First week....

This is VERY long since I haven't been online in a week. Fair warning! haha. You all know how much I talk...just imagine a week's worth. Just sayin'. :)

I don’t even know where to begin….so much has happened in the last week or so. Finding internet has been tricky to say the least. Well, affordable internet anyway. My placement is, let's say, secluded (more on that later), and I rented an internet modem stick thing (you like me tech speak?), but it didn't get reception in the valley I'm in. So, now I'm in an internet cafe in Gilgil- about a 5 min taxi ride from our "house". Let me catch you up on the past week....

First things first, my flights were fine. Actually, the first one was pretty sucky. It was from JFK to Zurich and it was jam-packed! Why did I leave on Memorial Day weekend, again?! Anyway, other than being packed, I was one of the only people that spoke English, so telling the rude German fellow in front of me to kindly move his seat up so I could actually put my tray table down to eat was a bit difficult. And somebody else must have been having some drama too because I heard a French (?) woman a couple rows in front of me arguing with some other woman of unknown heritage…all I could make out was “shut up” and then the flight attendant came over. Needless to say I did not sleep at all that first flight. Oh, and the guy next to me was Danish so, I couldn’t even talk his ear off about my impending trip. Bummer. My next (and thankfully last) flight was A LOT better. The flight from Zurich to Nairobi wasn’t full (I wonder why) and I was able to get a window seat all to myself. No one next to me or anything! The only down side was that the middle arm rest didn’t go all the way up so I couldn’t really lay or put my feet up or anything. Oh well, it was still nice. AND we got ice cream on that flight. Bonus!

After landing and (finally) making my way through the whole visa process I proceeded down to baggage claim and was pleased to find that my huge bag had, in fact, made it all the way to Kenya. Yay! Next I went out to the front to find my ride. Well, out of a sea of signs I didn’t find my name anywhere. I tried not to panic, but it was HARD- especially after almost a day of flying and not really sleeping. I waited for about 15 mins and then panicked. Haha. I started to tear up (big surprise), but then decided that I was NOT going to be the little white girl crying in the African airport with Kenyans staring at me. So I pulled it together and called Anthony for Fadhilli’s (the org. I'm volunteering through) contact info and he promptly sent it to me. Thank. God. I finally got a hold of Joe and he said my driver, Chomlee, had just parked. Whew. Chomlee took me to Nakamutt (basically Kenyan Wal-Mart with wedding dresses), and I was able to get a phone and some water. Next, I was dropped off at my temporary homestay-Pastor Regina’s house and was relieved to find that a bottom bunk was free for the taking. There was a bunch of other volunteers there and everyone was soo friendly! Plus, Regina has 4 kids, two of which are little girls, so I was in heaven- handing out tootsie rolls and practicing the only Swahili word I knew, jambo or hello. Regina’s house is nice, although I must admit that the drive there is kinda scary-looking and when we pulled up I thought there was some sort of mistake, or maybe that Chomlee was a Fadhili imposter and he was driving me down this muddy, shack-lined alley to rape/kill me and dispose of my body. But, I was happy (and relieved) to find a nice, American-looking house behind a gate. Although, the shower was anything but American- the shower head, toilet, and sink are all basically in the same room, the shower only spit out freezing water, and there is no drain so after your shower you had to squeegee (sp?) the water into a hole in the wall. Fun times. But, in all seriousness, it really wasn’t that bad. At least the toilet flushed, even if it did take some maneuvering, which is more than I can say for the place I am staying in now.

At Regina’s I met some other volunteers and hung out with them for a couple of days before orientation. Alex and Ailed (pronounced eye-lith) are an engaged couple from Mexico who are doing the Massai teaching program, and Justin is from Canada doing the HIV/AIDS program for 6 months. Alex and Ailed had been there for a couple of days so they led Justin and I around on Monday. The first order of business was to walk down to the Junction, which is a mall, and get a matatu (van/bus) from there for the Giraffe Sanctuary. Well, as soon as we left Regina’s gate everyone was busy looking and pointing at the mzungas (white people). We were approached by a (high?) man who continued to walk beside us even though we ignored him. He kept looking at me and saying “Ooooh big mashekas” which I am guessing means “Oooh big boobs/tits” based on where he was looking. Welcome to Kenya! He eventually lost interest and we pressed on. After about a 15 minute walk we reached the Junction and our first matatu. It was pretty full so I had to sit in the front, and this is where I received the second marriage proposal (and, sadly, not the last) of my life. The driver, along with his friends that had gathered to look at the blonde-haired mzunga started asking me about where I am from and what not, it went something like this;

Him- Hello! (shakes my hand) How are you?

Me- I’m fine, how are you?

Him- I’m fiiiiine. Where you from?

Me- (Smiling) America

Him- What state?

Me- Pennsylvania

Him- (looking me up and down) Ooooh. You married?

Me- (laughing) Yes

Him- Oooh he here?

Me- No, he’s in America.

Him- Oooooh me be your Kenyan husband?! (wink wink)

Me- Oh, I don’t think my husband would like that very much. (laughing)

Him- Oh, well in Kenya we can have 5 wives. I wish I was your husband. He lucky. You my type. You want to come over my house and meet my family and have a BBQ?

Me- (Smiling) No thanks. (Laughing).

Then he just continued to talk to me until we had to get off and catch another matatu to the sanctuary. I basically paid 30 shillings (50ish cents) to be hit on. Haha. Second matatu= no marriage proposal- thank goodness. But, the matatus are funny. If your stop is not exactly on their route they let you off close and then you have to walk. Well, we had to walk for a mile or so to the sanctuary (in the heat). But it was so totally worth it!

The giraffe sanctuary was AMAZING!! For only about 800 shillings (10ish dollars- it’s like 82-86 shillings to a dollar) you got to hand feed, pet, and kiss giraffes. It was SO MUCH fun! There was one baby giraffe and one was pregnant (there are 5ish females and one male- you do the math). They were all so cute and loved being fed. You could put a piece of food in between your lips and the giraffe would “kiss” you to get it. What an experience! We had a blast. After that, we grabbed another matatu to the Karen Blixen (?) museum. She wrote Out of Africa and the movie was filmed at her house. I don’t have any pictures of the inside because you weren’t allowed to take pictures. What? But, you could take a Coke in a glass bottle inside. For 800 shillings I should be able to take pictures, but oh well. It was a beautiful house and the grounds were even more gorgeous. There were workers cleaning up after a wedding on site…it must have been a beautiful affair. The couple certainly had a beautiful day and beautiful surroundings for it.

After that it was time to head home, which meant more walking and two more matatu rides. It was a really, great day, though. J A delicious dinner was waiting for us- we had seasoned rice and some sort of tomato, onion, and herb mixture. Mmm! Pastor Regina has a nice-size living room with plenty of seating and a modern, flat screen TV. Us volunteers all sat around and watched a movie after dinner. It was very nice, and much more than I expected.

The next day we went to he Masai Market in center city Nairobi which was about a 40 min bus ride. A bus this time, not a Matatu. Confusing I know, but a bus is a bus and a matatu is a van. The bus ride was long and smelly (I don't think Dove and Secret do much business here). But, it was very interesting to see all different kinds of Kenyans in one place. Since we left early in the morning we could see everyone on their way to work. I saw people in suits, traditional African dress, and ladies dressed very western in nice jeans, tops, high heels, and with western style haircuts. Most women and girls here either shave their head or braid it for practical and hygeine reasons, so it was nice to see how the more "cosmopolitan" women dressed. After the bus ride and a long, long walk through the city we reached the market. It's kinda like a flea market- everyone is set up on the ground with their goods on tarps. The merchants and brokers saw us mzungas coming a mile a way and as soon as we approached the six of us were literally swarmed by men called brokers. They basically take you around and try to get you to buy things from the various shops. Then once you've decided on what you want or what you might want they put it in a bag and you make your final decisions at the end. Well, I picked out some nice things and was finally ready to check out. Well, my broker, Izo, laid all my stuff out on the ground and I picked what I wanted. After selecting, he explained how the bartering works; "I write my price, you write your price". Guess what his starting price was?! 125,000 shillings! Holy Shit! That's like $1,300! Yeah right, Izo, nice try. I know I come from the land of Obama but I don't have his money. Sorry. I wish. I eventually got him down to 7,000 shillings which is still a lot, but I got a bunch of really nice, cool hand-made items. Lots are gifts for people back home. So I was happy about that. : )

This is where my 2nd Kenyan marriage proposal came in. Izo was quite smitten with me, and was constantly hitting on me the whole time. "Oh you American? You pretty. You my type. You married? Where is your husband? Oh, in America?! Me be your Kenyan husband....we can have 5 wives here. Tomorrow is our national holiday and my family is having a BBQ, you want to come? Here is my number. Your husband sure is lucky! You come over tomorrow." etc etc... Then as I was leaving he wanted MY number. Yeah right. I told him I didn't know it, which wasn't a total lie...I hadn't memorized my new one yet. He said "you making my heart beat fast and fast." After I finally got out of there and was with everyone else I got my phone out to call Ailed and literally as soon as the phone left my pocket he came up and asked for my number again! Of course I didn't give it to him and he walked across the street. The last time I looked across the street he was blowing kisses at me. Jenga (Regina's son who was showing us around) said "boy he really likes you, huh?" I guess so. Maybe I should have died my hair and gotten a breast reduction before leaving. Sheesh.

After that we went to the national museum and then came home. Dinner was good again that night and I slept well. Wednesday was orientation and I found out that I'd be placed in an IDP (Internally Displaced Peoples) camp called Vumilia in Gilgil- about 2 hours from Nairobi. Since it is 2 hours away we (there are 2 girls, Nicole and Cat, with me) didn't leave until Thursday. So we were put up for one night at the Covenant House which was VERY nice compared to where we were. There were HOT showers and everything! It was so nice. Well, it was a good thing we got one last hot shower because out new house definitely does not. We arrived at the camp on Thursday and found we are living in a tin house. It has a wooded structure with tin and canvas around it. There is electricity, though. So that's great. The bathroom is literally a tin box with a cement floor and a hole in the ground. That should be interesting. haha. The shower isn't a shower, but a bucket bath next to the "bathroom". I haven't taken one yet (we stayed in a hotel in town last night and got a hot shower this morning). Peeing in a hole is not fun, but I think it will get better/easier.

I will got more in depth later about my homestay, the food, the school I'm at, and the beautiful scenery later. Posting pictures here takes way too long, but you can check them out on my google site. I'll post it here.

All in all I am having a GREAT time, Cat and Nicole are super nice and we get along. I miss home and Anthony, though, and am sure I'll be happy to be back in the States. Thanks for reading this ridiculously long, rambling post. The rest will be shorter, I promise. :)

Peace&Love

Ash