week one done

Things have gotten much better. They say that culture shock is kind of a roller coaster, going up really high and down really low at first, then the oscillations get smaller each time, ending in a happy medium, accepting the fact that this is now where you live. And I have accepted that fact for the most part. I am not completely done with culture shock, as I have not been out of Nairobi yet…

I think the biggest thing for me to accept is that I am a mzungu (white person). No matter how much I understand the culture and learn to fit in, it won’t change the color of my skin. As such, I think I will get to a point where they won’t take advantage of me because I am white. Sure, strangers on the streets will always see me as a mzungu. But I hope to become a part of the culture enough that store keepers and Matatu conductors will know that I am another one of them, not just a clueless tourist.

Monday and Tuesday were spent finishing the most intense portion of orientation. More Swahili lessons, more Matatu rides, and just getting acquainted with Kenya and AIM. Wednesday morning, I got to take a tour of some different AIM facilities, and see where in the city certain offices are located. Most of the offices are in the hangar, as International Services have all their offices there.

Wednesday afternoon, I started in the hangar. There really isn’t too much to work on this week, and another team is headed to Lake Victoria to try to pull 1EA out of the water. So Wednesday afternoon and Thursday I kind of wandered around, trying to find little things to work on. I do look forward to lunch break though. Lunch at the airport is an exciting experience…

Thursday, I went next door to a little nicer establishment. You get to pick what you want, but it also costs more than twice as much as the bucket lady. But at 120 /= (shillings) for a full meal with a Coke, its converts to less than a buck and a half, which is dirt cheap. The bucket lady is a little sketchier, but I am assured it is ok, because the food is hot enough. You walk up to the window, tell her how many servings you want, and she scoops stuff out of several different buckets onto a plate, and you pay 30 /=, less than 50 cents. That was my first real Kenyan meal experience on Wednesday.

We are leaving on a ladies retreat today. I don’t know exactly what it entails, other than it is out in the Karen area of Nairobi. Since I am moving out of the guesthouse, I will conveniently have all that I own on this continent with me anyways.

Internet is REALLY slow, but I am trying to get some pics uploaded. The link to the album is
http://picasaweb.google.com/wind.rider.05/AfricaBeginnings?authkey=nmlQl2zMIOs#

I hit a wall today. I went to church with James (the guy who works the desk) in Kibera. It wasn’t being in Kibera that hit me. It is not that it is easy to go into the biggest slum in Africa, because it is not. But somewhere between listening to them sing relative gibberish and trying not to sleep through the sermon, I hit the wall. I felt like I was such a mzungu; so incredibly out of place.

I usually deal with culture shock fairly well. But it is pretty rough this time around. And to hit at church of all places. I am sure there are many reasons it is harder now, but one of the big ones is that I am not a part of a team. I have no support, no one going through the same thing as me. So it was a hard day. I know it will get better, and it will be a lot easier when I start working in the hangar. There are a lot more thoughts on the issue, but they are kind of floating through my head without form, so I will reserve them for a time when I am able to organize them. I just keep telling myself that it is only one day, and I will get through it.

Let me catch you up from the last time I posted…

I discovered shortly after posting that a Matatu is a form of public transportation in Nairobi. Well, I don’t know if it is limited to Nairobi, but it is very popular around the city. If you do not feel a world away staying at the guesthouse, the Matatus will quickly bring you to the realization that life is a little different in Nairobi. James, who gave me my matatu lesson, explained that they are constantly playing a cat and mouse game with the police, because they aren’t supposed to pick people up off the streets. But if there are no police around, they will quickly stop and pick people up. Stop is a relatively loose term, more like a rapid deceleration; if you are lucky they will come to a complete stop. The drivers like their music loud, and you have to make sure they know where you want to stop, or you could be riding around with your ears bleeding forever.

Jet lag has been killing me. In just over a week, I got a 2 hr time change, didn’t sleep much for 6 days, then a 9 hour time change. Coupled with the heat, it makes it really hard to sleep at night and even worse to stay awake during the day. I am sure it will get better though.

We do have wireless. That doesn’t mean it is wireless speed. It is about 14.4 kbps AT BEST, but half the time it just plain doesn’t work. I got homework done the first day, but haven’t touched it since. I have been waaaaay too tired to truly focus on it.

Lesa stopped by briefly on Saturday to give me the rundown. I am staying here at the guesthouse until Tuesday, when I will be moving into a missionary family’s house. They have been stateside for almost two years, so I will be there with the German shepherd and Grace, the house help. Although she is the house help, she probably will leave me to cook for myself. So maybe I will be losing weight on this trip after all… The missionaries will be back in about a month, at which point I will be moving somewhere else that will hopefully be ready for me. I will continue the routine of Swahili in the morning, and transportation in the afternoon on Monday, then have Swahili again on Tuesday, but move out after lunch. Wednesday I will start in the hangar. Wednesday hopefully things will be much better.

After Lesa left, Cindy and John, along with their two kids, stopped by to take us to the elephant orphanage. In addition to about 15 ADORABLE young elephants, they have two rhinos. One is three weeks old, and a bit shy. The other is blind, so we were able to walk up and pet him. I am sure he enjoyed having a hundred people touching his face and poking at his horns while he was trying to take an afternoon nap.

As I mentioned earlier, I went to church in Kibera this morning. The service started at 10:30, and went till a little after 1. It was interesting, but I am not able to really process it all. Maybe that will come soon. One of the other Mzungus with us said I did well for such a long service after just getting here. Afterwards, we were ushered into the pastor’s office, where they served us sodas. I can’t imagine what it cost them to serve the dozen of us a bottle of soda each.

We made arrangements with a driver here at the guesthouse to take us out to the giraffe sanctuary in the afternoon. That was LOTS of fun. I will not give any of the details, and let you see the pictures when they eventually make it up!

One more word on that: as I mentioned before, the internet is REALLY slow, and doesn’t work half the time. So pictures might not come till after I get back. But trust me, I am processing them as I get them off my camera, so as soon as I have a good internet connection, they WILL go up!

Well, this is already INCREDIBLY long, so congrats if you made it this far! I will write again soon!

I still cannot get over the fact that I am in Nairobi, Kenya. Kenya!! I have had friends throughout the past years at LeTourneau go on trips like this. I never pictured myself as one of them. It has been a looooooong past couple of days. I left Longview around 1230 CST, for a 4:50 departure out of Dallas. My INCREDIBLE old roommate Laura cancelled a flight block to take me. Both 9 hr flights I had an aisle seat with no one next to me, which was ideal for stretching out and getting a little more quality sleep than I would have otherwise. But there is only so much quality sleep that one can get when sitting upright trying to sleep when one would normally be procrastinating on homework, and incredibly excited about traveling to a new continent. There weren’t any good movies on, either.

We landed in London around 7:30 (GMT) Thursday morning. Now that it is 1:30 in the morning in Texas, I feel like I can finally sleep. Except that I have to navigate London’s Heathrow airport during the morning rush hour. For a while, I felt like I was in a rat maze. I followed the crowd, making mental note of the reverse route in case I needed it. Unfortunately, there was no reverse route, as the escalators descending through 2 floors only went down, the train was designed to get on one side and off the other, and the next escalator was again a one way trip. We had to go through security again. Apparently going through security once and never leaving a secure area isn’t enough. I guess the Brits don’t trust other countries’ security measures.

I finally sat down at my gate about an hour and a half after landing, and was able to sit for about 15 minutes before they opened the gate for boarding. Now, I am unclear as to WHY they do this, but there were about 5 gates down at ground level. As I entered, I got on a fairly full looking bus that was prepared to drive us… somewhere. I stood there for another 10 minutes as about 30 more people, along with their carry-ons, packed in. I now know how sheep feel when packed in the back of a truck for the trip into town. We drive around for a good while before pulling up to our ride. We had to walk up the steps to get on board. Seriously, London? You can’t park an airplane at a real gate? It really didn’t bother me as much as it did not make sense. I slept for about half the flight to Nairobi, no matter how hard I tried to remain conscious and get ready for the new time zone half a world away. I landed around 9:30, got through customs really fast, and met my ride, a LeTu alum and his wife.

I couldn’t see much of Nairobi on the way in. Something about not being able to see well at night… I didn’t know, I had been on a plane the past day and a half. We passed a mosque on the way here, reminding me that I might not be a part of the dominant religion anymore, and certainly am no longer in the Bible belt of the US. I got settled and went to bed around 11 (local, GMT +3), complete with a mosquito net around my bed.

It still feels like a whirlwind, even after a full night’s sleep in a real bed. I am still trying to convince myself that I am really in Kenya and it is not a dream. The heat is helping, the crazy outlets help, and the birds that don’t shut up are a good reminder. I keep telling myself I would never be able to imagine this, so of course it is real.

My schedule is light the next couple of days, so hopefully I will get a chance to get settled, organized, figure out the (wireless!!) internet, maybe get a chance to chat with a few of you, and yes, the ever favorite homework. Today involves breakfast at 7:30 (prompt), swahili lesson 9-11, and matatu lesson at 2 this afternoon. At least I know what Swahili is… Then Saturday morning Lesa will be stopping by to let me know “the schedule.” Who knows how in depth that is going to be, or what it will cover.

looooong day

Actually, today is going to be a short day. But somehow when I leave at 5 and wake up tomorrow morning landing in London, the days are going to melt together a little. Then I get on ANOTHER plane, and land in Nairobi at 9:30 Thursday night. So the next two days are going to be long days with little sleep.

Coming back has reminded me of what incredible friends I have. Friends who do crazy things to get me to portland the night before. Friends who keep secrets to help make my visit a complete surprise. friends who are willing to drive for 6 hours to get me to and from Dallas. Friends who are willing to go out of their way to give me a ride, even when they are in pajamas at times. And friends who just want to be with me, and hang on so I won't go. And friends who are only going to miss me because of the bread I make. But hey, I love them too. I will miss every single one of you, even the ones I didn't get to see this week.

flight numbers (check out flight aware if you want) are: BA 192 to London, and BA 65 on Thursday
I guess until until Kenya! cya on the other side!

all things orientation

Orientation has been going well. I know a little more about African culture and how to keep myself safe there, but not too much more. It will be a learning experience. I leave tomorrow evening from Dallas. Wow, could things be more crazy?

My thoughts are so scattered right now. I have been trying to get everything done. It really isn't too much, but it is definitely a list! And 4 hours of sleep always makes things more interesting...

I am currently trying to figure out how I am getting to the airport... fun times!

travel day

its been long, but I am here at orientation safely now. Time for bed!! I will update you tomorrow!

a beginning

Today marks the official beginning of my journey. No, today is not really the beginning. After all, I am not even leaving the states for another week. I guess that makes this day i. Like all the normal books, any prologue material is labeled in lower case roman numerals. So this week of orientation and preparation will mark my days of prologue, the introduction to the trip.

But is today really the first day, or was yesterday the first day? I left Salem yesterday afternoon. But today is the first full day of the trip, so I will count today as the first, even though the adventure started yesterday.

It all started when…
I have this set of keys that is kind of my “Texas” keychain. Not that it has an abnormally large cowboy hat on it, or the lone star outline adorning it. It simply holds all the keys I use while in Texas. And since my tool box is now residing in my Oregon living room, that isn’t entirely true. But the keys on the chain that I really care about are the ones to my old apartment, and my mail box.

I knew these keys were SOMEWHERE in the mess of my room, but I had no idea where. And I kind of had to get that squared away before leaving. So I ended up tearing my entire room apart instead of packing. (I was mostly packed from the night before) It is funny how my room actually was cleaner after tearing it apart than it was before. Go figure.

After completely giving up on finding the keys and the lost key charges attached to them, I decided to clean out my backpack so it would be a little lighter for the journey. Cause really, who needs an entire semester’s worth of mail stuffed into every nook and cranny? So, in the process of digging out random papers and altoids containers, I find the keys. The whole time, they were in there. Seriously?? I guess so.

We end up heading out the door about 10 minutes behind schedule. Not bad, considering its me. We left the afternoon before because my friend has a night class in Portland. Instead of getting into town around 11 and turning around at around 3 to get me to the airport, we decided to grab a hotel up here. I still didn’t get any sleep…

So we get to about Woodburn, which is halfway, and I realize I don’t have my purse. Now, a woman’s purse is a crucial enough item, but considering this woman needs to be traveling halfway around the world, its criticality increases exponentially. So we turned around to get it.

We left the hotel this morning around 5:15. I had a library book I was trying to finish, so I desperately read while Danielle drove around the airport a couple times. I finally finished, we said our goodbyes, and I went to check in. Suddenly, I came upon a realization. There is this little blue booklet that is rather crucial when traveling internationally. Although that is not my destination today, I figured it might be nice to know where my passport is. So I called Danielle, and she said she didn’t put it anywhere. Little did she realize that, by agreeing to be my driver, she also assumed ultimate responsibility for everything I am taking with, and even a few things I left at home (like the purse!) She found it in the front seat, and was able to come back around to bring it to me.

I got through check in, security, and everything else with no troubles. Of course, the only thing between security and my current state is moving walkways…

My flight is going to board in 5 minutes… I should post this and pack the beast up!!

leavong for orientation

its 4:45 in the morning. I got to bed past one, and slept fitfully at that. So that means today will be fun... my first flight is going to be completely full with awful seats, and my second flight is going to be full with much better seats.

Time to head for the airport!

its official!!

January 21- April 8th, I will be out of the country!! It is two days of travel on each end of the trip, so I will be in the country the 23rd-Apr 6. I leave the 14th to stay the night in portland, and fly to a classified location on the 15th. My flight leaves at like 7 in the morning, and my best friend is driving me. Instead of leaving at like 330 in the morning, we have decided to go up the night before. So, orientation and other business for a week, then I am off!!

Opps, I need to get packing!!

Christmas break

Its been a good break. Ok, so its not exactly break anymore, but it still feels like it to me!! I am still in Oregon, while most of my friends are back in Texas, back in classes. I do not miss classes. I do not miss lectures. I do not miss labs. But I do miss the people. Yes, even my professors. Well, not all of them. But some of them I do miss.

Update on Kenya:
Leaving for orientation in 6 days
leaving for Africa some time around the 19th. HORRAY!!!!