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Published: October 14th 2007
So, today is our official 4 week mark! It's craziness to realize that we've been here for about one month, though in many ways it feels like we've been here much longer than that. Part of it may be that we have been living with a local family in one place, which has made it so different from other travel experiences I have had. As I was thinking about this this morning (during Catholic mass, because of course we couldn't understand anything they were saying), I realized that during our stay here, Ross and I have adopted the "when in Rome, do as Romans do" attitude. We eat the generous portions that are handed to us, so not to be rude. We allow ourselves to be waited on by the house-help because that's what's expected. Yet, this past week with the arrival of our new Australian volunteers, I found myself impressed by their ability to assert their preferences and limits- to say no to that huge, filling glass of porridge served with dinner. Maybe finding that balance between adapting to the culture and maintaining your personal self is the major task of long-term travel. While I know we are learning immensely by "doing as the Romans do", I don't want to miss the opportunity for our foreign friends and family to learn from us as well. Over the next five months, it will be interesting to see how much more comfortable we get with bringing ourselves and our American cutlure into the picture..... So, thank you for hearing out my one-month mark, Sunday morning ruminations.
One area where I have been fortunate enough to see how our being here makes a difference involves the visits I have been making to the local schools for work. The past two weeks, I have gone to a number of the nearby primary schools to deliver porridge flour and uniforms to the orphans that IAP sponsers. I also accompanied the Education for Life team while giving a workshop on HIV/AIDS and sexuality to a 7th grade class. I love going to the schools because the minute the kids spot me, craziness ensues. Most of the kids have never seen a "muzungu" or white person before, so when one pulls up to their school, everything gets disrupted. Kids run out of class, they crowd around the car. Some are shy and afraid at first, but most of the kids just find the whole thing hysterical, which I love. Given the conditions that most of these children are growing up in, I just love making them laugh (even if it's at my own expense I guess). The whole experience is so surreal- having that much attention and reaction to you- that I've started calling them my "Angelina Jolie moments." The other day during one of my visits to the schools, after I made my way through a crowd of kids grabbing at my arms and hair, I went and sat down on a bench outside the principals office. A little boy, no more than five, but bolder than the rest, came and plopped down right next to me. Without saying a word, he began to touch my arm and face, and then his own arm and face in comparison. He then turned to check out his reflection in the window, as if to see if he had been physically changed by contact with this big unfamiliar creature. Later my coworker said, "He probably thought you had been boiled." Whatever he thought, I didn't mind. It was such a sweet innocent moment of childhood and I left really happy that in some small way I had helped expand this little boy's perception of the world.
Okay, I know that we haven't written in awhile, there is much to catch up on, so I will put a pause on my sappy tangents. Onto other news... Ross got malaria. Yep, after being in Kenya for only two weeks too. He started to feel sick the first weekend of being in Mang'u, but didn't pay much attention to it because we ended up bar-hopping with the father of our family that Sunday. It was actually a really funny experience in itself. We ended up at this VERY local place called Wonderful Bar, whose motto is "a wonderful bar for wonderful people." Being the only mzungu's who have probably set foot in that place in quite a long time, it was again sort of celebrity-status, which included lots of drinks and interesting food concoctions. Ross made friends with a man who kept praising America for it's wonderful President Bush, and I made friends- and exchanged phone numbers- with a very drunk, touchy-feely, but nice woman who kept insisting to have us over sometime... Later that week, my coworkers informed me that Kenyan women do not go to bars unless they are prostitutes. Lovely. In any case, Ross woke up Monday feeling awful (fever, achy-- not a hangover!). After a day or two of my nagging, he finally went to the doctor, where they took blood and found a "small number of malarial parasites." They said it wasn't that big of a deal as Malaria is quite common, gave him some pills, and then within a few days he was up and running again. However, the interesting thing there was that they said Malarial symptoms usually take a week or so to develop after the initial bite... Meaning that Ross probably got bitten by the malarial mosquito within a day or two after our arriving in Kenya. Great luck, huh?
From our last batch of pictures, you have hopefully seen that we spent last weekend visiting Lake Nakuru National Park. I was a tad bit skeptical about the whole idea of "game-driving," but it was actually really fun and a really cool experience being that close to animals in the wild. I think the highlight was coming upon the pack of black rhinos. Apparently they are quite dangerous and have been known to charge. Our driver, Peter, had had a close encounter with them before, and was visibly scared. Thankfully we were able to back out of there without any real interactions. However, we are embarking on another adventure with the wildlife this weekend. We are heading to the Masaai Mara with our driver friend Peter and our new Australian friends. We will be camping in tents in the actual park, so I sure we will have more stories from that too.
Okay, Ross is waiting.... Hope everyone is well!
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Becky
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Hey guys! I just read your blog and actually shed a few tears. The story about the curious little boy who sat next to you was so heartwarming. I truly admire what you are doing. You guys should feel so proud of yourselves...miss you angelina :-) Happy 1 month Anniversary!