Twix, Panty hose, and Dr. Rector vindicated.

17 June 2010

Twix-a staple here. Especially if your name is Jay Ballard. I am not even close to kidding. Everyone here practically lives on Twix, and I can almost guarantee you that none of us eat that many twix in the states. My theory: We are all so devoid of familiar foods that we latch onto this one thing. My craving for chocolate has never been this intense nor this persistent.

Yesterday we had the wonderful opportunity to go to a Maasai boma and milk cows. Doesn’t sound that exciting, but oh boy was it. First we arrive (Brenna, Jay, Kara, Kayleigh, and myself) at this boma and let me tell you…not a single cow around. Confused. So we wait around and then we hear this god awful belching noise which turns out belonged to a recently pregnant sheep (NOT goat) who is cleaning her newly born lamb. (What’s the baby name for a sheep? Is it kid like a goat? Yeah…*ten minutes later* OH IT’S A LAMB!) It was not yet able to stand and we stood there entranced with the miracle of life for some time. Then…the kids came home. They thought we looked funny. Didn’t understand my braces nor Brenna’s blonde hair. Then we sat on benches to wait for the cows to come home. As we waited two of the young girls came out to talk to us. One thing led to another and all of a sudden we were swarmed by children playing with our hair and using our cameras. It was a whirlwind. Though I have to admit once I put my camera away I loved every minute of it. I so love kids! (I want to bring one home). Then the cows came home.

Here’s where the story gets really interesting. In order to milk the cows us ladies had to wear a head scarf because they lean their heads against the cow when milking. So they wrapped a scarf around my head (with my hair now completely crazy thanks to the little girl I was currently holding in my arms), wrapped Kara’s head and then…uh oh…they were out of head scarves. So I’m walking to the Land Cruiser to drop off my coat and I must have missed something because when I return the Mama was putting panty hose on Brenna’s head. PANTY HOSE! It may have been the single funniest sight I have ever seen. Brenna pulled it off though. I think the icing on the cake was that magically they had another head scarf to give Kayleigh. Poor Brenna, poor weird-ass gangster looking Brenna.

We then proceeded to milk the cows. I quite enjoyed it, minus the cow poop everywhere. Though I had to compete with a calf for a teat…wasn’t expecting that. Terrifying. But all in all, I think we had the best experience.

So today I have been making an academic poster to present my “research” done at Nairobi National Park. We also have two scientific papers due on Sunday. As much as it pains me to say this, I am far more prepared for this sort of work due to Dr. Dave Rector. Damn. Neuro 430 actually served a purpose through all that really hard work. This school aspect of our trip is really starting to pile up.

Still love Kenya.

Chasing Lynos. Kissing Giraffes.

13 June 2010

Let me explain the “Lyno” thing. So yesterday we went on our first “game drive” (where we drive around Nairobi National Park and write down every large mammal we see, where we see it/them, how many, and what he/she/they’re doing…exhausting but interesting) and the only animals we hadn’t really seen yet were lions and rhinos. So there I am talking without thinking (per usual) and I say (loudly) “We just need to see some lynos and rhions!” and didn’t even notice I had mixed up those words until everyone on my jeep was laughing at me.

But to the real story…yesterday morning we’re in class with Kiringe, he’s lecturing about how to write a literature citation and we hear some crazy noises-monkeys and humans going crazy making insane noises. Then Kiringe keeps lecturing, we’re all getting ansy because Erica told us all about how there were lions very close to camp this morning, and FINALLY Kiringe releases us so we can hop in the jeeps and check out what’s happening. A lion was hiding in a local corn farm (which are nowhere near the size of our corn farms) and Nixxon (one of our staffers who knows EVERYONE in Kenya) was going to help. As we drive up the hill we see several of our friends armed with spears (which was awesome by the way) and Kiringe books it. I mean seriously going fast on these treacherous roads. We circle the corn field, wait it out a bit, then out runs what appears to be an adolescent male lion. We turned the car on and gunned it! I was really bummed because I didn’t see the lion run out of the cornfield, but I saw him(?) later. Beautiful. It was amazing. I finally got to see a lion in the wild! This is my life! I can’t even begin to tell you how much I wanted to cuddle with that lion.

Today was potentially one of the very best days of my life. First I went on a run with Brenna, took an amazing outdoor shower, then we went to the Elephant Orphanage. Baby elephants. BABIES! These elephants are mostly found in Amboseli National Park and Tsavo National Park because their mothers are victims of poaching or they themselves have fallen into wells and have been abandoned by their herd. The youngest one was only a few months old, and the oldest one we saw was I believe just over 2. We got to see them play, pet them, get headbutted by them, and take many many pictures of them. Our next stop: Giraffe Center. I can’t begin to explain how excited I was to see these beautiful Rosthchild giraffes. And on top of that I get to feed and pet them? What? So I started out with that, then one of the staff members asked me if I wanted a giraffe kiss. WHAT KIND OF QUESTION IS THAT?! That’s right ladies and gentlemen, I have been kissed by not one, but two giraffes! Dream come true right there. I love them. They are such SUCH beautiful animals. Graceful, ENORMOUS. One of the giraffes was not very patient, and would bite your hand when getting the food you have for him. This blog does not do justice to how I feel about today. Then we went to Kazuri beads, which is a bead making factory that employs over 300 single mothers (cool!) and they make really beautiful jewelry. I got a couple gifts there and enjoyed a white coffee with my friend Elise. Apparently white coffee is something no one outside of the PNW knows about. After that we got pizza and soft serve. I can’t tell you how much we loved getting pizza and soft serve. Kenyan food is okay, but it was really nice to have something familiar again.

Basically, the past few days have been amazing. I love living here.

Ring Wraiths. Barney Stinson. Cheers.

11 June 2010

So the one toilet here that everyone uses (because the other one won’t close/lock) sounds like a ring wraith…not joking. Every time the toilet flushes it does this screech, then the normal toilet sounds, then the ring wraith screech again. It’s weird, but in some way kind of comforting.
I am such a nerd.

Part of what we’re doing here is going into Maasai villages and interviewing mostly Maasai women (mamas) about various things relating to their lives and especially in the context of how the national park and wildlife affects them. The second person we interviewed today was a man named Stephen. I am not joking when I say he is the Maasai version of Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother, CBS). Not in behavior (okay a little bit) but he looks JUST like NPH. It’s ridiculous. Needless to say, I was a bit distracted in my interview.

Today we also had this amazing opportunity to go to a Maasai “Boma”, which means house, but this was a “cultural village” where tourists can arrange to “live like the Maasai…but that’s not what we did. Anyway, when we got there the mamas came out and greeted us. The women of our group would bow our head as a mama passed by and they would place their hand on our heads. Apparently when Brenna went into town today a little girl did this to her. Adorable. Then they started singing a welcome song to us as we walked into the Boma (See the video on facebook). At the end of the dance they do this thing where they kind of hop toward someone and then bump into them and that’s apparently their way of saying “Cheers!” and the head mama bumped into me! Once in there we had the opportunity to buy beautiful jewelry made by these women. The sales of this jewelry supports their families and often times they can fund their children going to school off of the money they make. They make these necklaces, bracelets, rings, earrings etc by hand and they are beautiful. I tried bartering. I was “successful” meaning I could get the price knocked down usually 50-100 ksh (.50-$1 USD) but other times they just repeated the price they originally said. I am so not made for bartering.

I so enjoyed having a chance to see how many of the locals live. Not the staff, who aren’t the typical Kenyan, but the average Maasai person. I would much rather have sat down with Eunice (my favorite interviewee), played with her baby, and asked her all about her life from birth to now! But unfortunately I had to ask fairly specific questions about her cattle and her land. Boo.
I think what I found most surprising in our interviews is that every single person said that the government is doing next to nothing (if that) to help them-they have the worst roads which are maintained by themselves, no compensation for livestock lost due to wildlife, etc-and yet they aren’t angry with the government. They just chalk it up to “that’s how it is”. There is no sense of entitlement with these people. They are appreciative to have what they have. Man could our country use a dose of that. It is so common to hear “the government should do this for me” but how entitled is that? I mean I get that it seems logical that one could rely on their government to provide for them, but at the same time we take so much and still expect more. But I look at these people, Eunice especially, and they are full of joy. More joy that I have seen in a long time. It was convicting and refreshing. Something I hope I remember and take with me.

As I settle in, I’m starting to find that I’m not as irked by people and Brenna and I are starting to have some really great chats. Erica (our SAM-Student Affairs Manager) has already offered to help me get connected with various zoos or vet jobs here!!! I’m making these wonderful connections that I NEVER expected out of this and I couldn’t be more thankful. Who knew that coming here could lead to me landing a short term vet job in a few years here in Kenya?! I would die of joy.

All in all settling in is feeling good. We’re going on our first game drive tomorrow and I cannot wait. God is good.

Walking with Giraffes

10 June 2010

This morning I took a walk with 17 giraffes. I got up at 530 am to wash my face and get ready to go on a nature hike. The rain was coming down-but the rain here is almost like a snow. I thought it was snow at first, but it wasn’t cold enough out. We gathered in the chumba and made our way to the front gate with Daniel faithfully leading us. Just before we reached the gate someone spotted a giraffe on the hill. It was barely light out and misty but still, I saw her. And she was beautiful. Then we saw another. We left the gate and saw two more. Then a younger one bringing up the rear. I couldn’t believe it, five giraffes. I haven’t even seen one very well so far and here’s five! Unfortunately I wasn’t getting any good pictures because of the lack of light. We continue to walk along our path, with the giraffes walking theirs parallel to us. As we go on more and more giraffes pop up and join this herd. At this point I’m starting to freak out with joy. We get to a bend in the trail several hundreds of meters away and we get really close. We’ve been walking alongside these giraffes for some time, and now we’re barely 50 meters away from SEVENTEEN giraffes. I am not joking, tears well up. I cannot believe my fortune. I missed the nature walk the morning before when they got close to zebras, but this was worth it to be here for this one. God is so good. I’d been asking Him to show me in some way that He is here with me. I’ve been feeling a lack of connection with my classmates, but this was His love in a BIG way. It made my day. Giraffes. In the wild. 50 meters away. Seventeen of them. Amazing. Praise the Lord.

Surge protector.

08 June 2010

I WOULD short out the power and kill the lights in the Chumba…

Okay the stupid field guide told me to bring a surge suppressor for using my laptop so I did. So I plugged the surge suppressor into my 3 to 2 prong converter which was plugged into my plug adaptor into then I plugged that contraption into the power strip and out came the loudest noise I’ve ever heard in my life, a stream of sparks and out go the lights. Dang it! This is my life.

But other than that incredible experience, Kenya is amazing. I’m in KENYA. I can’t even believe it. Here are the Kswahili words I know so far: Jambo (Welcome or you’re welcome), Chumba (the main room), banda (cabin), choo (toilet), duka (store), mzuri (good), asante (thank you), and tafadhali (please). I’m in love with the language. The people. The country. I love everything about this place. I don’t love the bugs, but I tolerate them because they’re Kenyan.
Yesterday was amazing. Today was amazing. We got here and had some orientation and free time. Unpacked our rooms. It was all a blur. We have vervets that just wander around the camp and try to steal our food. Right now they’re cute, but I can see where after awhile the bit gets old.

Pictured above: My bed with mosquito net :)

The only thing that disappoints me is that I haven’t seen much wildlife from the camp. But it’s only day two.

Today I woke up early-ish and laid in bed listening to the birds. It was beautiful and I couldn’t believe that this was my life. Then I went for a run around the perimeter of the fence. Now we’ve been warned not to wander into the tall grass because we have incredibly dangerous snakes here (black mambas, spitting cobras, etc.) and we were told that the trail went along the electric fence. So of course I listen to the latter and ignore the former. So in order to follow the fence I start running in thick, tall grass. Doesn’t take me long to realize that maybe this isn’t the trail and maybe it isn’t a good idea to proceed. I turned around and continued my run in the opposite direction. Got my foot caught in a hole and fell down, but the run was beautiful. Hard but amazing. So happy. I seriously can’t believe this is my life.

I am absolutely, 100% in love with everything about this place. Every second I’m here I that much more convinced that Africa is going to play a prominent role in my life.

travelling.

06 June 2010

I smell. My ankles are swollen. And I’m sweaty.
And I haven’t even gone on the long flight.

Long running pants were a good idea for maybe one or two flights, but I wish I would’ve worn a skirt instead. Now I know better. I don’t mean to be a negative nancy, it’s just I have 9 more hours to kill in this airport and I kinda feel like garbage. I’m not feeling well liked right now. Not that I’m annoying people, I just kinda wish I had someone that I felt more connected with. I’m being impatient I’m sure. And I wish I would have brought my converter/adapter in my carry on.

My flights weren’t so bad so far. The first two were actually lovely. I had tons of room and got to sleep. The one from Newark to London was less enjoyable because of my cranky man next to me and just general lack of space. But that’s okay, I survived it. I hope I don’t totally crash when we get there.

I opted not to go into London. I just think it’ll make me sweatier and crankier. Plus I’m going to see London on my way back in a better circumstance. I’m just really uncomfortable because of the bloating in my ankles and calves. L
I wish I didn’t feel the need to be liked.

(cont.)
Delayed 3 hours IN the plane. Surrounded by children from Dublin (okay, high school students but same difference). Plug in to watch movies broken/now working. Didn’t get any sleep on the flight. Ugh. I did not enjoy the flight to Nairobi. Good thing I was going to…NAIROBI!!!
The drive from the airport to the camp was amazing. Zebra everywhere. EVERYWHERE. The babies are the cutest. Flights may have sucked, but the drive totally made up for it. This is Africa.

kenya.

One post just wouldn't be enough. I was keeping a "blog" while I was gone with the intention of posting them when I got home, so starting today I'll be posting entries I made while abroad.

Enjoy!