The past two days we've been having Swahili class for four hours in the morning and I have over eight pages full of notes. We're learning so quickly that I can barely speak anything, even English, when we get out of class. I'm actually processing Swahili better than French, Arabic, and especially Latin. We're learning in groups of seven, which is nice and provides good individual attention. My teacher is engaging and challenging and has a great sense of humor. Hopefully when I get back I'll be able to communicate sufficiently at a basic level.
On Friday, I leave for a week to stay with a family in rural Kenya. The ethnic group is the Kipsigis and they are primarily tea farmers. My family is run by a single mother (the father is deceased) with five children who are all in school. We are encouraged to blend in with the family and operate as a guest only for the first night. After our first night we are expected to be treated and to act as another member of the family. I hope I can join them in the tea fields and learn how they operate in daily life. I will most likely be using a pit latrine (basically a hole in the ground) and bathing out of a bucket or bin. For me, this is the ideal way to really understand daily life in this area. I am incredibly excited, but trying not to go in with too many expectations. It's comforting to know that the program specifically requests that we not be treated differently. On my trip to Uganda three summers ago, many of the students were treated as royalty on their school visits and didn't get to experience life as the students who study there every day.
I'm also glad that we're not expected to bring our cell phones with us. I will be out of contact with anyone outside the community for the entire week, which will be relaxing and a much needed relief.
On another note, our time here in Karen and Nairobi has already been a lot of fun. Last night, we all went out to a bar in Karen and met some really friendly local people. I got destroyed in a game that somewhat resembled pool and had some great conversations with other students on the program. I also played four extremely intense games of ping pong on a table at the compound that is painted with the Kenya flag.
The compound itself where we're staying is EXTREMELY nice, even by American standards. It reminds me of Camp Greystone, a summer camp in North Carolina that costs $5,000 to attend for a few weeks. At first, I commented in my head "man, this just isn't Africa." But then I reminded myself that it's all Africa. This represents a part of society that is just as real as the huts, farming, goats, and traditional rain dances of other areas. In fact, it illuminates a fascinating contrast between rich and poor in Kenya that continues to be addressed in politics and daily street conversation. It's important not to impose one's own ideas of what Africa or any culture should look like. It's all real and it's all valuable to understanding the larger picture...the successes, the rich culture, the problems, and the solutions.
I may not write again for at least a week after we return from the homestays. I'm not sure. But until then, kwaherini.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Sunday, August 20, 2006
Into Africa
Wow, I don't even know where to start. My entrance into Africa has been so different from my past experiences. The last two times, I've eased into the culture by starting in a more upscale place and moving gradually into living with the local people in their homes and adopting their lifestyles. This time, I traveled alone to Nairobi, then got in a land rover with my uncle/second cousin and rode through the back country of Kenya and Uganda for a week. Now I'm in the nicest compound I've ever seen in Africa and I played volleyball on a freshly mowed lawn the first night I was here.
To bring everyone up to date, I flew into Nairobi on August 11th and met Joe Holt who is my mom's cousin. Joe is about 6'7" and absolutely huge. As soon as I met him, I felt I was in good hands. He's loud and friendly and fits perfectly in Africa.
We spent the first few days in Nairobi shopping for our trip and saying hello to about a hundred different people. Joe knows pretty much everyone. We also visited the old train yard and saw the largest functioning steam engine in the world which was used on the original Kenya/Uganda railway during colonialism. For those Africa nerds out there, this railway connected the Indian Ocean at Mombasa with Lake Victoria at Kisumu. The project took years, millions of British pounds, and numerous lost lives. For those movie buffs out there, the film Ghost in the Darkness about a lion that kills a bunch of people who are constructing a railway...that's the one. Anyway, I got a taste of history and got to see the bowels of a working steam engine for the first time.
On Sunday we climbed into the land rover with Joe's friend Dave and his son Tim from Canada, and headed to a game park called Masai Mara. This time of year is unique in this area because the animals of the Serengeti are migrating across the park and you are guaranteed to see hundreds and hundreds of zebras and wildabeests. We camped for two nights and saw tons of wildlife, including an elephant and a group of monkeys in our camp. The monkeys were climbing all over the tents and subtely moving closer and closer to our food. Luckily, the elephant wasn't as bold.
On the second day, Joe hired a Masai guide to sit in the passenger seat and help direct us to the animals. We saw dozens of animals including: lions, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, gazelles, zebras, wildabeests, giraffes, a leopard, a cheetah, warthogs, a hyena, and waterbuck. We had incredible luck the entire time. We saw a lion hunting a pack of zebras, crouching and crawling through high grass. We saw a cheetah eat a Thomson's gazelle, then proceed to sit in the shadow of our vehicle right outside my window. The thing was so close I could have reached out and poked it on the nose. Boop. We also saw a baby gazelle trying to drink milk under its mother. The mom wouldn't have it so the baby went over to another adult and nudged it, only to get head butted and shoved away. The baby was wobbly on its new legs and cute as a doorknob (I really couldn't think of a good simile there). We also visited a Masai village and saw them make fire with sticks. The Masai people are a pastoralist group in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya. They also performed a dance for us, which made me a little uncomfortable because I know the dance is specifically for tourists who have caused them to get kicked off their land. Overall, the experience was fascinating and I'm still trying to process everything.
After Masai Mara, we drove through the hills of Western Kenya up to Kisumu on Lake Victoria. My hotel room was on the fifth floor and had an incredible view of the lake and several islands. We basically just relaxed and enjoyed the area for a night before leaving the next day for Uganda.
We spent several hours trying to travel the several hundred feet between the Kenya and Uganda border. During that time, I talked with one of hundreds of begging children and showed him our guide book to Kenya. The thirst for knowledge and intense desire to learn here always blows me away. When we left, I gave him money to buy shoes and a picture of my family. That night, we arrived in Jinja at the source of the Nile.
The next day was completely absurd. I went whitewater rafting on some of the most powerful rapids in the world. We hit about eight level 5 rapids, which are the strongest that you can raft. Our boat flipped five times and I got sucked under more than once. I always resurfaced hundreds of feet downstream and never knew how close I would be to the boat. It was a blast. On most rapids you don't want the boat to flip because of the rocks, but the Nile is deep enough to be less of a hazard. We had lunch on the boat during a long flat stretch of river and I ate the best pineapple I've ever had.
From Jinja, we drove to Entebbe to spend the night and I caught a flight to Nairobi the next morning. Unfortunately, the engines on my plane were not functioning so I had to wait in the airport for four hours and miss the beginning of the study abroad program's orientation. It actually wasn't that big of a deal and I got a little extra time to unwind. And it didn't take me too long to get caught up and right in the swing of things once I got there.
The St. Lawrence University Kenya Semester Program (SLU-KSP) compound is in a wealthy suburb of Nairobi. It is the nicest place I've been in Africa. Maybe I'll post pictures at some point. My posts will be sporadic at this point because we are gone for weeks at a time without internet access. Anyway, the students on the program are wonderful and I'm already enjoying myself immensely. We went into Nairobi today and walked around in groups which was a nice orientation for me, even though I've been in the city twice before. There's something different about being on your own and knowing it will be your home for a few months.
I'm extremely tired right now, so I'm going to stop. I'm hoping to be able to go a little more in depth in future posts, but so much is happening so quickly right now that it's tough to keep up. Hope all is well back in the States!
To bring everyone up to date, I flew into Nairobi on August 11th and met Joe Holt who is my mom's cousin. Joe is about 6'7" and absolutely huge. As soon as I met him, I felt I was in good hands. He's loud and friendly and fits perfectly in Africa.
We spent the first few days in Nairobi shopping for our trip and saying hello to about a hundred different people. Joe knows pretty much everyone. We also visited the old train yard and saw the largest functioning steam engine in the world which was used on the original Kenya/Uganda railway during colonialism. For those Africa nerds out there, this railway connected the Indian Ocean at Mombasa with Lake Victoria at Kisumu. The project took years, millions of British pounds, and numerous lost lives. For those movie buffs out there, the film Ghost in the Darkness about a lion that kills a bunch of people who are constructing a railway...that's the one. Anyway, I got a taste of history and got to see the bowels of a working steam engine for the first time.
On Sunday we climbed into the land rover with Joe's friend Dave and his son Tim from Canada, and headed to a game park called Masai Mara. This time of year is unique in this area because the animals of the Serengeti are migrating across the park and you are guaranteed to see hundreds and hundreds of zebras and wildabeests. We camped for two nights and saw tons of wildlife, including an elephant and a group of monkeys in our camp. The monkeys were climbing all over the tents and subtely moving closer and closer to our food. Luckily, the elephant wasn't as bold.
On the second day, Joe hired a Masai guide to sit in the passenger seat and help direct us to the animals. We saw dozens of animals including: lions, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, gazelles, zebras, wildabeests, giraffes, a leopard, a cheetah, warthogs, a hyena, and waterbuck. We had incredible luck the entire time. We saw a lion hunting a pack of zebras, crouching and crawling through high grass. We saw a cheetah eat a Thomson's gazelle, then proceed to sit in the shadow of our vehicle right outside my window. The thing was so close I could have reached out and poked it on the nose. Boop. We also saw a baby gazelle trying to drink milk under its mother. The mom wouldn't have it so the baby went over to another adult and nudged it, only to get head butted and shoved away. The baby was wobbly on its new legs and cute as a doorknob (I really couldn't think of a good simile there). We also visited a Masai village and saw them make fire with sticks. The Masai people are a pastoralist group in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya. They also performed a dance for us, which made me a little uncomfortable because I know the dance is specifically for tourists who have caused them to get kicked off their land. Overall, the experience was fascinating and I'm still trying to process everything.
After Masai Mara, we drove through the hills of Western Kenya up to Kisumu on Lake Victoria. My hotel room was on the fifth floor and had an incredible view of the lake and several islands. We basically just relaxed and enjoyed the area for a night before leaving the next day for Uganda.
We spent several hours trying to travel the several hundred feet between the Kenya and Uganda border. During that time, I talked with one of hundreds of begging children and showed him our guide book to Kenya. The thirst for knowledge and intense desire to learn here always blows me away. When we left, I gave him money to buy shoes and a picture of my family. That night, we arrived in Jinja at the source of the Nile.
The next day was completely absurd. I went whitewater rafting on some of the most powerful rapids in the world. We hit about eight level 5 rapids, which are the strongest that you can raft. Our boat flipped five times and I got sucked under more than once. I always resurfaced hundreds of feet downstream and never knew how close I would be to the boat. It was a blast. On most rapids you don't want the boat to flip because of the rocks, but the Nile is deep enough to be less of a hazard. We had lunch on the boat during a long flat stretch of river and I ate the best pineapple I've ever had.
From Jinja, we drove to Entebbe to spend the night and I caught a flight to Nairobi the next morning. Unfortunately, the engines on my plane were not functioning so I had to wait in the airport for four hours and miss the beginning of the study abroad program's orientation. It actually wasn't that big of a deal and I got a little extra time to unwind. And it didn't take me too long to get caught up and right in the swing of things once I got there.
The St. Lawrence University Kenya Semester Program (SLU-KSP) compound is in a wealthy suburb of Nairobi. It is the nicest place I've been in Africa. Maybe I'll post pictures at some point. My posts will be sporadic at this point because we are gone for weeks at a time without internet access. Anyway, the students on the program are wonderful and I'm already enjoying myself immensely. We went into Nairobi today and walked around in groups which was a nice orientation for me, even though I've been in the city twice before. There's something different about being on your own and knowing it will be your home for a few months.
I'm extremely tired right now, so I'm going to stop. I'm hoping to be able to go a little more in depth in future posts, but so much is happening so quickly right now that it's tough to keep up. Hope all is well back in the States!
Friday, August 11, 2006
Heathrow Terrorism
I'm sitting in Heathrow Airport in London waiting for my flight to Kenya. I find it absurd that I took the Eurostar yesterday and am flying on a plane out of Heathrow today, both of which were targets for the attempted terrorist attacks yesterday. You would not believe the security here. Anything you carry on has to be in a special plastic bag they provide. You can only bring your passport/essential documents and emergency supplies if you have a medical condition. They wouldn't even let me bring a packet of readings for the Kenya program with me. Luckily, I've only slept maybe 3 or 4 hours in the past 50 hours so I'll probably sleep most of the time anyway. There are also soldiers with machine guns, police with dogs, personnel with yellow vests, and many people with grumpy faces. I find it all kind of amusing, actually. I mean, we're all so equally helpless under the system. If they want to x-ray my entire body in lieu of normal security procedures (which they did) I just nod and take off my shoes and belt. Several times in the last few days, especially in the middle of the night, I've just started laughing at it all. Which made me laugh more last night because I was just standing by myself in my underwear in a random London airport hotel...laughing. I guess I'm not that terrorized. Sorry, Al-Qaeda. Well, I'm going to go find my gate now and see what other adventures are in store. Hopefully, the next post will be from Kenya. Peace.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Some pictures from France
Me and Michel right outside his house before our hike.
Michel and Kalou's back porch at sunset.
The mountains somewhere near the beginning of our hike.
A view somewhere in the middle of our hike when the wind was numbing my face.
Wild mountain pony!!!
Hike scenery.
One of my favorite hike pictures. And I took a lot, even though I was moving when I took them.
One of the dozens of old churches I've visited on this trip. This one was from the 11th or 12th century and had some really interesting architecture.
Me, Michel, and Kalou on top of Puy de Dome, off of which I would jump in the next half hour. With a paraglider of course.
Roman ruins, more specifically a temple to Mercury, on the top of Puy de Dome.
Some pictures from Scotland
Here are just a few of the seemingly billion pictures I took in Scotland. I've decided to post pictures in the biggest size format, so if people have trouble uploading them please let me know.
For those Braveheart fans out there, this is the actual sword of William Wallace. Not a replica. Seriously. I almost peed my pants when I saw it. The sword is almost five and a half feet tall, which means William Wallace had to be at least 6'6" according to the plaque on the wall, which didn't make it into the picture.
The school that inspired J.K. Rowling's Hogwarts. Not a great picture (it was night and we were in a graveyard for a ghost tour), but I figured people would want to see it anyway.
Me on top of the Wallace Monument. INCREDIBLE view. The picture really doesn't do it justice. None of my landscape pictures really do. It's impossible to capture that sort of thing and the experience really involves all your senses. Sounds trite, but it's true.
Edinburgh at sunset.
King Kelly and Queen Reynolds in the Stirling Castle great hall.
The whole gang minus Nick: Sari, Reynolds, Dara, Kelly, Noga, and Jonathan on the first level of the Scott monument.
On the way up Arthur's Seat, a dormant volcano in the middle of Edinburgh. You could see the sea, city, and mountains from the top.
Me with a reenactment dude at Stirling Castle
Edinburgh from the top of the Scott monument. The plateau-looking thing in the background is the volcano we climbed.
We went to numerous old churches and cathedrals and this is probably my favorite picture of all of them. I believe it was in St. Giles cathedral in Edinburgh.
For those Braveheart fans out there, this is the actual sword of William Wallace. Not a replica. Seriously. I almost peed my pants when I saw it. The sword is almost five and a half feet tall, which means William Wallace had to be at least 6'6" according to the plaque on the wall, which didn't make it into the picture.
The school that inspired J.K. Rowling's Hogwarts. Not a great picture (it was night and we were in a graveyard for a ghost tour), but I figured people would want to see it anyway.
Me on top of the Wallace Monument. INCREDIBLE view. The picture really doesn't do it justice. None of my landscape pictures really do. It's impossible to capture that sort of thing and the experience really involves all your senses. Sounds trite, but it's true.
Edinburgh at sunset.
King Kelly and Queen Reynolds in the Stirling Castle great hall.
The whole gang minus Nick: Sari, Reynolds, Dara, Kelly, Noga, and Jonathan on the first level of the Scott monument.
On the way up Arthur's Seat, a dormant volcano in the middle of Edinburgh. You could see the sea, city, and mountains from the top.
Me with a reenactment dude at Stirling Castle
Edinburgh from the top of the Scott monument. The plateau-looking thing in the background is the volcano we climbed.
We went to numerous old churches and cathedrals and this is probably my favorite picture of all of them. I believe it was in St. Giles cathedral in Edinburgh.
Paragliding
This trip has been so ridiculous in the best sense of the word. Today, I jumped off a 4,000 ft. volcano called Puy de Dome with a large piece of cloth strapped to my body. I called it hang-gliding, but apparently the word is paragliding. It's more of a parachute than a hanger I guess. Anyway, what an amazing experience. I did it tandem with a French guy who knows what he's doing and takes people out every day. We got some pretty good pictures which I'll try to post later, but I forgot my video camera which was a bummer. Man, I can't even begin to describe the sensation. The French dude at one point said in broken English "We are like bird." From that point on, I couldn't get that stupid Nelly Fertada (spelling? ah, who cares) song out of my head. It was actually a lot less scary than I thought it would be, but a lot more nauseating. I had a strange sort of motion sickness. No vomitting though, which was nice. One of my favorite parts was flying over another smaller volcano and seeing a huge herd of sheep make their way down the mountain thousands of feet below us. Man, it was nuts. Michel and Kalou actually paid for it, which was beyond nice because it was 70 Euros. I tried to protest, but they insisted. They have been incredibly generous and overly hospitable and I don't know if I'll be able to thank them enough. I plan to send them a really nice gift from Kenya as soon as I get there. Well, they're calling me for dinner. Apparently, they are surprising me and taking me to a restaurant. Man, what a spectacular week. Look for pictures from Scotland and France sometime in the near future. Au revoir!!!
Monday, August 07, 2006
Some pictures from the Globe Program
Yeah, I put a hole in the door on the Globe stage. It was part of the set for a new pirate play. The Globe occasionally runs shows that don't belong to the bard.
Here's me and Julia on top of Snowdon Mountain in Wales. We took a cute little steam engine to the top. I believe Snowdon is the biggest mountain in Wales and is the setting for parts of the King Arthur legends. I think I said that in an earlier post, but oh well. It's cool enough to say twice.
Me and Kelly during the second sword fighting class. Check out my broad sword! Sweet.
The Globe theater right before we saw Titus Andronicus. I moved down to the stage for the second half.
For those Pink Floyd fans out there...
Me during a special lecture on Elizabethan clothing. The costume I'm wearing was handmade in the Elizabethan style with traditional cloth and many traditional dyes. Some dyes from the time, like crushed insects, are impractical in a modern setting.
P.S. I'm still new to this blog thing and posting pictures, so bear with me until I can figure out how to make it look better. This may have to do.
The most beautiful place I've ever been
Michel Quereuil goes mountain biking three times a week in the summer and skiis three times a week in the winter. When he said we were going hiking today, he wasn't kidding around. We hiked 15 km in 3 hours around a mountain range and up the tallest mountain in central France, which was about 6,000 ft tall. Apparently, a guide book says it should take 5 1/2 hours. We hiked the first hour non-stop, then took 45 seconds or so to drink a bit of water. After another hour and fifteen minutes, Michel stopped and with his limited English proclaimed "fucking wind" as we both put on jackets. We literally didn't break stride for the rest of the trip. What a bad ass. The top had a strong, bone-chilling wind which couldn't have been warmer than 40 degrees. This lasted almost ten minutes while we were in short sleeves and another twenty or so once we had on jackets. The massive amount of sweat I had accumulated disappeared rather quickly and I thought it would freeze to my head. This may not have been the best decision as I recover from pneumonia. Sorry, mom and Julia. I know you're probably worried.
Some of the views we saw were worth all of that and more. I don't even know how to begin describing this place. After a bit, I just stopped taking pictures because they weren't coming close to capturing what my senses were experiencing together. As a religious person, I looked God right in the face today. What a shame that we're destroying this planet with our excessiveness. It's a good one. We made several animal friends, including deer, cows, wild horses, and a viper that may or may not have been poisonous. We also passed numerous adorable puppies closer to the base of the mountain where families had decided to spend the day. One of my favorite parts was exclaiming "Bonjour!" to people as we passed. You don't have to speak fluent French to get that one right. Sweet. Coming here was a great choice and I'm really going to enjoy relaxing and reading my Kenya materials over the next three days. Dinner is almost ready and I'm starving, so I better go now. Bonsoir!
Some of the views we saw were worth all of that and more. I don't even know how to begin describing this place. After a bit, I just stopped taking pictures because they weren't coming close to capturing what my senses were experiencing together. As a religious person, I looked God right in the face today. What a shame that we're destroying this planet with our excessiveness. It's a good one. We made several animal friends, including deer, cows, wild horses, and a viper that may or may not have been poisonous. We also passed numerous adorable puppies closer to the base of the mountain where families had decided to spend the day. One of my favorite parts was exclaiming "Bonjour!" to people as we passed. You don't have to speak fluent French to get that one right. Sweet. Coming here was a great choice and I'm really going to enjoy relaxing and reading my Kenya materials over the next three days. Dinner is almost ready and I'm starving, so I better go now. Bonsoir!
French food
I have died and gone to food heaven. When I arrived last night, I ate amazing French bread, duck, cured sausage, mushrooms, rasberry jam in vanilla yogurt (rasberries were wild and picked on the mountain I'm about to hike for three hours), port with peach cremè liquer, and red wine with dinner. I am now being called to lunch. Awesome. I'll write more after the afternoon hike. Perhaps tonight.
Sunday, August 06, 2006
First, have a nap...zen fire ze missiles!!!
I am writing from the house of my dad's friend, Michel, outside Clermont Ferrand, France. He lives on a lake in the mountains. Awesome.
Today was the longest day I've had in awhile. We got up at 2:30 a.m. in Glasgow to catch a plane in Paris. As soon as we arrived, I had to split with the group in an effort to find my train station. I had to speak a surprisingly large amount of French and had several hilariously awkward encounters, but I got over it and worked everything out eventually. I finally got into Clermont at 6 p.m. It is now almost 11:30 here and I didn't even nap much today apart from some restless dozing on the train. So, I'm going to go to bed soon. I tried uploading some pictures from the Globe, but it's taking forever on this computer so I'll have to try later. Sorry for such a boring post. I'll have more time on this computer later this week and can update then. Au revoir!
Today was the longest day I've had in awhile. We got up at 2:30 a.m. in Glasgow to catch a plane in Paris. As soon as we arrived, I had to split with the group in an effort to find my train station. I had to speak a surprisingly large amount of French and had several hilariously awkward encounters, but I got over it and worked everything out eventually. I finally got into Clermont at 6 p.m. It is now almost 11:30 here and I didn't even nap much today apart from some restless dozing on the train. So, I'm going to go to bed soon. I tried uploading some pictures from the Globe, but it's taking forever on this computer so I'll have to try later. Sorry for such a boring post. I'll have more time on this computer later this week and can update then. Au revoir!
Saturday, August 05, 2006
from Glasgow...
So, this is the first chance I've had to get on the internet since we started traveling after the Globe. It's a little over $6 per hour!! I only have 10 minutes remaining after e-mail and facebook, so I'll have to make this quick. The Globe finished up wonderfully and I'm extremely glad I did it, even though I now owe the United States government thousands of dollars. The master classes were wonderful and we got to perform on the actual stage several times. I had minor food poisoning for our final performance, which was a major bummer, but I got over it. The day after the program ended, I traveled to Exeter with Dara, Noga, Jonathan, Kelly, Sari, and Nick. We spent a day boating on a river and visiting a cathedral where they were having an Evensong service. Then, I came down with an intense fever and lay in bed for awhile. That was cool. The night before we left for Scotland, we watched braveheart and ate pizza. Hilarious. Edinburgh was a blast and I finally sucked it up and went to the hospital to see what was wrong with me. I had pneumonia. Go figure. I feel great now, though. Thank you, antibiotics! In Edinburgh, we saw the enormous castle, went on haunted graveyard tours, and went to the zoo. I know what you're thinking. Why would you go to a zoo in Edinburgh when there's so much else to see? Well, this zoo had the biggest penguin exhibit in the world and they let them out at a certain time to run around this path and you can line the path and they can waddle up to you. Well, you get the idea. The last day in Edinburgh was my favorite. We climbed a dormant volcano right outside the city, which offered an absolutely breathtaking view with mountains, ocean, and the city stretched out on all sides. Leaving felt a bit premature, but we had fun in Stirling, which has a monument to William Wallace (Braveheart). I saw the actual sword he used in his fight against the English. Then, we were on our way to Glasgow, which is where I am now. Today, we took a bus tour and passed a museum that had Salvador Dali's Christ on the Cross, but it was closed and we leave at 4 in the morning tomorrow. Bummer. Julia, I know that kills you. Anyway, my time is about to expire, which will make me lose everything I've written if I don't stop soon. Hopefully, there will be more thorough and well-written posts in the somewhat-near future. Cheers.
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