5:57 am. The waves lap loudly at the shore, playing bumper-cars with each other, seeing which one's taller, faster, out-doing the others. The outlines of gigantic rock islands faintly illuminated against the gradually lightening sky. The stars slowly fading, one by one, winking their farewell to those below. The fine white sand pouring softly through my fingers, piling up perfectly, falling according to a perfect equation. Gently cradling me, the most comfortable seat.
All this after a night of dancing, drinking, taking care of friends. Philisophical conversations. Everyone in bed, and instead a barefoot through the dark streets of the small village/town of Watamu. The moon close to full, illuminating the path. Dogs guarding various establishments, while the noise of those getting up to start their day drift down over the dirt road.
Conversation, math, science, art, beauty, literature, pasts, futures, ideas, dreams.
Those of you who know me have been accosted by my trademark questions, the one I ask nearly everyone if the time is right is “If you could be anywhere, right now, where would you be?” I have always been obsessed with that question, I want to know where you would go, why, how, you're underlying motivation. As I turned to my friend to ask, the question froze in my throat....I couldn't ask the question, because I didn't have an answer. For the first time in my entire life, I was absolutely content. There was no where I would rather have been than on that beach, waiting for day to break, the fishingboats coming back in after high-tide, tired, sunburnt, and perfectly content. My little version of paradise. Absolute beauty.
The sun rose slowly, the rocks were illuminated in detail, and more and more people wandered onto the beach. The fishing boats came back in, and the day was begun. My friend and I stood up, and shoes in hand meandered tiredly back to the house to sleep until the afternoon.
A momentary paradise, yet paradise all the same.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Week 4...1 month
So as of 2 days ago, I have been here for a month...and well, again it feels like years. I have learned so much, gone so many places, and had my world turned on it's head, I have experienced a paradise, and I have gone through a mental hell. My goal from now on is to update 1-2 times a week, I tried to a few days ago, but the internet in africa and I got into a little battle, so it didn't quite work out.
Last week on Tuesday I was sitting in my room around 1pm, and I was bored. Now, a little known fact about me is that people scare the crap out of me, I just have a habit of finding something that scares me and running at it head on...so as soon as I know that I'm scared of something, I have to do it...so anyways I was being shy, and deliberating about what I should do in my room, when I decided to go and wander down a path near the school. I walked for a ways, saw some interesting (and by interesting I mean rather bizarre) bug life, and a giant hole maybe 4 ft in diameter and 12-15 ft deep. I'm not sure why the hole exists, and it's right in the middle of a path, but if someone were to fall into it they would definitely not be able to get out if they were not some crazy gymnast. Anyways, this path goes through some bushes and trees and fields, and there was this wall of bushes with a hole for the trail to go through. I walked through the hole, and there was a person crouched in the shade of a bush, and random goats wandering around. At this point I got slightly nervous...wandering around alone in the bushes isn't the smartest, nor the dumbest idea, but definitely not on the side of really smart, so again I deliberated with myself over what to do while crouching in this hole in the bushes, when I heard a noice behind me. I turn around and there's this lady who froze when she saw me. I smiled, she smiled and I took a step towards her. She took a few hurried steps back and looked like she was going to turn and run. I stopped, held up my hands, and shrugged, trying to look as non threatening as possible...she stopped too, pointed nervously at the hole, and asked in broken english "I pass?", I said yes, and went like 10 ft off the trail. The lady scurried past me, smiled nervously and dissappeared through the hole...I stared at the empty space she had just vacanted, and I decided to continue on my way.
I walked through the doorway in the shrub, turned and the man squating in the bushes saw me. He jumped up, and stood awkwardly next to his bush. Lying in the dust below the bush was a machetti (sp?). The boy/man (he looked to be about 17, but i'm horrible at judging how old everyone is) awkwardly said 'hello', again in broken English, and that was the beginning of my friendship with Paul. Paul is an amazing person, he's from the western province of Kenya, and came to Nairobi to get a job with a family here, taking care of their animals and house and such. He gets up every morning, makes breakfast, kills a chicken or something for food, goes to the local produce stand, cleans the house, then in the afternoon he herds the goats, and makes sure that they eat and dont' run away. He is paid 1,500/= (kenyan shillings) per month, which is approximately 18$. I'm now meeting up with him every few days, when classes and such allow, and teaching him various things from international relations. He went to primary school, and was in secondary school, but couldn't afford to continue, so now he's working for a few years and hopes to get to finish school sometime in the next few years, but it's expensive, so he has to save up...
I don't know what to think about that, other than meeting up with him is one of my favorite parts of the week.
Last Thursday night a group of 10 people made an 8-10 hour journey to the coast, and stayed in our friend's brother's house in one of the cutest little towns every. It was a phenomenal experience.
One morning I got up a few hours after I watched daybreak, and I was sitting in a little food place/cafe thing writing in my journal outside, drinking chai, and a man started messing around in a shanty across the street. He started to paint beautiful pictures on canvasas that were absolutely phenomenal. I sat at the cafe place for a good few hours, watching him create art with quick, simple brush strokes. It was beautiful. So if you know me, you know my obsession with trees...at one point i was watching him paint, and al of a sudden he created a tree...it was one ofthe most amazing depictions of a tree that I've ever found, and I sat there awestruck while he simply wiped a tree into existence. It was amazing. Absolutely fantastic. I really wanted that tree, however it was on a canvas that was 3ft by 5 ft, and that was a bit large to take home, so I went up to him and asked if he would be willing to paint a tree on a smaller canvas for me to take home. He said yes, so we bargained down a price, I paid part of it at the time, and watched my painting be created.
On campus there is a dirt road that goes down to the football pitch (real football...not american) and track. The first time I walked down the path was around 10pm at night, and there was the silhouette of the perfect tree. Gigantic, majestic, and absolutely amazing. When I first saw the tree I stopped walking, and rambled about perfection and whatnot to my friend who I was walking with. When I picked up my picture and while I watched the random stranger I'll never see again paint the tree, he was painting the perfect silhouette of the perfect tree. It was amazing.
Those are the random updates for now. I'm gonna post my little bit about paradise in a bit...it's straight off of what I wrote for facebook.
Last week on Tuesday I was sitting in my room around 1pm, and I was bored. Now, a little known fact about me is that people scare the crap out of me, I just have a habit of finding something that scares me and running at it head on...so as soon as I know that I'm scared of something, I have to do it...so anyways I was being shy, and deliberating about what I should do in my room, when I decided to go and wander down a path near the school. I walked for a ways, saw some interesting (and by interesting I mean rather bizarre) bug life, and a giant hole maybe 4 ft in diameter and 12-15 ft deep. I'm not sure why the hole exists, and it's right in the middle of a path, but if someone were to fall into it they would definitely not be able to get out if they were not some crazy gymnast. Anyways, this path goes through some bushes and trees and fields, and there was this wall of bushes with a hole for the trail to go through. I walked through the hole, and there was a person crouched in the shade of a bush, and random goats wandering around. At this point I got slightly nervous...wandering around alone in the bushes isn't the smartest, nor the dumbest idea, but definitely not on the side of really smart, so again I deliberated with myself over what to do while crouching in this hole in the bushes, when I heard a noice behind me. I turn around and there's this lady who froze when she saw me. I smiled, she smiled and I took a step towards her. She took a few hurried steps back and looked like she was going to turn and run. I stopped, held up my hands, and shrugged, trying to look as non threatening as possible...she stopped too, pointed nervously at the hole, and asked in broken english "I pass?", I said yes, and went like 10 ft off the trail. The lady scurried past me, smiled nervously and dissappeared through the hole...I stared at the empty space she had just vacanted, and I decided to continue on my way.
I walked through the doorway in the shrub, turned and the man squating in the bushes saw me. He jumped up, and stood awkwardly next to his bush. Lying in the dust below the bush was a machetti (sp?). The boy/man (he looked to be about 17, but i'm horrible at judging how old everyone is) awkwardly said 'hello', again in broken English, and that was the beginning of my friendship with Paul. Paul is an amazing person, he's from the western province of Kenya, and came to Nairobi to get a job with a family here, taking care of their animals and house and such. He gets up every morning, makes breakfast, kills a chicken or something for food, goes to the local produce stand, cleans the house, then in the afternoon he herds the goats, and makes sure that they eat and dont' run away. He is paid 1,500/= (kenyan shillings) per month, which is approximately 18$. I'm now meeting up with him every few days, when classes and such allow, and teaching him various things from international relations. He went to primary school, and was in secondary school, but couldn't afford to continue, so now he's working for a few years and hopes to get to finish school sometime in the next few years, but it's expensive, so he has to save up...
I don't know what to think about that, other than meeting up with him is one of my favorite parts of the week.
Last Thursday night a group of 10 people made an 8-10 hour journey to the coast, and stayed in our friend's brother's house in one of the cutest little towns every. It was a phenomenal experience.
One morning I got up a few hours after I watched daybreak, and I was sitting in a little food place/cafe thing writing in my journal outside, drinking chai, and a man started messing around in a shanty across the street. He started to paint beautiful pictures on canvasas that were absolutely phenomenal. I sat at the cafe place for a good few hours, watching him create art with quick, simple brush strokes. It was beautiful. So if you know me, you know my obsession with trees...at one point i was watching him paint, and al of a sudden he created a tree...it was one ofthe most amazing depictions of a tree that I've ever found, and I sat there awestruck while he simply wiped a tree into existence. It was amazing. Absolutely fantastic. I really wanted that tree, however it was on a canvas that was 3ft by 5 ft, and that was a bit large to take home, so I went up to him and asked if he would be willing to paint a tree on a smaller canvas for me to take home. He said yes, so we bargained down a price, I paid part of it at the time, and watched my painting be created.
On campus there is a dirt road that goes down to the football pitch (real football...not american) and track. The first time I walked down the path was around 10pm at night, and there was the silhouette of the perfect tree. Gigantic, majestic, and absolutely amazing. When I first saw the tree I stopped walking, and rambled about perfection and whatnot to my friend who I was walking with. When I picked up my picture and while I watched the random stranger I'll never see again paint the tree, he was painting the perfect silhouette of the perfect tree. It was amazing.
Those are the random updates for now. I'm gonna post my little bit about paradise in a bit...it's straight off of what I wrote for facebook.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
January 31st--
And now for the latest update:
I'm not even sure where to begin at this point. I've been here for 3 weeks, yet it feels like months.
-I've almost been robbed
-I've gotton in trouble with the police...nothing horrible, but still kinda amusing
-been eaten alive by mosquitos
-heard more hip-hop in the past 3 weeks than I've heard in 3 years
-seen a building explode and burn down.
-used green toilet paper
-eaten mango's fresh in the morning
-gone to a rock club
-gone to a hip-hop club
-eaten super wierd animals
-seen the poorest people i've ever met
-seen some of the richest people you'd ever meet
-have random political discussions with strangers at bus stops
-been to the second highest building
-sat down to eat and bargained for 'gifts' from the waiters
-had someone try to sell me a shirt for $80 when i usually wouldnt even pay $5
-joined the basketball team
-learned some guitar
-met crazy awesome people at our presidents innaugeration
-danced in a circle with a ton of locals when O'bama was innaugerated
-been cheered for being American more than I thoguht would ever happen
-had my political views completely turned around
-joined International Relations Forum
-been picked on by teachers for being american
-climbed on random buildings
-had power outages in the middle of class for a few hours at a time
-Explored around, and become addicted to running again
-I've outrun a Nigerian and a Ugandan, but I still have yet to out run a Kenyan, but I'll let you guys know when it happens
-anyways, sleep...
I'm not even sure where to begin at this point. I've been here for 3 weeks, yet it feels like months.
-I've almost been robbed
-I've gotton in trouble with the police...nothing horrible, but still kinda amusing
-been eaten alive by mosquitos
-heard more hip-hop in the past 3 weeks than I've heard in 3 years
-seen a building explode and burn down.
-used green toilet paper
-eaten mango's fresh in the morning
-gone to a rock club
-gone to a hip-hop club
-eaten super wierd animals
-seen the poorest people i've ever met
-seen some of the richest people you'd ever meet
-have random political discussions with strangers at bus stops
-been to the second highest building
-sat down to eat and bargained for 'gifts' from the waiters
-had someone try to sell me a shirt for $80 when i usually wouldnt even pay $5
-joined the basketball team
-learned some guitar
-met crazy awesome people at our presidents innaugeration
-danced in a circle with a ton of locals when O'bama was innaugerated
-been cheered for being American more than I thoguht would ever happen
-had my political views completely turned around
-joined International Relations Forum
-been picked on by teachers for being american
-climbed on random buildings
-had power outages in the middle of class for a few hours at a time
-Explored around, and become addicted to running again
-I've outrun a Nigerian and a Ugandan, but I still have yet to out run a Kenyan, but I'll let you guys know when it happens
-anyways, sleep...
January 17th-another random day
Saturday January 17th, 2009
Today was different. I went wandering around Nairobi, the downtown area, and I got completely lost. Luckily I was with a local, but again...I was still lost...very very lost. I'm usually amazingly good with directions, I usually know where I am, and how to get back to where I was, but that was not the case today. It was wonderful. This place is utter chaos when you first look at it. Nothing makes sense. People are speaking gibberish rather quickly, and they understand each other, things get passed back and forth, bargaining is an important aspect of the entire culture, and I taught a local how to play chess. I have made some amazing friends already, and it's been wonderful. I don't want to go back. I could come here, and never leave. I would definitely invest in a pillow, and potentially a few more shirts and such, but moving here is definitely an idea. I want to do the summer semester. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with life, the universe and everything in it. Engineering. Blah.
I'm kinda sick. I have a few symptoms that apparently that can be a really bad sign. I forgot to take my malaria pill for a week, so it could be a symptom of that, but I'm not gonna jump to any conclusions. Life is what it is, and if I have malaria, than it sucks to be me, but whatevs. I am gonna say that I don't really miss american food. Burgers or anything like that.
Things I have done in the first week...
-eaten camel
-eaten crocodile
-gotton lost in a foreign city
-bargained a carving down from 4,000 ksh ($50) to 200 ksh ($2.50)
-been asked out
-worn sandals for 1 week straight in January.
-had no money
-learned more Swahili
-gotten a new view of our country
-been congratulated on being from Chicago 13 times in one hour
-taught a Kenyan how to play chess
-been taught how to properly punch someone
-eaten really bizarre and unknown food
-played rugby
-laughed so hard I cried.
-Been informed that I need to learn how to dance in a club by a random kenyan chick
-become more hippy-fied
-made amazing friends
-drunken every night for a week, but not actually been drunk
yup...so much more. I need sleep.
Today was different. I went wandering around Nairobi, the downtown area, and I got completely lost. Luckily I was with a local, but again...I was still lost...very very lost. I'm usually amazingly good with directions, I usually know where I am, and how to get back to where I was, but that was not the case today. It was wonderful. This place is utter chaos when you first look at it. Nothing makes sense. People are speaking gibberish rather quickly, and they understand each other, things get passed back and forth, bargaining is an important aspect of the entire culture, and I taught a local how to play chess. I have made some amazing friends already, and it's been wonderful. I don't want to go back. I could come here, and never leave. I would definitely invest in a pillow, and potentially a few more shirts and such, but moving here is definitely an idea. I want to do the summer semester. I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with life, the universe and everything in it. Engineering. Blah.
I'm kinda sick. I have a few symptoms that apparently that can be a really bad sign. I forgot to take my malaria pill for a week, so it could be a symptom of that, but I'm not gonna jump to any conclusions. Life is what it is, and if I have malaria, than it sucks to be me, but whatevs. I am gonna say that I don't really miss american food. Burgers or anything like that.
Things I have done in the first week...
-eaten camel
-eaten crocodile
-gotton lost in a foreign city
-bargained a carving down from 4,000 ksh ($50) to 200 ksh ($2.50)
-been asked out
-worn sandals for 1 week straight in January.
-had no money
-learned more Swahili
-gotten a new view of our country
-been congratulated on being from Chicago 13 times in one hour
-taught a Kenyan how to play chess
-been taught how to properly punch someone
-eaten really bizarre and unknown food
-played rugby
-laughed so hard I cried.
-Been informed that I need to learn how to dance in a club by a random kenyan chick
-become more hippy-fied
-made amazing friends
-drunken every night for a week, but not actually been drunk
yup...so much more. I need sleep.
January 14th-random day
Wednesday January 14, 2009
Today I came to this amazing realization. I have come here, not to be revered and fondled over as the exchange student, but to learn. I will no longer hide in my hole, and wait for people to come to me, but I will go out, explore, and question. Life is not about sitting and waiting for it all to go to you, it is about getting out there and going. I have done that today twice.
First, I was randomly wandering around campus, and I came across a person whom I have been slowly acquainting myself with for the past few days, and I basically invited myself along on his walk. I may have invaded his space, but I learned a ton about the culture. I was rather excited about the whole culture thing. Apparently I am crazy, mainly because girls are not supposed to climb trees. It is considered to be anathema, or a sign of the evil demons in a girl if she were to climb a tree. I find it highly amusing, because I was telling Isaac about how I like to go around campus at night and climb trees, just to clear my head. He was slightly astounded, and laughed for a few good minutes. It was cute. I promise.
I'm slightly disappointed, because I am at a western style school, doing western style things most of the time. However, I am slowly realizing that that is how the world is going. People want to become westernized. The want all of the new-fangled technology that we come around with. They want the 'easy' way of life that everyone has. The land of opportunity. It really is the land of opportunity, but only if you know how to play your cards, which very few people know how to do. It's sad, but real.
One of the most interesting things I have learned is from class. I never thought I would say this, but I miss the classes, the math and the science that I am not taking this semester. However, I am loving my IR class. Especially because it is taught from the point of view of my professor. Even jaded teachers in the states teach a certain curriculum, and here, the opinion of the people whom we have suppressed is really refreshing. I love it. Especially because it is so close to my own that I am questioning what the professor is saying. If someone agrees with me, then I get frustrated and have to find something wrong with the argument that they make, which is extremely healthy for me, as I have such an inflated ego, and I love to learn about things such as this.
Quote of the moment:
Education without being able to change the world is useless.
-girl in my IR class
Today I came to this amazing realization. I have come here, not to be revered and fondled over as the exchange student, but to learn. I will no longer hide in my hole, and wait for people to come to me, but I will go out, explore, and question. Life is not about sitting and waiting for it all to go to you, it is about getting out there and going. I have done that today twice.
First, I was randomly wandering around campus, and I came across a person whom I have been slowly acquainting myself with for the past few days, and I basically invited myself along on his walk. I may have invaded his space, but I learned a ton about the culture. I was rather excited about the whole culture thing. Apparently I am crazy, mainly because girls are not supposed to climb trees. It is considered to be anathema, or a sign of the evil demons in a girl if she were to climb a tree. I find it highly amusing, because I was telling Isaac about how I like to go around campus at night and climb trees, just to clear my head. He was slightly astounded, and laughed for a few good minutes. It was cute. I promise.
I'm slightly disappointed, because I am at a western style school, doing western style things most of the time. However, I am slowly realizing that that is how the world is going. People want to become westernized. The want all of the new-fangled technology that we come around with. They want the 'easy' way of life that everyone has. The land of opportunity. It really is the land of opportunity, but only if you know how to play your cards, which very few people know how to do. It's sad, but real.
One of the most interesting things I have learned is from class. I never thought I would say this, but I miss the classes, the math and the science that I am not taking this semester. However, I am loving my IR class. Especially because it is taught from the point of view of my professor. Even jaded teachers in the states teach a certain curriculum, and here, the opinion of the people whom we have suppressed is really refreshing. I love it. Especially because it is so close to my own that I am questioning what the professor is saying. If someone agrees with me, then I get frustrated and have to find something wrong with the argument that they make, which is extremely healthy for me, as I have such an inflated ego, and I love to learn about things such as this.
Quote of the moment:
Education without being able to change the world is useless.
-girl in my IR class
January 12rh--First day of Classes
Monday January 12th, 2009
Today was the first day of classes, which was an experience in and of itself. I have one class on Mondays and Wednesdays, two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one class on Fridays. At the beginning of the day I went to an office and a group of us International students were there, attempting to get everything set up with schedules and what not. It was interesting, because the campus was finally full of people. I wandered around campus and attempted to meet people, but I would like to say that it's actually a difficult thing to do in a completely different culture. I'm an extremely outgoing person, but I still have issues with the whole breaking that barrier. It's difficult when you don't really understant what the other person is saying, and as soon as you run out of things which you both mutually understand, well, then it gets awkward. Also, the ratio is completely reversed. There are so many more girls than guys. It's kinda nice. I met my roommate today, and she's fantastic.
Despite all the good things that are happening, I'm still having some culture shock occur. The best time of the day is when we all go out and get dinner. The food in the cafeteria is worse than Sodexo (the only good things are the mango juice and something that I can't remember this late at night(mandazi)). Coffee isn't the staple drink that it is in the United States...I think I've quit drinking coffee. This idea has come about mainly because I haven't had any coffee in the past 4 days. None. I guess that's one way to get rid of an addiction. Instead, there is this amazing mango juice. The server and I have a nice little relationship going on, and the caf has only been open for 2 days...she also offered to teach me how to make this really cool food item, and I think I may take her up on it...(I did warn her that me + kitchens == natural disaster, but she didn't care. I dont' think she understood the extent of the destruction I can create if you give me flour and an oven.)
Any ways: class. So I show up to my class and see a Japanese international student who has been teaching me some random kiswahilli. So I sat next to him, and this other girl who is a 3rd year from Dar es Salaam (sp?). We ended up getting into a conversation about different education systems, and how an education is useless if you cannot change the world with what you have learned. If you only learn one thing worthwhile in a day, that day is worth more than you can imagine. The way she phrased it was really amazing. The class I'm taking is African International Relations. It's a stereotypical international relations class, except it's told from the point of view of the oppressed. Not the oppressors, or friends of the oppressors, and the energy in the classroom was much different. I was sitting behind two african students, and the professor was talking about ethiopia, and was like :the only african nation that wasn't occupied, other than for a short period of time by the italien, during their history is ethiopia. The Nigerian student kinda shook his head, while his friend smiled, and was all proud, and kinda like 'that's right bitches', except not that exact phrase. The Kenyan looked at him and was like, “don't even say anything. Just shut up.” It was a very raw exchange as well. Another moment that struck me during class was the professor had been held up by an accident for half an hour, and he was explaining how he had parked so horribly that the security guard had come up and talked to him about it. The professor explained how he was really late, and the security guard asked “do you want me to lose my job?”, the professor retorted with “Do you want me to lose mine?”. In a rhetorical question, the professor turned to the class and asked, “now why should one man's job mean more than mine?”, the same student I mentioned before muttered “welcome to africa” under his breath, kind of in the same manner that disenchanted Americans will say the same thing when there is a stereotypical moment of what so many of us hate to represent.
So far, I have essentially learned that people are people no matter where the hell you are. A different culture just means different customs, it doesn't mean that they are aliens with similar shape. They are human beings with similar ideas. Tonight after coming back from the bar/dinner, I was stopped by a guy who I had met playing guitar under a tree, and we ended up having a political discussion for over an hour, ranging from the pros and cons of O'bama, Bush, the world's interpretation of countries, how countries relate to each other, the second coming of Christ in the form of china, and philosophies on illegal substances. I had also locked myself out of my room (big surprise), so I had to go find the RA type person. This is what I live for. I hope that I can continue to find it where ever I go...not just in the states.
It doesn't seem like things are all that different on the top, however, it's getting difficult for me to try to explain all of these things. Everything is just so completely different compared to life as usual. The matatu, which is the local public transportation, the way teksi's operate. Everything is so foreign, but makes so much sense at the same time. Oh man.
Today was the first day of classes, which was an experience in and of itself. I have one class on Mondays and Wednesdays, two classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and one class on Fridays. At the beginning of the day I went to an office and a group of us International students were there, attempting to get everything set up with schedules and what not. It was interesting, because the campus was finally full of people. I wandered around campus and attempted to meet people, but I would like to say that it's actually a difficult thing to do in a completely different culture. I'm an extremely outgoing person, but I still have issues with the whole breaking that barrier. It's difficult when you don't really understant what the other person is saying, and as soon as you run out of things which you both mutually understand, well, then it gets awkward. Also, the ratio is completely reversed. There are so many more girls than guys. It's kinda nice. I met my roommate today, and she's fantastic.
Despite all the good things that are happening, I'm still having some culture shock occur. The best time of the day is when we all go out and get dinner. The food in the cafeteria is worse than Sodexo (the only good things are the mango juice and something that I can't remember this late at night(mandazi)). Coffee isn't the staple drink that it is in the United States...I think I've quit drinking coffee. This idea has come about mainly because I haven't had any coffee in the past 4 days. None. I guess that's one way to get rid of an addiction. Instead, there is this amazing mango juice. The server and I have a nice little relationship going on, and the caf has only been open for 2 days...she also offered to teach me how to make this really cool food item, and I think I may take her up on it...(I did warn her that me + kitchens == natural disaster, but she didn't care. I dont' think she understood the extent of the destruction I can create if you give me flour and an oven.)
Any ways: class. So I show up to my class and see a Japanese international student who has been teaching me some random kiswahilli. So I sat next to him, and this other girl who is a 3rd year from Dar es Salaam (sp?). We ended up getting into a conversation about different education systems, and how an education is useless if you cannot change the world with what you have learned. If you only learn one thing worthwhile in a day, that day is worth more than you can imagine. The way she phrased it was really amazing. The class I'm taking is African International Relations. It's a stereotypical international relations class, except it's told from the point of view of the oppressed. Not the oppressors, or friends of the oppressors, and the energy in the classroom was much different. I was sitting behind two african students, and the professor was talking about ethiopia, and was like :the only african nation that wasn't occupied, other than for a short period of time by the italien, during their history is ethiopia. The Nigerian student kinda shook his head, while his friend smiled, and was all proud, and kinda like 'that's right bitches', except not that exact phrase. The Kenyan looked at him and was like, “don't even say anything. Just shut up.” It was a very raw exchange as well. Another moment that struck me during class was the professor had been held up by an accident for half an hour, and he was explaining how he had parked so horribly that the security guard had come up and talked to him about it. The professor explained how he was really late, and the security guard asked “do you want me to lose my job?”, the professor retorted with “Do you want me to lose mine?”. In a rhetorical question, the professor turned to the class and asked, “now why should one man's job mean more than mine?”, the same student I mentioned before muttered “welcome to africa” under his breath, kind of in the same manner that disenchanted Americans will say the same thing when there is a stereotypical moment of what so many of us hate to represent.
So far, I have essentially learned that people are people no matter where the hell you are. A different culture just means different customs, it doesn't mean that they are aliens with similar shape. They are human beings with similar ideas. Tonight after coming back from the bar/dinner, I was stopped by a guy who I had met playing guitar under a tree, and we ended up having a political discussion for over an hour, ranging from the pros and cons of O'bama, Bush, the world's interpretation of countries, how countries relate to each other, the second coming of Christ in the form of china, and philosophies on illegal substances. I had also locked myself out of my room (big surprise), so I had to go find the RA type person. This is what I live for. I hope that I can continue to find it where ever I go...not just in the states.
It doesn't seem like things are all that different on the top, however, it's getting difficult for me to try to explain all of these things. Everything is just so completely different compared to life as usual. The matatu, which is the local public transportation, the way teksi's operate. Everything is so foreign, but makes so much sense at the same time. Oh man.
January 10th--First real day...
Saturday January 10, 2009
Where to begin. Today was intense. After 3ish hours of sleep last night, because my plane got in so late, I was awoken by the alien scream of some new fangled alarm. I couldn't rely upon my inner alarm clock to wake me, as I'm sure my inner alarm clock is now set to whatever time it is on the surface of mars. Anyways, I then went on a tour, of Nairobi, with a group of international students at this school. One of the local students told me Nairobi is approximately 4 million people, that or 6 million. Either way, it is one huge city. At first glace, it is rather reminicent of the united states. It has buildings like the states (no I am not living in a grass hut in the middle of some dessert, with IIT painted on a rock next to it), roads (although they don't have lines, and they drive on the wrong side), cars on those roads and people, but that really is as far as the simularities go.
The entire way of life is different:
--Police carry machine guns,because that's the only way people will listen to them. There was a van that was pulled over by a cop, the cop was speaking to him, and all of a sudden the van just started to drive away, the cop tried to beat him with his night stick, but because he didn't have a machine gun, the van was able to get away. It was a rather intriguing occurrence.
--Another international student didn't have any Kenyan Shillings, he only had one dollar bill, and we were at the Masai market. Bargaining is such a large part of their way of life, that the local merchants ended up giving him a hand made tapestry for that one dollar because they thought he was trying to bargain with them when he waved it around trying to tell them he would not be able to buy anything because he had no money.
--If you don't speak Swahili at the market, you will be royally screwed over. Moral of the story: bring a local friend with you when you bargain, and learn Swahili. Do both just to be on the safe side.
--There are no lanes in the roads. There are no rules to driving, other than: don't hit anyone. And this is with traffic that I would say is more congested than New York City. It's ridiculously crazy. Riding around with people is amazing. On the city tour I watched a public transportation bus hit another car (the public transport busses are like VW van size, so they didn't total the car), and every passenger climbed out to move the vehicles. Meanwhile, the vehicles stuck behind the accident honked at the pedestrians on the sidewalk nearby, and proceeded to drive around the accident on the sidewalk. The manner of driving is this really aggressive style driving that's extremely chill. It's not personal if you get cut off, everyone is going on their own business, but you try as hard as possible to be the one cutting others off. It's just how it seems to work.
--People here are so relaxed. It's so bizzare. Whenever I walk anywhere with anyone, they give me crap for walking fast. “Where do you have to go in such a big hurry, eh? Over there?You'll get their fast or slow.”
--It's not taboo to talk about things that our culture has exasperated beyond belief. Just because shit has happened, doesn't mean that you have to hush up about it. They frequently talk about things that are politically incorrect to talk about in certain circles in the states, and it doesn't phase anyone, they just go with it. It's an extremely open culture.
--Over roasted goat, cow, and a few beers, a discussion that ranged from God to the creation of gods, to apathy, to love, to the nature of humanity, to anything really, in a semi-buzzed state of mind was a common thing that didn't come close to offending anyone.I don't even know where to begin/go with all of this. I'm extremely overwhelmed, yet perfectly content at the same time. Well, perfectly isn't exactly the right term, more of a mostly content state of mind. I've had my culture shock moments, and little blips of insecurity, but nothing that a riveting discussion couldn't cure. I feel oddly at home here.
--Another random point: how the hell does a school that is in a developing country, with much less funding than any school in the states, in a city that has the largest slum in Africa, in a city that has one of the worst crime rates on the continent, have a much nicer, well kept, and safer campus than an extremely well off school in the middle of the United States?
--That's another thing, our school has a giant wall built around it with barbed wire on the top, so I can go on those midnight wanders around, and be perfectly safe, I just can't go off of the compound alone. Ever...that's something that i'm having issues coming to terms with. There are some places I want to explore on my own. I think I will have to do that later on in the semester.
Where to begin. Today was intense. After 3ish hours of sleep last night, because my plane got in so late, I was awoken by the alien scream of some new fangled alarm. I couldn't rely upon my inner alarm clock to wake me, as I'm sure my inner alarm clock is now set to whatever time it is on the surface of mars. Anyways, I then went on a tour, of Nairobi, with a group of international students at this school. One of the local students told me Nairobi is approximately 4 million people, that or 6 million. Either way, it is one huge city. At first glace, it is rather reminicent of the united states. It has buildings like the states (no I am not living in a grass hut in the middle of some dessert, with IIT painted on a rock next to it), roads (although they don't have lines, and they drive on the wrong side), cars on those roads and people, but that really is as far as the simularities go.
The entire way of life is different:
--Police carry machine guns,because that's the only way people will listen to them. There was a van that was pulled over by a cop, the cop was speaking to him, and all of a sudden the van just started to drive away, the cop tried to beat him with his night stick, but because he didn't have a machine gun, the van was able to get away. It was a rather intriguing occurrence.
--Another international student didn't have any Kenyan Shillings, he only had one dollar bill, and we were at the Masai market. Bargaining is such a large part of their way of life, that the local merchants ended up giving him a hand made tapestry for that one dollar because they thought he was trying to bargain with them when he waved it around trying to tell them he would not be able to buy anything because he had no money.
--If you don't speak Swahili at the market, you will be royally screwed over. Moral of the story: bring a local friend with you when you bargain, and learn Swahili. Do both just to be on the safe side.
--There are no lanes in the roads. There are no rules to driving, other than: don't hit anyone. And this is with traffic that I would say is more congested than New York City. It's ridiculously crazy. Riding around with people is amazing. On the city tour I watched a public transportation bus hit another car (the public transport busses are like VW van size, so they didn't total the car), and every passenger climbed out to move the vehicles. Meanwhile, the vehicles stuck behind the accident honked at the pedestrians on the sidewalk nearby, and proceeded to drive around the accident on the sidewalk. The manner of driving is this really aggressive style driving that's extremely chill. It's not personal if you get cut off, everyone is going on their own business, but you try as hard as possible to be the one cutting others off. It's just how it seems to work.
--People here are so relaxed. It's so bizzare. Whenever I walk anywhere with anyone, they give me crap for walking fast. “Where do you have to go in such a big hurry, eh? Over there?You'll get their fast or slow.”
--It's not taboo to talk about things that our culture has exasperated beyond belief. Just because shit has happened, doesn't mean that you have to hush up about it. They frequently talk about things that are politically incorrect to talk about in certain circles in the states, and it doesn't phase anyone, they just go with it. It's an extremely open culture.
--Over roasted goat, cow, and a few beers, a discussion that ranged from God to the creation of gods, to apathy, to love, to the nature of humanity, to anything really, in a semi-buzzed state of mind was a common thing that didn't come close to offending anyone.I don't even know where to begin/go with all of this. I'm extremely overwhelmed, yet perfectly content at the same time. Well, perfectly isn't exactly the right term, more of a mostly content state of mind. I've had my culture shock moments, and little blips of insecurity, but nothing that a riveting discussion couldn't cure. I feel oddly at home here.
--Another random point: how the hell does a school that is in a developing country, with much less funding than any school in the states, in a city that has the largest slum in Africa, in a city that has one of the worst crime rates on the continent, have a much nicer, well kept, and safer campus than an extremely well off school in the middle of the United States?
--That's another thing, our school has a giant wall built around it with barbed wire on the top, so I can go on those midnight wanders around, and be perfectly safe, I just can't go off of the compound alone. Ever...that's something that i'm having issues coming to terms with. There are some places I want to explore on my own. I think I will have to do that later on in the semester.
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