Greetings all from beautiful Loitokitok, Kenya! It's been an incredibly busy couple of weeks and so much has happened in such a short period of time. So, rather than write everything out long form, I figured some form of organization would be helpful. In this case, alphabetically. Because everything's better with letters!
P.S. I hope to get more pictures up eventually, but the internet in Loitokitok is slow as molasses in January (July for those of you in the Southern hemisphere) and it would take a day and a half to get all the good ones up. So, that's going to have to wait til Nairobi.
A is for Africa
Well, of course. Incidentally, TIA (This is Africa) is a very useful phrase to have in the back of mind. Because it for sure isn't Kansas.
If you're feeling a little more local, there's the always popular Karibu Kenya!
B is for Bathroom (NSFW)
The preferred method of self relief here in Kenya is the choo. It's a hole in the ground. You squat. The hole is very deep. (Roughly 10-11 m, if I timed the drop right.)
C is for Cosmopolitan
Well, maybe that's not quite the right word for the place, but there is a mild international flavor to the place. Besides the all 'mericans running about the place there's a pretty big Chinese presence in the community. They're building a road that runs from the main highway into Loitokitok and probably will continue to Tanzania. From what I understand, they're using Chinese equipment and manpower, so local construction firms aren't to keen on it, though.
Besides the Chinese, there's a guy from Boston who lives here. Married a local, evidently. Also, a couple of missions and an Italian aid agency down the slopes somewhere. Also a couple of Dutch volunteers from VSO are in the area. I met them today. Very nice chaps.
There's also a mosque (largely Somali ex-pats, I'm told) and the call to prayer echoing across Loitokitok is actually really cool. Adds to the flavor of being in a new place.
D is for Doin’ it by Hand
How do you wash without a shower? With a basin of course! Warm up the water on the Jiko (stove) and pour it over yourself! You can get surprisingly clean, although washing hair for the ladies can be a little rough. Still better than G-West in January, though.
E is for Electricity
We do have stima (electricity) here, although it can be... tempermental. For instance, no one in town had any for a couple days earlier this week. Apparently an elephant knocked out a transmission line. TIA.
F is for Food
Omnomnom. The most popular food here is ugali, which is maize flower (stripped white) and cooked into some sort of brick. It's pretty much empty calories, but it sits in your stomach and keeps you full. But that's not all! There's also wali (rice), spaghetti, viazi (potatoes), viazi vitamu(sweet potatoes), maharagwe (beans), ndizi (bananas), makote (unripe banana stew with potatoes), meat stew, sukumo wiki (spinach, translated as "Push the week."), kabichi (cabbage), and other things. The current favorite for PSTs eating at the local cafes is Chips na mayay (Chips and eggs.) It's like an omelette.
But what they don't have here that I miss most of all? Whole grain anything. Brown rice. And cheese. There isn't any unless you travel to one city on the west side.
G is for Guardia
And all sorts of other fun little friends. It's important to make sure I purify my water like whoa or things get real fun. (For those interested, the official PST water treatment is Pur. It coagulates all the stuff together for easy filtering. It's really cool to watch, actually.)
H is for How are you?
Walking home is always fun, since there are loads of little kids who come running out to see the Wazungu (White person/traveller) and constantly chant “How are you How are you?” as they follow you down the road. Sometimes they get high fives or fist pounds.
Yesterday I tried to teach a couple of them how to moonwalk (They were wearing one glove, it seemed appropriate). It doesn't look like dance is in these kids' futures...
K is for Kilimanjaro
I may have mentioned it, but Loitokitok sits on the north face of Mount Kilimanjaro. It looks something like this:
This is taken from the exit to our driveway into the house I'm staying. I see this everyday. Woo!
L is for Language Acquisition (Secondary)
Much of the time for training has been spent learning Kiswahili. It's actually a real fun language to learn, which is good, because it's going to get crammed into my brain for the next six weeks. Of course, this is a good thing, seeing as that's all the time we have to get formal language training. Incidentally, the language trainers the Peace Corps has are really, really good.
But you know what's really awesome? Getting to say “Hakuna Matata” in regular conversation.
P.S. I also find myself silently mouthing “Squashed Banana” every time I say “Asante Sana.” I wonder if that urge ever goes away?
M is for Meph Dreams
We live in a malarial zone and so that means I get to take malaria prophylaxis! For most volunteers, this means mephaquin. And mephaquin means meph dreams! Now, apparently this sometimes means really horrible night terrors with blood and axes and stuff. Also, apparently you sometimes go crazy?
I don't know much about that though, since I'm batting about 50% on dreams being pretty normal and 50% on them featuring showstopping Broadway numbers before I wake up. Seriously. It's like an episode of Glee every time I go to bed.
N is for Nets
Also joining in the fight against malaria: Mosquito Nets. I sleep under one. It's actually pretty comforting. Like sleeping in a blanket fort.
Incidentally, yesterday I woke up to a mosquito stuck in the net trying to get out. I think I'm did something wrong...
O is for Oh! Chai!
Chai is the national drink here. Not a chai latte from Starbucks mind you. It's teaa, whole milk, and a mess of sugar. It gets drunk all the time. I usually go for Chai Strungi (strong or black tea). Mimi si mkenya, ni mwamerika, I guess.
P is for PikiPiki
Or motorcycle, that is. I wish I had a picture of some of the crazy things I've seen people carrying on the back of motorcycles around here. Ladders, stacks of chairs, families. I wouldn't at all be surprised to see someone carrying a couch or another motorcycle on the back of one of these Piki Pikis.
Q is for Not in the Kiswahili Alphabet. And Neither is X.
So there.
R is for Rafiki
It's the rainy season, and although it has been pretty dry (la Nina, I'm told), the rains we do have are pretty hardy. More importantly, though, they tend to turn the Kenyan dust, which is unbelievably fine and into-everything-getting into Kenyan mud, which is something special all on its own. I probably should have brought higher boots.
S is for Simba
Ok you jokers, I haven't been eaten by a lion yet. Haven't even seen one. But I have seen giraffes! A mess of giraffes on the way over from Nairobi. I about plotzed right there in the matatu. Also, there's a bunch of colobus monkeys that live around the area we're staying.
Speaking of animals. My mama (katika Kenya) has a cow and chickens. Baller.
T is for Time Dilation
Maybe it's the long days or the lack of the internet, but these past few weeks seem really, really long in hindsight. That's not a bad thing at all! So much has happened in the last few weeks it seems like I've been gone for three months instead.
Speaking of the internet, I haven't the slightest idea what's going on back home. Not sure I miss the news that much...
U is for Um, nimesheba?
That is, I'm full. (Have become full, technically.) My host family is absolutely fantastic. There's only a mama and baba. The three kids are off at university in Uganda, although I should have an opportunity to meet them. My Kenyan mama is fantastic. She's very understanding of all my American oddities and is more than willing to help me learn kiswahili and how to do things around the house. For example, cooking! And laundry by hand!
V is for Very High
We're sitting about 1700 m above sea level here. My first run at altitude could best be described as “rough” and more accurately as “borderline vomitous.” All I could think while bending over on the side of the road was “where's the air gone?”
Note to self: Pole pole. (Slowly slowly)
W is for Washing Machines
Once you get the callouses going, it's actually kind of fun to wash your clothes by hand. Until then though, did you know that bleeding on your clothes when washing them is not helpful?
Y is for Yogurt
My family here makes their own yogurt! I am going to learn how this is done. It is crazy tasty, yo.
Z is for Zip?
Ok, I'm running out of good words. This is hard, ok? But to end this entry, here's a bit of info on my next stop. I did get my site placement, which is going to be on the south side of Lake Victoria, near the Tanzanian border. I'll be teaching physics and chemistry. Apparently the school sits on a hill and overlooks the lake. And apparently my house will be “on the brink” of Lake Victoria. So, that sounds promising, yes?
Unfortunately, swimming is out of the question on account of all the schisto, but hey, I get easy access to fish everyday! Samaki Chapati's anyone? (Taco is a poor word choice in swahili...)
Well, that's all I got for now. I'll probably be going more in depth on a lot of this stuff later. Especially the food. Until then: tutaonana!
