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!
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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!
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