Nakuru Town

1/21/10

This time at Lake Nakuru has been like a dream, and the MSID staff exposed us to some new things today to help us wake up a little and transition back to Nairobi. We went to Nakuru Town and everything was much more… real. Landscapes of lions and zebras were replaced with men so drunk (@10am) they were passed out in the middle of the road and children who smelled suspiciously of glue. It was an eye-opening experience, and I’m ready to see more.

Everyone got their internships yesterday, but I still don’t know what mine will be. The placement they had for me was a large government hospital near Mt. Kenya, but after discussing it with Abdul-Aziz and Jane I realized that it wasn’t the right fit for me and they’re going to try to find me a new placement. Nyeri, the area I was to be in, has lots of healthcare available, the people aren’t really in much poverty, and HIV isn’t much of an issue there. I really want to be in an underserved area, especially one where I will see the effects of AIDS in East Africa. The MSID staff works so hard to find us great internships so it was a really hard decision to speak up and ask for a change, but I realized that my time here in Kenya is truly a once in a lifetime opportunity—if I don’t speak up now, what will I ever speak up for?

It’s a great learning opportunity for me though, now I don’t know where I’ll be spending the last 6 week of the program and for a girl who gets somewhat anxious with uncertainty this is going to be a powerful lesson in letting things flow and finding my peace despite not knowing what form it takes.

Nakuru Market... I bought the best mango of my life from the lady in blue.

With a boy from the Obiek tribe up in the Mau Forest mountains. The kids there had never seen white people before... we chatted in Swahili a bit and he tentatively touched my skin a few times.

Camp Kenya

1/20/11

I can’t believe how much I love it here and how comfortable I feel already. In Ghana, I was so young and it was all so new. Especially with the malaria and necrotic spider bite and witnessing the depths of 3^rd world poverty for the first time, much of my first trip to Africa was uncomfortable. I knew it was worth it—I grew so much from the experience—but it wasn’t easy.

Kenya is easy. Granted, we’re at Lake Nakuru National Park on our orientation and have affectionately dubbed the week “Camp Kenya” (we even break out in song frequently, it is SO camp), but there’s just something beautiful about the way one can live life here. I was expecting to feel homesick, but instead I just feel right. I know when I move to my homestay things might be bumpier for a while, but for now I feel like there’s no need to miss home because Kenya is meant to be my home for the next four and a half months. In Vietnam, I was often struck by how lucky I felt to be there. In Kenya, so far the feeling that comes to mind is peaceful—I don’t feel lucky as much as I just feel like this is where my life has been leading me; there is a deep comfort that comes with knowing you are at the place in life the universe has been directing you towards.

Last night I had a nightmare about a safari lion punching me in the knee and woke up to everyone in the room asking me if I was having a bad dream… apparently I had yelled “F--- KENYA!” in a fit of terror. I feel the need to share this story after just gushing about how much I love Kenya because when I made a comment at breakfast about being happy my friend Tom, who had heard the story of the night before, quickly interjected, “Ohhh no you don’t, you HATE Kenya!”

Some of my adventures today have included: doing sunrise yoga while watching a herd of water buffalo come for water, seeing THREE LIONS on our game ride through the park, and eating the most delicious mandazi (chapatti with baking soda so it rises) dipped in chai.

This is so where I’m meant to be.

Sunrise Yoga Crew

This is where we got to have our orientation

The baboons played school while we were on break!

Loving it.

First Day

1/18/11

Lake Nakuru National Park

I can’t believe I’ve only been in Kenya for one full day so far, I’ve seen so much and I feel so at home here already. This morning we were awoken to the hooting of monkeys outside of our hostel, so we went out to have a look around. Such the ‘Welcome to Africa!’ moment—we got to watch the monkeys play and climb trees before we had a leisurely breakfast of chai and bananas. After breakfast we drove into the city so we could apply for residency. We passed Kibera, and it took my breath away. One end of the slum has some niceish looking apartment complexes built, and our teacher Abdul explained the situation to us. The development team had promised the residents of Kibera that the new housing would be available for the same prices they are paying for their slum houses. Once it was built, they raised the rent so high that there are usually 3 separate families sharing each 3 bedroom apartment to split the cost. For a reference point, rent in the Kibera slums is usually around 500ksh/month. There are 79 ksh in each US dollar.

I was so surprised to see downtown Nairobi after the drive past Kibera. To be completely honest, I wasn’t expecting to enjoy Nairobi a whole lot—my main interest in coming to Kenya was spending the second half of the semester in a rural area. I expected the city to be smoggy, loud, crowded, and dirty. This was based somewhat on my experience in Accra, Ghana, and somewhat on a fear of getting my hopes up. I’m shocked to find Nairobi the opposite on all accounts—it’s clean and clear, the people are bright and friendly, and I felt so safe. Granted this was just the downtown area that we got to explore today, but it filled me with such hope that Nairobi is a city I can fall in love with. I have such ties pulling me back to Saigon, and I was reminded of that feeling of simultaneous wonderment and contentment that fills me in Vietnam as we were walking around Nairobi today.

Simon, Jane, Abdul, and Jalifa have been taking such good care of us so far and teaching us so much about Kenyan culture. Abdul told me he’s Luo, and followed that up by bragging to be a ‘distant cousin’ of President Obama. Jane started giggling as she explained, “EVERY Luo in Kenya is a distant cousin of Obama!”

On the drive to Nakuru we got to stop off at some lookout points over the Great Rift Valley. I don’t know how to describe the breathtaking views at all, so a picture will have to suffice. I felt so lucky.

When we got into the National Park, we were greeted by about a dozen baboons who hang out just outside the park. While Simon and Jalifa negotiated our entrance fees, we got to play with the monkeys! We could get so close to them, and they were putting on such a show for us. One even stole one of the girl’s nalgenes and took it back up to the tree to try to figure out!

What a day. And PS—We got our resident visas today; I officially live in Nairobi now!

Safari

...the wild animals of Lake Nakuru National Park!

An Khuê Quán

An Khuê Quán-- officially my new favorite restaurant in Saigon

I could eat spring rolls all day long.

My and DoNa, two friends of mine I met through my class visit to Vietnam National University last year, and two of their friends

ốc! (snails)

Preparing our mushroom hot pot


Vietnamnomnom

(and no, this was not the restaurant where I got my fun little case of food poisoning!)

SOAR Advice

"Learn an exotic language and find your lucky stars"

--UW-Madison Freshman Orientation Adviser when my Aunt Monica was entering college

Detour to Vietnam

Before the African fun begins, I'm taking a little detour to Vietnam. I leave 'nam in 2 days (don't want to goooo, the only reason I don't just hideaway here is thoughts of Kenya!), here are some things I've been up to the past 10ish days:


-Practicing my Vietnamese... I can handle a taxi or moto like nobody's business, order food, ask for directions when I inevitably get lost (a common theme of this blog will surely be my ridiculous sense of direction and the many 'adventures' that result), and I know enough to make people smile in most situations. By far my favorite experience has been bargaining at the markets. Next time you see me, ask me to give you my best- "Mắc quá! Bớt đi! Trới ới" (Too expensive, discount it, OMG!)

Shopping with Phoebe

-Checkin' out various Buddhist and Taoist pagodas, Christian churches, and even a Hindu shrine. Feeling far more spiritual than ever before.

Jade Emperor Pagoda

-Enjoying some of the goofiness that is 'nam. For example: I fed an elephant today. It grabbed bamboo shoots and carrots right out of my hand. So wild.

You'd think there would be a bigger fence

-Eating some of the most delicious food ever.

rất ngon!

-Hanging out with some of the coolest Vietnamese friends a girl could have


...and just loving my time here and feeling so lucky.