Maisha katika Nairobi

(Life in Nairobi.)

I told you I was going to get back on track.

So, we're back in Nairobi now for our longest period of the semester. That means regular classes, or atleast as regular as they can get in Kenya. We usually have 3 hours of Kiswahili class in the mornings, taught to us by a rotating group of fantastic native Kenyans: Rose, Anne, Patrick, Peter, and George. My favorites are Anne, who may be the funniest and cutest (in a 40-year-old Kenyan woman sort of way, sorry Katie) woman ever, and Patrick, liked by very few students in my program because his teaching style is completely unorganized, but his facial expressions are priceless and I find his lectures quite entertaining. These teachers all came with us to Bodo and taught us there, and it was quite funny to see them hating the heat and sand, complaining all the time, and dressing like tourists while we students wore the traditional Swahili coastal garb. I say shamelessly that I sported a skirt-like "Kikoi" for the vast majority of our stay in Bodo, maintaining a nice air flow and helping me cope with the heat.

Our Kiswahili classes are separated by a 30-minute break for morning "chai", the Swahili word for tea. You wouldn't think that people in such a hot country would sip piping hot beverages each morning and afternoon, but there are apparently some physiological advantages to doing so. So I, now approaching 100% Kenyan, have learned to enjoy the chai breaks. Although maybe it's just the break from being bombarded with Kiswahili words...

All of us students usually walk about 20 minutes to Adams Arcade during our two-hour lunch break each day, a very western-like shopping center with restaurants that serve American food. I try to bypass the more expensive food and eat at a little traditional Kenyan cafe, usually for less than $2 US.

We return to our school (slash "center", actually just a random house in a neighborhood with an SIT sign on it) in the afternoons for another 1.5 hours of lecture, centering usually on development or health. We've had fascinating lectures so far on things like herbal medicine, Swahili weddings, the Muslim culture on the coast, the informal sector of the Kenyan economy, development projects on the coast, and just today, the effects of British colonialism on early, pre-independence development. It's all good stuff.

In the mornings here in Nairobi I wake up early (6:20! 8 am class next fall at Lafayette should be a piece of cake for once...) to run with a few of my fellow students living in my "neighborhood", Jamhuri. We run right past Kibera each morning. I'm sure we look like complete idiots to the many Kenyans bustling about early in the morning, a pack of 4 "wazungu" jogging slowly down the sides of roads in a country that boasts the world's best marathoners. As a matter of fact, the world cross-country championships are in Mombasa later in March and may be a possibility for an "educational excursion" courtesy of SIT. I hope it happens.

I get back home at night and usually do a little studying or watching Kenyan music videos with Roy, who gets home in the afternoons from his part-time job as a salesman. Usually it's dinner (usually some sort of meat with ugali or chipati and some type of salad with mayonnaise as the dressing) and then a little more schoolwork and bed, with trips to local pubs for African music and cheap "bia" thrown in here and there. I love how the Kiswahili word for beer sounds like a Boston accent.

So, I have a little excursion to the states thrown into my semester in Kenya, THIS WEEKEND. I have my interview for the Truman scholarship next Monday, so I'm flying home Friday night so that I get there on time and then leaving Monday night to come back to Kenya. This is weird for many reasons: the 8-hour time difference that's going to terrorize my mind, the likely 80-degree temperature difference that's going to give me some sort of sickness that nobody's ever even had, and the fact that I get to see my parents and even Katie (she's meeting me at the airport in Boston when I get there on Saturday and staying for 24 hours before leaving for her spring break, what a gal.). I'm excited and nervous, for both the interview and the consequences (school work, time difference) of leaving the program for a few days. However, my academic directors here in Kenya and the entirety of my fellow students here have been incredibly supportive. I've promised to bring back a few necessities from the states, such as a bag of Sun Chips and a Boston Globe sports page for my buddy Jon, a fellow sox fan.

Good news about coming home this weekend: I'll be able to post some pictures! You know you're pumped.

I've been thinking lots about my upcoming Independent Study Project, for which I am on my own to develop research methods, arrange accomodations, and hire an interpreter for over a month in April and May. I'm very excited about this and have developed an initial plan...

I've decided that my Independent Study needs to be another culturally challenging period for me, similar to that I had in Bodo. I'm planning to go out west to Kisumu, the third largest city in Kenya, and hopefully stay in a rural village of the Luo people, who because of their surrounding environment (climate, Lake Victoria, mosquitos) and lots of social and cultural factors, are extremely affected by malaria. For example, many men refuse to use bednets because they believe that doing so entraps and diminishes their virility. Also, many refuse to use the more common white nets and favor blue ones because they believe the white ones bring ghosts into their homes. I can't wait to interview people and study this more. Plus, it's a cool time to be staying amongst and talking with Luo people, as Barack Obama's father was a Luo and he is all the rage right now in Kenya.

Basi sasa. (That's all for now.)