me a cup later in the afternoon (around 6:00). kenyans eat supper late-- anywhere from 7:00 to 10:00. my family usually eats around 7:30, because my host brother goes to bed at 8:30. my family usually doesn't eat supper together, so the meal can sit on the table for an hour or so before anyone eats sometimes.

i am still getting used to the food here though. i feel like i'm carbo loading all the time. i have bread with butter or chocolately peanut butter for breakfast, chapati (unleavened bread) for lunch, and rice, spaghetti, or fried potatoes for supper. i don't feel like my diet is that balanced-- they don't eat much for dairy products and i don't like the meat here much either. the only thing that is absolutely amazing is the fruit. it is all so fresh and delicious!

Lake Nakuru National Park. This is the hostel I stayed at last week. notice the baboons-- there were a ton of them. you had to be very careful about your camera/purse/etc. or they'd snatch it and climb up in a tree. we also had to keep the doors locked on the buildings. one day a baboon went into one of the buildings and there was a girl sleeping and it started playing with her hair!

the group at lake nakuru. this was on our first safari! we saw zebras, buffalo, lions (only female, no male), giraffes, and many other animals. no elephants though.

me at the equator. this was coming back from lake nakuru to nairobi. i find this picture ironic because i'm wearing long pants and a fleece sweatshirt-- it's not very warm here! you always think of the equator of being so hot, but that is not the case. the seasons are opposite, so the winter season has just ended and it's considered spring now. the days have been quite chilly-- i've been comfortable in pants and a long sleeve shirt. it will start to warm up quickly though!

week one part two

saturday morning we left the park to come back to nairobi. our host families met us at nazarene university, where i'll be taking classes for the next seven weeks. my host mom and brother picked me up and took me home. i was really nervous to meet them, but she gave me a hug right away. the house is about a 15 minute walk from the university.

i live in sunview estates, which is a gated community of probably around 200 houses (actually like duplexes). it is a middle class neighborhood. my family has a tv, running hot water, a toilet, electricity, etc. i have my own room which is nice. most middle class families have house help, which cook, clean, babysit, etc. since the unemployment rate of kenya is so high, for middle class families, hiring house help is seen as the right thing to do.

saturday afternoon i watched tv and played dominoes with my 10 year old host brother, sean. he's very talkative and outgoing. sunday i went to church with my family, which was interesting. it was an outdoor service, and there was probably close to 400 people there. it was "olympic day" so my host dad ran the 1500 m run and there were other games and running events also. you know those kenyans... ;) we had fish for supper, and it was on the bone, which was interesting. my host brother just had the fish tail sitting on his plate, which was kind of hard to look at... not the most appetizing thing in the word. i told me family i didn't like ugali so they made me rice, which was great.

monday i met with the other students at the university and we took a bus downtown (20 shillings=20 cent bus fare) and bought cell phones and got internet modems. yay!.. now i have internet. :)

this country is seriously indescribable. i have to keep reminding myself that this is a third-world country. sidewalks are non-existant outside of the downtown area, there are only well worn dirt paths. garbage is everywhere. drivers are crazy and there are traffic jams everywhere. tin-roofed shantytowns can be found everywhere. it's been a truly eye opening experience and has really made me appreciate what i have in life.

i also found out where i'll be going for my internship after classes are over. i'll be interning at msambweni dictrict hospital in msambweni, which is along the coast of the indian ocean. what i have been told is that i'll just follow doctors around all day, doing things i'm not trained to do. it'll be a great experience because even medical school students don't get that kind of hospital experience until their third year in school, and i'll get it as a pre-med student.

i can tell already that this will probably be the hardest, though most rewarding thing, i have ever done in my life. i have already experienced many things i would never have been able to in the united states, and i'm sure new experiences will happen all the time.

until next time, emma.

week one part one

my life is so exciting that it needs two blog posts. so get ready.

mom, dad, and will all went to o'hare to drop me off. we got there around 1:00, and my flight didn't leave until 4:20. we said our goodbyes and then i stood in line to get through security. that didn't take long and i waited 2 hours to get on the the plane. the plane landed in amsterdam early the next morning, i had a 4 hour layover (naptime) and then boarded the plane to nairobi. we arrived in nairobi around 8:00 pm. there were about 10 other msid students on the plane, so we all got our visas stamped and collected our luggage together. we got on a bus and went to a hostel for then night. the first thing i realized about kenya was that the drivers are CRAZY! every time is tea time in kenya, so when we got to the hostel at 11:30 at night, we had to drink tea. the last thing i wanted to do when i was just on a plane for 15 hours is drink tea.

the next morning we woke up early, went to downtown nairobi to exchange money and get our residence passes, and left to lake nakuru national park, where we stayed for 3 nights. we had orientation during the day and then went on safaris in the late afternoon. we saw lots of baboons, lions, zebras, giraffes, rhinos, buffalo, among other things. it was so cool.

i didn't really like the food at orientation. kenyans eat most of their meat on the bone, which i don't really like. they also eat alot of ugali, which is made out of cornmeal. it looks like mashed potatoes, but definitely does not taste like mashed potatoes. it's a filler carbohydrate, so it doesn't have any taste and is meant to be eaten with other food to "fill you up". i just cannot get over the tastelessness.

on friday morning, we had an excursion to a rural community where we learned about one of the tribes of the area. we also stopped at a market, and all the kids yell "mzungu, mzungu", which means "white person"-- they obviously don't see very many in the rural areas.