I'm still alive

Well, it's been forever, but I thought I would let you know that I'm still alive and surviving just fine in Kenya. And, Brandon and my parents wrote their own impressions down to help me get motivated to start blogging again. So, here they are....

The Circle of Life - Brandon's Blog
I hopped on a plane way back on December 12th to return to Kenya and spend some quality time with my lovely wife and her adventurous parents Jon and Carol. It’s always nice to spend a full month on vacation during the holidays, but this trip had a special meaning that I will disclose later. It didn’t take me long to re-acclimate myself to life in Kenya as the first few days were spent getting stocked up with good food and drink to get us ready for our safari. Kristin was still working for a few days and, in her usual form, provided a to-do list to keep us busy.

I (trying not to look like a tourist) walked with Jon and Carol (blatant tourists) in our single file formation down to the 24 hour grocery store to give them a chance to see what Nairobi was all about. We also headed downtown to run some errands, including a failed attempt to achieve resident status at the Nyayo house. It takes about 3 years to get anything processed in this country. When Kristin was done with her work we headed to the elephant orphanage and the Giraffe center to see some animals up close. It was amazing to feed the Giraffes with your hands and straight out of your mouth, I felt like a toddler at the zoo. We also spent a night caroling to get in the Christmas spirit, and went to a musical called Mo Faya, which should be coming to a theater near you within the next few years. I really enjoyed spending time with the fam and catching up before we headed off on our whirlwind tour of the Kenyan countryside.

I would have to say after spending 7 days in a safari van and touring the Mara, Crater Lake, Amboselli, and Tsavo, that everyone should experience the amazing scenery and wildlife that Kenya has to offer. The trip exceeded my expectations with the animals we were able to see and capture in some incredible pictures. I was happy that Jon brought a quality camera with a zoom lens, as we were able to get up close to Lions, Elephants, and Giraffes and come away with some great pics. I used my camera to take some videos of the trip which will be entertaining to watch when I get back home. The tented camps we stayed in were amazing and I ate entirely too much with all of the buffets and multi-course dinners. We were happy to get back home on Christmas eve to relax and recount the events of the past week.

After resting for a few days we were ready for another trip out of the city. We spend a few days and nights freezing our butts off at Mt. Kenya. It was a very peaceful place to stay with amazing scenery and cozy little bungalows complete with fireplaces. Rather than pay for a driver, Kristin rented a car from a friend and I quickly volunteered to drive to the lodge. How could I turn down an opportunity to drive on the wrong side of the road? Driving in Kenya is crazy with mutatus pulling out in front of you, livestock crossing and sometimes sleeping in the road, bikes, motorcycles, and people moving in all directions. For those of you that know me, I was in my element as an aggressive driver, and made sure to stick my nose in whenever the opportunity presented itself. Kristin also did a great job of navigating so I would make the right turns from the correct lane. Fortunately there were no mishaps or fender benders during the week we had the car and we reluctantly returned to foot patrol.

We had a few days back at the apartment in Nairobi before Jon and Carol had to return back to the real world. Kristin signed us up for an amazing hotel room at the Fairmont near the University of Nairobi for New Years Eve where we re-discovered television. Ann and Damian dropped into our room for some champagne before we headed to a house party at an MTV Cribs style mansion complete with man eating guard dogs, a waterfall into the pool surrounded by palm trees, and a guest house complete with a walk up bar. It was fun meeting some new people and bringing in the new year Nairobi style and I’m happy that we ventured out of our hotel room.

After two weeks of madness Kristin and I decided to kick back at the apartment and recuperate. Before I left the states I ordered the first 5 seasons of the TV series “LOST”, so we vegged out completely, only leaving the room for bathroom breaks and snacks. After a few non-productive days we both started catching up on dreaded work, but it was nice to get some things done and get ready to head back. Damian and I also had a crazy adventure getting up at 3:30 AM and going to “Sherlock’s Den” ,a local 24 hour sports bar, to watch the college football national championship game. We started off our morning with Tusker Malts, cappuccinos, and a big 400 schilling ($5) breakfast. It was great to watch some football, no matter what time it was or who was playing.

And now for some life changing news that I hinted at earlier. Kristin and I obviously had a very successful visit when I was in Kenya back in September, because we are expecting a new addition to the family in mid June! We are both very excited for this and are trying to think of some names before I come home. I had to go and get her pregnant so she would come home earlier; I guess I missed her too much. It was exciting for me to go to her doctor’s visit on the 7th and see an ultrasound of our child. We really wanted to find out the sex of the baby, but the kid is hyperactive and would not stop moving long enough for us to find out. Kristin will go back to the doctor for her 20th week, so we should know very soon. I can’t wait for Kristin to come home so we can get everything set up!

The Parents Visit
It’s December 30 and our last overnight in Africa. We’ve packed quite a few activities into our two and half weeks here.

Our first days were spent in Nairobi. We got acclimated to our new time zone and life in this big city. Since Nairobi is close to the equator, the length of the days is pretty constant. The sun rises between 6 and 7 AM and sets between 6 and 7 PM. The days are warm if it’s sunny, but it cools off at night. It can also rain very hard at times. During the weekdays, many people are walking along the streets while others are packed onto buses and small vans called matatus. Traffic congestion is ever present, and diesel exhaust fumes are often overpowering. Walking a couple of miles to the Nakumat (shopping center) one day and to downtown another day immersed us in this activity.

Before Christmas, we went to a candle light carol sing and service outside at the Karen Blixen museum. We just knew it was at the museum, not that it was outside. It was a beautiful service (on a cool evening) with candles dripping all over in our Styrofoam cups. Then, getting into the taxi after the service, there was a slight candle wax incident as Jon enthusiastically entered the car right after Carol to avoid getting hit by some car driving on the wrong side of the road (but they are all on the wrong side of the road here).

We also went to a theatrical production called Mo Faya, They Call It a Slum, We Call It Home. It had been in New York last fall. The author is a Kenyan and the group is hoping to raise funds to put it on Broadway for a regular run. Although we had tickets, seats are first-come, first-served, so we arrived long before the doors opened. The theater was located in a warehouse area of town. There was photographic display of the post-election violence from the beginning of 2008. The pictures were quite graphic. The theater seating was green plastic patio chairs on risers and there were not seats for all the tickets sold. We had good seats thanks to our early arrival, but others had to stand in the wings and even a few ended up sitting on the risers in the aisle (fire codes?). The production was excellent once all were finally seated. The majority was in English, but we didn’t get all the cultural jokes and there was some Swahili as well.

We kissed giraffes at the Giraffe Center, saw baby elephants at the elephant orphanage, and went on a walking mini-safari at the Nairobi National Park. This was to prepare us for a seven-day safari trip to the Maasai Mara, Crater Lake, Amboselli National Park, and Tsavo West National Park.

We saw the greatest abundance and diversity of wildlife at the Mara. We were able to watch a little drama at the river crossing, as hundreds of zebra were on the opposite side, while 3 zebras were on our side. They were talking back and forth. We think the 3 wanted to join the others, but crocodiles were lying in wait at the crossing. There were also hippos in the water near the crossing. Then we saw the lions. They were in the bush between the zebras and the river. They were slowly trying to position themselves if the zebras came too close. The zebras finally backed off, and decided to remain frustrated about trying to join the other zebras on the other side. We visited a nearby Maasai village. It was educational, but we felt that it was a trap to try to sell us curios at the end. This happened not only at the Maasai village, but every time we entered or left a park gate. We were inundated with hawkers of wares. “Jambo. You want Maasai mama? I give you good price. You like the mama and the papa?”

Crater Lake was a stop between national parks, where we were hoping to see lots of flamingos and pelicans. There were flamingos, but not in the anticipated numbers. We did have a great guided hike around the lake with our guide, Walter.
As we approached our camp at Amboselli, we had a flat tire on the safari van. We got out to try to help our guide, Antony. There were a couple of young Maasai men nearby who also were willing to help, and within minutes there were 15-20 Maasai there to spectate. We were so hoping to get a good view of Mt. Kilimanjaro in Amboselli. As it was we only got 2 10-minute glimpses of the top and lower levels, with clouds in between. There were some beautiful sunrises and sunsets, though. And we got to see hundreds of elephants on the move. It absolutely poured our first night there, and we waded to dinner in the dinner tent.

Entering Tsavo West, we crossed a large lava flow about a hundred years old. The setting of our last stop on the safari, the Severin Safari Camp at Tsavo West, was our favorite. The rooms were fantastic, the pool was beautiful, and the food was plentiful and absolutely delicious! We got a little more rain on our safaris, but it was interesting to see the swelling streams and rivers. We were unable to cross a river and had to turn back. The rain made it harder to game watch, but we did see a short battle between a couple of male oryx. We saw other wildlife as well, but by now we had seen most of the animals before. It was still a thrill to hunt for them, and try to get even better photos. Brandon became an excellent spotter, and assumed his usual perch standing up front in the safari van.

We got back to Nairobi in time to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas. It was a different experience than our usual Christmas at home with lots of family around to help celebrate. We had homemade spaghetti Christmas Eve, and made homemade chili and maizebread (couldn’t find any cornmeal at the store) on Christmas. It was a quieter Christmas, but very special, as we think about spending next Christmas with a grandchild.

During the couple of days after Christmas, we were able to take in the National Museum and go to the market to shop for some souvenirs. Kristin has become quite the bargaining expert. We would show some interest in things the various vendors had displayed and then Kristin would help us get a good price. Such a change in our child who didn’t used to like to call and order a pizza. We plan to take her with us on our next car purchase. We also went to dinner at the famous Nairobi restaurant, Carnivore. It was quite an experience where a huge roasting pit filled with meat on skewers is centrally located. Various waiters rove table to table asking if you wish chunks of various meats such as beef, chicken, pork ribs, ostrich meatballs, and crocodile among others. When you’ve had enough, you drop your table flag and surrender. We managed to sample quite a bit before dropping our flag.

Feeling the wanderlust, we headed for Mt. Kenya 3 days after Christmas, where we stayed in a gorgeous mountain setting in small Hobbitt-like cottages. Again, the food was fantastic, and the setting was out of this world. We got clear views of Mt. Kenya behind our cottage both mornings. We were at about 7000 feet above sea level, so the evenings were rather chilly. Someone would accompany us to our cottage and light a fire in the evening. Unfortunately, the wood was poorly seasoned and the fires went out before all the wood could burn. Days started clear, then clouded up as the day progressed, leading to some rain, and then lightening up again later in the afternoon. We got in a 3-hour guided walk through the jungle, where we got rained on by falling caterpillars and saw evidence of elephants in many places. We enjoyed early evening games and tea time at the lodge, leading into a leisurely dinner and reminiscences of the day.

Driving to and from Mount Kenya was an adventure. Kristin had a car from a friend and Brandon was our driver. Navigation is a challenge as street and road signs are few and far between. To get out of Nairobi, we would approach a roundabout, make our best guess of which street to exit to, and then look for a sign to confirm if we were still on the route we wanted. Once outside the city, we saw what we had learned were typical sights of the country; goats, cows, donkeys and other livestock with caretakers roaming both on and off the road, many people walking along the road, motorcycles and bicycles weaving in and out, small towns with people gathered at various markets or just hanging out, buses, matatus, and big trucks. Most of the highways were two-lanes, so honking, flashing headlights, passing, and swerving become part of the normal routine. There is some beautiful countryside and a variety of vegetation which we were able to enjoy.

It is hard to believe that our stay in Kenya comes to an end tomorrow night. We have hundreds of great photos to share with friends and family, along with many more stories to relate. In addition, we have many treasured memories with Kristin and Brandon.

Kiea's Thoughts

My friend Kiea was here to visit me for a week and half and I wanted to share her impressions of Africa with you since I thought they were really insightful.
Here are her first impressions of Africa.


Mzungu:

Mzungus are what white people or foreigners are called here in Nairobi. From where I am staying with Kristin in town, mzungus are few and far between. Walking down the streets it is very clear that I am out of place. At least I have dark hair and tan skin so I blend in better that Kristin and her blond hair and pale skin but there is definitely no place to hide. When I was in Greece and Italy I could sometimes pass for a local on the streets or at least blend in with the tourist crowds but no such luck here. I do get a lot of staring though. I don’t think my casual attire helps much because everyone there seems to walk around in the nicest suits no matter how hot it is. Even the poorest of people are own suits and are more presentable than my dressed up of work days. Kristin’s house maid who lives the largest slum in Africa (about 1 million people) even is styling.

My first day here, after arriving the Nairobi airport at 4am, was mostly spent catching up on sleep and slowly exploring the immediate area. I wandered down to the nice hotel nearby to lay by the pool while Kristin has to work and I took in the Africa bit by bit. I was really happy to see Kristin and how she has settled into this different country. I admittedly was quite nervous about being in Nairobi since I did now know how I would be received. After about 2 days of culture shock, I feel much more comfortable.

This week for the most part has been checking out what Nairobi and its surrounding areas had to offer. Sadly, there has been a drought here (except today) and Kristin’s trusty taxi driver warned me that of the animals would be in the Nairobi game park if I went on an expensive tour. No cool wild animals. Therefore I spent a half of a day checking out the Elephant Orphanage, the Giraffe park and a place where single mothers are employed to make beads and necklaces. I passed by the rich part of town with houses comparable to the US wealthy neighborhoods and then I passed the African slum. Very strange to see them so close to each other. It makes me a little angry.

Today I went to the Nairobi National Museum to see a lot of stuffed animals birds and game- not quite the same but it will have to do. However the museum was packed with children on field trips and there were more than entertained by me, the Mzungo. So many smiles, hellos and hand holding. I love how kids can lack inhibitions
Tonight I am about to go pack up for our weekend in Uganda since we need to leave extra early tomorrow. Kristin and I and 8 other scholarship students and friends are headed to see some of rural Africa and life outside of the more westernized Nairobi. Im so excited. Additionally, we are going to do some rafting/floating on the Nile so that will be an adventure too.

Desensitized:

Desensitized, suspicious and a bit cynical is what you have to become as a westerner to live and operate in east Africa in my opinion. I had a conversation with one of Kristin’s fellow Fogarty scholarship winner who hosted us in Kampala, Uganda this weekend about this. It’s amazing what kind of environment your body and mental state can adjust to out of necessity. Anyone who has spent time in a less than stable, corrupt county or environment can understand….It’s hard to explain but I guess it’s like something that is consistent and uncontrollable like earthquakes or hurricanes. At first your terrified, intrigued or excited and your body is full alert- fight or flight. Then when news informs you of a category 5 hurricane headed straight for your house for the 3rd time, it’s just another fall day in Florida- your just annoyed at this point. Or when you (I didn’t) get arrested for 45 minutes by the corrupt policemen with large guns looking for extra cash at the end of their shift at a checkpoint in Nairobi because someone in your packed car doesn’t have their seatbelt on and you don’t want to pay the bribe- it’s another morning commute in Nairobi.

Or Malaria is as common as the flu- “Oh, she’s out sick again with Malaria, third time this summer”. It’s just how life is. Cynicism is a trait that is inevitable as well. All of the crap that people try and pull, like charging you more because your white and hoping you won’t notice, it’s hard to give people the benefit of the doubt. That comes with living in a city anyways.

Desensitized and cynical is what I was becoming for the short time I was in east Africa- truly Amazing. I really think it’s just how your body adjusts to such a culture change. What an adventure! I love it

Uganda:

East Africa is such a unique place. It’s people, the social system and the variety of ecosystems/landscapes. I was lucky to come and visit Kristin when she had planned a trip with fellow students to visit Kenya’s neighboring country Uganda to float the Nile river and check out it’s Capital city of Kampala.

Me, Kristin, Anne and Damian (the Nairobi crew) left Nairobi at 7am Saturday morning for a 12 hour bus ride to Jinja, Uganda. The 12 hours seems to fly by since there was so much to see along the way. I had a chance to see the small poor villages where people lived in straw huts and markets packed with people. I also experienced the countyside’s ever changing landscape going from dry and deserty, into an evergreen forest and out into a jungle that would resemble a South American jungle. We even passed right through the equator line.

After one full Kenny Rogers video (hilarious right?) shown on the bus and 3 really bad African movies, we arrived Jinja about 7 pm and met with the 7 other students gathering there. Summer and Miriam booked us a cabin in a westerner filled campsite on the banks of the Nile River. There we grabbed some food and a few Ugandan beers and got ready to raft early the next morning.

We left about 830 and the ride to the drop off point for the rafts was an experience itself. In an opened top van we were offroading to the river through some villages and were chased down by their extremely excited children waving and shouting hello. I felt like a celebrity! Very cool.

The van dropped us off at the beginning of the floating route which actually is the VERY start of the Nile river. Kristin and I had a blast floating, swimming and playing in the river and seeing all kinds of monkeys swinging alongside the river and people washing their clothes. It was surreal that we were actually there! After leaving the river we recooped near the river and hiked around river falls until it was time to head to Kampala a few hours away.

The Nairobi crew had one more day to spend in Uganda so we checked ourselves into a hotel that night in the larger city of Kampala. I really liked Kampala. Things weren’t as crazy as Nairobi, it was much safer at night and they actually had more civilized things like sidewalks, nicer buildings, normal looking stores and street lamps. We spent most of the day navigating the city by foot, checking out the craft market and eating. We even went to a Mexican restaurant for HH Margaritas- Crazy! The familiarity was nice.

Side note: East Africans LOVE Obama! Barack and Michelle are the leading baby names in Kenya and Obamas grandmother, who lives outside of Kisumu- which we passed through, is a celebrity. I even considered getting an Obama scarf with his face on it.

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.

Camping in Naivasha

Last weekend we headed to Naivasha for a weekend of rock climbing, camping, and boating. It was great to get out of the city, breathe somewhat clean air, and see more of the country. Naivasha is about an hour and a half drive from Nairobi and we rented a car Friday evening and set out on our road trip adventure early Saturday morning. Along the drive we hit a great overlook for the rift valley, and it is gorgeous. We had great weather that day and could see what I guess is more than usual from the lookout. The lookouts can be a little terrifying to stand on, given that some are merely planks of wood somehow attached together and sticking out of the hillside above a major drop off. But, I guess they didn’t collapse on us while we were there, so that was good.

Because we don’t yet have our residency cards, once we arrived at the Hell’s Gate park entrance we spent a good 45 minutes trying to negotiate our way in for a residents fare. As usually occurs with price negotiations (or most anything for that matter) in Kenya, if you are persistent enough and don’t give up, you will eventually get what you want. And we did! Thanks to Anna (our friend from Manitoba) and Damian’s negotiation skills and patience, we ended up only paying $7 to enter the park instead of the listed $25, victory!

Once we arrived in the park, we met up with a mountaineering club that was climbing some of the rock cliffs surrounding the valley. They had ropes, harnesses, helmets, and all the appropriate rock climbing gear. Many of them were very experienced climbers so they were able to show the completely inexperienced me how to tackle the climb. I’m not really sure how tall the cliff was where we were climbing, but maybe somewhere between 30 and 60 feet? Anyway, I made is almost all the way to the top on my first try but had to quit because it started pouring down rain and rock climbing in the rain is a no go! I had been very afraid to try climbing, but realized that once you get started, you forget that you are actually climbing high above the ground and are much more focused on making the next strategic placement of your foot or hand to keep going.

Because it started pouring down rain, we had to give up on the rock climbing adventure early and also the afternoon hike we had planned to take into the Hell’s Gate Gorge. I’m looking forward to doing the hike next time since I heard that there are boiling mud springs and that the locals who take you on guided walks like to paint your faces with the mud. The rain continued to pour down all afternoon and while it was raining we did a short drive down the road to observe the scenery and various animals. We saw zebra, buffaloes, and a couple kinds of antelope looking animals. We had the end the drive early because the roads became too washed out for our little Toyota car. But, the rain did finally let up enough that we were able to get to our campsite and get everything set up without getting wet. It did, however, ruin our plan to roast hot dogs over the fire for dinner. But, thankfully, the campground had a nice restaurant at it with some of the best food I’ve had since I arrived.

Right before we went to bed, we went looking for the hippos that are supposed to climb out of the water and come right up to the fence (the barbed wire fence that surrounds the campground so that they don’t come all the way up and trample the campers while they are sleeping). But, the drought here has caused the water in the lake to recede so far out and has created these mud swamps that the hippos get stuck in, so the hippos didn’t make an appearance. It’s actually quite sad that the hippos are getting stuck in the mud. I guess there was an article about it last week that mentioned how all the hippos are getting stuck and the locals are killing them (and I think eating them?). Anyway, it was one of my first experiences actually witnessing how little water is here in Kenya and it was really eye opening.

We successfully made it through the night without getting wet (yay new REI tent) or getting attacked by hippos or having monkeys break into our tents. The following day we took a boat ride out on the lake and walked down the long muddy makeshift path to get to the boat because the boat dock ended at least 50 or 60 feet before you hit the water. After the dock was this interesting path of boards, cut down plants and empty grounded boats to help you navigate around this awful mud that I swear would swallow you whole if you missed a step.

The boat ride was great, we saw the hippos (finally) and pelicans, flamingos, heron, and many other birds. We bought fish from local fisherman out on the water and had our boat driver whistle and call eagles out of the trees to swoop down and pick up the fish from the water right next to the boat. It was an amazing sight and I know Brandon (Mr. “I can’t miss the birds of prey exhibit” every time we go to a zoo or aquarium) will be very jealous.

Well, that’s the update on the weekend adventures for now!

The Weekend

Ninaandika tena (I am writing again), shocking I know, and after such a short time!

This weekend was really fun, so I thought I would share. On Friday night I went with a group of people from the University of Manitoba and John’s Hopkins to see an art show for a Tanzanian art form called Tingatinga. It is gorgeous art and the show was held at this cute little restaurant close by. They had wine and champagne and appetizers set out, couches and chairs to sit in, and really cool lighting. The artwork was amazing! I really like how the tingatinga art form displays animals and probably would have bought a painting if I had brought enough money along with me (thankfully I didn’t, because they are also expensive). The most interesting part of the show was the art pieces that showed different public health HIV prevention messages. For example, there was a picture split in half where one side showed a man going into a bee-hive without any protective gear on and getting attacked by a swarm of bees, and a picture on the other side of a man climbing into bed with a woman. The caption on the photo said “You wouldn’t get honey from a bee hive without protection so why would you have sex without using a condom.” There were many others as well with similar HIV prevention messages. I thought it was really amazing that public health messages had infiltrated this form of art. After the art show we went to an Indian restaurant in this complex that has flashing lights surrounding it and giant light-up palm trees on the tops of the buildings. It was a very interesting place, but the food was amazing! I have discovered that I love Indian food and can’t wait to explore more Indian restaurants when I come back home.

Anne, Damian and I spent Saturday afternoon exploring this huge Western style mall that’s located in Nairobi close the US embassy in the very wealthy part of town. It was really fun to step into the mall and feel like you were outside of Nairobi. For those of you know what it is, the mall even has a Mango! It was a Mango outlet, so of course, I was all excited about the bargain prices. I didn’t stay very long, but that’s probably a good since that also meant I didn’t spend as much money.

On Saturday evening I went to a concert that was put on to support stopping gender violence. The main singer was Oliver Mtukudzi from Zimbabwe, who is apparently really famous. I’ve never heard of him but I guess he plays concerts all over the world, including in the states. It was a great show and he was very entertaining. I didn’t understand all the songs, since they weren’t in English, but I did buy the CD so that I can learn more of his music. I guess he’s been singing and touring since 1977, so it was also impressive just to this older man dancing around all over the stage all night. It was also amazing to watch all the Kenyans dancing, they are so good and everyone has rhythm. It was much more lively than most concerts I’ve gone to in Seattle or the NW. Before the main artist, we got to watch a few other bands play and one of the bands reminded me a lot of Jamaican music. We also heard two famous Kenyan poets recite poems about women empowerment and the life of women living in Kenya. It was great poetry, but the itinerary for the night wasn’t well organized because it had the poets following the introductory bands and people were too excited after dancing around to the first groups to really pay attention. Overall, it was probably my favorite night in Nairobi so far!


This morning I went to a great church that I really enjoyed. The service was in English and has a Kenyan leading worship and an American (I think?) pastor. It was a great community and I stayed for a picnic lunch that they had afterwards to meet and talk with different people about various church small groups that meet all throughout Nairobi. There is one group that meets fairly close to my place and has more younger people than some of the other groups, so I think I am going to try going to it this week. I also joined the gym this week and am really excited because they have a class called Afro Step! It’s on Tuesdays, and I’m planning to go to that as well this week (or at least sometime in the near future).

Well, I think that’s it from the weekend!

The bugs

Hi everyone,
So sorry, I know it has been a seriously long time since I posted anything. I think blogging is not really my strong suit but I’ll definitely try to post once a week from here on out. I had been planning to post about our trip to the coast, but then Brandon beat me to it! I think he did a great job describing everything., probably better than I could have done. However, he did forget to mention how he and Damian left Anne and me the task of killing the 20 large cockroaches in the bathroom while they went to watch a dog dig up crabs on the beach. That’s right, they left the women to take care of the nasty giant cockroaches while they went out to play. I used the only weapon available at the time (an empty beer bottle) and went for it! It was my first experience killing cockroaches and after witnessing my skills with the empty beer bottle weapon, Anne says she wouldn’t want to make me mad if there is an empty bottle close by. Apparently I was a little aggressive towards the cockroaches, but they were giant and nasty and freaked me out!

If I were naming different sections of my trip, I would label these past couple weeks the bug weeks. We had the cockroaches in our bathroom at Tiwi, bed bugs in our beds at the resort in Diani, found a giant centipede creature the size of a hand crawling around, and exterminated the 70 large ants that had made a home in our bathroom sink in Nairobi. Although they seem less harmful than other bugs, I think that ants have become my least favorite bug and the ant extermination process in our bathroom was pretty funny. I’d been finding these ants around every night since I arrived; just about 2 or 3 in the bathroom sink area each night. Then, last weekend, I went into the bathroom around 2am and found about 10 of them crawling on the sink. The winged ones had even come out, which I hadn’t seen before. They have super strong bug killer here in the stores (probably with some illegal chemicals banned in the US) and we had previously bought some to try to take care of the ants but hadn’t really used it yet. I had also been trying to figure out where they were hiding out. That night I saw them crawl into this little hole on the bottom of the sink and decided to spray into the hole. Immediately following the ants started pouring out and I was madly spraying the bug spray at them while they were starting to cover the bathroom floor. We finished the extermination around 3am and the floor was covered in at least 70 dead ants. But, the good news is I haven’t seen another ant in the bathroom since! In general, I feel that I’ve definitely had my share of bug experiences for the moment and am ready for a break!

As far as life in Kenya is concerned, I think I have finally started to settle into a routine here. I spend Mondays in the lab working on various aspects of different projects right now and will soon start generating some DNA that will be used for part of my dissertation. I spend Tuesdays and Fridays working on data analysis and will also start using that time to develop my dissertation proposal. I spend Wednesdays working on another project related to pediatric HIV medication adherence and Thursdays in the pediatric HIV clinic. I really enjoy my time in the clinic, although I’m not always sure how helpful I am. It definitely gives me a new perspective on the research process and the logistical aspects that go into international research.

I am also in the process of learning Kiswahili and have tutoring sessions twice a week. So far the sessions have been going really well and I feel that I am learning a lot. I’m hoping to become fluent by the time that I leave, although sooner rather than later would be nice. All of the women in the clinic speak Kiswahili, so the more I know, the more I am able to communicate with them and the toddlers. The clinic staff is having a great time helping me learn the language too, and they think it is really funny telling me sentences and then trying to get me to pronounce them correctly. I have learned that I am much better at learning other languages when I can see how the words are spelled and am not a very auditory learner. I can hear the word many times but it won’t stick in my head until I see it written down.

It was so great to have Brandon here for the past couple weeks and it was really hard for me to say good-bye to him on Monday when he left! It really makes me wish he had been able to come for the entire time, but I know that that wasn’t necessarily the right decision for him (or us in the long run). But, I am really going to miss him and I can’t believe that he doesn’t come back until December. That seems like such a long time away from now. Thankfully, Kiea will be here soon to visit, so I have something else to look forward to that can help keep my mind off missing Brandon.

Anyway, not much exciting going on here this week, but hopefully I’ll have more exciting stories to tell after the weekend.
Kwaheri for now!

Brandon's Post

Jambo!

My trip to Kenya has been amazing thus far. The flights went well and I had no issues with lost baggage or delays. I brought a box from UW with supplies for the hospital marked "Dr. Brandon Sofie" so I expected a few questions, but nothing came up. Kristin met me at the airport in a taxi and we headed back to her apartment in Nairobi. Her place is nice and comfortable, with all necessary appliances, dishes, furniture and has a small deck that looks out on a courtyard filled with trees, flowers, and plants. She has two roommates, a married couple, named Anne and Damian who will be staying here through the end of her stay. We have spent a lot of time with them exploring Nairobi. We have gone out to local restaurants to try the food and went into town to check out the Sunday market where you can buy hand crafted wood carvings, bowls, baskets, etc. after bargaining quite a bit to reduce the cost. They like to say "I give you good price, Kenyan price" but you still have to undercut that amount to make it reasonable. Kristin and I checked out the national museum where they have the skulls of early humans that were discovered in northern Kenya. We also have gone to the local market and the Nakumatt( African wal-mart) to pick up our groceries, water, beer, and other supplies for the week. We have a consistent driver that we trust named Peter who picked me up from the airport and takes us to the store or to areas that are too far to walk to. The Fairview Hotel is down the street where we can get lunch and sit in the courtyard, but we have cooked most of our meals since I arrived. This has ranged from eggs and toast in the morning to chili or phad thai for dinner.

During last week I walked with Kristin to work a few times and visited the office at the hospital where she works. The streets are filled with people, cars, matatus (buses/vans) crammed full of passengers, motorcycles, men pulling carts, etc. Every road you look down has many people. It has been very dry here so the sidewalks, mostly dirt with rocks, are very dusty and your shoes are usually covered by the time you reach your destination. There is a strong smell of exhaust and diesel fumes as you walk down busy roads, as well as the smell of burning garbage, waste, and BO. They could definitely use some rain to clean the streets a bit. It’s not uncomfortable to walk, but it is a completely foreign environment. The people are generally very nice to talk to and will greet you when spoken to, but I have definitely been called a few things during my time here. Overall, I like this city and could get used to living here, but I welcomed an opportunity to get out of town and see the coast.

All four of us packed our things and boarded a plane last Thursday night for Mombasa, which is on an island on the eastern coast of Kenya. Kristin was very nervous for the flight because it was a small prop plane with about 30 seats and we flew with 540 Airlines “Kenya’s low cost airline” Overall, the flight was fine and we had no issues getting into town. We stayed at the Castle Royal Hotel on one of the main roads of Mombasa. They had a small live band and we sat outside at the restaurant in at the front of the hotel and listened to Kenyan covers of Bruce Springsteen and other American artists. The next morning we took a taxi to the Sand Island Beach Cottages on Tiwi beach. We stopped at the store on the way and stocked up on food, beer and water for our stay. The drive to Tiwi was very interesting with a ferry ride and a constant view of roadside shops filled with everything from fruits to crafts, houses, goats crossing the road in front of our speeding car, cows, children playing soccer, and matatus passing into oncoming traffic as they honked and flashed their lights. We finally reached the entrance to the cottages and took a long dirt road past many small brick houses with thatched roofs, coconut trees. We finally arrived at the cottages and were greeted by an amazing view of the Indian Ocean. The cottages sit at the top of a small slope that looks over a grassy area with palm trees with the beach just steps away. The resort got its name from the “sand island” that appears in front of the beach when the tide is out.We waded out to the island shortly after arriving and sat in the shallow water warmed by the hot sand and drank Tusker beer. We bought fish from the local fisherman and cooked it with the vegetables and rice we picked up on the way. We had adventures with catching crab on the beach and Kristin killing cockroaches in the bathroom on the first night that kept us entertained. There is a large reef that runs along the coast just east of the beach which provides an amazing place for snorkeling. On the second day one of the local fishermen took us to a small pool shaped like Africa where we saw many kinds of tropical fish, and to another location where we swam into caves where the water was cool and there were bats hanging over head. In this pool we found tons of lion fish, parrot fish, and sea urchins. We cooked fresh local prawns for our second dinner and relaxed on the front patio with cold beers.

The following day we had a tough time leaving the cottages, but looked forward to the Papilon resort in Diani. This was a bit of a change being an all inclusive hotel, but we wanted to see a few different areas during our trip.
We mostly relaxed by the pool and enjoyed the sun, with a few trips over to the poolside buffet to grab some food. The resort was inhabited by a large family of Vervet monkeys who would run past you to steal food, cups of beer, or anything small left unattended on a lawnchair. This was entertaining, but they could be annoying at times. I played a game of water polo against team Africa (the staff called the animation team) as a member of the European team, because I was the only American, which was fun and a good workout.

We spend the night watching African dancers and listening to clubbing music which coaxed no one to dance. Then came time for bed where we encountered bed bugs, and two infested rooms later finally got a place to “sleep”. Other than the bug incident we had a great time at the resort. We reluctantly caught a taxi back to the airport in Mombasa and flew back to Nairobi last night. This week we will head out to another local restaurant to celebrate my birthday, and possibly travel out of the city for a camping trip next weekend before I head back to Seattle.