Through Day 2

August 28, 2007

Thursday: My last day of work. It was the most bizarre day of my life. Too many things went crazy that day. Everyone I work with took me to lunch at India House. It was nice. Alan gave me a keychain flashlight since the power goes out a lot. Patrick and Rebecca gave me an 80GB ipod as a bonus. Thursday was the Chicago-style hurricane and after work my sister and I had to drive to the North side to pick up the bag for the refugees. It took us forever to get there and we saw crazy destruction from the storm, like a roof right next to Lake Shore. The dude who was giving me stuff to take to the refugees lived in a commune. It took us forever to drive home. We had to cancel our dinner plans and picked up Portillos instead.

Friday: I started getting ready for Kenya. How typical of me to put all of that off until the day before. I really didn’t even get much done on Friday. My parents came home, I picked up my license at the DMV, and started collecting stuff I would be taking with me. My parents took Kurt and I to dinner at J. Alexanders.

Saturday: I was planning on staying up all night on Friday to get everything accomplished before I left, but around 2 I fell asleep and my mom woke me up at 7. Five hours lost. Oh well. I continued packing until Kurt came over for the last time. That was a hard goodbye. I cried. Then I rushed to Target and picked up stuff, then to Radio Shack for a plug adapter, then home to pack up. The guy at Radio Shack who helped me was really excited cause he lived in Kenya for 12 years. He gave me advice (and the wrong adapter. Boourns) Rebecca then drove me to the airport. She cried. Our flight was pretty empty. I slept on and off. Arrived in London at 8am their time. We planned on just hanging out in the airport for our 11 hour layover cause Dijana would need a visa to get into the country cause she’s Bosnian and we’re cheap and lazy. Anyway, after we got off the plane, we waited in a long line to find that we couldn’t have a carry-on AND a backpack (the lady in Chicago said it was OK) so we had to go somewhere else to check one bag. So, we waited in another really long line to be admitted into the country. Since we had to go into the country (technically) to be able to go to Check In to check our bags, they gave Dijana a transit visa for free. Sooo, we went and waited in the wrong line, then the right line, check our bags, then decided to go into the city since we had nothing else to do and when else would we have that opportunity. We exchanged our money, hopped on the Underground, and an hour later we were in London. We say Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the river, the ferris wheel thing, ate some lunch, walked around, then hopped the Underground back to the airport. The train ride and lunch cost us US$50 which is so ridiculous. Then another 2 hour wait in Heathrow, then another 8 hour plane ride to Nairobi. We were all so tired and crabby. I slept some on the plane. I watched 28 Weeks Later. Virgin Atlantic is a pretty badass airline.

Sunday/Monday: We arrived in Nairobi at 6am their time. It was still dark. We got our bags, exchanged some money, then found the person picking us up. We were all nervous that no one would be there, but he was pretty much the first person I saw. Good times. By the time we left, it wasn’t dark out anymore. The airport sort of looks like a jail. We got on the bus and started driving to the school. Once we got out of the airport I finally got really excited. Chris Brown was playing on the radio in the bus. Kenya is crazy. Like, there was a lot of traffic on the road we were on, so we just pulled over and drove on the side of the road (dodging light poles) to pass people. There are people walking everywhere. We saw some pretty extravagant hotels and buildings, and we also saw tiny shacks. I would never wanna drive here. People pretty much run across the street in between cars. There were a few times I really thought we were gonna hit someone. We stopped at sort of a 7-11 type place and got some food. Everything here is amazingly cheap. The biggest bill in shillings is a 1000 note. When we exchanged our money, all our money was in 1000s. My lunch and Dijana’s together cost about 250 shillings. That’s about $3.75 in US dollars. After that we started heading for the college. USIU is about 20 minutes from Nairobi. Everything is so beautiful. The sides of the road are total jungle. The school is right off Thika road, which is the worst road in Kenya (or Nairobi, I cant remember) for car jackings. The school is right next to Safari Park Hotel. That place is extreme. So huge. The school is guarded and you have to check in at the gate. The entire grounds are surrounded by electric fence. The guards have big guns.

Once we got to the school we were given our rooms. I’m on the second floor. Dijana’s on the 4^th. Aaron’s on the first floor, right by the entrance. My roommate is Kenyan and wont be here until school starts. The hostels are kind of confusing. Like, there are two wings. To get to my wing, I have to go to the second floor and go through a common room area. Everything looks the same and its confusing. I keep getting lost. After we put our stuff down, Robin starting giving us a tour of the campus. I cant even begin to describe how amazing and beautiful it is. There are palm trees and giant plants and flowers everywhere. Cats roam everywhere. And there are kittens. Very cute. Robin is so amazing. He introduced us to pretty much everyone on campus. Right now, other than staff, there are only a few of us international students on campus, and that’s it. They just built a new library and its SO HUGGEE. Seriously, in the middle of our tour, Dijana and I were like, this place is so much better than NCC. They have basketball courts, and a track, and a swimming pool, and a soccer field, and just about everything. The campus is huge on being clean. There are people cleaning everywhere. Someone cleans our room for us once a week. If you need anything, you just ask and everyone wants to help you. Everyone is always offering you tea too. Its really amazing chai. Robin had us over in his room and we had tea and he showed us pictures of his family. Later this week we are going to his family’s house and an orphanage. I’m really excited.

After our tour we took our first matatu (sort of like a bus) ride and then walked to Nakumatt, this store that basically has everything. Kind of like a Super Target. We picked up sheets, a pillow, a blanket, a mosquito net, and water. We took a taxi back. Im so glad we have Robin. He’s pretty much our guide for everything. Everyone speaks Swahili here, so Robin does most of the talking. Luckily they all speak English too. Robin is teaching us some Swahili. I can say thank you, thank you very much, and the numbers 1-7. Once we got back to campus, I unpacked, got my bed set up, then crashed for about an hour.

After our naps we went to Jambo Grill for dinner. (The cafeteria isn’t open yet, so we have to eat off-campus.) Another girl, Catherine, arrived the night before we did. She came with. She’s pretty awesome. She’s from Seattle, is a journalism major, and is Buddhist! All through dinner we just asked Robin questions. Theres a huge different between how we should act off campus than on. Like, swearing is cool on campus, while it’s a bad idea off. We also started talking about religion, and it came out that I’m atheist. He was cool about it, and he told me it’s a bad idea to tell people here, even on campus, cause they’ll all try and convert me. Apparently my roommate is really Christian. Should be an interesting time. At dinner I tried goat. It was pretty good. Really chewy. Once we were done, we took the school’s bus to go to the airport and pick up another girl, Ashley. She’s a Poli Sci major. We were having a lot of fun on the bus ride there. Aaron was so out of it. It’s so funny cause Aaron’s so tall and doesn’t fit in a lot of the cars. We got a picture of him in the matatu with his legs totally up against his chest to fit. We discovered that Aaron, Catherine and I all don’t drink. It was weird. Got to the airport, picked Ashley up, then drove through Nairobi. Saw Parliament. Saw the one building I always think of when I see Nairobi pics. We stopped to pick up food for the guy, Franco, who does hostel security. Robin and our driver (we call him Brother Mine, meaning my brother. He calls everyone Brother Mine or Sister Mine) got out to get the food and almost immediately we had some kids and a lady begging for money. One kid was sniffing glue from a Gin bottle. Odd times. Then we drove home.

I crashed almost immediately. Woke up around 4am freezing. Roosters were crowing already. There are a lot of dogs barking too. Had a hard time falling back asleep. Around 8am, Aaron and I went and ran. The track is pretty ghetto. Its dirt, uneven, and these guys were using machetes to straighten the edges. Took my first cold shower, then went to breakfast at the cafeteria. So far all the food I’ve had has been pretty good. Dijana is sick already. There are now 8 Americans here. Everyone seems pretty ok so far. Half of us are doing international relations and the other half are photo-journalism. There are supposed to be about 40 Americans, which is way more than expected. We are a little disappointed, actually.

Sooo pretty much I’m having an amazing time. The people are all soooooooo friendly. Everyone says hi to everyone. I love it. I feel bad for the Kenyans going to NCC. I can imagine how cold everyone must seem compared to here. The weather is nice. Its overcast but still really bright. In the morning and night its cold, but its perfect temperature during the day. Right now I’m sitting on the balcony, in a really comfy chair, off the common area on my floor. Its gorgeous. OH, and the view from my room is pretty great. I have a biiig window facing the campus.

Well, I’m going to go check on Dijana and then read or something. We don’t have much to do this week, but I like it cause I’ve been so stressed lately. Bye!