This has been an amazing week. It didn't start off like that though. I felt a little under the weather on Monday, so I stayed in bed for the day. On Tuesday I had a quiet day again. I stayed on base and helped input date from a previous expo. Wednesday and Thursday I was out on the boat. Both times we got out to the Marine Protected Area, called Mpunguti, and the Marine Park, Kisite. The snorkeling there is so much fun! Lots of amazing coral, starfish, sea urchins, and so many different kinds of tropical fish. There are literally thousands of them. Surgeon fish, and angel fish, and butterfly fish, and parrot fish, and clown fish, and many more that I can't even remember the names to. There are 2 snorkel transects on each ... read more

Jambo! Well, week 5 has come and gone. I can’t believe how fast the first half of this expo has gone for me. I’m still having fun, and loving my time out here. This week I was doing community work in Shimoni. Normally this would involve mostly teaching at 3 different schools, but it turned out that this was the first week of holidays for the kids, so I did more community work. On Monday my fellow volunteer and I got our TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) training. It’s harder than I thought, but at the same time it all makes sense. Ours was geared more towards children, and it told us things like, keep the language simple, don’t over complicate the lessons, and make sure they know you are the one in charge. ... read more

Jambo! This was another fun week of forest, monkeys and good company. Abduls refers to the local restaurant that we eat at almost every Wednesday. This week went somewhere different, but I want to tell you about the amazing food that Abduls gives us. We have to order several hours ahead, because normally there are over 10 of us going. Once we arrive we get a glass of nice, cold tamarind juice, followed by a chapatti. For those who don’t know what that is, it’s fried flat bread. Then its coconut rice, coconut sauce, scuma, which is a spinach mixture that’s fried and very good, fried cabbage, beans, and a whole fried fish per person. I come away nice and full every time. There are also several cats that live in that area and whenever we ... read more

Well, I have now been in Shimoni Kenya for a whole week, and it has been amazing. We got picked up from our hotel in Mombasa on Saturday and bused out to Shimoni. There were around 20 of us, so it made for a very fun bus ride. It was such an eye opener to look out and see the people and places go by the windows. I have travelled to developing countries before, but this was very different from any place I've been to before. In Shimoni we got lunch and a briefing at the Shimoni Reef Hotel, which is a very nice place. Some of the GVI staff are based there. After eating I learned that for the first 4 weeks I would be doing forest work based in Shimoni Village. After that I ... read more

Well, it's finally here. I leave for Kenya to start my internship today. 6 months of counting turtles, dolphins, birds, monkeys, and other such creatures. I'm really looking forward to it. It will be a long time away from Liam and everyone else I know, but the experience will be so rewarding I know it will pass in a flash and next thing I know I will be back at home wondering where the last 7 months went. Lots of preparation has gone into this trip, and pretty much a year of planning. Now, all of the things are bought, the forms are printed, the shots are taken, and the bags are packed. Liam and I did manage to get out for one last hike on Saturday. We went out to hike up Nihahi Ridge in ... read more