Blogs from Nairobi, Nairobi Province, Kenya, Africa - page 90

Well tommorrow will be my first Thankgiving in Kenya and I'll be spending it at dinner with the ambassador, his family and a few other volunteers. I've never been so excited for a turkey dinner in my life. The last few weeks have been pretty tough with the problems I had with my site visit and then finding another site which I finally get to see on Friday. It sounds pretty cool but so did the other one so I'll let you know how things turn out. On Sunday a bunch of us have hired a car to take us to Lake Nakuru. There's a big park there with rhinos and flamingos that is supposed to be really cool. ... read more

Well climbing the mountain was a lot of fun. It took us about an hour to climb up it and another two hours to walk around the crater and another 45 minutes to get back down. It is actually a volcanic crater that has been dorment for some time but it was cool because you could see the the steam rising from certain parts. Our Halloween party at the center was a lot of fun. It was nice to stay there overnight and be able to use "real" bathrooms. I am covered with bug bites though I think from planning manhunt. This Friday we find out where our sites will be and I'm pretty excited to be almost done with training. Nov 9th I finally found out what my placement will be I'll be doing microfinance ... read more

So far training has not been that interesting. I really like the family I'm staying with and trying hard to adjust to no running water and no electricity. Nights are the hardest. Yesterday I found a giant spider in my room as I was writing a letter home and every once in awhile I find a cockroach in my bed. So far it's pretty hard to tell what I'm going to think about the next two years. Training is so much like being in school again that it's not much fun at all. It also been frustrating that communication with anyone back home is so hard. So far we have already lost one person. She was older and I guess just too set in her ways to adjust to the change. A bunch of us plan ... read more

Now that we're back in Nairobi, it doesn't seem as daunting the second time. Except that when we got off the bus, Mike almost let himself get pissed off at a relentless, harassing taxi driver. My approach now? Say nothing and just look at them. Or turn and respond with, "Blah, blah, blah!" Not worth my energy anymore to get baited into a fight. Leaving Arusha was tough but tougher still because I caught a cold which became full-blown by the time the bus ride was over. There was a memorable highlight at the border stop: I became most interesting, as my hair got the full attention of a young Maasai guy who spent a good amount of time touching it and examining how it works. I love Maasai areas. The people are so interested in ... read more

The circumstances for this trip were a bit unusual. I had always had these romanticised dreams about Africa in general, and safaris in particular. I had been reading the ads in the newspapers for quite some time, but it was not until I came across a special priced group tour to Kenya and the Masai Mara that I finally decided to act and booked myself a seat. Having done that my boss suddenly decided that I should go on a month long biz trip across the pond to Denver, Colorado in September, talk about lousy timing. Fortunately my plan was already set and booking made, so I managed to get a decent compromise. I got to spend two weeks in Denver and then fly home for the weekend, do the laundry, pack the bag and go ... read more