Birthday Week

Thanks everyone for your birthday wishes last week! You will all be happy to know that I had a great time on my birthday celebrating here in Kenya. For lunch, I went out to traditional Kenyan food with the administrative staff manger for the pediatric study I help with. It was really fun and she took me for my first ugali and matatu ride (surprising that I haven’t done either yet given that I have been here for 2 months now). Afterwards, I headed to the spa at the gym I belong to and got an hour massage for only $18! You know me, always one for the bargains! That evening we headed out for Indian food with a group of people from the UW, which was really fun. Anne, Bhavna, and Lisa organized for an amazing chocolate cake to be delivered after dinner (thanks ladies!). It came with lit candles and was served on a giant pizza looking tray. And, of course, everyone sang (don’t worry grandma, even though I missed your individual birthday song this year I was still sung to).

We had two interesting adventures last weekend. First, we went in search of Halloween costumes to this used clothing market that was absolutely crazy. It was a huge structure of tiny little 8ft by 8ft little wooden/plastic booths all right next to each other, each filled with clothes and shoes from all over the world. The floor in between, and often of the stalls themselves, was dirt and because it had just rained, the ground was nice and muddy. Some shops had boards you could stand on and they would put plastic down on the floor when you tried clothes on. The vendors were fairly good at guessing your sizes, most of which I had no idea since a lot of the clothes were from Europe. It is easiest to try on clothes if you dress in the appropriate attire. For me, this meant wearing a skirt so I could try on pants and a tank top so I could try on tops. The inside was packed with people and everyone was trying to search for clothes. I managed to get a shirt for 30 shillings (50 cents) and was pretty proud of the find! I think we managed to get fairly decent prices even though we were mzungu. I never thought I would, but I even finally gave in and bought my first pair of skinny jeans. I was trying to buy them for $10 and the guy was really resistant so I left. He ended up chasing me down at another booth later on and agreeing to my price. I guess he really wanted to sell those jeans. One thing that was really funny about the market was how the guys in it tried to specifically pull clothing brands you would know. They kept pulling old navy for me, haha! Also, they have no idea what cheaper and more expensive brands are back in Europe or the US. I was trying to get a used pair of shoes that were Target brand and the guy was trying to charge me $20 while Anne managed to get a pair of some really nice brand for only $5. Oh well!

Last weekend we also went to the MAMA’s (MTV African Music Awards). It was hosted by Wyclef and had a guest appearance by Akon. It was held in this huge arena and it was actually really cool to see Wyclef in concert. He gave a half hour performance before he hosted the awards, which was absolutely amazing! It was just crazy to think that I traveled to Africa and that’s where I saw Akon and Wyclef in concert. We also got to see guest performances from all the top popular singers in Africa. Most of the African artists were from South Africa, Tanzania, and Kenya. It was also funny to watch all the MTV interns running around with their cameras interviewing people and to see the crazy outfits people arrived in. We saw a LOT of very interesting outfits and people watching was a definite highlight of the evening.

Then, Kiea arrived early Monday morning and it has been so great to have company! This weekend Kiea is tagging along with the East Africa fogarty crew and heading to Kampala with us where we are going to visit the beginning of the Nile River, whoo-hoo! We have to take a 13 hour bus ride to Kampala, so we’ll see how that goes J Taking the bus one way will be fun because we get to see all of the country as we drive through it, however, doing the drive again on the way back is not something I’m really looking forward to.