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. 

Don’t you need mafuta?

Mafuta: cooking fat. Probably solid lard from a goat. It’s a cooking staple in the coastal villages. When I and two other students bought beans to brings back to our host families, the shopkeeper was quick to ask us if we would need fat for cooking the chapati (tortilla-like things) to go with the beans. We assured them that, actually, the mafuta was not necessary. Our families always seem to have plenty on hand to add some nutrition to their meals.

Our first mission in Mombasa was to find some pure, unadulterated vegetables. Naturally crunchy rather than fried to crispiness.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really not hating on chapati—it might be my favorite starch in the villages. My Shirazi Mama makes a mean chapati, even if it is soaked in goat fat. Frying is the most efficient way to cook over a fire. They make it work.

Typical breakfast: mandazi. These are made from fresh coconut milk, flour, yeast, sugar, and oil. My sister Mwanasha is a pro: roll it out, cut it into triangles, let it rise.....and fry it. Oh well. When in a village, eat like the villagers.

I was excited to be in Shirazi for the EID, the Muslim New Year. It was a day of celebration from morning to evening. Breakfast was extravagant and delicious: coconut covered beans (mbaazi) and mandazi. Not my typical eggs and toast, but I may start eating beans for brekkie regularly.

Here’s another breakfast: beans again (or rather, bowl where beans were. Yum). White bread, which mama thinks is a delicacy. And a fried fish. That day, I received a crispy little swimmer at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Life in a coastal village.

Got used to the fish after a while--at first the head/eye/skin really creeped me out.

Revisiting my Shirazi home

This time around, I sadly didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I wanted to. I was pretty focused on interviews, interviews, interviews. I shot for 30 interviews in each of the villages I visited, but I ended up overshooting it in Shirazi. It was easy enough to do more because the people were more familiar and welcoming. At times, it was kind of fun. My questions probably seemed strange (ex: how do you feel when you have malaria?) but almost everyone was open to my inquiries.

I managed to snag some more shots of where I was living so you can see how typical homes are structured in the villages.

View into the main room, where we ate and sat at night.

My room. I had just taken down the mosquito net, so picture that hanging from the ceiling as well.

The cho (bathroom). Stand on the concrete slabs and pour. Night showers were surreal...so many stars and palm trees.

Chicken home in the space between the house and kitchen. They roam free throughout the house during the day. 

The kitchen. The three tubs are water, rice, and unknown.

The stove

Dishes and community platters.

 Anyway, this is a little look at my home for the past couple weeks. Most homes are similar; they have really adapted them to the climate and their activities. Some homes have iron sheets instead of thatched roofs, but I think the thatched homes are breezier.

Conquering the Village

I can’t quite believe it’s mid-November. I’ve been cut off from the rest of the world since the beginning of the month, but the time has flown by. I returned to Mombasa from Shirazi early yesterday morning and spent the day re-adjusting to non-village life (meaning: taking a normal shower and spending too much time on the internet).

On November 2^nd, three of us left Mombasa, boarded a ferry, and transferred onto a matatu that took us to the coastal area where we would study. Then, we split up; they each ventured to separate villages. I continued into Shirazi on a pikipiki (motorcycle), where I was reunited with my host family from September.

The village was different the second time around. In September, I was able to spend every day with the other students in my program. That meant I could speak English, which I took for granted. This time I was on my own. I had a translator to help me with interviews for my research, but family time made me remember my Kiswahili very quickly. In September, our only mission was to improve our Kiswahili and experience life in the village. This time, I had to organize my time and conduct interviews with villagers. I had a lot of help from my translator and from a coordinator living in Bodo, a nearby village, but it was stressful at times!

I spent 5 days in Shirazi before moving to Funzi, the nearby island village, for 3 days. I conducted interviews there before returning to Shirazi for my last 4 days. One of the other students was studying in Funzi, and it was great to hang out with her and have sugary chai after our interviews were through! We left for Shirazi together, where we met up with 2 more students who decided to visit their host families.

Now I’m trying to wade through my emails and organize my research in Mombasa. I’ll have more about the villages later—I loved it, but wow, typing on a computer again is so nice!

Ain’t No Mountain

Saturday I climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. Kind of. We hiked to the base camp, set at an altitude of 9000 feet. 

Our hike up took approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes. The hike itself offered beautiful scenery.

We stopped at the base camp for lunch and pictures. We thought views would be better but this is what we could get:

Not surprising—even kids under ten are allowed to hike this particular part of the mountain. I’m still proud to say that I set foot on the slopes of Mt. Kilimanjaro! On the bus ride back to UAACC we were able to snap some better pictures.

It doesn't look real!

Our evening back at the UAACC included a wine and cheese tasting and DJ courtesy of the O’Neals. Sunday morning we said goodbye to Tanzania and headed back to Nairobi. I absolutely loved Tanzania—beautiful scenery, exciting opportunities, and kind people made the week a nice break before ISP period.