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

Teacher's Favorites

Friday is an intense day of prayer for the Muslim people, and the streets of Mombasa were alive with people going back and forth to the mosques. In this way, it felt a little similar to the Black Friday atmosphere at home…busy and overwhelming. I worked on my research paper most of the morning to avoid the throngs of people.

For lunch, however, I was forced to venture out into the streets. The SIT academic director, Jamal, lives in Mombasa and invited us to his house for an afternoon meal. We walked across town under the brutal sun and finally reached Jamal’s home.

Jamal with one of the twins

His wife is so welcoming and his kids are adorable. And the food…wow. The Swahili people know how to cook. We had fragrantly spiced chicken and fried fish, seasoned veggies, salad, rice, awesome naan, ripe mangoes, and fresh tamarind juice. Such an needed break from paper writing.

The girls' mat

And the boys' mat

After lunch, Jamal had to run errands, but we stuck around for a while to chat with his wife. She’s young (only 32), and they have 5 kids. She was only 18 when they were married, and we had fun hearing her opinion on early marriage (she actually advised against it; she hopes her daughters wait until after they have been educated). We think of Jamal as our professor; hearing about his culture and strong Muslim faith was fascinating. He barely knew his wife when they were married, but they seem very happy.

Turkey Day = Chicken Tikka Day?

We made it work. While at home I normally celebrate with a Thanksgiving lunch, we had a Thanksgiving dinner here in Mombasa. It was far from traditional, but I guess we worked with what we had.

Round 1

Chicken Tikka from Barka Restaurant’s sidewalk charcoal grill pit. A Middle-Eastern take on barbequed poulty.

Some of the best chicken I've ever had

Sauteed vegetables, prepared by yours truly. We purchased them today from a huge local market, where we bartered like we’ve been in Kenyan markets our whole lives.

Our haul? 3 peppers, 4 gigantic carrots, 4 zucchini, 3 beets, 2 onions, 2 heads of broccoli, and garlic….for a whopping total of around 200 shillings ($2). Not bad, I think.

And I didn’t even burn anything while attempting to cook a massive amount of vegetables on an unpredictable gas stove. There wasn’t much left over, so I’m hopinh that’s a good sign.

Fresh-baked bread, courtesy of Charlotte, our Danish roommate. Reeeeally good.

Makeshift Mini-feast

Dessert #1: Crepes. Truly American, I know. But we have Nutella, and we have two Europeans. It seemed natural.

Crepes and options: Nutella, sugar, and Kenya's "maple-flavored syrup"

And last but not least, dessert #2….a pumpkin pie! Yeah, it actually happened. Homemade. Peter, the Belgian of the European roommate couple, bravely dared to bake a pie in Kenya. There were a number of necessary adjustments because...

1. We don’t have a pie pan. Enter a frying pan with a metal handle…pumpkin pot pie.

2. True pumpkins are in season in January. Kenyans at the market pointed us to their “pumpkins” which look suspiciously like butternut squash. Vegetable cousins are bound to taste similar in a pie, right?

3. They don’t sell premade crusts here. Peter made one from scratch using a fork to mix for quite some time before reaching pie-crust consistency.

The “pumpkin” indeed turned out to be a butternut squash. Mashing it was pretty difficult. We tried soaking it, steaming it, and finally baking it before it was mash-able.

"Well, maybe if we bake it...?"

After we obtained enough mashed squash for the recipe, Peter slaved away in the kitchen after dessert round #1 while the rest of us watch “Crazy, Stupid Love”, our most recent $1 movie find.

At around 10 PM, this appeared from the kitchen. 

"Alright, it's done! Does this look like a pumpkin pie?"

The moment of truth had arrived…how would this strange Kenyan experiment taste?

Good. Darn good, actually. It was a little bit like a quiche compared to regular pumpkin pie, but the spices were on point, and the crust was the best I’ve tasted. I would actually make a butternut squash pie again.

So there it is. Our Thanksgiving celebration was a success, in my opinion. Delicious food, new friends, exciting experiences…something to be thankful for.

We go with the flow. The apartment only has 2 cups and 3 coffee mugs. 

Earlier in the day, we had lunch at our newly discovered favorite Kenyan restaurant, Barka. We kept it traditionally American—coconut-covered beans, sukuma wiki (kale), eggplant, and chapati. Maybe not so traditional, but still delicious. Arguably the best chapati and vegetables in town.

I think Coca-Cola donated all the restaurant signs in Kenya.

Buffet style, but you pick what you want. Don't judge a book by its cover; this place is incredible.

Traditional Thanksgiving?

Oh a holiday abroad. By the time November rolls around, I think most study abroad students are pretty homesick. All we really want is a little taste of home. I’ve had dozens of conversations with the girls I’m living with about how we can celebrate this delicious holiday in a country with unfamiliar foods and an unpredictable gas stove.

Turkey? Haven’t seen one during my time here.

Stuffing? The seasonings are the best part, but we don’t want to buy bottles for a one-time use.

Sweet potato soufflé? The most heartbreaking absence, I think. They don’t have yams. Sweet potatoes are much different—more the consistency and color of regular potatoes but just a little sweeter. It wouldn’t be the same.

Pie? Too adventurous for us, and we can’t buy a crust here.

So what are four poor, hungry American girls to do? We’ve tossed around a few ideas.

A massive breakfast feast with pancakes, peanut butter, nutella, and banana?

A street-food adventure, where we buy chicken shwarma sandwiches from sidewalk carts and roasted corn from streetside charcoal pits?

A visit to one of the resorts, where they’re bound to have an expensive buffet to cater to American tourists?

A day of denial, where we eat PB'n'Js and avoid looking at calendars?

Hopefully all will be sorted out when turkey day rolls around.

Safe travels to your Thanksgiving destinations! 

Mombasaaaaa

I’ve been in Mombasa for the past week, and I feel like I really haven’t done a whole lot. The time has reminded me of being at school back in the US, where my schedule is flexible and most of my time is spent on schoolwork. Life in the villages was so different…it’s been an adjustment to live without a host family and to spend days with my peers instead of myself.

My room, shared with Grace, another SIT student

Day one in Mombasa consisted of moving into an apartment with three other SIT students. I’m amazed at how great the place is. It’s a seaside apartment on the island part of Mombasa, and it’s just down the street from the historical Fort Jesus. 

Yeah, it really is that incredible. I honestly don't know how we are able to stay here.

It has incredible balconies overlooking the water, and it’s fully furnished. We have a fridge, a microwave, and a coffee maker (thank goodness).

The kitchen. We have ant problems, but that's my only complaint.

We even have a washing machine, although we have to manually fill it for every cycle. Lugging a five-gallon bucket of water back and forth 9 times has really made me aware of just how much water I waste at home. Lessons learned in Kenya, I suppose.

We have a TV and a DVD player as well, and we can get (totally legal?) new releases on the street for $1….it has had a really positive impact on my 40-page final paper.

Hmmm..... 

There’s a European couple staying in the apartment as well. They’re only a couple years older than us, and they’re volunteering as coordinators for the AFS foreign exchange program here in Mombasa. We’re all getting along well, and it’s been interesting to compare notes on our Kenya experiences.

Funzi: a working vacation?

Disclaimer: The formatting on this post is screwed up, but I can't figure out why or how to fix it so I'm posting anyway! 

After a week alone in Shirazi, I was ready to move on to another site to continue my research. The island of Funzi. I boarded a small boat in the nearby village of Bodo with my Funzi host mother, Mima. Mima spoke excellent English and even acted as my translator for interviews.

We arrived on the island in the early evening and dropped off my bags, the heaviest of which Mima simply positioned on her head to carry. Amazing; they do this with huge water containers, firewood, everything.

My Funzi room. Very nice, especially in comparison to Shirazi. Still no electricity, but...cement floor, iron sheets, chairs…it felt like a resort.

Well in front of my home

Mima took me to visit Grace, the other student living in Funzi. Grace’s host mother prepared us delicious chai and chatted with Mima while Grace discussed our village experiences.

Funzi food was incredible. I mean, Shirazi had fish…but where Shirazi fish are guppies, Funzi fish are more like salmon. Legitimate fillets, served with coconut rice and covered with a creamy orange coconut sauce. And breakfast? Some mandazi, of course, but everyday Mima’s sister made us big omelets full of vegetables. One day she concocted some sort of chapati/pancake hybrid, which was actually really delicious. 

Nashamba, Mima's sister and excellent chef

Mima was so kind and accommodating, and I could tell she was trying to create some American-type things to make me feel at home.

I wish I could have spent more time in Funzi; three days just wasn’t enough. Our last day on the island, Grace and I were able to swim, and in the mornings we could run on the beach. Our mothers were helicopter parents, escorting us to the bathroom…but it’s nice to have a mom away from home!

Pictures don't do it justice

Oh, and my research went well here. That's what's important, right? Funzi is home to two resorts that see a lot of traffic from European tourists. They pass through the village market on tours from time to time; I received some strange looks as a sat among the villagers wearing a muumuu, holding a notebook, and stuttering in Kiswahili.