Classes!

It’s been a little (long) while since I’ve made an update! I’m going to make an effort to remember that this exists a little more often. Things haven’t been helped by the fact I’m getting over a fairly nasty respiratory infection. Thankfully, I’m over the hill on that- amoxocillian and rest usually do wonders.

I recently crested another hill, by the way- I’m around halfway done with my time here in Kenya, as insane as that sounds. I’m not exactly sure of the proportion, as I consider it fairly lame to count days, but I’ve been here around 3 months, which is wild to think about.

Things are going extremely well here, aside from the aforementioned illness. I’m actually wrapping up my coursework for the semester (more on that later) and preparing for winter break- Kilimanjaro and a visit from my parents. I’ll be done with regular classes in a little less than a month.

I thought it might be nice if actually got around to describing my courses and instructors. In no particular order:

Geographies of Development: This is fairly interesting one. It actually doesn’t have a set instructor- it is instead made up of a series of lectures followed by a series of trips. Thus, we’ve had various experts come in and talk about education, health, politics, NGOs, et cetera. The lectures were a good introduction to Kenya, and let us slightly understand what was going on around us. After the lectures wrapped up, we went to Kisumu (see last post?) and wrote a paper on the challenges of rural development. Next week we’ll travel to Masaai Mara and produce a paper on the impact of tourism on development.

Kiswahili: This class is excellent/darasa ni bora! Although I won’t be writing a novel in kiwswahili anytime soon, I’ve made decent progress at picking up the language- I can use it at least partially in most daily interactions. It doesn’t hurt that most Kenyans speak a bastardized hybrid of Swahili and English, so it’s perfectly acceptable for me to just switch between the two if I get stuck. The instructor is a real champ too- he got his start teaching peace corp volunteers, so he knows how to handle us hapless wazungu.

Politics and Government of Kenya: In terms of learning, this is likely my best class, mostly on account of the professor. Dr. Wanyande isn’t just the chair of the political science department, he’s also one of the leading political intellectuals in Kenya. He played a role in writing the new constitution, co-chaired the body that organized the campaign to pass it, and might be on the committee tasked with monitoring its implementation. His class is always fascinating, despite the fact that it is usually comprised entirely of lecture on the arcane details of structural adjustment, ethnic politics, and party-state relations. His personality is also quite interesting- he has a fairly crazy beard, but he’s probably the most even keeled/dry Kenyan I’ve met in my time here(for any K readers out there- he makes Dugas look personable). It took us a few weeks to get a smile out of him, but we’ve recently made some progress- last class he told us about his misadventures with waterskiing while getting his doctorate in Florida, and the difficulty of getting goat in the US.

African Oral Literature: This class is great. The professor is one of the stranger people I’ve met in Kenya- he tells us the same stories all the time, will randomly cut off class to get lunch, and is immensely physically awkward (he’s fairly lanky, and holds himself in the strangest way). He’s still a total winner though. The books are great too- although it’s technically an oral lit class, it’s based around reading African novels and plays and relating the form/concerns to oral lit. Most of all, it’s nice to be in a literature class again- I hadn’t taken one since highschool, and I was missing it.

That’s the sum of it! Anyhow, expect another update early next week, after I return from our thanksgiving/safari to the Masaai Mara. I’ll try and snap a picture of a lion eating a crocodile eating a hippo or something!

Update!

Its been a few weeks since I’ve blessed my loyal readers (all 3 of them) with an update. Thus, I’ll try and catch this blog up with the last month or so of my time in Kenya.

Exciting Travel: we went to Kisumu, which is the third largest city in Kenya. It also is the city in Kenya which loves fish the most. We visited a fishing beach, and saw a lungfish that was HUGE. Imagine a creepy fish thing that weighs 30 kilos and can live out of water for weeks. Creepy.  While in the area, we helped build a school, and also met Obama’s grand mom (no joke, we drove to her house).

Crazy adventure: The other week we had a holiday, Hero’s Day (no relation to the cancelled American television show). As part of celebrating the heros of the struggle for independence, my family decided to part with a lawnmower. Caveat: our lawn is mowed by sheep. Therefore, I was able to help kill, skin and butcher a sheep. Amazingly enough, I’m still a carnivore (in fact, after the experience I can eat meat with a lighter heart, as I know that I can live with seeing an animal become meat).

Future Exciting Travel: Right now I’m in the midst of preparing for my big trip over winter break- to the roof of Africa. On December 19^th, I will actually climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, and potentially summit sometime 4 days later. It’ll be quite the trip, but I think I’ll leave most of the details for later (I only have so much to blog about, so I have to endeavor to keep it spread out).

Random Stuff: I’m no longer a Michigander, and am now either a Ute or Utahn. I recently received the William G. Howard award, which means I’m good at political science or something along those lines.

Naivasha

This weekend, I found heaven in Hell(s Gate National Park). On a trip organized by our faithful Kiswahili teacher, Francis, the kalamzungus (our newest nickname) headed up to Naivasha last Friday, in a rented matatu, driven by two very friendly but very bored men. The first highlight of the weekend was without a doubt out quick stop along the road, at the crest of the rift valley. The vista was simply gorgeous- a slight mist over a steep cliff, looking out upon a valley punctuated by seemingly random volcanic features. I also had a man offer to trade me the shirt off my back for a paperweight, but I didn’t take him up on that offer.

Soon we found ourselves at our campsite along Lake Naivasha. As a proud Michigander, seeing a lake always makes me feel a little at home, particularly lakes of the sizeable variety. Highlights of the campsite: hanging with a very cool American expat from South Africa (just try and make sense of that statement) and his kiwi aunt, cooking squash over a campfire, and eating far too much peanut butter. Also, Emily (Mattus) & I combined pick and peel tropical mix with other things to produce a great tasting concoction.

When we awoke the next morning at 6:00am, the logic of that concoction was not so sound. Nevertheless, we gathered our wits and trudged to the gate to meet our guides and collect our bikes. See, Hells Gate National Park is remarkable because it is nominally free of predators, so people are free to bike through. So at the ungodly hour of 6:30, we were riding towards the park through the languid dawn, with nary a cloud in the sky. As we biked through town, we also attracted the attention of seemingly every child in the greater Naivasha region, who universally shouted “How are you?” at us (we assume that this is the first English taught in schools (they also have a fascinating and undescribable way of saying it)).

We soon reached the park, and it was utterly gorgeous. The reason we were leaving so early was to avoid crowds, and it worked extremely well- we were essentially the only folks in the park, riding along a dirt path, with Zebra, Wildebeast and Gazelle on every side. We even stepped off the path for a bit to track a giraffe and it’s baby, who were mostly bemused by our presence.

After an ominously downhill ride, we reached the namesake of the park: Hells Gate Gorge. Carved out of the earth by forces beyond my feeble comprehension, it was an awe-inspiring experience, especially because we were once again essentially alone to enjoy it. Wandering through the corridors of the gorge, with the noon sun beating down, enjoying the silence of the gorge, was a pretty astounding experience, as was our view as we lunched along the lip of the gorge, in full view of it’s spread.

The way back was interesting to say the least: the path was mostly uphill, and we were racing the rain. It was a little rough near the end, as we rode about 25 km in  day, along with a 5k hike. After we returned to the camp, we lazed around our site for a bit before splurging on a dinenr at the restaurant. The guacamole bacon cheeseburger I rapidly consumed was pretty much a religious experience.

Anyhow, Naivasha now ranks pretty near the top of my favorite places ever.

Mombasa

I'm back (to Nairobi)! As aforementioned, my program took me on a week long trip to Mombasa- which was quite an experience. We actually stayed in a beach resort- but not really the nicest beach resort. Imagine like a B-list beach resort. Still a resort, but we weren't eating cavier off of golden plates or anything of that sort.

I digress. Anyhow, I saw the indian ocean for the first time! I also got knocked into a dead coral reef by a (rouge?) wave, leading to a bit of skin loss around the bridge of my nose. Thus number one on my souvenier list (badass scar) seems to be taken care of. Immedietly afterwords we saw Fort Jesus (pictured above) and the Swahili Old Town. Both were goregous, unaturally so, especially as the sun set. I actually scared quite a few swahili children, as my ad hoc bandage situation slowly deterioated over the course of the tour.

The remaining days included the varied delights of Hunter's Choice, Animal Parks, and craft workshops, all of which I may or may not go into greater depth about at an untold later date/when I am starved for blogging material. Irregardless (I might be using this word wrong), I fed a Giraffe. Cool?

Randoms

-I attended my first mass ever this morning, and found myself in the choir somehow. I don't know what the most awkward part was, the fact that I was the only mzungu (whitey) in there, that I can't sing, or that I was utterly confused the entire time because I've never been to a mass.
-It turns out that the mammals in my yard are actually sheep- my bad.
-After reading 'Consider the Lobster' by DFW and seeing so many all the time, I almost feel bad when i eat goat. Almost.
-I go to Mombasa next week, for swahili practice. I'm also staying in tropical resort while i'm there. Can i complain? No way.
-My internet access has plummeted since I've been here- this is maybe the 5th time i've logged on, and the first for more than 15 minutes. I'm actually more inclined to believe the people who say it wrecks concentration- I can already sit down and read a newspaper cover to cover without distraction, which is something I couldn't do when i got here.
-I went to the Masaai Market on Friday, and used my Swahili to not get entirely ripped off. Bargaining is mega fun, as expected.

This will probz be all until I get back from Mombasa.

Jolts

It comes in jolts, the realization that I am across the globe. Nairobi lacks obvious/cliché signifiers of the exotic- monkeys do not roam the streets, the climate is merely that of Michigan in June (albeit it stays this way all year), and most signs are in English. The differences are instead those of details, which is part of the immense charm of the city. The most inescapable reminder is the dirt, which I am rapidly falling in love with. The dirt here is notable for both its rusty hue and propensity to dye my hands said hue after a long day in the city.

Much like home, I take public transportation quite often here. However, the most popular form here is not the bus nor train, but the matatu. To picture a matatu, imagine an old VW bus knockoff, stuffed with seats (capacity is 14, but I am unsure if that counts the literal hanger-ons), blaring rap or reggae, often rocking a 24 inch TV screen. Also, imagine this beast covered in a strange mixture of religious homilies, American urban catchphrases, and bizarelly out of place logos. Needless to say, I love Matatus, as they make any trip involving transit quite exciting.

Also, it in Nairobi is important to get used to the animals, especially on the outskirts. Don’t be surprised if you see a large, unsupervised flock of ducks wade through a crowded market, the ducks and the marketers equally unfazed. Also, goats happen to  be more common than dogs, as goats are a reliable source of meat for festive occasions, and happen to also double as lawnmowers.

The amazing friendliness of people here is further notable, but must be qualified. First, if you are obviously mzungu (white person/tourist), you will only get fake kindness. Secondly, even if people don’t judge you as a tourist, their kindness may still be a cover story for some scam. Needless to say, I get most of my practice in Kiswahili through clumsy attempts to communicate the fact that I will in fact, not give them 500 shillings. Still, folks here are simply nice.

Anyhow, I’ve been here about a week, and it’s profoundly great. The pace of life is enjoyably lax, with half hour tea breaks bleeding into 45 minutes, and lunch often going for hours, and nobody bats an eye. Every evening my host father an I exchange newspapers (he buys the Nation, I the Standard) over a pot of chai (tea), as I slowly make sense of this country and its politics and culture. Needless to say, it’s been a good week.

Here!

I am here (there?). I’ve actually been here for around 5 or so days, but my access to the internet has been pretty sporadic. So far, I’ve spent a lot of time just getting oriented, and getting to know my host family.

I live in Karen, which is a suburb of Nairobi. I’m actually the farthest student from the city, but I’m not that far, geographically. It just takes a while to get into the city because of traffic. Karen is named as such because it used to be the estate of Karen Biloxi. It still has a large white population, as my host mother pointed out as we were in the Nukamatt (which is sort of like a Kenyan Walmart), explaining it by saying that whites like Karen because it is so cold. Things are quite cold here recently, which has many Kenyans in a panic.

I will make a longer update soon, but this is being made on borrowed internet so I will be brief.