It's over?

Home sweet home! I had an awesome Christmas with my family, and I’m looking forward to welcoming in the New Year soon.

As I plan my return to Duke in just a couple weeks and start a new semester, I think I will try to wrap up this past one. Impossible; it will stick with me forever. But I’ll write one last post and close up at least the blog portion of this semester.

I’ve been home for a week now, and I’m already having a hard time telling people about my experience in Kenya. It feels like a lifetime ago. I’m sitting in my kitchen staring at a box of Reese’s Puffs cereal, glancing at my IPhone every so often, and making sure Chester doesn’t get into another package of Christmas chocolates…pretty different from what I was doing two months back.

I don’t want to give the impression that Kenya is completely different from the US, because perhaps the biggest lesson I learned is that it’s not. Nairobi could be picked up and dropped into the US, and it would function like many large urban areas. Its landscape is different, and the slums are unlike poor areas here, but it has supermarkets, malls, high-end restaurants, and parks. It is home to plenty of people who hold jobs in insurance or business.

Yet I also don’t want to exaggerate and say that Nairobi is a first-world city in a third-world country. It has quite a few problems that we just don’t see here. I think this is due in large part to Kenya’s relative youth as a free country (independence from Britain was won in 1963).  Its government is corrupt and its policies are not enforced. As a result, Nairobi has dire problems related to waste management and water and power supplies.

And many areas of Kenya are unlike anything I ever seen here. Running water and electricity are a luxury. Entire villages like Shirazi exist without these amenities, relying on boreholes, wells, fire, and lamplight. Before this semester, I would have considered the people of these villages to be among Africa’s poor and unfortunate. Now, I’m not so sure. I’m convinced that the people I encountered in Shirazi are pretty darn happy. They admittedly would benefit from improvements in healthcare and sanitation, and a little more food definitely wouldn’t hurt them, but we could learn a lot from their lifestyle. This semester has definitely made me re-evaluate my ideas about “development”—its definition, its downfalls, its goals.

Do I want to return to Kenya someday? Absolutely. As frustrating and confusing as the country and its inhabitants can be, I love it. These have been the most difficult, most emotional, best four months of my life. I gained families, friends, and invaluable experiences.

Happy New Year, and thanks for reading.

Kwaheri, Kenya

Four months ago I was cramming clothes and toiletries into a suitcase, my nerves on edge and my brain on overdrive. I had no idea what to expect from a semester abroad.

At the time, not knowing what to expect was terribly frustrating. But looking back, there is no way I could have understood in advance what this semester would bring. If I had heard about some of the things I would be doing (see my post about drinking blood with the Maasai), I may have unpacked my suitcase and spent a safe semester at school. I just had to dive in headfirst and hope that every experience would be worth it in the end.

And it was. That’s not to say there weren’t times this semester when I just wanted to come home. Ask my mom; I’m sure she wished that I didn’t have access to cell phones so I couldn’t call and complain. (Sorry for that, Mom.) But I guess that’s to be expected. Four months is a pretty big chunk of life. No matter where you spend that amount of time, you’re bound to have ups and downs.

Looking back, though, there were definitely more ups this semester. I was able to do some incredible things and meet some incredible people. I learned how to adapt to another culture, to understand its nuances, and to appreciate the frustrations it brings.

Enough sappiness for now…Kenya, it’s been great.

Now for a culture shock…readjustment. I’m sitting in the Amsterdam airport with Mom and Haley killing time until take-off. Home, here I come!

Missing Mombasa

I wasn’t sure I would ever feel quite comfortable in any city in Kenya, but after three weeks in Mombasa, I felt pretty at home. It was really nice to have an apartment family to come home to and to explore the city with. The three weeks gave us enough time to find our favorite places and visit them often. Our last day in Mombasa, it seemed fitting that we visit our favorite spots and say goodbye to the friends we had made.

Yeiri, Brooke, Chetna owner, Me, Grace, Charlotte (Danish roommate)

I’m not really sure how we managed to befriend the staff at our favorite restaurants, but we did. Maybe that’s why they were our favorite restaurants? It’s hard to know, because the food was just as amazing as the people were.

Excuse the poor quality...a random onlooker took this and it was the only picture!

 We hit up our favorite lunch spot, Barka Restaurant, for our last beans, chapati, and veggies.

Mbaazi (coconut beans), kabichi (cabbage), mboga (veggies), matoke tamu (sweet plantains)

 For dinner, we returned to the New Chetna Restaurant for the last time. The most delicious Indian food on the planet. I think we went here for dinner like 6 times over the course of our weeks in Mombasa. The owner is a quirky guy who only let us pay for our meals twice. 

Favorite resident of Mombasa, hands down

Once we came in for a promised pizza, and his pizza oven was broken…so he whipped us up an Indian style “pizza”—actually, a flattened masala/cheese dhosa—that put other pizzas to shame.

The famed veggie pizza

 This last night, he didn’t let us order…he arranged for our long-awaited pizzas. They were delicious, and as we left, he gave us each a box full of his homemade Indian desserts. I’m pretty sure he made them just for us…look at the heart!

Assorted sweets, all indescribable

 I really loved Mombasa…can’t wait to be back at the end of the month and show off my favorite city!

Scorpio Villas, Malindi

I'm now back in the (dirty) city of Nairobi. I didn't miss it all that much, but I'm excited to be back....because it means I'm that much closer to seeing Haley and my mom! They should be heading to the airport right about now. I've been MIA on the blog for the past week, but I really embraced the vacation mindset. I couldn't really help it. Look at this place.

I'll try to post something tomorrow as I sit in the hotel lobby waiting for my guests to arrive. Ah I can't wait!

Malindi's making me lazy

Yesterday morning, we moved out of our apartment and said goodbye to Peter and Charlotte. We were reunited with the rest of the SIT students at the Mombasa office--they had just taken the night bus from Nairobi so we felt much fresher after a good night's sleep. We loaded ourselves into three shuttles and took off for Malindi. We checked into our resort....which is incredible. Scorpio Villas, click to check out the website.

We've been joking that this is where SIT has put all our money. Every meal is a gigantic buffet of seafood, meat, fruit, dessert...sooo full. We have been giving our presentations, but we've had plenty of time to hit the beach as well. I'm burnt all ready. By the end of this month (which I've figured out is basically a 20-day tropical vacation for me) I may finally pass for a real Kenyan.

It's time for chai, and I give my presentation tomorrow morning..I better go get some fuel and finish it!

November, where’d you go?

December 1^st marked the end of the independent study period—my research paper is printed, bound, and delivered! It ended up being 45 pages long. By far the longest paper I’ve ever written. The writing process actually went really quickly though, and it was relatively painless. I think it was because of all the alone time I had in the village. After I had finished my interviews each day, I had nothing to do but think about the sections of my paper and write in my work journal. 

I won’t bore you with the details of my project…if anyone is interested, I will explain it in person! I’ll just say that I learned a lot about the research process and about the culture of Kenya. I also learned how to write a huge paper with limited internet and no air conditioning. I also learned how to remain calm when every printer in Mombasa is either out of ink or jammed.

Two bound research papers and 3 fieldwork journals, ready to turn in

But I’m done! Sunday morning, the rest of the group will travel from Nairobi and meet us here in Mombasa. We’re lucky enough to be on the way to our next site—Malindi! It’s another city on the coast, located about 2 hours north of here. It’s a major tourist destination for the Italian crowd. Maybe I’ll be able to remember my Italian? It’s more likely that I’ll speak some sort of Kiswahili-Italian nonsense.

We’ll be in Malindi until Thursday morning presenting the results of our independent projects. (And relaxing on the beach. We can’t work all the time.) On Thursday we will return to Nairobi. Friday we tie up loose ends, and Saturday, the program is officially over! My mom and Haley will arrive at 9 PM Saturday night. I can’t believe how quickly this semester has gone.

I should go and start packing and cleaning…tonight our landlord is making us a farewell dinner. I hope to check in from Malindi, but I have no idea about what the internet situation will be.

"I do" = "Ndiyo"

Saturday I had yet another unique cultural experience. I was able to attend a Kenyan wedding here in Mombasa last. 

Grace and Yieri

One of the girls I’m living with invited us all to attend the wedding of her host cousin. Actually, her host cousin’s cousin, but that sounds so complicated. We arrived an hour late to the ceremony, which started at 10, but that turned out to be for the best…it lasted until 1:30!

The service was conducted entirely in Kiswahili, so I understood next to nothing. It was still interesting to look at the elaborate outfits and headdresses donned by attendees. The music was good too…there was drumming and choir singing, and at a few points young girls dressed in traditional kikoyes danced down the aisle.

Young Taita dancers

Just when we thought the service would be ending, the priest would call up another family member to say something, or he would add another short message, or he would perform another ritual. Soooo long to sit in a cramped church on a blazing hot day.

Our view of the wedding

When the ceremony finally ended, we headed across town to the reception. We ate biryani rice, which I think is just rice cooked with spices and oil, with goat meat stew. We ate with our hands of course. The four of us shared two servings; it’s incredible how much food the serve here.

Reception grounds

Interestingly, the wedding guests ate before the wedding party had even arrived at the reception facility. When they did arrive, they entered to music and the crowd greeted them with singing and dancing, escorting them to the head table in a parade-like fashion. They were served a more elaborate meal there as the guests sat and socialized.

Welcoming the wedding party

We left before the cutting of the cake (they do it at the end so people will stick around) because we had to get back to work. We were told it was a pretty typical Kenyan wedding but that it had distinct coastal influences, both in the music and the food.

The four Mombasa-based SIT students and Yieri's host cousin, Samba