An Average Day...(Doesn't Exist)

       Our general “schedule” is different every day, but here is a basic outline of my Kenyan lifestyle.

8:00 am – Breakfast  (Chai tea and bread – we usually add to it back in our apartment)

        After that we usually choose from a variety of things including work on service projects, running with Chance, hanging out with the nursery school kids that come to the center for school (but not for too long – they are a little wild), walking to buy delicious fruit from the stands down the road, going to town for shopping or food or Julie’s coffee, or talking to whoever we see around the center, including the kids who got sent home from school or who haven’t started yet.

1:30 pm – Lunch  (Rice and beans – goes great with an avocado)

         Next up it’s usually back to work on our projects, to town if we didn’t make it in the morning and need to go, blogging, or whatever else we can find to do.

4:45ish pm – Kids get home from school  (Best part of the day!!)

         Once they are home, there is so much to do! After rushing them to wash their uniforms, there’s football, sometimes karate, sometimes acrobatics, just relaxing (what the kids always say they’re doing), Swahili to learn, secret handshakes to practice, names to try and remember, children to be chased, piggy-back rides to be given, and most of all, laughs to be had.

6:00 pm – Mara Clara is on tv  (The kids were obsessed with this show. The finale was this week, so HOPEFULLY they won’t watch the one that’s replacing it, and we can play more.)

7:00 pm – Dinner  (Either rice or ugali, which is very dough-like but more dense, and either kale or pea-like beans)

         Eating in the dining hall with the kids is quite the experience. It’s insanity. They are everywhere! And there’s only enough seating for about 1/3 of them, so they mainly sit on the floor or stand around an extra table. It’s so fun to watch, though. And whenever someone is full, they just empty their plate into someone else’s. Which I usually have to do every time; I can never finish it all!

8:00 pm – Kids go do their homework

         Most nights I go and sit with the Class 8 group while they work. Some nights I get asked for help, and I’m surprised to admit that my Organic Chemistry class really helped me out one time. (I still hate it, though.) Then sometimes a couple of the Class 6 kids need help with their math. It’s so much fun!

9:00 pm – Kids go to bed

Peter, James, Francis, Isaac, and Jackson in the front.

Awful picture of me, but it's such a good one of them!

         Almost every night I walk the older boys (ages 14-18) back to their dormitory, and we stay up for awhile just hanging out and talking. They love to joke around, and  so do I! Three of them have an on-going argument about who gets to marry my little sister. :D It’s hilarious. Then there’s teasing each other. They love to call each other “Black Monkies”, and then most nights they sing and dance. If I’m lucky, they sing in unison to me. So much fun! Then when they need to go to bed, they insist on walking me back to my room. I love those boys.

At The Center!

Matatu: a very common mode of transportation in Kenya; typically white 15-passenger vans that carry around 20 people minimum

Finally we got to head to the center!! J Paul had a matatu pick us up at our hotel that morning, so we ate breakfast and then loaded up. We were quite the spectacle on the street with 5 wazungu and about 15 bags getting shoved in the back and through the windows. We were glad to be out of there.

We made a couple stops along the way including:

-       a brick factory (someone at the center wanted to make a pizza oven??)

-       a very pretty waterfall at a place called Bluepost

-       and a small zoo (Kenyan zoos are the best. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable about the animals and very eager to teach us. He offered to jump in with the crocodiles to show us how the male and female behave differently when provoked…. Which he then did by grabbing their tails. Legit! And he let us take some porcupine quills that were laying on top of their little cave. Winning!)

The sights on the way were amazing!! Between Mount Kenya looming in the distance and people everywhere beside the road carrying huge bundles of sticks on their backs or riding on donkey-drawn carts, I was definitely not bored. Unfortunately, no sightings of lions yet. :/ After miles of rolling green hills, we slowed down to turn on a small side road – we knew we had to be there! We slowed to a stop, and without an explanation Paul jumped out. He waved to us as he closed the door, and we continued on our way…. Alone.

We were lucky our driver knew where we were going, and we were really hoping that maybe he would also know what the heck we were supposed to do once we got there. Unfortunately, he didn’t. We pulled through a blue gate and stopped by a group of kids. They stared at us curiously, and we stared at them terrified. No one was around that looked like they were waiting for us, and none of them seemed to have any idea that we were coming. Ahhh!

But oh well! We just unloaded our stuff and hoped that someone would show up to at least tell us where to take it. While we did, we began introducing ourselves to the kids. I’ll admit that I have no idea who I met then – there were too many new faces and names. Not to mention that as I was grabbing my water bottle from the back of one of the seats I accidentally stabbed myself with my new porcupine quill. Trust me when I say Do Not Mess With Them!! It hurt for a week. After regaining consciousness, I saw that another mzungu was with us! Her name was Alina, and she showed us where we would be staying. (Come to find out, she’s also from K-State! Wooo! Represent.)

After taking our bags to our rooms, we got a tour of the center from some kids. This is when I first met Joshua and Edward. J I guessed that they were around 14 years old. They both hardly talked at all, and I love thinking back to this moment and seeing how much I have gotten to know them.  I had a hunch that Edward was a goofy kid because of the fact that he was wearing a thin pink scarf, and I was definitely right. Now that I know him, he calls himself my personal bodyguard. What’s funny about that is the fact that he is tiny. We always act out slow-motion Kung-Fu fights, and he loves to break dance for me.

We spent the rest of the evening meeting everyone – other volunteers (Penn State is also partnered with the center and sends teams for 3 weeks at the beginning of the summer), more kids, and some staff. They were all so welcoming. And even though we were still clueless on what service project would be taking up our 10 weeks here, we knew we could ask anyone for help. We planned to meet at breakfast with the Penn State advisor, Janelle, to discuss our first assignment, and then went back to our rooms to make ourselves at home.

There wasn’t much unpacking to do as there were no dressers or a closet. The 3 of us girls were staying in an adjoining room with the 7 Penn State girls. Our room was about the same size as theirs, but with only 3 beds.  Red concrete floors with a lot of empty space. Which reminds me about the huge gap in between the wall and the ceiling. As designated “non-wimp” of the team, I had to de-cobweb and de-spider above our beds before we could go to sleep. I even tucked in Bethany and Kenna with a nice barrier of bug spray around their beds.

I also got the bed next to the window. But this wasn’t just any window. The lack of curtains allowed for an excellent view of a dark hallway that was open to the outdoors. And most of the glass had been broken out of it. Basically anyone could look in and probably reach in through the window and almost touch my bed. We were basically sleeping outside. And don’t be confused about Kenya…. It does get cold here!

I still felt safe though, as the door to our room was huge and metal and had a padlock on the inside along with 7 other places for more to go. Which then begged the question of why are there so many locks on our door?? We just chalked it up there with our other questions about our room such as: Why does our hot water heater never seem to heat water? Why won’t our 2 half-sheets ever just stay put on our beds? And Why are our feet dirtier after showering than they were before?

But we lived through it, and had some great times in that room. J We were able to upgrade 2 weeks later, but funnily enough we still seem to be having very similar issues.

Next up: Service Projects & Kids!

We Are Wazungu

Mzungu = White person
Wazungu = White people

       We woke up in our Kenya Comfort hotel rooms to the sounds of Nairobi! (Which basically sounds the same as any other city, except 90% of the words you hear are a different language.) We anxiously got ready for the day as we kept our one goal in mind: meet up with Paul. Paul is the man who started the Children & Youth Empowerment Center in 2006, so yeah... he's kind of a big deal. The good news: we had his phone number! The bad news: we had no phone. We tried using our hotel room phone, but of course you can't call out on them. Our last resort was to go buy a phone ourselves, which I was basically terrified to do. People had already been glancing inside our hotel at us, and even the staff couldn't help staring.  After all, we are wazungu. We had also been told that it isn't uncommon for people to openly rob you in broad daylight - just what we needed during our first hour here. We were just about to venture out on our own when some random man reaches for me and says "I want to shake your hand". I went from freaked out to instantly relieved when he introduced himself as.... Paul!! 
       Everything was great from there on. It turns out that getting a phone is super easy, and the stores are pretty much on every block. People stared, people whispered, but for the most part we were left alone. Also, I never once saw anyone get robbed! As for Nairobi itself: insanity. There weren't as many people as I had expected, but still enough to feel the need to stay right with our group. Crossing the main road was a lot like frogger, but with traffic coming from the opposite direction than usual. Crossing the smaller roads was a lot like look-both-ways-18-times-because-I-honestly-had-no-idea-where-the-cars-could-be-coming-from. The buildings were all older, but were much more modern than I expected. Every street is different, though. If I had been blindfolded and thrown into Nairobi on a certain street, it probably would have taken me a long time to figure out that I was in Africa. Others, however, are dead give-aways.

Chance and the kids who were petting his leg hair.

       English is the language that schools are taught in and business is conducted in, but on every sign it was a combination of Swahili and English or one or the other. Basically, anything goes. In front of every store or bank, there were guards. And whenever we went into a supermarket or a public place we had to be patted down or they used a wand and looked in our bags. One thing I thought was funny was that whenever there were guards, there were always both a man and a woman. Women can only be searched by a woman and men can only be searched by a man. Later on Chance tried letting a woman search him and everyone else with us started cracking up laughing at him. They also have these great things called Nakumatt. They’re basically a Kenyan Wal-Mart. And they have EVERYTHING. Four floors of anything you could possibly want.
       So after breakfast with Paul, he took us around the city and showed us different places including Nairobi University. We got more practice crossing streets and plenty more stares. We then ate lunch and met up with a guy named Chris. He was one of the first volunteers at the center, and he worked a lot with helping street children decide to go to the center. Chris has been a great friend to us, and has been a great source of entertainment. He’s hilarious and is always encouraging us to live the ‘free-lancing’ lifestyle like him! Chris took us to a Museum of Kenya, where we got to learn all about Kenya’s history and traditions, and they also had an awesome snake exhibit. After that we went to a movie at a European film festival. It was definitely an experience…. Haha!

Chris!

       The next day, we were with Chris again. We got to take our first bus ride! Did I mention how crazy the traffic is? Well let me tell you, it’s not any better once you’re inside the vehicle. Turn signals aren’t incredibly important in the cities here. It’s more like a honk and then a car is cutting you off. And if we’re driving down a road and people are in the way, the usual procedure is “honk and they’ll move”. I’ve also figured out that stop signs are more like just suggestions. But the weird thing is that no one is ever mad. They might honk a lot, but it’s never in an angry way. And the drivers never yell or cuss anyone out. That’s just how it works. And I also still have yet to see a wreck (knock on wood). It might be crazy, but they’re good drivers.

These guys were awesome!!

     





      After a terrifying first bus experience to the outskirts of the city and a great walk down a red clay road surrounded in amazingly green trees and grass (beautiful!), we got to the Giraffe Center! We got to feed them little pellets of food from our hands… and mouths. It was awesome!! After that, we went to the Bomas of Kenya, where they perform traditional dances. They represented several different tribes, and then it ended with an amazing performance from an acrobatics group. We also made some friends with the Elementary (Primary here) school children that were there. They surrounded Nick and were petting his arm hair during the intermission. I was entertaining some with my attempts at Swahili.

       We finished the night out with some delicious Ethiopian food (don’t ask me what it was because I truly have no idea), pool, a couple Tuskers (Kenya’s very popular beer), and a lesson in Kenyan dancing. We apparently started out like wazungu. But no worries – we’ve improved!
The next morning we were headed to Nyeri! 

Traveling!

            First of all, I want to apologize for how late this is getting to you. Internet has been rare, but we have it figured out now so I’ll try to get better! Second of all, I’M IN KENYA!!! There are so many things that I have to update you guys on, but I’m going to break it up into parts so you don’t get overwhelmed. So here goes!

            On our flight from KCI to Dallas, I got the opportunity to sit by an amazing woman from Kenya named Diana and her little one year-old girl, Zoey. The first thing she said to me was that she was going to Kenya, and you should have seen the look on her face when I told her I was, too. She was more than shocked. I spent the flight talking to Diana about Kenya, why I was going there, and Zoey of course. Zoey was adorable, and cute, and fun, and happy, and did I mention adorable? We became friends very quickly and had a blast with playing with my bracelet and throwing things on the ground!

Diana and Zoey stuck with us throughout the rest of our lay-overs in Dallas and London, and we helped with Zoey as much as we could. She loved my awesome stroller-coaster ride in the security line.  They were such a blessing to us throughout that adventure, and it was nice to have a friend with us from the beginning to end. Saying good-bye to them in Nairobi was so sad!

The best way to describe our flight from Dallas to London is: long. I sat by two older ladies who both fly internationally a lot. They were very nice and quite helpful. The flight itself wasn’t really anything exciting. Overall, my thoughts on flying internationally are:

Food: not horrid, but not super.

Entertainment: Decent selection, but quality wasn’t the best. I could barely hear, so I watched the Vow in almost silence. (I didn’t get it.)

Comfort: Ehh.

And I guess I imagined landing in London would be a lot cooler. I pictured myself snapping photos of Big Ben as our plane swoops onto the runway. In reality, I got excited when I caught a glimpse of a row of houses from my seat in the middle of the center section. Yay!

Our flight from London to Nairobi was a bit more entertaining – several people had been enjoying the complimentary alcoholic beverages. (I’ll admit that the wine was quite delicious!) And after another 9-hour flight, we finally landed in Nairobi! I think the woman in the very back row of the plane said it best when she yelled out “WOOOOO!!! KENYA!!!!!”

However, our excitement at that point slowly drained away as we waited for our bags for an hour only to discover that both of mine and one of Bethany’s weren’t on the flight. Sigh…. But luckily they made it easy for us and delivered them the very next night!

Next I’ll tell you all about our couple days in Nairobi with some amazing people!