Adventures in Africa
Click on photo to see more photos that I've recently added! This one is of the market in Bungoma.
Yesterday was super fun. Head downtown to meet up with Lauren and had some breakfast (HUGE meal for about 100 shillings = $1.60CAD) then to find a matatu to take us to the TUSKER CUP! From what I've gathered this is an annual competition between the national teams of select countries in Africa. We got some VIP tickets for the finals (and the 3rd place match). Once we managed to get all the way out to Moi Stadium (named after a former President) we head to the stadium. It was quite huge - but there seemed to be no people. It was raining, but didn't anyone want to see the 3rd place match between South Africa and Ghana? Only about 1000 people were there. We got a free TUSKER (Kenyan beer) bandana. We bought some doughnuts (the only concession available and sat in the mostly empty stadium. Ghana slaughtered South Africa. Then the Kenyan fans slowly filtered in. The stadium only got to about 1/3 capacity - probably because of the drizzle & rain. We had been mistakenly sitting in the press box for the first game so were asked to move somewhere else - we saw that the other side of the stadium was mostly empty but still had good seats, so we went there. As the Kenyan and Tanzanian players came out there was mass cheering. Deafening roars. Adding to this were the sound effects that they play of roaring crowds - it was hilarious during the first game when there were hardly any people there - to have fake cheers coming from the speakers. But then we were faced with a dilemma. What team was Kenya? The people we were sitting around seemed to be cheering for the Red-jersey'd team. Which would make sense - because there is red in the Kenyan flag. But then there was also the yellow jersey'd team who also got a lot of cheers. And yellow was the colour of TUSKER beer which they had given out t-shirts and bandanas for. Why would they give out yellow merchandise if that was the colour of the opposing team. But there is no yellow in the Kenyan flag!!
To make things even more confusing, people would yell when just about anything happened. We weren't sure what to do. We obviously stood out. Then I started to get the sneaking suspicion that we were on the Tanzanian side. What to do!? The first half was scoreless. At the half-time break we head out and found a girl selling MALTA - the non-alcoholic Guinness energy drink (don't try it - it's gross). We asked her colour the Kenya team was. She couldn't speak any English other than - "Hello, would you like a Malta" "Only 20 Shillings!" "Thank you". So we went up to a security guard and asked him, feeling like complete fools. He told us that Kenya was sponsored by Tusker and therefore wore yellow - Tanzania's team was called Simba and wore red. In my embarrassment I blurted out -
Kenya ended up losing a valiant battle 1-0. But there didn't seem to be too much hostility. No crowd stampedes (like at the last game they played where a child was killed after being trampled). Although the fact that it was an alcohol-free game probably had something to do with the lack of craziness (and perhaps attendance).
To make things even more confusing, people would yell when just about anything happened. We weren't sure what to do. We obviously stood out. Then I started to get the sneaking suspicion that we were on the Tanzanian side. What to do!? The first half was scoreless. At the half-time break we head out and found a girl selling MALTA - the non-alcoholic Guinness energy drink (don't try it - it's gross). We asked her colour the Kenya team was. She couldn't speak any English other than - "Hello, would you like a Malta" "Only 20 Shillings!" "Thank you". So we went up to a security guard and asked him, feeling like complete fools. He told us that Kenya was sponsored by Tusker and therefore wore yellow - Tanzania's team was called Simba and wore red. In my embarrassment I blurted out -
"Thanks for letting us know - We're not from here!"Officially the understatement of the year. Seriously - we couldn't stop laughing. I can't believe I said that. Like anything could have been more obvious.
Kenya ended up losing a valiant battle 1-0. But there didn't seem to be too much hostility. No crowd stampedes (like at the last game they played where a child was killed after being trampled). Although the fact that it was an alcohol-free game probably had something to do with the lack of craziness (and perhaps attendance).
(Written from Bungoma after a stressful day)
I don’t even know what to say. First of all, we left early, early this morning to catch the plane to Kisumu. The flight was fine (there was actually more leg room than I’ve ever experienced and the seats were leather) on East African Airlines. Were picked up at the airport and driven the hour and a half north up to Bungoma, near the Ugandan border. The number of people on bicycles was astounding. Sugar cane and maize are the main crops and the land is lush and fertile. We went to the Youth for Youth (Y4Y) office in the regional government compound.
To explain Y4Y’s program and our involvement with them, this is a partner program that CSA is involved with coordinating and ensuring funding, alongside with Paula, a professor from UCLA who is the force (and much of the funding behind the project). The way Y4Y work’s is that it strives to form a peer to peer training and information program which trains kids in secondary schools in this highly effected region of Kenya to teach their peers about adolescent health regarding reproduction, including services available to them, myths, birth control, and safe sex. Considering the instance of HIV is close to 30% in this region and close to half of the children in the area have lost one or both parents and growing numbers of HIV cases in the PRIMARY and secondary schools - these are important issues. There are also serious issues regarding teen pregnancy as girls in the region are already under-educated and with close to 1 in 4 girls in a single class getting pregnant - there is a very serious lack of information regarding preventing these kind of statistics - save for abstinence promotion which is not really working (obviously). Their program does promote abstinence but also informs the kids of what birth control is, and what STDs are, as well as who they can contact for help. This information coming from their peers allows a freer discussion to take place. In addition, they are able to mentor primary schools (where there are a surprising number of pregnancies amongst girls 14 and under) as well as partnering up with health care facilities to ensure that the youth coming in for assistance are actually receiving adequate care rather than being sent home because they are too young to be treated for these STDs and questions about birth control.
Rosemarie and I were introduced to some officials and then, after a quick lunch, were taken to several of the schools to have quick meetings with the head teachers/principles who were assisting on running the program, and actually met quite a bit of the staff in several of the schools. At one primary school, the students were out on recess and as I was there to document the visit and gather some photos for the website, I snapped a few photos of the kids. Well, as I took a photo of a few of them, suddenly I thought I was in the middle of the wildebeest migration. The earth shook as dozens of kids ran towards and around me, wanting to pose for photos. I took a few and then showed them the photos on the view screen of my camera. More pandemonium. Once the kids were more comfortable they found great interest in my hair and would touch it and then say “Ewwww!”. Unfortunately we were on a tight schedule so I couldn’t stay there very long but it was an interesting stop. In this part of the country, wazoongu (foreigners) are unabashedly stared at. And all the kids want to talk to you and practice their English.
After that fun and light moment it was a bit of a crash down to the reality of the situation in Kenya and many countries in Africa as I had the opportunity to sit in on a focus group conducted by Y4Y with some teachers at a school that is participating in their program. I think that the teachers are actually the biggest hurdle in this fight against AIDS and reproductive health in this region. They had no idea what they were talking about. Most of them had never seen a condom before. They felt that birth control pills gave girls cancer and any kind of birth control should not be administered to girls until they HAD HAD A FEW CHILDREN, just to see their level of fertility. Well, seeing as it’s not uncommon for girls in this region to have 2 or 3 children before they reach the age of 20 (outside of marriage), then I would say that they don’t have to worry about how fertile the girls are. The things I heard! Like one teacher, when asked whether a broken condom was able to prevent the spread of HIV, answered by saying that people who have sex before marriage, regardless of condoms used or not, will get AIDS because that’s what sinning does - it gives you AIDS. This is a teacher who students go to for questions about these kinds of topics. It’s just so unbelievably frustrating. I understand that they don’t want people having premarital sex, and that they don’t want it to be encouraged. However, knowing that it is HAPPENING and that girls are getting pregnant and that STDs and the level of HIV infection is SO HIGH - I can’t understand why people are opposing this kind of education - it’s a health issue - it’s not a matter of education. How many millions of people die here because of this and they are still so very hesitant to even acknowledge that it is a problem. Many people who contract AIDS don’t even go and get testing even when the symptoms are clear. They refuse to admit that they have it. And guess what! They spread it around to their wives and girlfriends and everyone else. It was just hard to see that there are these programs out there to combat this problem, and it is being met with so much resistance, despite the horrendous damage it has done to this continent.
Not that everyone here is like that - pretty much everyone I’ve had a chance to meet who is Kenyan and working in the NGO sector is amazing. And some of the teachers we met at the other schools were so supportive of the program and THANKFUL for the results it has had, both as educational and health tools, but as giving the students something that is their own and giving them accountability and a part in the fight. So, it was a very eventful day. I’m a bit spent. Tomorrow is more meetings and sitting in on a presentation to some ministers before flying home on an evening flight. Now to sleep (under mosquito net).
I don’t even know what to say. First of all, we left early, early this morning to catch the plane to Kisumu. The flight was fine (there was actually more leg room than I’ve ever experienced and the seats were leather) on East African Airlines. Were picked up at the airport and driven the hour and a half north up to Bungoma, near the Ugandan border. The number of people on bicycles was astounding. Sugar cane and maize are the main crops and the land is lush and fertile. We went to the Youth for Youth (Y4Y) office in the regional government compound.
To explain Y4Y’s program and our involvement with them, this is a partner program that CSA is involved with coordinating and ensuring funding, alongside with Paula, a professor from UCLA who is the force (and much of the funding behind the project). The way Y4Y work’s is that it strives to form a peer to peer training and information program which trains kids in secondary schools in this highly effected region of Kenya to teach their peers about adolescent health regarding reproduction, including services available to them, myths, birth control, and safe sex. Considering the instance of HIV is close to 30% in this region and close to half of the children in the area have lost one or both parents and growing numbers of HIV cases in the PRIMARY and secondary schools - these are important issues. There are also serious issues regarding teen pregnancy as girls in the region are already under-educated and with close to 1 in 4 girls in a single class getting pregnant - there is a very serious lack of information regarding preventing these kind of statistics - save for abstinence promotion which is not really working (obviously). Their program does promote abstinence but also informs the kids of what birth control is, and what STDs are, as well as who they can contact for help. This information coming from their peers allows a freer discussion to take place. In addition, they are able to mentor primary schools (where there are a surprising number of pregnancies amongst girls 14 and under) as well as partnering up with health care facilities to ensure that the youth coming in for assistance are actually receiving adequate care rather than being sent home because they are too young to be treated for these STDs and questions about birth control.
Rosemarie and I were introduced to some officials and then, after a quick lunch, were taken to several of the schools to have quick meetings with the head teachers/principles who were assisting on running the program, and actually met quite a bit of the staff in several of the schools. At one primary school, the students were out on recess and as I was there to document the visit and gather some photos for the website, I snapped a few photos of the kids. Well, as I took a photo of a few of them, suddenly I thought I was in the middle of the wildebeest migration. The earth shook as dozens of kids ran towards and around me, wanting to pose for photos. I took a few and then showed them the photos on the view screen of my camera. More pandemonium. Once the kids were more comfortable they found great interest in my hair and would touch it and then say “Ewwww!”. Unfortunately we were on a tight schedule so I couldn’t stay there very long but it was an interesting stop. In this part of the country, wazoongu (foreigners) are unabashedly stared at. And all the kids want to talk to you and practice their English.
After that fun and light moment it was a bit of a crash down to the reality of the situation in Kenya and many countries in Africa as I had the opportunity to sit in on a focus group conducted by Y4Y with some teachers at a school that is participating in their program. I think that the teachers are actually the biggest hurdle in this fight against AIDS and reproductive health in this region. They had no idea what they were talking about. Most of them had never seen a condom before. They felt that birth control pills gave girls cancer and any kind of birth control should not be administered to girls until they HAD HAD A FEW CHILDREN, just to see their level of fertility. Well, seeing as it’s not uncommon for girls in this region to have 2 or 3 children before they reach the age of 20 (outside of marriage), then I would say that they don’t have to worry about how fertile the girls are. The things I heard! Like one teacher, when asked whether a broken condom was able to prevent the spread of HIV, answered by saying that people who have sex before marriage, regardless of condoms used or not, will get AIDS because that’s what sinning does - it gives you AIDS. This is a teacher who students go to for questions about these kinds of topics. It’s just so unbelievably frustrating. I understand that they don’t want people having premarital sex, and that they don’t want it to be encouraged. However, knowing that it is HAPPENING and that girls are getting pregnant and that STDs and the level of HIV infection is SO HIGH - I can’t understand why people are opposing this kind of education - it’s a health issue - it’s not a matter of education. How many millions of people die here because of this and they are still so very hesitant to even acknowledge that it is a problem. Many people who contract AIDS don’t even go and get testing even when the symptoms are clear. They refuse to admit that they have it. And guess what! They spread it around to their wives and girlfriends and everyone else. It was just hard to see that there are these programs out there to combat this problem, and it is being met with so much resistance, despite the horrendous damage it has done to this continent.
Not that everyone here is like that - pretty much everyone I’ve had a chance to meet who is Kenyan and working in the NGO sector is amazing. And some of the teachers we met at the other schools were so supportive of the program and THANKFUL for the results it has had, both as educational and health tools, but as giving the students something that is their own and giving them accountability and a part in the fight. So, it was a very eventful day. I’m a bit spent. Tomorrow is more meetings and sitting in on a presentation to some ministers before flying home on an evening flight. Now to sleep (under mosquito net).
Had a pretty incredible time in Bungoma and the surrounding area (Western Kenya) but have to be off as I'm attending the TUSKER CUP - a big soccer tournament - the finals this afternoon are Kenya vs. Tanzania - should be an interesting game. We got VIP tickets for about $4. I think VIP means we have seats. I'll write a little more about my trip later. This photo is of some kids at a primary school we visited that is part of a peer-to-peer training program. When they saw me with the camera it was like a stampede. Also the fact that a random white girl was at their school. This is an area that not many tourists go to so I was a rarity. They had fun practicing their english on me and checking out the photos of themselves on my view finder.
More later...
I'm quite excited. I found out today that I am heading out to visit our field office for some meetings in Western Kenya - Bungoma to be exact - just a few hours drive north of Kisumu. Rosemarie (the director of CSA) and I will be flying to Kisumu on Thursday and spend one night there before heading back Friday evening. Should be interesting to sit in on some meetings and also get a chance to see rural Kenya.
This afternoon everyone from the office went to pay our respects to one of our co-workers whose mother died last week. In Kenya when someone dies, you pitch in some money and either give it directly to the family to help pay for the funeral, or, as we did, go buy groceries and supplies for them, as they will have to entertain and host people coming to pay their respects.
The power keeps going off at work. All Friday morning, Monday for about half the day, and then this morning for about an hour. This makes things a little bit difficult when all the work you are supposed to be doing is on the computer. I've been reading a lot of newspapers. The stories and perspectives are a little different than you would find in North American media. The things that happen in Africa that you would never hear about in other parts of the world. It's quite eye-opening.
Quickly a really, really fun link courtesey of Mariza! Watch out - the song will get stuck in your head. Also, there are no tigers in Kenya - but it's still a great song. http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/kenya/
This afternoon everyone from the office went to pay our respects to one of our co-workers whose mother died last week. In Kenya when someone dies, you pitch in some money and either give it directly to the family to help pay for the funeral, or, as we did, go buy groceries and supplies for them, as they will have to entertain and host people coming to pay their respects.
The power keeps going off at work. All Friday morning, Monday for about half the day, and then this morning for about an hour. This makes things a little bit difficult when all the work you are supposed to be doing is on the computer. I've been reading a lot of newspapers. The stories and perspectives are a little different than you would find in North American media. The things that happen in Africa that you would never hear about in other parts of the world. It's quite eye-opening.
Quickly a really, really fun link courtesey of Mariza! Watch out - the song will get stuck in your head. Also, there are no tigers in Kenya - but it's still a great song. http://www.weebls-stuff.com/toons/kenya/
I got a chance to go on a little safari (journey in Swahili) this past weekend. Tim (dutch guy here doing research) was invited by a colleague of his (Walter - also dutch but living here permanently) to go out to Hell's Gate National Park (about 2 hours drive from Nairobi) and had some extra space in the car so Lauren & I were invited along. We set out Saturday morning and made our first stop around lunch time (the drive was very slow because of thick fog that caused several accidents) on Lake Naivasha at Elsamere – former home of Joy Adamson (author of “Born Free”). We had lunch there surrounded by monkeys, colobus, and colourful birds that swooped down to steal your food if you weren't watching. From there we head on the VERY bumpy road - to give you an idea of how bumpy and pothole filled the highway was, people don't actually drive on the road, they drive BESIDE the road because to actually drive on the road could take hours and would probably permanently damage your car (even if it was 4-wheel drive).
The park itself was great – it is said to be the inspiration for the scenery used in The Lion King – and you can kind of see it – lots of gorges & cliffs overlooking vast plains. Once driving around the park we were lucky enough to see tons of zebra (there are so many zebra it gets to the point where you get bored seeing them), gazelle (difficult to photograph because they are very timid), eland (big antelope – also timid), giraffe (most exciting to see – we saw 2 pairs of 2 but they stumbled away after a few minutes), African buffalo, baboons, vervet monkeys, and lots of birds. The number of animals was astounding. This park allows you to walk around if you want because there are no predators in the park (lion, cheetah, etc). The only disappointing thing was the weather – it was quite overcast and hazy which made photography difficult and didn't yield as good of results as I would have hoped. However, it was a great experience. We camped overnight on top of one of the cliffs. The other people camping there told us they saw hyena's the night before. That kind of freaked me out. But we didn't see any. Probably because it was so cold.
The next morning we went for a walk and saw all of the same animals that we saw the day before, except more or less stumbled upon them walking. The zebras are so numerous it seemed almost like they were cows in a field. They seemed to have the same relaxed attitude as well. Even as we were driving out and the zebra were on the road – we had to honk for them to move.
On the way home we took the “old highway” back into Nairobi – stopping briefly to check out a tiny Italian church on the side of the road built by the Italian prisoners who also built the highway, back in the 1930s. We stopped to view the Rift Valley – it seems like you can see forever – and enjoyed some time in the sun, chatting with some locals.
As we drove into Nairobi there was a big sign (that I didn't have time to take a photo of – but MARK MY WORDS – I WILL!) that said “Welcome to Nairobi – Home of the Hot Dog”. I swear this is what it said. This place is truly crazy.
The excitement never ends here. There have been protests over the last 3 days that have resulted in riots and one person being killed. One of the co-workers of another intern who is here was actually shot by the police during the protests (but not killed). Apparently all of this took place near parliament in an area downtown but other than some increased traffic, no one I spoke to really noticed any commotion outside of that small area. I think I'll be refraining from taking part in any demonstrations while here. Getting shot at really isn't my thing.
I apologize to all of my film-industry friends but on Wednesday, I caved. I bought a pirated DVD. For about $6 Canadian, I got 5 movies – Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Madagascar, Sin City, The Longest Yard, and Batman Begins. They are very obviously filmed inside a cinema, you can hear the people laughing and the picture quality isn't great, but it will sure combat my boredom on some weeknights when the only thing on tv is the News (in Swahili) or Oprah. Oprah is on about 10 times a day. It feels like every time I turn on the tv, Oprah is out there with Clay Aitkin, fulfilling people's dreams. Although it could be worse. It could be Doctor Phil.
Last night was Indian Theme night! Not on purpose – it just worked out that way. I met up with Lauren, another intern from Canada, and Tim, a Dutch guy here doing research on mangoes that she met at the YMCA where she is staying until her apartment is available. We found this delicious Indian restaurant called “The New Three Bells” and I was finally treated to some food that I actually LOVE. Not that the food is bad here. It's just nothing that I say “Mmmmm” after biting into. I got some AMAZING saag paneer and naan. Delicious. I still have to find a place that has butter chicken. But mark my words - if there is butter chicken anywhere in this city, I will find it! Then we head to the cinema to check out an Indian film! It was hilarious – total Bollywood style musical! There was even an intermission. Modern story about a doctor in Mumbai who is pretends he is married so that he doesn't have to make a commitment to any of his “girlfriends” but then he falls in love and wants to marry one girl and she wants to meet his wife before he divorces her. Chaos, musical numbers and numerous costume changes ensue. Very, very entertaining but it kind of dragged on at the end. It had English subtitles but bits and pieces of the dialog were in English anyway. Good times.
I apologize to all of my film-industry friends but on Wednesday, I caved. I bought a pirated DVD. For about $6 Canadian, I got 5 movies – Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Madagascar, Sin City, The Longest Yard, and Batman Begins. They are very obviously filmed inside a cinema, you can hear the people laughing and the picture quality isn't great, but it will sure combat my boredom on some weeknights when the only thing on tv is the News (in Swahili) or Oprah. Oprah is on about 10 times a day. It feels like every time I turn on the tv, Oprah is out there with Clay Aitkin, fulfilling people's dreams. Although it could be worse. It could be Doctor Phil.
Last night was Indian Theme night! Not on purpose – it just worked out that way. I met up with Lauren, another intern from Canada, and Tim, a Dutch guy here doing research on mangoes that she met at the YMCA where she is staying until her apartment is available. We found this delicious Indian restaurant called “The New Three Bells” and I was finally treated to some food that I actually LOVE. Not that the food is bad here. It's just nothing that I say “Mmmmm” after biting into. I got some AMAZING saag paneer and naan. Delicious. I still have to find a place that has butter chicken. But mark my words - if there is butter chicken anywhere in this city, I will find it! Then we head to the cinema to check out an Indian film! It was hilarious – total Bollywood style musical! There was even an intermission. Modern story about a doctor in Mumbai who is pretends he is married so that he doesn't have to make a commitment to any of his “girlfriends” but then he falls in love and wants to marry one girl and she wants to meet his wife before he divorces her. Chaos, musical numbers and numerous costume changes ensue. Very, very entertaining but it kind of dragged on at the end. It had English subtitles but bits and pieces of the dialog were in English anyway. Good times.
Friday I went downtown to meet Lauren, another Canadian intern, downtown for dinner and to check out the "downtown scene". I took a cab initially and it was actually fairly cheap. I'm sure I was charged more than a local, but that is to be expected and is pretty much unavoidable. We met up and walked around trying to figure out where we should head for dinner. The city, as I mentioned before, is quite nice. I mean, it's not like walking around downtown Vancouver or something. But there are nice wide streets, an interesting assortment of buildings and the people seem polite. The are less visible street people in the downtown core than there are in Toronto. There are, however, several hundred (or so it seems) vendors crowding the sidewalks, selling everything from cassettes, to used shoes, to tinfoil airplanes. The only real dangers we encountered were while crossing the streets (the driving is INSANE) and huge potholes and cracks in the sidewalks and roads.
We decided to check out an Indian place that was mentioned in my guidebook. Well, maybe it was once Indian but once we took a look at the menus we found that there were only 4 items available and none resembled anything remotely Indian - it was more Kenyan-style. So that was fine - I had some chicken and Lauren had a whole fish and we got some flatbread with it. Then we set out to head to a local bar where the guidebook said there was usually live music played on the weekends. We head through the town (almost getting trampled when the street vendors stampeded out of the area when the police came) and ended up in Mang' Hotel. Up to the second floor where the bar was and it was VERY interesting inside. Black walls with neon-painted decorations, a cage around the bar and soccer playing on the TVS. We asked the manager if there would be live music and he assured us there would be. He sat us (at a table with one other person - this is quite common here). The guy at our table had a hat on that said "On the Prowl". Wow. That just about said it all. Then the "entertainment" started. It wasn't a band - it was 5 teenagers - 3 guys, 2 girls, coming out in matching outfits (jeans & matching jackets for the guys, and skirts & t-shirts for the girls) and they did this dance routine in the middle of the bar. It was so funny but they were quite good. This happened about every 30 minutes. Very interesting. Not exactly what I would call "live music" but definitely entertaining and like nothing you would see in Canada. Lesson learned - the guidebook is not always accurate, but can still take you to some interesting places.
Then we went out to another place downtown which had a patio and we ordered some food. We were sat with another 4 people - a girl and 3 guys. They were young and very friendly, asking us a lot of questions and telling us good places to go. The girl was pretty drunk and kept trying to convince us that we should go out dancing with all of them later than night. She was trying to reassure us about one of the guy's harmlessness by loudly "whispering" to us - "don't worry about him - he's gay!". Funny funny stuff. We ended up leaving before they could convince us to go to a dance club. Maybe next time. It was early (11:30) but seemed really late because it gets dark here around 7pm.
Saturday I head to the National Museum which consists of a bunch of stuffed birds of all kinds, a few interesting dioramas, and some interesting info on the history of the area. It obviously hasn't been updated since the mid-1980s but it's only about a 20 minute walk from my house, has a nice café and wouldn't be a bad place to hang out on a rainy day.
Sunday was Ethiopian food - sooooo gooood and really cheap. It only takes 2 matautu rides to get there. They are fun. Except when you are sitting in the front seat and you are seeing both your life and the city flash before your eyes. I can see why there are no amusement parks here in Kenya - when you ride in these each day, you don't see the need to pay for that kind of "thrill".
Once again - I apologize for the lack of photos - I haven’t had a good chance to take many - plus uploading them takes a long time. Hopefully I’ll have some up by the weekend.
We decided to check out an Indian place that was mentioned in my guidebook. Well, maybe it was once Indian but once we took a look at the menus we found that there were only 4 items available and none resembled anything remotely Indian - it was more Kenyan-style. So that was fine - I had some chicken and Lauren had a whole fish and we got some flatbread with it. Then we set out to head to a local bar where the guidebook said there was usually live music played on the weekends. We head through the town (almost getting trampled when the street vendors stampeded out of the area when the police came) and ended up in Mang' Hotel. Up to the second floor where the bar was and it was VERY interesting inside. Black walls with neon-painted decorations, a cage around the bar and soccer playing on the TVS. We asked the manager if there would be live music and he assured us there would be. He sat us (at a table with one other person - this is quite common here). The guy at our table had a hat on that said "On the Prowl". Wow. That just about said it all. Then the "entertainment" started. It wasn't a band - it was 5 teenagers - 3 guys, 2 girls, coming out in matching outfits (jeans & matching jackets for the guys, and skirts & t-shirts for the girls) and they did this dance routine in the middle of the bar. It was so funny but they were quite good. This happened about every 30 minutes. Very interesting. Not exactly what I would call "live music" but definitely entertaining and like nothing you would see in Canada. Lesson learned - the guidebook is not always accurate, but can still take you to some interesting places.
Then we went out to another place downtown which had a patio and we ordered some food. We were sat with another 4 people - a girl and 3 guys. They were young and very friendly, asking us a lot of questions and telling us good places to go. The girl was pretty drunk and kept trying to convince us that we should go out dancing with all of them later than night. She was trying to reassure us about one of the guy's harmlessness by loudly "whispering" to us - "don't worry about him - he's gay!". Funny funny stuff. We ended up leaving before they could convince us to go to a dance club. Maybe next time. It was early (11:30) but seemed really late because it gets dark here around 7pm.
Saturday I head to the National Museum which consists of a bunch of stuffed birds of all kinds, a few interesting dioramas, and some interesting info on the history of the area. It obviously hasn't been updated since the mid-1980s but it's only about a 20 minute walk from my house, has a nice café and wouldn't be a bad place to hang out on a rainy day.
Sunday was Ethiopian food - sooooo gooood and really cheap. It only takes 2 matautu rides to get there. They are fun. Except when you are sitting in the front seat and you are seeing both your life and the city flash before your eyes. I can see why there are no amusement parks here in Kenya - when you ride in these each day, you don't see the need to pay for that kind of "thrill".
Once again - I apologize for the lack of photos - I haven’t had a good chance to take many - plus uploading them takes a long time. Hopefully I’ll have some up by the weekend.
I'm having a great time. Who knew that boiling water (a 20 minute rolling boil) about 3 times a day could be so much fun. But the funny thing is - I'm actually enjoying EVERY SECOND. Everything is so different here. From the commercials - "Wheatabix - it's UNBEATABIX!", to the way the air smells - kind of a mixture of dust, diesel, and bbq'd meat, to the driving - both on the "wrong side of the road" and they don't obey traffic signals! I'm sure once I get used to things here - the little eccentricities will wear thin and perhaps even annoying but I'm enjoying it while I can.
Work is also quite great - but different. The pace of everything is very different. You ask someone for something and you are lucky to get it in an hour. This was nicely illustrated a few days ago when a Prof from UCLA who is here doing a joint research project with CSA was freaking out because some of the data was unusable and newer versions of the files couldn't be found. Rosemarie, our director, was so calm and told her that they would get the files to her - DON'T WORRY! And then did. Eventually. I think it was today actually. It's funny too how there are certain character types of people that emerge in almost every culture. There's this one guy at our office named Fred who is this tall, gangly, jokester guy. I swear I've met at least 5 other people who remind me of him in the past. But he's a Masaai (the warrior tribe) - although I could picture him playing basketball or doing stand-up comedy more than fighting tribal wars.
Today, I went into downtown for the first time. I mentioned to the CSA (work) people that I was going to buy a cell phone after work. They assumed that I would get ripped off at the North American-style mall that I was going to go to and took it upon themselves to take me downtown to get a better deal. I don't think I saved that much in the end but it was SUPER fun going downtown. We had to catch a "mutato" - these vans that they pack people into - sometimes only half slowing down before picking someone up and take you along specified routes for dirt cheap (about 40cents for a 20 minute ride). Downtown is much nicer than I thought. I was hearing horror stories but honestly, it's quite nice. More and more, Nairobi reminds me of Lima. I mean, it's not the cleanest or the most peaceful of cities but it's not a crazy hell hole or anything. And I haven’t really gotten any negative attention - I got stared at more when I was in Japan than here.
This weekend I think I'll venture back downtown to meet up with another intern from Canada. She lives on the other side of the city so the centre is probably the most logical place to meet up initially. Mutato (moo tah toe). I'll try and get some photos of this craziness. Eventually.
Work is also quite great - but different. The pace of everything is very different. You ask someone for something and you are lucky to get it in an hour. This was nicely illustrated a few days ago when a Prof from UCLA who is here doing a joint research project with CSA was freaking out because some of the data was unusable and newer versions of the files couldn't be found. Rosemarie, our director, was so calm and told her that they would get the files to her - DON'T WORRY! And then did. Eventually. I think it was today actually. It's funny too how there are certain character types of people that emerge in almost every culture. There's this one guy at our office named Fred who is this tall, gangly, jokester guy. I swear I've met at least 5 other people who remind me of him in the past. But he's a Masaai (the warrior tribe) - although I could picture him playing basketball or doing stand-up comedy more than fighting tribal wars.
Today, I went into downtown for the first time. I mentioned to the CSA (work) people that I was going to buy a cell phone after work. They assumed that I would get ripped off at the North American-style mall that I was going to go to and took it upon themselves to take me downtown to get a better deal. I don't think I saved that much in the end but it was SUPER fun going downtown. We had to catch a "mutato" - these vans that they pack people into - sometimes only half slowing down before picking someone up and take you along specified routes for dirt cheap (about 40cents for a 20 minute ride). Downtown is much nicer than I thought. I was hearing horror stories but honestly, it's quite nice. More and more, Nairobi reminds me of Lima. I mean, it's not the cleanest or the most peaceful of cities but it's not a crazy hell hole or anything. And I haven’t really gotten any negative attention - I got stared at more when I was in Japan than here.
This weekend I think I'll venture back downtown to meet up with another intern from Canada. She lives on the other side of the city so the centre is probably the most logical place to meet up initially. Mutato (moo tah toe). I'll try and get some photos of this craziness. Eventually.
I have eaten live grubs before. I’ve eaten pickled herring and stinky Danish eszron cheese on too many occasions to count. Yet there are still food-related challenges that strike fear into my heart. And I faced not one, but two of them on my first day of work. And I survived!!! (What a trooper!)
Work was great. The people are all really nice and I even have a nice, brand-new computer to work on. So in the morning, Stella the receptionist made tea for everyone. Kenyan-style tea with condensed milk and sugar. Firstly, I have a slight lactose problem but other than some stomach pains and some burping, it doesn’t really concern me. The main thing was that milk in my tea usually makes me gag. It’s so gross. But that was the easy one. I imagine that won’t be the last cup of sweet milky tea I’ll be drinking.
Next was lunch with Nyaga and Tijara. They took me to the market to pick up a traditional (and very very common) Kenyan dish - nyama choma served with ugali and spinach. Ugali is maize meal bread - very mushy - kind of like very sticky porridge. Nyama choma is roast meat. STEAK! Some of you know that I haven’t eaten beef in almost 8 years - since high school. I mean, I knew that if I had just a few bites I would be ok but what would eating a whole pile of the stuff do to my stomach? While at work? And with the bathroom off the director’s office and she would be in important meetings all afternoon!?! Gar. But, like the good little former Rotary Exchange Student that I am, I ate the meat. It was ok. My stomach made some pretty nasty noises all afternoon but everything stayed intact if you know what I mean. Ugh. I’m sure I’ll be having more than one portion of nyama choma too. But I don’t think it will make me want to go back to eating beef once I’m back from this little culinary adventure. Sorry Alberta beef farmers!!
Two side notes. Firstly, the drivers here are absolutely CRAZY! It can take me up to 10 minutes to cross the street. Seriously. And secondly, as if to balance out the first note, the computers here are soooo sloooooowwwwww! I don't remember dial-up being this slow.
So this is the place...
I'm feeling kind of crappy today - damned jet lag - had a hard time sleeping last night. Luckily this morning, all groggy-like, I was able to just veg and watch the PowderPuff Girls. I hope I can sleep tonight - WORK TOMORROW!!!!
I'm in Kenya!!
There were a few glitches just getting me out of Canada but after all the waiting, I'm here! Thursday I was kind of freaking out about getting everything done before my departure, and was ready to call the cab to head to the airport when... my cell phone was out of service. I had asked them to disconnect it on July 8th - not 7th! I had been using it all day and was at Amie & Michele's place with no access to a phone (they were both at work). I ended up having to lug all my suitcases over to the nearest major street and hail a cab. Not fun in the Toronto heat. Quite the difference in Nairobi, where when we landed it was only 10C! It's still pretty chilly today. Who knew that I'd be walking around in a sweater, fleece and jeans? I think someone was lying when they said it's hot in Africa - that's probably just to attract tourists!!
I was picked up from the airport and whisked away to my apartment. It's a bachelor, fairly small but very clean. The major perks are that it is 5 minutes away from the nearest "mall" which has grocery, clothing and drug stores, a movie theatre with recent films (War of the Worlds & others) and this internet cafe. There is also someone who cleans my room once a day and a pool. I'll post some photos of it soon.
I was initially quite exhausted and disoriented after not sleeping on the flights but managed to sleep for 11 hours and am feeling much better. The people here are extremely friendly and the guys on the street selling pirated DVDs were nice enough to tell me about this internet cafe. Now I just have to go find a bank that accepts my bank card!
There were a few glitches just getting me out of Canada but after all the waiting, I'm here! Thursday I was kind of freaking out about getting everything done before my departure, and was ready to call the cab to head to the airport when... my cell phone was out of service. I had asked them to disconnect it on July 8th - not 7th! I had been using it all day and was at Amie & Michele's place with no access to a phone (they were both at work). I ended up having to lug all my suitcases over to the nearest major street and hail a cab. Not fun in the Toronto heat. Quite the difference in Nairobi, where when we landed it was only 10C! It's still pretty chilly today. Who knew that I'd be walking around in a sweater, fleece and jeans? I think someone was lying when they said it's hot in Africa - that's probably just to attract tourists!!
I was picked up from the airport and whisked away to my apartment. It's a bachelor, fairly small but very clean. The major perks are that it is 5 minutes away from the nearest "mall" which has grocery, clothing and drug stores, a movie theatre with recent films (War of the Worlds & others) and this internet cafe. There is also someone who cleans my room once a day and a pool. I'll post some photos of it soon.
I was initially quite exhausted and disoriented after not sleeping on the flights but managed to sleep for 11 hours and am feeling much better. The people here are extremely friendly and the guys on the street selling pirated DVDs were nice enough to tell me about this internet cafe. Now I just have to go find a bank that accepts my bank card!
I leave tonight. I was shocked and saddened to hear about the news of the bombings in London this morning. It won't affect my flights (that I know of thus far), but I'm stressed worrying about friends in London. Brother Matt is fine in Oxford but there are a handful of other people I hope to hear from fairly soon.
That definitely took away from my focus on "ALL THINGS KATHRYN" this morning. Now I'm not really thinking about going away anymore - just mostly concerned for what happened. Although I'm sure as I step off the plane I'll be at least a LITTLE nervous. Just a bit.
That definitely took away from my focus on "ALL THINGS KATHRYN" this morning. Now I'm not really thinking about going away anymore - just mostly concerned for what happened. Although I'm sure as I step off the plane I'll be at least a LITTLE nervous. Just a bit.
I leave in 27 hours for Nairobi, Kenya. All packed up and ready to go...
I kind of rushed into putting this site together so please report any glitches to me. I'll be trying my best to update it as often as I can. Also please feel free to check out my photos on Flickr. If you have any photos to submit - email me. The Africa photos will hopefully start SOON!!
The main things on my mind:
1) What kind of cheeses will they have there?
2) How hot/humid will it be? (despite the access I have to this info)
3) Will someone REALLY pick me up at the airport?
4) How many days will it take me to see a giraffe?
5) In flight meals - good or bad?
But I'm not really nervous - mostly just about the "new job" I start on Monday. And whether or not I'll get eaten by a lion. And if I'll make any friends. And if I'll get malaria. But that's about it. Small potatoes really.
I kind of rushed into putting this site together so please report any glitches to me. I'll be trying my best to update it as often as I can. Also please feel free to check out my photos on Flickr. If you have any photos to submit - email me. The Africa photos will hopefully start SOON!!
The main things on my mind:
1) What kind of cheeses will they have there?
2) How hot/humid will it be? (despite the access I have to this info)
3) Will someone REALLY pick me up at the airport?
4) How many days will it take me to see a giraffe?
5) In flight meals - good or bad?
But I'm not really nervous - mostly just about the "new job" I start on Monday. And whether or not I'll get eaten by a lion. And if I'll make any friends. And if I'll get malaria. But that's about it. Small potatoes really.