The post I wrote when I should have been in bed...

Hello again! I can't believe it's October already! I bet it's getting cold where all of you are and the leaves are turning beautiful colors and everyone's super pumped about the Phillies, but here it's as sunny, dry, dusty, and lacking in baseball as ever. And I have a terrible cold. Anyway, here's a quick update on the past few days:

So on Sunday we went to the big Maasai age-set ceremony, which was pretty cool. There were just a lot of people just kind of hanging out. They built a whole new boma just for the ceremony, and people were in there making tea and food for everyone. They slaughtered a bull to give to all the warriors. We were not there for that, but I did accidentally see a little more of the preperations that I would have liked to... But a lot of the people spoke pretty good English, so we just walked around meeting people. We were the only wazungu there, so people were pretty curious about us.

On Monday we had homestays all day! I spent the day with a friend at a Maasai mama's boma helping her with all her chores. We replastered the house with cow poop, (which was actually really fun and not gross at all!) made tea, cooked lunch, (ugali with cabbages- delicious!) did dishes, fetched water, (which nearly killed me...) took a short nap, played with the children, and collected firewood. We obviously didn't say much to each other, but we were able to pantimime most things, and the women laughed at us when we tried to talk, and so we laughed too. The whole day was really exhausting, but REALLY fun.

On Tuesday we went back to Amboseli to visit a cultural Manyata, which is basically a "traditional" Maasai village set up for tourists to come visit. And on the way there, we saw...LIONS!!! Four of them! We stopped for quite a while to look at them- it was so cool!

So the cultural Manyata was interesting, but after all our experiences with the Maasai we could tell that a lot of it was staged, so it was hard to enjoy as much as the tourists. For example, they lined up all the children and made them sing and do math for us, which was adorable, but also a little frightening... We've been doing a lot of reading and discussing about how what tourists want to think Maasai culture is like is more like what Maasai culture was like a hundred years ago, and a lot of people are capitalizing on letting them think that. Interesting stuff, but I won't get into that here- you can read my paper that I'm about to write when I get home if you're actually interested...

After that, we spent the afternoon at a super fancy tourist lodge. We had a BIG but expensive lunch buffet and then hung out by the pool. It was fun, but it was really weird- I felt like I was suddenly back in America or Europe. I guess I'm already starting to realize how many things I take for granted at home are actually luxuries- things like dessert, soap dispensers, clean towels, landscaping, not having to worry about monkeys breaking into your car, etc.

Anyway, ever since then I've pretty much just been hanging around camp, going to class, writing papers, and feeling ill. I'll let you all know next time something interesting happens!

Day...um...

OK I have not been so good about blogging, but it's only because I've been doing better things with my time like having fun with friends or doing homework! So here's a quick update on the most important things that have happened lately:

So Tuesday we had another non-program day (aka our one day of weekend which changes days every week.) In the morning we packed lunch and drove to this place where we hicked down to a gorge. It was practically a rainforest, which was really weird because we're living in dust with not much green around. It was really, REALLY gorgeous and amazing. There was even this one part where you just had to climb a bit and then you were in Tanzania! So I've been to Tanzania already! I took lots of pictures, which you will get to see when I get home.
After lunch in the gorge we went to a local HIV clinic/support group and heard some of the women tell their stories, which was really amazing. They had a little shop where they sold stuff that they made, so I bought some earings and a necklace. We then got to go to the market for a bit, and I bought a shirt.
After that, we went to Club Kimana, the local bar. I drank almost one Tuskar, a popular Kenyan beer, but it made my stomach hurt so I couldn't even finish it...

The next 3 days we just hung out here and had a lot of class, and then today we went back to Amboseli! We actually got to help the Kenya Wildlife Service do an official census of the park. I don't think we saw any different animals than the last time, but it was still really cool, but dirty and exhausting.

And tomorrow we're going to see a big Maasai ceremony that apparently happens once every 14 years or so. We're leaving super early, so I am going to end this and go to bed. I will let you all know how it goes!

Day 8

Oh my God, the internet here is sooooooooooo unreliable. I promise I have been trying to post but I could not get on since last time. Anyway, much has happened in the past few days, but I will quickly summarize.



First and most amazingly- we had our first trip to Amboseli yesterday. It was INCREDIBLE. We got to ride around standing up through the roofs of our landcruisers looking at some pretty amazing animals. There were SO MANY ELEPHANTS!!! Like, hundreds! And there were two that were right next to the road which was really cool. We also saw...

- wildebeasts

- Thompson's gazelles

-Grant's gazelles

-water buffalos

-giraffes

-zebras

-impallas

-baboons

-a jackal (or something...)

-hyenas

-warthogs

-waterbucks

-lots of crazy birds

-hippos!!!



But sadly, no lions yet. I will let you all know as soon as that happens...



In other news, I had my first and hopefully only VERY MINOR health scare. I spent 5 hours today waiting at the local free clinic just to confirm what I already pretty much knew: there is nothing wrong with me. I did make some friends, though, in the form of two nine year old girls who spoke a little English and found white people (mzungu) very fascinating. They took the libertry of styling my hair into lopsided pigtails, which all the people waiting found extremely amusing. Moral of the story- try not to take doxycycline with vitamins, try not to take it with dairy (these parts I knew) but whatever you do NEVER TAKE IT WITHOUT FOOD. It will make you throw up and/or pass out. But I repeat, I am FINE, I am in very good hands, and all is very well so please no one worry. Other than that, everything here is wonderful. I am healthy and safe and very, very happy.

Day 4

OK, here is my first actual post that's actually happy and exciting and about my time in Kenya! So far, everything is absolutely wonderful. It is gorgeous here and the weather is perfect and everyone is amazing and getting along great. We have had four classes in the past two days, and although I'm still a little worried about the intensity/workload, they have all been really fascinating- the faculty are really smart and really passionate about what they do, which obviously makes the whole experience so much better. But so far we have just been hanging out a lot, playing a lot of card games, etc. There are a lot walks and runs on the trail that goes around the compound. And I know none of you will believe this, but I have been going to bed before ten, waking up before seven, running and taking freezing showers in the morning, and eating huge breakfasts!



So this afternoon we visited a Maasai boma (homestead)- not one set up for tourists- a real one. We were greeted by a song and dance by the mamas, which we joined in on. We then recipricated with our own song and dance, which is customary. We did the Maccarena (not my idea...) They mamas eventually started to pick it up, and seemed to enjoy it a lot. We then got to go into a house, then hung out with all the goats and children, which I loved of course. The mamas laid out some of their wares for us, mostly jewelry and fabric. I bought a really unique and pretty necklace. It was a really good time!



OK, now I'll get to what you guys really want to hear. So far I have seen...

- An antelope

- Baboons

- Vervet monkeys

- Lizards

- Lots of really cool birds, including 3 owls

- Goats, sheep, cows, donkeys, a few camels

- Dogs and a cat

- A bat

- A few crazy bugs (nothing too scary though and hardly any mosquitos!)

- Some really REALLY adorable children



I think we're going to Amboseli soon, so that will add elephants and probably a few others to the list!



I will try to put up some picutes soon, but the internet here might not be strong enough for that, so you may just have to wait til I get home...sorry!



Also I haven't been able to get to my e-mail, but I think I can fix that so I will let you all know if/when I do. In the meantime, facebook is the best way to contact me.

OK, that is all for tonight. I will post again in a few days!

Jambo!

I am alive and at Kilamangaro Bush Camp in Kenya! And that is as much detail as I'm going to go into tonight...

Cheers!

As you probably guessed from the title, I am in London! I have 13 minutes left on my £2 worth of internet, so this is just a brief update. One out of two flights has landed safetly (and a little early!) I have met most of my group and so far everyone's wonderful. I am feeling much better than I did in my last post, although leaving my house and then my parents at the airport was really hard...
I will post again as soon as I can in Kenya, which may not be until the next day or later, but so far everything has gone smoothly with the exception of two minor security hold ups due to comfy, baggy pants that I guess could easily hide a weapon and a stick of gel deodorant that reads as organic material on the scanner. OK, I will see you all on the other side!

Crunch time!

Yes, I know it's 3 AM. I'm sitting in bed listening to "Glee" (which has become my musical comfort food, and almost filled the void that "Lost" has left in my life) and thinking about what a crazy weekend I have ahead of me and how the summer, as always, went by far too fast. I'm leaving in 3 DAYS!!! And even though I'm mostly packed, and have all my shots, and have been excitedly preparing for this since February, I can't help but feel totally unprepared and downright petrified at the thought of leaving. I know that this was the right decision, and I know it's gonna be the time of my life, and I know it's gonna make me a better person, and honestly, I can't even pinpoint what it is that scares me so much, but I can't help but just feel scared. It's not flying, or terrorists, or lions, or mosquitos, or even missing half a season of all my shows (although that is an unfortunate consequence...) Funny, with all the lecturing and reading materials I got about "Culture Shock," none of them mentioned that it would happen before I even left! I guess repeatedly explaining every detail about the trip that I knew to people that I barely know made it seem like not that big of a deal for so long, and now all of a sudden I'm forced to remember that it is, in fact, a really, REALLY big deal. Probably one of the biggest deals of my life so far. So there's my current state of mind, if anyone was curious. I promise the posts will get much more uplifting and colorful from here! This is a blog about my fun, happy, exciting adventures in Africa, not about all my melodramatic middle of the night rants...