A Third Week Retrospective

September 19

I like making lists...

Things that are challenging

• Exhaust: There are fewer regulations, perhaps no regulations, when it comes to vehicle exhaust here. Thick smoke pours out of exhaust pipes and right into my face. Sometimes I am unlucky enough to be walking behind a bus when it starts up and get a blast onto my legs that quickly envelopes my entire body.
• Trash and lack of recycling: This really tears at my emotions. It is so sad to see a beautiful field covered, literally, in trash. It is very common. Trash piles are everywhere, even in city parks. No one ever recycles, so there is no place for me to recycle. I miss America in this respect.
• Living in dangerous “Nairobbery”: I am not able to travel easily at night, nor take my camera to many places, and I usually hide my money in my bra. I miss going out easily at night, even just the times my mom and I would go to the grocery at 10pm.
• Lack of raw vegetables: Dear carrot, I miss you.
• No being able to wash my hands: My hands are so sticky from using hand sanitizer all the time. When I actually do get to wash my hands, dirt runs of them. It’s gross to think how dirty my hands are, yet they are so sanitary.
• Missing hamburgers and pizza: Their pizza is ok.
• Getting stared at and blatantly talked about: Today as I was leaving my house, two guys were staring at me and obviously talking about me in Kiswahili. I gave them the old “Habari gani” and that shut them up quickly. (Habari gani is a common, pleasant greeting)
• Knowing that many Kenyans are starving: There is a major drought here. All Kenyans are affected and most are in hardship. Some wait days for a sip of water. In rural places, people are drinking dirty water that is making them sick. Crops are dying and, therefore, so are cattle.
• Being scared because I am a woman: Generally, women are treated with less respect. I guess it happens everywhere.
• Complete disregard for pedestrians: I have gotten close to being run over many times, especially when walking by myself. Cars actually honk at pedestrians to get out of the road. It can take a long time to cross the road.
• Traffic jams: Without jams, I can get home in 10 minutes. With jams, it can take hours. You never know how long it is going to take.
• Distrust of people: It has been hard to meet genuine people. We (Americans) have a hard time reading Kenyans. White people are a novelty; it’s true, I’ve lived it. It’s hard to know who is interested in you as a person.
• People thinking that I’m a tourist so I have lots of money: I get asked for money a lot. I generally carry about 500 Ksh on me (~$7)
• Saying ‘no’ to children who ask for money: I love children (see “likes” section), but I say no when they ask for money. I’ve been told it is a scheme and they only ask white people. The other day Tegan and I rejected some children. They went to the next table over and the Kenyans there gave them food. Tegan and I felt really guilty.
• Walking in such congested sidewalks: Sometimes I wish I could walk freely. I feel claustrophobic.
• Suspicion that I hold a fake student ID: Our group has to fight to get student rates. People do not believe that we are Kenyan students.
• Paying so much for internet: At my house, I pay per MB. I wish I could video chat.
• Fear of offending my host mom
• Meat: It’s chewier, bonier, and fatter.
• Being expected to be Christian: Religious questions are very common. People often ask right away. I think it is the culture of missionaries. People really want me to believe in god. It’s hard to say no, but I stand by my non-belief. Many Kenyans are Christian, except for those who are Muslim, so perhaps it is usually a common bond to build a relationship.

Things that I enjoy

• Children: They are adorable and so playful.
• School uniforms: All students wear uniforms. The children are so cute.
• Chai: It means tea. It’s made with milk instead of water. It’s drank four times a day. Yum.
• Long lunches
• Mango juice
• Passion fruit
• Buying a litre of bottled water for 65 cents
• Learning how to get around: I’ve learned that matatus are quite easy to ride, you just have to know where to get the one you want.
• Getting to know my host family
• Getting to know my American classmates: I love them all and really enjoy our circle questions, i.e. “give a description of your siblings,” or “what is your best and worst birthday.” I love learning about everyone’s life.
• Birthdays: We’ve celebrated two already!
• Kenyan TV: Kenyans watch a lot of American shows, but at the same time have their own shows, like “Tusker Project Fame.” Even though I can’t understand it, I love watching the news in Kiswahili. Sometimes my host mom translates, but I just enjoy listening.
• Surprising people with Kiswahili
• Asking questions about basic things
• Kenyans are relationship orientated: they take time to talk and value their friends so much. In America, people rush. They try to get out of conversations. Here people are really interested in how you are. There is no ‘hello.’ ‘Jambo!’ is b.s. There are many greetings, such as ‘habari gani’ – What is the news?
• Learning Kiswahili
• A cell phone that generally gets service everywhere: Safaricom is a king of corporations. It is huge. I think it is the largest company because it is always mentioned during the stock market news. Its logo is painted on a third of buildings, I have no idea how they are able to do that.
  
• Running errands in Nairobi
• Watching orphan elephants on TV: I really want to visit them, I wrote it as an option for my ICRP. They have strong emotions. They need love.
• Learning from and laughing with my host mom

Things I’m adjusting to

• BO: People get sweaty here, but I do too and it’s ok.
• Showering with a bucket: I’ve gotten pretty efficient. It makes me use less soap.
• Peeing in holes: I actually get really excited when I succeed at peeing. It’s like I’m 2. I also get really excited when a bathroom has toilet paper, running water, or soap. All are somewhat rare. When I’m around town I tend to sneak into the University skyscraper to use the bathrooms. They have seats on the bowl.
• Constant honking. Sometimes I like to imagine it as the beginning of a musical composition. But that quickly fades.
• Loud matatus. Today I rode in one that had one large screen and 4 smaller screens throughout the bus all playing a music video
• Large bugs
• Sleeping with a mosquito net
  

Photos

I hope this works!

Photos

Katika Kiswahili

September 13, 2009

Monday was my official first day of classes. I did not prepare for this trip by taking Kiswahili, like most students in my group so I was placed into the lower class with the Bwana (Mr.) Bens and Becky. Its hard and intense, but it feels so good to learn it.

We have class for two hours, then tea break, then 1.5 hours of class, then an hour for lunch, then two more hours of class. It’s a long day, especially when it takes an hour or so to get home because of the traffic. It takes me about 10 minutes to get to school. I am very lucky.

Kenyans cannot pronounce my name. I am called Kesley or Kelse-a. George, my teacher, even wrote my name on the board yesterday: Keshley. I don’t mind though.

George is a very interesting teacher. His roar can be heard by the other K class next door. His famous lines are: “Bwana Ben,” “Hit my five!” (for ‘good job, high five’), and “KATIKAAA KISWAHILI.” (err-) “KATIKAAA KISWAHILI!!” meaning “in Kiswahili.” I rarely get out a full sentence without a few “katikas.” He is extremely animated.

After a scheduling mishap Tuesday and eleven of us eating our supposed to be sit-down lunch in the hired vans, we arrived at the United States Embassy.

Don’t get too excited.

I expected to get some good advice from Americans who have lived here for a long time. It turned out to be American propaganda. The middle-aged, arrogant white men had no idea why we were even in Kenya. We were told not to ride matatus and to stay in our hotels at night, by a man who had lived here for a month and had never been downtown. Then we got speeches about how great embassy careers are. It was like a fourth grade field trip. The embassy in no way is as a resource for Americans. They told us not to call them if we are in trouble. They are only here to try to persuade and keep an eye on Kenyan government. Although I have the right to free speech, I still have a feeling that I am going to be put on some watchdog list for saying this. Truthfully, I was glad to be able to walk out of “Little America.”

Wednesday was a very good day. School was only half day and our free time was spent walking around Nairobi. Chippa met Tegan and I and Tegan rode a matatu for the first time. We were also kicked out of the matatu while it was still moving. Don’t worry, 5 mph tops.

Thursday was my last day of class with this scheduling. Kiswahilli I at the University is over and on Monday we will have “Kiswahili Camp” in Mombasa with the program and our teachers. After Camp, we resume with four classes: Geographies of Development lectures, Kiswal II, Gender, and Politics with Fridays off!

On Friday, I went shopping with Eric, Tegan and Amber. We went to the mall in Westlands. We are constantly trying to meet up with people but it’s very hard since most people don’t even know where they live. The group met at Alliance Francaise and watched a Kenyan concert until our taxis arrived to go to Carnivore, the restaurant. This is a world-renowned restaurant: top 50 in the world. The premise is meat, lots of meat. They serve one exotic meat a night, i.e. zebra, crocodile, or giraffe. We ate ostrich, pork, beef, lamb, turkey, and chicken. It was a lot of meat. Severs come to your table, offer you meat on swords and cut it off on your plate. The entire turkey on the sword must have been heavy.

On Sunday, I was able to travel from Tegan’s, into downtown, find my matatu station, find the #9 matatu, get off at the correct stop and remember which apartment is mine all by myself!!!!!
My host mom was very excited too!

View from a matatu

Kenyan Introductions

I apologize for not introducing people! Here are lists and where they live so you can identify them easier.

The girls from Kalamazoo:
Tegan (YWCA flats in town)
Becky (Karen)
Amber (Kililashwa)
Paloma (Roselyn)
Collin (Karen)
Emily (Karen)
Hannah (Westlands)

The boys:
Ben A (Westlands)
Ben D (South C)
Robbie (Runda)

My family (we live in Kariokor):
Monica
Chippa

My teachers/program leaders:
George (teaches Kiswahili)
Francis (teaches Kiswahili)
Fred Jonyo (program leader and teaches politics)
Lillian (program Director)
Roseanne (program leader)

Other host siblings:
Kevin (Tegan's brother)
Rhoda (Amber's sister)

Weekend Outings #1

September 6, 2009

Saturday morning I got up and went to Tegan’s with my host mom. Tegan and I walked around Nairobi all afternoon. I bought phone credits and a jumpdrive modem. It has been two days and already I am out of mb downloading credits. This is annoying. Our walk was very good, only we were followed by men trying to get us to go to the Maasai Market. We are white; therefore, we must only be looking for the market to buy souvenirs. We must also have money. I am to tell them that I am a student (mwanafunzi).

I left Tegan’s only to find out that I was being picked up there to go out. I rode with Monica’s trusted taxi driver back to Tegan’s place. We went to karaoke at the Kenyan National Theatre. Kenyans love American hits, especially 80’s and 90’s music and Shania Twain. A large group of us (host siblings and their friends) went to a club in Westlands. Amber, Tegan and I were in such great care. Everyone in our group protected us and made sure we weren’t being harassed. Tegan and I are more likely to get attention because we are white. The first time I went out on the dance floor I felt something on my pocket but couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. I realized it was this guy dancing next to me trying to pick pocket me. The joke was on him because there is no way I would carry anything in my pocket. The club played Hip Hop and R&B, like songs that I used to hear in the clubs I went to in high school. Coincidentally, at the club, I saw a group of white boys that I had seen the day before trying to catch a matatu. They had been wearing tiny straw hats and carrying large bags. They looked like they were in Thailand. I found out they were from England. We also saw another study abroad student that was on our plane and Emily Parsons knows. Kenyans stay out so late. We were out until 4 or 5am. We were traveling early and late in the night, the safest times. I spent the night at Tegan’s. We went to bed around 5am and I actually slept for 8 hours!!! Tegan had gone to church and back before I woke up… haha sorry Teg.

Chippa was so nice and came to get me at Tegan’s. Monica had a friend over, Dolly, who had one-year-old son. He was so cute. He laughed and laughed at me, not because I was doing anything, just because of my white skin. Dolly said that it had been a long time since he had seen a white person.

I went to dinner with my friends, Tim and Joe. We went to a pizza place, but Kenyan pizza is slightly different from American pizza. It is a lot less greasy, and a lot more variety of sauces and toppings, like chicken. I loved it, so good. I heard another Shania song of course.

I just saw a Michigan commercial on British CNN. OMG I miss Michigan. What a great state.

Missing Internet and Sleep

September 4, 2009

Yesterday was my first day at the University! Although, the day didn’t start off as exciting. I tried to fall asleep at 11pm, but didn’t fall asleep until 5am, and I had to get up at 7am. Now, I am not going to even try to sleep at regular hours; it is so frustrating. So today I slept from 6pm to 9pm and I am planning on staying up until I am very tired. I haven’t sleep for more than 3 hours straight since Sunday night.

Yesterday and today I rode with my Mama’s friend to the University. It takes me 10 to 20 minutes to get to school in the morning, which is a lot faster than some other K students. Many live far away, including three who live in Karen, a town many miles from city centre. The longest voyage to school is 2 or more hours. Orientation at the University consisted of introductions, program information, campus tour and Nairobi walking tour. Rufus accompanied us, as well as the current Nairobi student to study at K. Enoc, Humphrey and Peter were selected students to be our campus and Nairobi guides. They have been so helpful! They are happy to answer any questions we have and go out of their way to make sure we see important things and understand everything. The walking tour included visits to ATMs and buying cell phones. The K group all got Safaricom as our service provider. There are four main companies (others are Zain, Yu and Orange). Everyone here has a cell phone. It is appropriate to send important or formal messages through SMS (texting haha). Almost all phones are pay as you go. It is a cell phone culture, perhaps more than the United States, because everyone has one, uses it regularly and must SMS. So many stands sell phones and even more that sell minutes. Huts in the slum Kibera, sell vegetables, soda, and credits for phones.

Since it rained yesterday, there was a mad rush to the Mutatus at rush hour. There is no reason for this rush, other than when it rains, people know other people will be rushing. The traffic jam was horrendous. Car and vans were facing every direction but it was absolute stand still. Our mutatu turned around many times. Some mutates are pimped out – they have loud music, tv screens with music videos and darkened windows. You may ask why they would put so much money into their vehicles. Well, adolescents seek out the cool mutatus; they would not be caught dead in a plain mutatu. Pimped out mutatus draw in more riders. Yesterday and today my mutatu was pimped out. The music is so loud the bass pounds your heart. My mutatu ride was very painful. I was so tired, had to pee and got a headache. It took an hour and a half to go home. I ate dinner and went to bed. I woke up at 1am, and luckily my host brother was awake eating dinner (he has irregular sleeping patterns), because the worst part about not being able to sleep is being so lonely and not having internet. I miss people the most then. Internet is a good distraction for me and I am addicted, so I really miss it then as well. I have been reading Kenya guidebooks and studying a Nairobi map. My host brother and I watched “Friends” late last night. I was able to fall asleep again at 4am – I was so happy!

Today orientation consisted of academic introductions. Only four of the eleven of us have not taken a Kiswahili course. It has been embarrassing since people who know that we are students expect us to know some. We got our photos taken for our IDs and went to lunch as group. It was delicious. I had a Kuku burger, chicken on a baguette bun with sauces, and chips aka French fries. There is no ketchup and if you have ever eaten a burger or fries with me you know I like fries and burger with my ketchup and I’m sure that you’ll have so much sympathy that you’ll send me some ketchup…. Please. Also, mango juice is my new favorite drink, especially since I overdosed on Root Beer floats this summer and could not drink them anymore.

After lunch we went on a driving tour of Nairobi, which sounded fun, but turned out to be embarrassing in the city. We rode in safari vans, and might as well have been in safari jackets and bucket hats. The tour then went to Karen (pronounced Car-in) and the wealthy neighborhoods outside of town and that part was extremely informative. I haven’t seen anything like it here. Some neighborhoods are so ritzy; they have mansions even to American standards. Every house is gated and was amazingly maintained. Many of the Ministers live there.

I found out today that my debit card is not working in any ATMs. All my transactions are denied and I have no idea why since I alerted my bank I would be here. Therefore, I cannot buy the thing I really really want – a jumpdrive modem that receives internet from Safaricom. It’s about 4,000 KSH, about $53, plus megabyte credits. If anyone knows how I can reduce my megabyte-downloading while surfing let me know. Hopefully next time I update I will have internet on my laptop!

I Just Want to Sleep

September 2, 2009

Today I woke up late after a long night of little sleep. I never realized the role my internal clock plays. Even though I had barely slept the night before, I woke up at 2am and could not fall asleep until 6am (7pm to 11pm EST). After waking, I ate breakfast. My host mother, Mama Monica, took me to downtown Nairobi, which is about 15 minutes from our apartment. We went to a cyber café. While she ran errands, I spent 50 minutes online. I paid 50 shillings, which is about 70 cents - it was quite a bargain. After that, we walked around a lot and toured Nairobi, as I said before, I saw so many people. We went to a java café that resembled American cafes and I had a coke from an actual glass bottle. There were a high percentage of Americans there, which I thought was funny as it was the most American thing I saw all day. Then we took a bus to Toy Market in Kibera. Apparently, it is the biggest slum in Africa. Mama Monica bought spinach – four quart bags for less than a dollar. I met her cousin and we waited for a bus back to downtown. There are few rules for the road, basically only that people are supposed to drive on the left. The streets are packed with people, buses and mutatus. Pedestrian crossings are called zebra crossings, although no one uses them. Pedestrians cross anywhere.

Mutatus are vans or small buses that take people around Nairobi and suburbs. They generally cost 20 shillings, or 30 cents, per ride, but during peak times they can cost more. Mutatus are operated by three people: the driver (although he may seem reckless, it must take a lot of skill to drive in the madness of thousands of people and oversized vehicles), the solicitor (yells at people to get on the mutatu, signals to the driver to stop and go by hitting the side of the van, jumps on an off while it is moving, opens and closes the door, and collects money) and the mobster in the back (he sits silently and collects large bills from the solicitor to keep them safe). It was very interesting to ride these. Today I got little attention from the Kenyans, probably because I was with my hostmom and she held my hand most of the way. I was only spoken to when I hit my head while exiting a mutatu (a very hard task – people are crammed like sardines). The “solicitor” asked if I was ok.

We came home and it was time for me to bathe. I should probably mention that we don’t have running water. There is a shortage and no water comes out of the tap. Mama Monica has collected water and she boils it for meals and pours it into the toilet tank. There is also a shortage of electricity. The government turns off the electricity in the suburbs during the day, but most of the houses have wells, so they have water. Since we are close to the city, our city water is shut off, but we have electricity since the government does not turn off the city electricity to protect businesses. So when it was time for me to bathe, Mama Monica heated up some water and put it in a bucket in the shower. She asked, “Do you know what to do?” I said, “No.” I was to take a cup and pour the water over me. I was freezing. And at this point I am so grateful I cut off my hair. If I hadn’t I would being cutting it off right now. It is very hard to control the water, while trying to conserve it, and trying to get shampoo out of your hair with one hand. The excess water went into the toilet tank. Also, I cannot for the life of me flush the toilet. It is a sting hanging from the tank and you have to pull it really hard. It’s getting embarrassing to have my host family flush for me.

I read my orientation packet as Mama prepared dinner. We watched “Tyra,” the news in Swahili, and “Don’t forget the lyrics.” If you remember it, it was shown in the U.S. a few years ago and its basically “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” with lyrics. It’s hosted by Wayne Brady. We ate dinner of beef, rice and spinach. I gave Mama Monica and Chippa my presents. I brought five of my pottery pieces, all of which survived, Michigan jam and Saline (my hometown) memorabilia. Mama Monica went to bed and I watched Chippa play with Photoshop on his Mac while watching “Lipstick Jungle.”

My very Kenyan day ended with a very American night.

I Made It

I have arrived in Kenya, through delays, too many airplane meals, and little sleep. I have little access to internet so it is hard update. I have a mom, Mama Monica and a brother, Chippa. We live in a apartment. I have my own room. Downtown Nairobi is so different. I have never seen so many people in my life. I probably saw 10,000 people. Four were Caucasian. I love and miss you.