Maintaining

**Note-I added a lot of posts at once so they'll be in chronological order if you start with the first one added today. I'll get a few pictures up asap!

It’s amazing how much time one can kill just maintaining. I can wake up, make my bed, charge my ipod, handwash my clothes, hang them all up, read the newspaper, take a shower. And already it’s afternoon. But I’ve managed to avoid the constantly running television once again. Previous to this trip, I disliked TV most of the time, seeing the way it completely absorbed people and abandoned real human connections for for empty entertainment. In these past few weeks that dislike has grown into an infuriated hate. I am so frustrated by the barrier to real human connection the television provides, the ability to turn your mind off and numb it whenever you want—and at least in my house, thatgoes on a lot. “What else are we going to do?” my sister says. Talk? At least once in awhile maybe? I like the Kenyan news though, sometimes it's in Kiswahili and sometimes in English. They get straight to the point and never have the fluff stories you always see on American news stations. I'm getting better at getting conversations with my sisters going. I just get restless sometimes, especially after dark, which occurs around 6:30 each evening when it’s dangerous to go out and I'm stuck in the house. I watch TV with them sometimes, but other times go and write or read a book or do a crossword. It's forced me to be creative and I keep coming up with new things I can do with myself in the evenings.

I still value the artistry and creative potential of movies and TV shows, but most of what is on has no creative value, and in my opinion, pretty limited entertainment value as well. That might sound snobby or something (sorry for those who like Desperate Housewives and One Tree Hill), but it’s dangerous when it goes this far, it’s an obsession with something so empty. Also, I don’t want to let it hinder the relationship I’ve begun to develop with my sisters. I came here yearning for real conversations about real things with people, and I’m becoming bored talking constantly about American movies and American television. America is an expert at exporting it’s “culture.” That is one lesson I’ve learned a countless number of times even in my short time being here. Any advice on how to adjust to this way of life and not let it get me down?

I’m also feeling kind of isolated here. The 10 of us Kalamazoo kids have kind of been clinging to each other these past few weeks because it’s one of our only options. I think were all feeling sort of similarly. Yet we live far away from each other, and I don’t really want to spend all my time in Kenya hanging out with people from home. It’s difficult to integrate at the university because our classes are only with each other; there are no Kenyan students in our classes which makes it difficult to integrate oneself with the campus. My sisters are nice enough, but not always interested in including me and getting to know me. They have their own lives and don’t go out of their way much for me. That is nice in a way, because then I don’t feel I’m being a burden to anyone and I’m free to just do my own thing, but at the same time, it’s isolating constantly conversing within a small bubble-mostly with myself. It's getting better though every day. I know I'm a slow mover with these kinds of things and it just takes me some time. In the spring before we left, Kalamazoo had us write about what types of things we anticipated would be the hardest, or most stressful to get used to. I remember that I wrote about the Westernization or Americanization occurring at an exponential rate in Kenyan society because I'd heard from past students how surprised they were at how revered Western culture is there. So here we go, I guess I predicted well.

In other news, I learned how to ride both a matatu and a bus yesterday. They're pretty fun and a good time to chat with people even if the ride really toughens up your knees-esp. when you're 5'8 like me. and I saw the Nairobi National Park and lots of animals-namely, cheetahs and lions!!!! yay!! And we’re going to Mombasa tomorrow for 5 days to practice Kiswahili! The character of Mombasa is supposed to be much more rich and community-oriented than the commerciality/business orientation of Nairobi. All the tourbooks talk about Nairobi like it's the place where visitors always start out, but don't stay in for long because doesn't have much vibrant character. Most everyone who lives there are newcomers who've moved there from their tribes for work. That's the case with my family and most of the other families I've talked to. The Kenyan economy has been doing really well these past few years and so there is a rising middle class which is great, but the gap between rich and poor is still huge-especially when you see the suburbs like Karen (Blixen, Out of Africa fame) that used to be for the rich white plantation owners outside the city and then slums like Kibera existing nearly side by side. But the rising middle class will provide a kind of stability I think.

Maasai Market

The Maasai Market comes into downtown near the university every Tuesday. This is when people from the Maasai tribe bring all their goods into town to sell. It’s huge! And there is so much cool stuff there! This is where I will be every single Tuesday I know. (especially once I practice how to bargain in Swahili) We just went to see it last Tuesday and didn’t feel up for getting anything. It’s enough to just walk through it the first time. A guy really liked my shirt and wanted to bargain for it. It has all the typically “African” stuff you think of and so much more, I think all of it handmade by the Maasai. I want to talk to them more and learn more about how they make all of this stuff. This is why Swahili is so important for me to learn!!!

Kibera and other slums

We went on a driving tour of Nairobi the other day to see the sites. Part of the tour included driving around the perimeter of Kibera, the largest slum in East Africa-1 million people live there on less than $1 a day. It was unbelievable and we didn’t even go inside-there aren’t roads inside. All we could see was this sea of metal-roofed shacks with mud and stick walls and people all over the place. They’re pretty regularly dressed people too, just in slightly shabbier clothes which surprised me. It’s a city unto itself with markets and churches. I don’t understand yet quite how it all works and want to learn more about it. I just couldn’t believe how it exists right alongside the modern city of Nairobi. When it comes time to do our ICRP I’d really like to see if I could maybe do something in there. It’s a place where I’d love to bring my camera and shoot a ton of pictures, but I’d be nervous to bring it in. There are other slums like this in Kenya but this is the largest one. It felt strange to be a van full of white students driving around in a tourvan to see the “attraction” of Kibera. People just stared at us and kids yelled out “how ahhhh you??” to us. I really wanted to go and talk to some of those people. It’s hard being a mzungu though and not being able to blend in, I haven’t really figured out my place or attitude about it besides to just go with the flow as much as possible.

Flood!

So my room flooded yesterday afternoon. The water is turned off sometimes, this time because they thought the bill wasn’t paid, but it was. I thought I’d turned my tap off when I was checking to see if it was back on, but instead I’d turned it all the way on, so in a matter of about an hour there were four inches of water on my floor. I was in the main house and we realized when a guy knocked on the door and told us the room was flooding. So for the next hour or so Michelle, her friend Zach who was over and I scooped, swept and mopped out the water into a tiny hole in the corridor that serves as a drain for rain water. Fortunately the carpet in the room isn’t attached so it just rolled up and we set it out to dry (although it’s been raining ever since, so it will take awhile). Nothing got damaged, just some wet clothes, my suitcases a little wet and my passport which dried out pretty nicely. It made me feel a little less stupid to know that almost every student they’ve had has done that (one girl three times) and that since the water goes out from time to time, a lot of Kenyans are used to floods from accidents like that. Fortunately I was home when it happened because I’m the only one with the key to that room.

A Typical Weekday

This past week I’ve begun to establish a routine more or less. I have class down at the university at 9 am. We’ve had intensive Kiswahili class all this week from 9-4 with a half hour tea break in the morning and a 1 hour lunch break. The routine in the house is pretty casual. Everyone kind of does their own thing and is in and out a lot. There are tons of relatives and friends going through all the time. It gets a little confusing figuring out who people are and how they’re related because they don’t usually make it clear when they’re introducing themselves to me. Usually I come in the house in the morning and just get my own breakfast or it’s sitting out for me. I have corn flakes with milk (whole, and you put it through a strainer as you pour it on because there is cream at the top) or bread and butter, always with tea. To make Kenyan style tea you boil milk directly with the tea leaves and water then add sugar. It tastes nothing like the tea we usually drink in the US but Kenyans drink it all the time and I really like it.

After breakfast I get ready and walk out, greet the watchman (they all recognize me now and are really nice to talk to) and walk down past the park which, if it is rainy like today, is especially muddy. I have Kiswahili all morning with Rachel, Annie and Jamie. We’re in the beginner class while the rest of them are in “advanced” because they took it for a quarter at K. It’s a super fun language to learn, I really like it. We have the option of taking another unit after we finish this semester and I think I probably will. In the four days I’ve had Kiswahili I think I’ve learned about the equivalent of everything I learned in 1 year of German, minus the number of nouns I know..we’re learning fast. We have an hour off for lunch and usually find some restaurant in the city for lunch. I’ve given up trying to convert Kenyan prices to dollars because they’re a lot cheaper and instead I am just getting to know how much things in Kenya typically cost to know if I’m getting a good price. It’s good to bring napkins with you because a lot of restaurants don’t have them and Kenyan food tends to be on the greasy side and you eat a lot with your hands.

The afternoons and evenings vary a lot. Many times I’ll go to a cybercafé which is basically a room filled with computers and you sit down at one and pay for the number of minutes you’re on the internet. It’s cheap, 1 Ksh (Kenyan shillings) per min which is about 1.5 cents per min. so I check my email or heh, update this blog because they’re the only places you can really get internet. I’ve begun to figure out which cafes are better than others because sometimes it’s really slow. It’s taken me 15 min. just to log into my email before. We’re right on the equator so it gets dark around 6:30 or 7 and it’s kind of hard to go out after dark because it’s more dangerous so the evenings are basically in the house. I read a lot, bring my laptop inside, talk to my sisters, eat dinner and the TV is always on. TVs are really popular and are kind of a status symbol I’ve noticed in a lot of Kenyan households so it is usually on whether people are watching it or not. This sometimes makes it difficult to talk to people and understand them especially with their accents.

At my house we rarely eat dinner together and food is prepared and we just come in and get it when we want. My mom gets home at different times every day and is usually really tired so most evenings she just takes a shower and spends the evening in her room with the news on or something. Her door is usually open and so I usually go in and talk to her. My sisters are really cool to talk to, I like both of them. I just have to take a lot of the initiative to start the conversations because they mostly go about their usual routine. We’ve gotten into some really good conversations though. I’ve noticed with a lot of Kenyans I’ve talked to that they’re just not as into chit-chatting as Americans are, which is fine with me because I’ve always been bad at small talk, but it’s just something different to get used to. Tonight Rhoda made mashed potatoes especially for me and the three of us ate dinner together while watching One Tree Hill and chatting. Sometime soon Michelle is going to show me how to ride on the matatus because apparently it’s a skill that’s better to master with a Kenyan guide. All the other K people ride matatus everyday to the university so they’re already getting good at them so I need to catch up since I go to school kwa miguu (on foot). The important thing is just to make sure you’re getting on the right one because they go on different routes and remember to get your change because they’ll try to make you forget about it. Rhoda told me the other day that our group is especially adventurous and independent. She said we’ve gotten the hang of things really fast and are ready for more really quickly. That was good to hear, because my goal was to get used to things, or at least get more comfortable as quickly as possible. Life and time here is relaxed, I’m starting to get into it.

Next week we get to go on an excursion to the coast where it’s hot to Mombasa for 5 days for “Kiswahili camp”!!! It’s been really cold and rainy here the last few days (like 50s-60s) Unfortunately there was a tsunami alert for Mombasa, but it’s pretty much passed by now so I think we’ll be good to go. I am super excited to start seeing more of Kenya!

Beginning Kenyan Life

I got off the plane the evening of September 4 with my 8 colleagues, all of us excited and nervous to find out who would pick us up and take us to their houses. After going through customs and finding my bags I walked out into the greeting area of the airport to find lots of people waiting and holding signs with our names on them. I saw the name “Alexandra Leonard” and felt a momentary relief that someone was planning on my arrival and had a place to stay and then came the excitement to meet the people holding the sign. I was handed a bunch of roses and greeted by 3 kisses on the cheek from my host sisters. “I’m Alexandra,” I said and another woman appeared and put her arm around me and said, “I’m your mom.” We waited for a few minutes for the driver of the taxi to pick us up and got in the car to go home. I waved a brief goodbye to the rest of the K kids who were going off with their families.

We arrived at our house which is in the YWCA hostel complex in downtown Nairobi because my mom is one of the directors or something of the Nairobi branch of the YWCA. I am the closest of all the homestays to the university which is a nice 15 min. walk from my house. Everyone else has to take a bus or train or matatu (a van that operates like a bus) to the university. There is a park right near my house which is nice, I just shouldn’t walk by it at night my sister warned me—it’s a prime mugging spot and I’m especially a target, being seen as a rich Mgunzu (white person).

In the house is my mom, Alice and 2, sometimes 3 of my 5 host sisters. There are 6 kids. The two oldest, Susan and Jack are around 30 and 28 and live in the US. Michelle lives at the house and is 22. She’s done with college and is moving to Germany in February for a year for a job with the YWCA. For now she’s kind of hanging out and I think goes to some classes (she goes somewhere during the day). She’s learning German right now, so once my Kiswahili gets a little better I’ll speak Kiswahili to her and she can respond in German. She’s really fun to talk to because she’s been all over the place, went to college in Uganda and lived in the US for 2 years. My next sister is Rhoda who is 21 and goes to the University of Nairobi like me, but her classes are in the evening. Cheryl is 20 or so and left for school a few days ago so I haven’t seen her except for the first few days. Joanne, or Dolly is her nickname is my cousin who lives at the house and is also househelp-she helps with the cooking and washing. But a few days ago she moved out because she also goes to school and has a job, so we have some new househelp coming on Monday. Then the last sister, Monique is 15 and away at boarding school so I haven’t met her. My host dad is a professor somewhere but apparently doesn’t really live there. I haven’t seen him yet. They’ve hosted students from K for 7 years or so, so they know what they’re doing.

Life in this house is becoming more and more normal for me. It’s rare for middle-class Kenyan families not to have househelp, so it’s strange that we don’t have it for a few days. My mom told me to “make the best of a bad situation” (not having househelp for 5 days or so), which I didn’t think would be so hard. Basically I’ll have to make food myself for the next few days rather than have it prepared for me. The reason we didn’t have a smooth transition in househelp was because Joanne found a new place and moved out without letting my mom know in advance so she didn’t have time to find someone else. I was sad she wouldn’t be around as much because she was pretty cool. Sometimes when she was cooking something she’d have me come in the kitchen and show me how she was doing it. She showed me how to make ugali which is the Kenyan staple food that goes with anything. It’s hard to describe- tastes sort of like rice but it’s made with cornmeal and water and sticks together in a big ball when it’s done. Making it is sort of like making cream of wheat and you just pull it apart with your fingers and eat it with chicken or fish stew or kale. My family is from the Lyoyo tribe which is from the Western lake region of Kenya near the city of Kisumu and Lake Victoria. Thus, they are fisherpeople so we have fish more often than some other Kenyan families.

I have my own room at the house. The house is part of a big complex so my room isn’t actually in the house. I just have to walk out of my room and around the corner to get into the regular house. I have my own key to get in-kind of like an old fashioned skeleton key and a house key. There’s a bathroom in my room with a shower which is really nice. No hot water in my room, I have to go into the main house to take a hot shower, but I can wash my hair in there. The inside of the house is a lot like a typical American house. Kitchen, dining room combined with a family room, 2 or 3 bedrooms, I’m not actually sure how many. Most Kenyans don’t have a washing machine so the househelp washes the clothes for us.

Settling In

I have spent the last few days getting my bearings and settling into life in Nairobi. I am glad that K gave us at least a little bit of a heads up about the types of psychological adjustment it would take going into one of the “harder” study abroad sites (ie not Europe or Australia) and it’s made me feel a lot better to know that the other people in my program have also felt the psychological turmoil of the adjustment to Kenyan culture, or at least the lives we will be leading for the next 6 months. The pre-study abroad orientations told us about this “W-curve” we would go through emotionally while on study abroad. This includes starting out on a big emotional high, full of anticipation for all the things we’re going to do and gradually going down to a low in the middle of our program where we want nothing else but to go home, but ending on a high again once we learn more and have begun to put all the pieces of this experience together and figure out where it fits in with us as people. Does that make any sense? This is only half of the “W”. The other half occurs after we go home and the adjustment process to American life once again.

Anyway, I’m glad they gave us a heads up, but the “W” is all wrong. It was exciting basically on the plane anticipating it. Then we got there and I was plunged to an emotional low for a few days. I just know that I couldn’t call home and talk with dry eyes. And I think I’ve discovered some sources of my initial frustration.

Study abroad is so built up to be this life-altering experience and so I went in with such high expectations for it to be absolutely perfect from the get-go. It’s not that the experience has been bad at all, but it hasn’t been that “perfect study abroad scene” I’ve envisioned quite yet. After coming to that low right after arriving here, it’s been getting better every day. I’ve been here over a week now and don’t wake up surprised about the room I’m waking up in anymore. Every day is a little bit of a “W curve” with ups and downs all over the place, but the ups are getting more and more frequent. Another reason for my initial turmoil is that I was really feeling the magnitude of being here for 6 months, not just a vacation where I get to go back to the place that’s familiar soon. Leading a normal everyday life without some super exciting thing happening every day was an adjustment. Also, I had a good discussion with one of my host-uncles a few days ago and we were talking about life in the modern city of Nairobi compared to the traditional tribal life that is more and more becoming extinct from modernization/Westernization/Americanization/whatever you’d like to call it. That was my biggest frustration of all, that we are in the center of Nairobi-the largest, most modern city between Cairo and Johannesburg. And honestly, it’s not too much different from being in downtown New York or any big city-it’s modern. And my expectation for coming to Kenya was that yes, it’s going to be A LOT different, and it frustrated me that it really wasn’t, or that the American way of life has become so engrained into the culture here that it’s hard to see what’s “purely Kenyan.” On that note, let me tell a bit about my experience here thus far: