twenty-three.

I think I just turned twenty-three. it was definitely one of the most bizarre birthdays in recent memory, if not ever. as we were in the village it would have been hard to celebrate in any way normally, but who likes normal anyway. the other students, bless them, arranged for a bit a fiesta in the evening, on the 24th. someone brought rum from mombasa and we thought we'd all sit around, drink some rum (I hoped out of coconuts) and look at the stars.

I neglected to mention my birthday to the family I was living with. mostly, I was bummed not be celebrating at home, and in kenya birthdays aren't a big deal, especially in the village because they don't know their birthdays (ps. they tell time by the sun! the equator is a crazy place.) I told them I had a school meeting (a lie we students decided upon together) at 8 and would be back later. well they insisted (despite my protests) on walking me to the designated location (a room in a house near the water with bars on the windows) so I showed up to my birthday party with easily a twenty person entourage comprised mostly of children. and I wasn't the only one, many other students had clingers as well. so there we were, 23 american students, attempting to drink rum, in a muslim village, by headlamp, while kenyan children clung to the bars of the windows, staring at us. AWKWARD to say the least. there might be a special place in hell for those who drink round muslim children, if so, consider my spot reserved.

shirazi.

our rural village stay was in shirazi. from mombasa its a short ferry ride, and 1-2 hours (depending on cattle in the road, traffic, police, etc.) by bus. on the way I joked that if I wasn't living in a thatched hut with coconut trees around I'd be disappointed. as we drove farther away from "civilization" the aluminum roofs became fewer and the thatch more prevalent. we rolled into shirazi and it was thatch and palm as far as the eye could see.

the village chills right on the edge of a mangrove forest on the indian ocean. monkeys hop around the trees and kids climb palm trees for coconuts. there was no running water and no electricity. most of the houses were made of mud and wood, and the roofs were all palm fronds. incidentally, I learned how to make roof from palm fronds so should I find myself in a "survivor/castaway" type situation I'll starve to death but at least I won't get rained on.

we lived with host families and mine was a trip. they were really young, I didn't ask how young for fear I'd be older than them both. the patriarch's name was rengwa, his wife was subira and their three month old daughter's name was mwanajuma. nice enough people but it was a weird situation. I'm fairly convinced the mother was suffering some sort of post-partem depression, she was clearly not super stoked on her life. her baby cried all the time. rengwa was sort of your typical african male (yeah, I'm generalizing, but unfortunately the stereotypes hold true here in most cases, I've found, especially in rural areas.) he told me he was a business man but I never saw him work. he did none of housework. he was there when I left for class and there when I returned, but never seemed to do much of anything. he wanted to know where I was all the time, and wanted me home as soon as class was over - needless to say I found the bossy, overbearing, controlling attitude obnoxious, offensive and tiresome.

this is not to say the entire experience wasn't fantastic. I learned a lot. my swahili improved greatly, helped along by the fact that subira spoke next to no english. she taught me how to carry water on my head (they never gave me a full bucket, cause I was so bad at it) and how to make chapati, which I wasn't very good at either. the extended family lived in huts near eachother and everyone would crowd around to watch me fail at every domestic task. they thought it was hilarious. I believe we all arrived at the same unspoken conclusion: I would make a terrible african housewife.

we went swimming in the indian ocean nearly every day after class. its as warm as bath water. we traveled to place called paradise lost, a giant sandbar exposed at low tide, I'll post pictures when we get back to nairobi, you won't believe it. and I saw BUBBLER CRABS, like the ones in planet earth. I freaked out and took a million pictures, the other students thought I was nuts.

we had three hours of swahili in the morning in the madrasa next to the local mosque. they were all muslims which was an interesting experience as they were fasting for ramadhan when we arrived. we celebrated eid in the village which was a day of celebrations, lots of singing and eating.

I've never eaten so much coconut in my entire life. the moment I arrived I had a fresh coconut to drink/eat in hand. and that didn't stop the entire week, pretty amazing. the whole place often reminded me of the corona ads, if only we'd had beach chairs.

fishing is a major was of life in the village and they fish from canoes made of gutted trees. I ate so much fried fish I thought I would bust. in fact I ate so much fried food I'm rather amazed my clothes still fit (although I've literally only worn a tie-dye mumu since arriving in mombasa so who knows; ah the mumu, nothing more flattering than a dress shaped like a sack of potatoes, I look good.) everything there is fried. fried twice and while you're making it you make sure to knead in more oil. not sure what that was about, my guess is they need all the calories they can get.

the world food program is in shirazi. the primary school children don't return home for lunch, they are fed maize porridge at school. we ate well in shirazi but its unclear whether or not they always eat that well. we brought a lot of food with us and I know every family received a daily stipend for hosting us.

it was a long ten days. I can rough it pretty well, like all alaskan kids, but village life is something entirely different. all us girl got dressed by the village women every morning, and wearing eight layers of cotton or polyester when its 95 degrees out and humid is not my idea of a good time. I took at least two bucket showers a day, and three if I could, and was still sweaty constantly. if I'd had it my way I'd have worn my swimsuit constantly, but as they're muslims that would have been indecent. I was only allowed to wear shorts for my jog in the morning, at 5 am, before the sun and people were up.

it was nice to come back to mombasa, for showers, internet and the comfort of the mumu. mombasa compared to nairobi has many perks: less pollution, less dangerous, and SWIMMING. plus we're living in a hostel which means no host family, which means more freedom. we'll be here for another week, then its back to nairobi.

the lion king.

part of our intensive swahili program is a village stay in rural kenya. from nairobi we bused to mombasa, on the coast. the bus was called 'the mash cool' and had a dvd player, very deluxe. someone put on the lion king. it was the most surreal experience watching the lion king while driving through where it easily could have taken place. we spotted zebra from the windows as 'circle of life' played on screen, pretty wonderful.

we stopped outside of tsavo for lunch. I made a few jokes about man-eating lions, which were completely lost on my fellow students. I think they are a little too young to realize val kilmer used to make good movies like 'ghost in the darkness.'

storm over paradise.

television in kenya is its own experience. as I type this I'm watching "storm over paradise" with my host mama. it is a fantastically dramatic mexican soap opera dubbed in english. the words are over enunciated and delivered flatly. from what I can tell the main character is a mermaid, framed for some crime, locked in jail, in love with a man who is currently in the hospital for a stab wound, whose family owns a failing farm, whose soon-to-be ex-wife wants to kill her child. just another day in paradise. I'm hooked already.

tusker project fame 3 is super as well. its the east african version of american idol sponsored by tusker beer. the contestants come from kenya, tanzania, uganda and rwanda. I'm not yet convinced any of them can sing.

luckily the worst of american tv is currently showing here. I have my choice of the tyra show, hell's kitchen, the bachelor, oprah, america's next top model or survivor - and its all fuzzy. super awesome.

nairobi national park.

last sunday my host sister took me to nairobi national park. kenyans can enter the park for a little over $4 USD, whereas foreigners pay significantly more. I paid $40 USD for a day pass - a considerable sum given how much kenyans pay (but why shouldn't they have access to their own parks), although I certainly don't mind helping preserve national parks. unfortunately even though $4 USD seems like a small sum, the equivalent 300 kenyan shillings is very expensive for many kenyans. thus while the national park is seemingly affordable it is inaccessible for many kenyans. not to mention you need your own car to drive about the park.

but...

gggaaaahhhhhh! nairobi national park is maybe one of the best places ever. zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, ostrich, oh man, it was my own little david attenborough special. I tried to explain to my host sister how much I love nature documentaries... she didn't really get it. I wasn't sure how to explain that I've seen caves from planet earth around twenty-five times without sounding like a weirdo. I definitely freaked out after the first zebra. and then there were five zebra, and I freaked out five times as much. we drove around dinky dirt roads and over every dip in the road was some awesome animal I'd only ever seen on NATURE. we turned a corner and there were five giraffe standing in the grass surrounded by zebra. the zebra like to chill in the road, and only move when you get SUPER close. after awhile the novelty of zebra wore off and I wanted to see something else - then I had to remind myself that they were ZEBRA, REAL LIVE ZEBRA and that is SO AWESOME! there were water buffalo, birds of all sorts, and many animals in the deer family I can't name. we missed out on seeing lions, hippos, and rhinos - fortunately for them/unfortunately for me the park is huge so seeing everything in one trip is too much to hope for. the baboons are crazy! at all the picnic spots there are signs posted "please don't feed the baboons" and for good reason. they have NO fear. they sprint up and grab food, shriek and run off and chow down.

the animal orphanage is on the edge of the park - there they have lions, cheetahs, leopards, and loads of monkeys. all the animals were either abandoned, rescued from illegal pet operations or injured. they have monkeys in cages and wild monkeys climbing on the outside of the cages. bizarre.

gas.

some friends and I decided to experience the nairobi night life last night. on our way the westlands area of nairobi our taxi started sputtering to a stop. a little alarming given how safe our neighborhood is at night. the taxi driver informed us his cab was nearly out of gas. RIDICULOUS! after starting, moving 100 yrds. and stopping again a number of times we finally stopped completely. the taxi driver recommended we wait in the cab while he went for gas. LIKE HELL. so my friends and I got out and pushed the TAXI to the nearest gas station... which was closed. so we pushed it to the next one. imagine the spectacle. five white kids pushing a cab into a gas station at night all dress up to go out. the station attendant looked like he couldn't believe his eyes and the spectators were much amused. after filling up (and asking the driver repeatedly if he was sure he got enough gas) we made it to black diamond in westlands. the guy didn't even give us any $ off the fare. out of control. I was laughing so hard the whole time, everyone else seemed less amused. but c'mon, its a great story. its one of those, "hey, remember the time..." tales.

nimepotea.

nimepotea. nimepotea means "I am lost" in swahili. I sort of meant it as a joke although I suppose it could my symbolic in many ways. ugh. just take it as a joke. I'll do soul searching later.

kibera.

I moved in with a host family a few days ago. they are lovely. they are also muslim and fasting for ramadan. one might think this would mean I would not be eating much .... au contraire my friends. my host mother has taken is upon herself to feed me all the corn in kenya. ALL OF IT. yesterday she may have fed me the equivalent of all the corn in nebraska.

kibera, the neighborhood I live in, houses one of the largest slums in africa. we visited a clinic in the heart of the slum. did you see slumdog millionaire? its like that only there's no epic music by m.i.a., you can smell everything and feel everything. the sewage runs down the street, the children have no shoes, the houses a quite literally shanties made of aluminum siding. I don't know how I feel about the whole experience - it was all too overwhelming. we were followed by a chorus of "how are you?" as sung by little children, who, I'm also fairly convinced, were playing a tag-the-white-person game. I felt almost as if I were at the zoo, which sounds terrible, but its genuinely how I felt. these people and their lives were essentially on display for my education. I felt like an intruder.

my host family, although they live in kibera, is very well-to-d0. my host family is retired from the banking business and my host mother runs two salons. the oldest daughter has graduated from college and works for an american NGO in sudan. the second daughter, mary, is wonderful. she goes to college in nairobi and is an excellent guide. she took me all around the nairobi national park (more on this later, needless to say: RAD!) and is happy to answer my questions. the youngest boy is away at boarding school elsewhere in nairobi, and I've spent only a little time with him.

but now its getting dark and they'll freak out if I'm not home before dark. kibera hasn't been the same since the post election violence in 2007, they tell me. and is definitely dangerous if you're out after dark. probably especially if you glow in the dark. like me.

gender violence.

we had a presentation from the Gender Violence Recovery Center at the Nairobi Women’s Hospital. they are the only center in east africa that focuses specifically on gender violence, domestic violence and sexual violence. additionally all the services they provide free of charge. free-of-charge seems to be a fairly uncommon phenomenon in Kenya, so what they do is especially important. since opening in 2001 they've treated more than 14,000 victims. they offer psycho-social services on-site, conduct follow-ups and provide referrals for those patients who need them. pretty important work.

safety first.

during our orientation week we’ve received many recommendations on how to stay safe. our program manual is rather hilarious in this regard. we are to be on the lookout for bank robberies and riots and have been ordered to run away should either take place. kenyan “rappers” apparently like to have american girlfriends. men with dreadlocks are generally associated with “criminals, drug abusers, male prostitutes, and other ne’er-do-wells. many men grow dreadlocks with the specific intention of making it easier to pick-up white women.” like moths to a flame – white girls to dudes with dreads. according to my handy manual dressing inappropriately, asking a man to dance, sustaining eye contact or smiling at a man are “tantamount to a promise of sex.” too bad, I was stoked to wear hot pants and stare openly at every man I met.

water.

the current drought in kenya has far reaching implications. the maasai have brought their cattle into nairobi looking for grass. the cows look half starved and all their ribs protrude significantly. water and electricity are being rationed. this means on monday, wednesday, and friday we have no power during the day. on thursday, friday and saturday there is no water. I’m honing my military shower skills and preparing to bathe like the kings of old i.e. douse myself in perfume and deodorant. I’m sure I’ll smell awesome.