02 January 2008
(Happy) New Year
I keep typing these boring blogs just because I have nothing better to do and I’m completely sick of discussing the election. “Can we really say Happy New year when we are stuck inside the house and not happy?” said Rhoda tonight. We’ve just been stuck inside all day and probably will be tomorrow and the next at least. I just hope the water will get fixed tomorrow-haven’t had it for 4 days. I am getting lots of good reading done, turned one of my Tshirts into a halter top and am really liking this show Weeds. We’ve made it through the first 2 seasons the last 2 days, plus watched all the Lord of the Rings, and a few other movies. We did climb to the roof and looked out at the city and the stars just after midnight and howled a bit and decided to sleep up there sometime. Plus there was chapati and beans for dinner, one of my faves. Good chapati too. Not the New Years I had planned on the coast, but all right just the same.
A Very Uneasy Silence and delayed travel plans as the country waits
Sunday afternoon, December 30
“The country is quiet, an uneasy calm, all waiting the announcement of the results” they say on KTN right now. That is exactly what it is like for everyone including me right now, I’m anxious. We’ve been sitting around the house the last 2 days, not really going out at all, watching movies, hanging out, reading books, but we’re all a little distracted and keep checking the news. We didn’t even go to church this morning. I can see outside to the park which is usually filled with people on Sundays, hanging out after church, enjoying the day. It’s beautiful out today, but the park is basically empty.
I can’t call anyone to figure out what to do with our travel plans that are supposed to take place tomorrow morning but probably will be delayed at least or maybe canceled because the country’s unsafe right now. We were texted last night by our program leaders to tell us that they and the US embassy advise us to “stay indoors until the conclusion of the electoral process and calm returns” Maybe we can still go, just later, I hope. Plus we have no water at our house right now and the electricity has been going on and off a few times these past few days. This isn’t anything too weird, our water and electricity go off from time to time, it’s just weird that it keeps happening while we’re all sitting around waiting. There were riots happening all over the outer parts of the city, like Kibera, there were a bunch of pictures in the paper this morning and a lot of rioting in Kisumu and other cities. Downtown Nairobi, my cousin Maxwell who’s over visiting right now said, there is no one, except police and people causing trouble. Probably a little like I saw yesterday, except maybe even emptier. They did show people at Nakumatt though, probably the only place open stocking up on food. We have a ton left over from Christmas, the dishes are just piling up in the sink since we have no water. I was with my sisters yesterday when I was in town, today though they told me, definitely don’t go downtown today, it’s not safe.
Here is what’s happened so far. The results started coming in since election day 3 days ago, Raila was ahead all along, then he got ahead by more. He was ahead by over a million votes at one point (a huge lead considering an estimated 7-8 million people voted). Then all of a sudden, Kibaki, the current president who hasn’t been ahead in the polls at all leading up to the election caught up, then he caught up more. And now there is only a difference of 20-40,000 votes between them-supposedly. And that’s a very big supposedly. There are 8 provinces in Kenya. The winner is the winner of the popular vote, none of this electoral college stuff. Raila led in 6 of the provinces, Kibaki led in basically 1 ½-Central Province-where the Kikuyu-his tribe-comes from and Eastern Province where he and Kalonzo-the 3rd presidential candidate split. So anyway, Raila had a huge lead and it doesn’t make any sense why Kibaki should suddenly get so close. This is why people are really tense right now and why riots are going on all over the place, and why I can’t go to Mombasa right now. My cousin Maxwell is visiting right now and said, “If they announce Raila is the president, there will be peace. Guaranteed. If Kibaki is announced, it’ll be a weeklong war at least. The youths will go out and riot” I agree, I really think that’s what’ll happen according to everything that’s happened up to this point. We were talking about how it would make a lot more sense and Kibaki could probably get away with it if he were actually more well-matched with Raila, but it’s kind of obvious that Raila was way ahead and then mysteriously lost a bunch of votes. Of the 185 Parliamentary seats, Raila’s party, ODM took 95 of them, Kibaki, 36 and Kalonzo 15, then the others from the other littler parties. I could go on and on with other statistics.
Being here has taught me a lot about how the current president is completely at the advantage and has all the power to rig the votes if he wants to. And even though people don’t like it, they know it happens and accept it, but I’m not so sure this time they will accept it. It’s corruption which is all this country has dealt with in the government since independence. That’s people’s big complaint against Kibaki, that he hasn’t dealt with corruption like he promised, there have been a few really big corruption scandals during his presidency and Raila really took advantage of talking about that throughout his campaign. (I haven’t written at all about the hilarious “Domo Domo” campaign ads that have basically become an everyday term for us throughout this campaign.) “There is nothing that he [Raila] can do, the government is more powerful than him.” It’s true.
I’m sitting here in the dining room with my computer listening to this ODM guy talking at a press conference right now showing that there isn’t any actual documentation about a ton of these votes. He’s saying there are numbers for people’s votes for president, but don’t have any documentation of these same votes on parliamentary candidates-proof that they were just made up. They’re saying that there isn’t actual documentation of a lot of these numbers in different districts that have mysteriously changed, that the numbers were just simply changed to give Kibaki more votes. Now there is a lady praying for the country on the news. Maxwell goes, “If we don’t have food in the house now, we’d better go shopping. No food, no airtime for the next two weeks if you don’t go get it now. Can’t you see, now they’re praying. You know they’re getting ready to announce and it’s going to be bad.” I know he’s joking…kind of-I mean we can’t go out of the house right now.
Anyway, check it on the international news. It’s pretty anxious. So long, Mombasa…I don’t think I’d be too welcome there right now. Kenya is a peaceful country, but it’s a very precarious, fragile peace we rest on. I’ve heard this over and over since being here, and I’m really understanding now what is meant by that.
6:30ish- after watching drama take place for hours on TV and watching electoral commissioners come out and say they saw numbers being changed with their own eyes Kibaki “won” and was waiting at State House to be sworn in immediately. I don’t know what really happened, but now we hear there are huge protests throughout the whole country taking place. So much for going outside anytime soon it sounds like.
“The country is quiet, an uneasy calm, all waiting the announcement of the results” they say on KTN right now. That is exactly what it is like for everyone including me right now, I’m anxious. We’ve been sitting around the house the last 2 days, not really going out at all, watching movies, hanging out, reading books, but we’re all a little distracted and keep checking the news. We didn’t even go to church this morning. I can see outside to the park which is usually filled with people on Sundays, hanging out after church, enjoying the day. It’s beautiful out today, but the park is basically empty.
I can’t call anyone to figure out what to do with our travel plans that are supposed to take place tomorrow morning but probably will be delayed at least or maybe canceled because the country’s unsafe right now. We were texted last night by our program leaders to tell us that they and the US embassy advise us to “stay indoors until the conclusion of the electoral process and calm returns” Maybe we can still go, just later, I hope. Plus we have no water at our house right now and the electricity has been going on and off a few times these past few days. This isn’t anything too weird, our water and electricity go off from time to time, it’s just weird that it keeps happening while we’re all sitting around waiting. There were riots happening all over the outer parts of the city, like Kibera, there were a bunch of pictures in the paper this morning and a lot of rioting in Kisumu and other cities. Downtown Nairobi, my cousin Maxwell who’s over visiting right now said, there is no one, except police and people causing trouble. Probably a little like I saw yesterday, except maybe even emptier. They did show people at Nakumatt though, probably the only place open stocking up on food. We have a ton left over from Christmas, the dishes are just piling up in the sink since we have no water. I was with my sisters yesterday when I was in town, today though they told me, definitely don’t go downtown today, it’s not safe.
Here is what’s happened so far. The results started coming in since election day 3 days ago, Raila was ahead all along, then he got ahead by more. He was ahead by over a million votes at one point (a huge lead considering an estimated 7-8 million people voted). Then all of a sudden, Kibaki, the current president who hasn’t been ahead in the polls at all leading up to the election caught up, then he caught up more. And now there is only a difference of 20-40,000 votes between them-supposedly. And that’s a very big supposedly. There are 8 provinces in Kenya. The winner is the winner of the popular vote, none of this electoral college stuff. Raila led in 6 of the provinces, Kibaki led in basically 1 ½-Central Province-where the Kikuyu-his tribe-comes from and Eastern Province where he and Kalonzo-the 3rd presidential candidate split. So anyway, Raila had a huge lead and it doesn’t make any sense why Kibaki should suddenly get so close. This is why people are really tense right now and why riots are going on all over the place, and why I can’t go to Mombasa right now. My cousin Maxwell is visiting right now and said, “If they announce Raila is the president, there will be peace. Guaranteed. If Kibaki is announced, it’ll be a weeklong war at least. The youths will go out and riot” I agree, I really think that’s what’ll happen according to everything that’s happened up to this point. We were talking about how it would make a lot more sense and Kibaki could probably get away with it if he were actually more well-matched with Raila, but it’s kind of obvious that Raila was way ahead and then mysteriously lost a bunch of votes. Of the 185 Parliamentary seats, Raila’s party, ODM took 95 of them, Kibaki, 36 and Kalonzo 15, then the others from the other littler parties. I could go on and on with other statistics.
Being here has taught me a lot about how the current president is completely at the advantage and has all the power to rig the votes if he wants to. And even though people don’t like it, they know it happens and accept it, but I’m not so sure this time they will accept it. It’s corruption which is all this country has dealt with in the government since independence. That’s people’s big complaint against Kibaki, that he hasn’t dealt with corruption like he promised, there have been a few really big corruption scandals during his presidency and Raila really took advantage of talking about that throughout his campaign. (I haven’t written at all about the hilarious “Domo Domo” campaign ads that have basically become an everyday term for us throughout this campaign.) “There is nothing that he [Raila] can do, the government is more powerful than him.” It’s true.
I’m sitting here in the dining room with my computer listening to this ODM guy talking at a press conference right now showing that there isn’t any actual documentation about a ton of these votes. He’s saying there are numbers for people’s votes for president, but don’t have any documentation of these same votes on parliamentary candidates-proof that they were just made up. They’re saying that there isn’t actual documentation of a lot of these numbers in different districts that have mysteriously changed, that the numbers were just simply changed to give Kibaki more votes. Now there is a lady praying for the country on the news. Maxwell goes, “If we don’t have food in the house now, we’d better go shopping. No food, no airtime for the next two weeks if you don’t go get it now. Can’t you see, now they’re praying. You know they’re getting ready to announce and it’s going to be bad.” I know he’s joking…kind of-I mean we can’t go out of the house right now.
Anyway, check it on the international news. It’s pretty anxious. So long, Mombasa…I don’t think I’d be too welcome there right now. Kenya is a peaceful country, but it’s a very precarious, fragile peace we rest on. I’ve heard this over and over since being here, and I’m really understanding now what is meant by that.
6:30ish- after watching drama take place for hours on TV and watching electoral commissioners come out and say they saw numbers being changed with their own eyes Kibaki “won” and was waiting at State House to be sworn in immediately. I don’t know what really happened, but now we hear there are huge protests throughout the whole country taking place. So much for going outside anytime soon it sounds like.
Ghost Town
Saturday December 29, 2007
Nairobi was a ghost town today. It was eerie. I took a walk downtown in the blazing heat this afternoon just for a walk and maybe a cup of coffee and to get some phone airtime and literally everything was closed, even more stuff than on actual election day, even the 24 hour Nakumatt Downtown was closed. This whole week because of election day and Christmas the whole city has literally closed up. We still don’t know who the winner is although I glanced at the news for a few minutes this morning. There has been no regular TV for the past 3 days, it’s all constant election updating, saying how many votes for each district they’ve counted so far. Raila was way ahead for awhile, by over a million votes, but Kibaki has almost caught up now and people are saying it’s rigging. Every night on the news, they always have a yes or no question they ask the viewers and they’re supposed to text their answers in and they present the results the next night. The question a few weeks ago was “Do you think this year’s elections are going to be rigged?” 87% of respondents said Yes, which I thought was extremely interesting. There are all kinds of watchdog organizations trying to make sure the election is transparent and fair and free of rigging and the votes are counted in public, but according to what everyone’s told me, there are all kinds of ways to rig this election. Sell your voter’s card, make fake id cards, bribe the election officials, switch the ballot boxes, violence to keep people away from the polling stations, etc. Everyone thought they would know the new president by the next morning, but it’s getting so close now that I don’t know how long it will be before we know….Sound a little familiar?? Anyway, I was disappointed because Java House was even closed, and I thought it would be open, because it was even open on election day. So much for the election, I want coffee!
Nairobi was a ghost town today. It was eerie. I took a walk downtown in the blazing heat this afternoon just for a walk and maybe a cup of coffee and to get some phone airtime and literally everything was closed, even more stuff than on actual election day, even the 24 hour Nakumatt Downtown was closed. This whole week because of election day and Christmas the whole city has literally closed up. We still don’t know who the winner is although I glanced at the news for a few minutes this morning. There has been no regular TV for the past 3 days, it’s all constant election updating, saying how many votes for each district they’ve counted so far. Raila was way ahead for awhile, by over a million votes, but Kibaki has almost caught up now and people are saying it’s rigging. Every night on the news, they always have a yes or no question they ask the viewers and they’re supposed to text their answers in and they present the results the next night. The question a few weeks ago was “Do you think this year’s elections are going to be rigged?” 87% of respondents said Yes, which I thought was extremely interesting. There are all kinds of watchdog organizations trying to make sure the election is transparent and fair and free of rigging and the votes are counted in public, but according to what everyone’s told me, there are all kinds of ways to rig this election. Sell your voter’s card, make fake id cards, bribe the election officials, switch the ballot boxes, violence to keep people away from the polling stations, etc. Everyone thought they would know the new president by the next morning, but it’s getting so close now that I don’t know how long it will be before we know….Sound a little familiar?? Anyway, I was disappointed because Java House was even closed, and I thought it would be open, because it was even open on election day. So much for the election, I want coffee!
Election Day
Thursday, December 27
So today was the long-awaited election day, declared a public holiday along with tomorrow, making 4 public holidays in a row with Christmas and Boxing Day. Gloria, my sisters’ friend whom I’ve hung out with a lot in the past few weeks and I took a walk downtown to see if we could find an internet café and buy some juice, but pretty much everything was closed. The city was such a ghost town, so different from the downtown I’m used to, even on Sundays when it’s relatively empty. There weren’t even any buses or matatus running, making everything super quiet. We managed to find a cyber café, but even 24 hour Nakumatt, the grocery store was closed foiling the juice plans. So we just walked around for a bit at a snail’s pace because the heat was so blazing and checked out everyone’s pinkie fingers to see if they voted. They mark your right-hand pinkie finger with this blue indelible ink that doesn’t come off for a week when you vote so that you can’t vote again. So I was having fun looking to see which people had, pretty much everyone I saw had. Now they have constant election coverage until they finish counting which is supposed to be probably completed by tomorrow morning.
So today was the long-awaited election day, declared a public holiday along with tomorrow, making 4 public holidays in a row with Christmas and Boxing Day. Gloria, my sisters’ friend whom I’ve hung out with a lot in the past few weeks and I took a walk downtown to see if we could find an internet café and buy some juice, but pretty much everything was closed. The city was such a ghost town, so different from the downtown I’m used to, even on Sundays when it’s relatively empty. There weren’t even any buses or matatus running, making everything super quiet. We managed to find a cyber café, but even 24 hour Nakumatt, the grocery store was closed foiling the juice plans. So we just walked around for a bit at a snail’s pace because the heat was so blazing and checked out everyone’s pinkie fingers to see if they voted. They mark your right-hand pinkie finger with this blue indelible ink that doesn’t come off for a week when you vote so that you can’t vote again. So I was having fun looking to see which people had, pretty much everyone I saw had. Now they have constant election coverage until they finish counting which is supposed to be probably completed by tomorrow morning.
Facing Mt. Kenya
Wednesday, December 26
So here’s the story from A to Z
We’re climbing Mt. Kenya, Jamie, Piper and Me
We’re gonna reach the top on Christmas morning
And when we get up there we’re going to sing
(musical interlude)
That’s the first verse of the rap I made up along the trail up Mt. Kenya…haha, hiking—no, climbing—for 8 hours a day makes for plenty of thinking time and lame songs. So where did you spend your Christmas morning? Probably opening presents and hanging out with family in a warm house. Where was I? Sitting at the top of the second tallest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kenya watching the sunrise after waking up at 2am for an amazing 3 hour climb to the summit in the dark. You could see the entire world it seemed, all the way to the coast and with the full moon, we didn’t even need flashlights to climb the night part. The rock and snow were completely illuminated, it was magical. It took us a total of 4 days to climb up and down the mountain. 2 ½ days up, 1 ½ down. This was one of the most intense experiences I’ve ever had, and definitely one of the coldest, but it’s a Christmas I’ll never forget.
We started out on the 23rd taking a long distance matatu to the base of Mt. Kenya. By 3pm we were making our first hike up to the base camp, Old Moses Camp, along with our guide, porters and cook (yes, all of those people
I guess were necessary just to accommodate the 3 of us up this mountain) I thought we were planning on staying in tents, but each day we had a specific camp to get to and there was a bunkhouse there for us to sleep in and hot meals and tea courtesy of our cook. We wondered how many other people would be there since it was Christmas and there were surprisingly a lot. We hiked all along with this guy from Los Angeles who’d traveled all over the world and was taking a month to climb Africa’s mountains. We also met these 3 Finnish sisters a little older than us and working in Kenya and their parents who were visiting for the holiday. Our guide, Isaac was great, if a little bit bossy, who scolded us every meal for not eating enough, but it only looked like we hadn’t eaten anything because they put a mountain of food on our plates each night (no pun intended) and you could hardly make a dent. Every afternoon we’d arrive at the camp at about 2 or 3 and eat dinner and chat with everyone at the camp. At night everyone went to bed early, like 8 or 9 because we were so tired and had to get up early and it was really cold just sitting around anyway. I’d bundle up in nearly all the clothes I brought, tie about 2 scarves on my head and put my 50Ksh Puma hat on top, stuff my hot water bottle down to my feet in the sleeping bag and go to sleep.
In the morning we’d wake up to tea and breakfast, pack up and head off with our guide. He was pretty talkative and pointed out all kinds of animals and birds and plants to us and told us all about them. We sang a few Christmas carols and chatted and were also silent a lot, which was kind of nice. We’d stop for frequent water breaks especially when the climbing was really steep. It was kind of like climbing a steep hill a lot of the time, but other times there were rocks to climb up.
Our Christmas Eve was so much fun. There were probably about 20 people at our camp that night and a lot of us were doing the night climb up to the top to the sunrise in the morning. Nearly all of us were kind of displaced people, mostly foreigners who couldn’t be home for Christmas so everyone was in a good friendly mood with each other. There were some Norwegians who’d brought candles on our table and we sang Christmas carols and did nothing but sit and chat at our big long table with the other people from 3 until we all went to bed around 9. We met a group of about 6 or 7 Peace Corps volunteers-one of the guys went to Western Michigan and we sat around talking about Kalamazoo and the Peace Corps for awhile. He gave me the address of a campsite right on the beach in Mombasa he’s helping manage that just opened. We met some cool Germans, and even though I’ve been in Kenya longer, my German is so much better than my Kiswahili I realized-I could understand so much more of what they were saying. I talked for awhile to this interesting Australian guy who’d backpacked pretty much all over the world and had all kinds of great stories. We were with our outgoing friend from LA again who reminded me a lot of Uncle Brian, some Indians, some Kenyans, etc. All in all, it was a really nice Christmas Eve dinner, playing cards, chatting and munching on our smashed, yet divine-tasting chocolate bars we’d been saving up for the occasion by the candlelight.
The final night climb up to the summit was pretty treacherous and the coldest part since it was still dark, but it was also my favorite climb of the trip. Walking out of the bunkhouse at 3 am all packed up was an amazing sight, the snowcovered mountain right in front of us looking huge and intimidating with a full moon and bright starry sky. We weren’t doing the technical climb route where you use ropes and stuff, but I felt sort of like we needed them a few times. It was super steep and all rocks, our guide would have to climb up sometimes and grab our hands (which eventually were very very numb and not really capable of functioning). We would stop about every 15 min or so to rest, take deep breaths to avoid altitude sickness and dizziness. Jamie started feeling sick and dizzy for part of it, and I didn’t feel so great myself for a little while, but we had warmish water to drink which felt good. Although catching your breath was nice, you’d also not want to stop long because you’d start to freeze again, the wind was so strong and just bitter cold once we climbed past some part really near the top. We saw a huge glacier down this cliff below us (although I didn’t know till the guide told us because it just looked like a bunch of snow) I also thought I was going to die a few times for a second or 2 when I’d take a step and wasn’t quite balanced and not hanging on to rocks and there was nothing but huge cliff and a lake below me. We all made it up and in time for the sunrise, which felt like such an accomplishment because quite a few don’t actually make it, get too sick or tired or something.
Emerging at the top was amazing too, all I could see were the silhouettes through the lightening sky of the 10 or so other people that were up there before us and a big Kenya flag like we’d landed on the moon and then nothing but mountains and clouds for miles below us in the distance. I almost cried, but knew I shouldn’t because it would make my face freeze, instead I just took a picture that I really hope turns out. We sat up there at the top maybe 20 or 30 windy and spiritual minutes watching the sun come up and transform everything-and make us a ton warmer. Tried to make a call home to the US from on top-since it was still 10pm Christmas eve there, but no luck, got them later that day though back at the camp. Took some pictures and hurried back down because moving again felt nice, even though my legs were a little jelly-like and stiff after stopping. We ran/climbed/scampered/snowboarded our way back down the steep hill which was a lot easier, but tired your legs quickly, each of us falling at least 3 times, even our guide because our legs just gave out, not in the danger part though, just on the open gravelly part. We’d stop and look up, amazed at how far it was that we’d climbed and how fast it was to come down. I took a ton of pictures once back at the camp for breakfast because the morning light was fantastic. I’ll hopefully get 1 or 2 up soon. Then we made our way the rest of the way down over the next 1 ½ days and came home back to hot Nairobi. Oh and I took my braids out on the way home with Piper and Jamie’s help, took the whole 3 hour ride and I still wasn’t finished. It ended with the fake extensions all in a big gross pile on my bedroom floor and my real hair looking like an afro. After a shower and losing a bunch of my real hair, it’s all back to normal. So nice to have a light head again! Now I’m home the next few days for elections and will leave the 31st for 6 days in Mombasa joining up with the rest of our K group! Beach!
So here’s the story from A to Z
We’re climbing Mt. Kenya, Jamie, Piper and Me
We’re gonna reach the top on Christmas morning
And when we get up there we’re going to sing
(musical interlude)
That’s the first verse of the rap I made up along the trail up Mt. Kenya…haha, hiking—no, climbing—for 8 hours a day makes for plenty of thinking time and lame songs. So where did you spend your Christmas morning? Probably opening presents and hanging out with family in a warm house. Where was I? Sitting at the top of the second tallest mountain in Africa, Mt. Kenya watching the sunrise after waking up at 2am for an amazing 3 hour climb to the summit in the dark. You could see the entire world it seemed, all the way to the coast and with the full moon, we didn’t even need flashlights to climb the night part. The rock and snow were completely illuminated, it was magical. It took us a total of 4 days to climb up and down the mountain. 2 ½ days up, 1 ½ down. This was one of the most intense experiences I’ve ever had, and definitely one of the coldest, but it’s a Christmas I’ll never forget.
We started out on the 23rd taking a long distance matatu to the base of Mt. Kenya. By 3pm we were making our first hike up to the base camp, Old Moses Camp, along with our guide, porters and cook (yes, all of those people
I guess were necessary just to accommodate the 3 of us up this mountain) I thought we were planning on staying in tents, but each day we had a specific camp to get to and there was a bunkhouse there for us to sleep in and hot meals and tea courtesy of our cook. We wondered how many other people would be there since it was Christmas and there were surprisingly a lot. We hiked all along with this guy from Los Angeles who’d traveled all over the world and was taking a month to climb Africa’s mountains. We also met these 3 Finnish sisters a little older than us and working in Kenya and their parents who were visiting for the holiday. Our guide, Isaac was great, if a little bit bossy, who scolded us every meal for not eating enough, but it only looked like we hadn’t eaten anything because they put a mountain of food on our plates each night (no pun intended) and you could hardly make a dent. Every afternoon we’d arrive at the camp at about 2 or 3 and eat dinner and chat with everyone at the camp. At night everyone went to bed early, like 8 or 9 because we were so tired and had to get up early and it was really cold just sitting around anyway. I’d bundle up in nearly all the clothes I brought, tie about 2 scarves on my head and put my 50Ksh Puma hat on top, stuff my hot water bottle down to my feet in the sleeping bag and go to sleep.
In the morning we’d wake up to tea and breakfast, pack up and head off with our guide. He was pretty talkative and pointed out all kinds of animals and birds and plants to us and told us all about them. We sang a few Christmas carols and chatted and were also silent a lot, which was kind of nice. We’d stop for frequent water breaks especially when the climbing was really steep. It was kind of like climbing a steep hill a lot of the time, but other times there were rocks to climb up.
Our Christmas Eve was so much fun. There were probably about 20 people at our camp that night and a lot of us were doing the night climb up to the top to the sunrise in the morning. Nearly all of us were kind of displaced people, mostly foreigners who couldn’t be home for Christmas so everyone was in a good friendly mood with each other. There were some Norwegians who’d brought candles on our table and we sang Christmas carols and did nothing but sit and chat at our big long table with the other people from 3 until we all went to bed around 9. We met a group of about 6 or 7 Peace Corps volunteers-one of the guys went to Western Michigan and we sat around talking about Kalamazoo and the Peace Corps for awhile. He gave me the address of a campsite right on the beach in Mombasa he’s helping manage that just opened. We met some cool Germans, and even though I’ve been in Kenya longer, my German is so much better than my Kiswahili I realized-I could understand so much more of what they were saying. I talked for awhile to this interesting Australian guy who’d backpacked pretty much all over the world and had all kinds of great stories. We were with our outgoing friend from LA again who reminded me a lot of Uncle Brian, some Indians, some Kenyans, etc. All in all, it was a really nice Christmas Eve dinner, playing cards, chatting and munching on our smashed, yet divine-tasting chocolate bars we’d been saving up for the occasion by the candlelight.
The final night climb up to the summit was pretty treacherous and the coldest part since it was still dark, but it was also my favorite climb of the trip. Walking out of the bunkhouse at 3 am all packed up was an amazing sight, the snowcovered mountain right in front of us looking huge and intimidating with a full moon and bright starry sky. We weren’t doing the technical climb route where you use ropes and stuff, but I felt sort of like we needed them a few times. It was super steep and all rocks, our guide would have to climb up sometimes and grab our hands (which eventually were very very numb and not really capable of functioning). We would stop about every 15 min or so to rest, take deep breaths to avoid altitude sickness and dizziness. Jamie started feeling sick and dizzy for part of it, and I didn’t feel so great myself for a little while, but we had warmish water to drink which felt good. Although catching your breath was nice, you’d also not want to stop long because you’d start to freeze again, the wind was so strong and just bitter cold once we climbed past some part really near the top. We saw a huge glacier down this cliff below us (although I didn’t know till the guide told us because it just looked like a bunch of snow) I also thought I was going to die a few times for a second or 2 when I’d take a step and wasn’t quite balanced and not hanging on to rocks and there was nothing but huge cliff and a lake below me. We all made it up and in time for the sunrise, which felt like such an accomplishment because quite a few don’t actually make it, get too sick or tired or something.
Emerging at the top was amazing too, all I could see were the silhouettes through the lightening sky of the 10 or so other people that were up there before us and a big Kenya flag like we’d landed on the moon and then nothing but mountains and clouds for miles below us in the distance. I almost cried, but knew I shouldn’t because it would make my face freeze, instead I just took a picture that I really hope turns out. We sat up there at the top maybe 20 or 30 windy and spiritual minutes watching the sun come up and transform everything-and make us a ton warmer. Tried to make a call home to the US from on top-since it was still 10pm Christmas eve there, but no luck, got them later that day though back at the camp. Took some pictures and hurried back down because moving again felt nice, even though my legs were a little jelly-like and stiff after stopping. We ran/climbed/scampered/snowboarded our way back down the steep hill which was a lot easier, but tired your legs quickly, each of us falling at least 3 times, even our guide because our legs just gave out, not in the danger part though, just on the open gravelly part. We’d stop and look up, amazed at how far it was that we’d climbed and how fast it was to come down. I took a ton of pictures once back at the camp for breakfast because the morning light was fantastic. I’ll hopefully get 1 or 2 up soon. Then we made our way the rest of the way down over the next 1 ½ days and came home back to hot Nairobi. Oh and I took my braids out on the way home with Piper and Jamie’s help, took the whole 3 hour ride and I still wasn’t finished. It ended with the fake extensions all in a big gross pile on my bedroom floor and my real hair looking like an afro. After a shower and losing a bunch of my real hair, it’s all back to normal. So nice to have a light head again! Now I’m home the next few days for elections and will leave the 31st for 6 days in Mombasa joining up with the rest of our K group! Beach!
December 22
Today was fantastic, and I think everyone I came across could tell because so many people struck up friendly conversations with me today. Plus, I met some people from Williamston on the street today! I was wearing my Kalamazoo shirt and this girl who passed me goes, “hey are you from Michigan?”
Me: Yeah! Why?
Her: So are we? Where are you from?
Me: Just outside Lansing, Mason.
Her: Hey, I’m from Ann Arbor and he’s from Williamston!
Me: Holy crap!
So anyway, they were only in Nairobi a few days, they’ve been backpacking their way up from Cape Town, South Africa since October! Eeps! Everytime I talk to backpackers or travelers I get so excited and catch such a travel bug!! Besides that, today I was emailing a bunch of stuff about this grant to do international peace projects abroad. I have an idea for what I want to do and want to make it into my SIP whether I get this grant or not! Now this kind of stuff makes me really excited as well.
Plus I got a lot of Christmas shopping done today, got the rest of my mountain stuff and found a bunch of dirt cheap hawker clothes that fit really well.
I’ve been seeing so many more wazungus around the city this past week, maybe visiting for Christmas. Lots of “professional tourists” as we’ve nicknamed them. You know, the ones with their backpacks on the front, their socks with their safari sandals, their khaki shorts and safari hats and occasionally a really painful looking sunburn and mosquito bitten legs. Others are better at blending in, despite the noticeable skin color difference. I like to think I’m one of those at this point.
I love some of the intimate family moments we have at our house. At the beginning I was disappointed that we don’t really have family dinners together. But we do, in our own way. We usually do eat together, or at least eat at the same time as each other in the living room while chatting or watching TV at the same time. Lots of evenings all of us girls end up in my hostmom’s room sitting on her bed in our pajamas chatting about our days and picking out her outfit for work the next day. She’ll critique the outfit and tell Rhoda which parts of it to make sure to iron really well. Then we’ll usually move over to the other bedroom and Rhoda will iron whatever outfit she picked out for my mom and hang it up for her. I love her, she’s kind of demanding sometimes, but also really warm and easy-going. That’s the relationship kids have with their parents here, they’re expected to serve them and treat them with ultimate respect. We have sort of a formal relationship at times, but I also feel like I could tell her about absolutely anything, her real daughters certainly do. Yesterday Moni’s friend was over and was asking her how many sisters she had. “5” she said-I was included! I love feeling so included in their family, my hostmom always introduces me as her daughter. Once a long time ago, maybe 2 months now, we were talking about Michelle’s eventual wedding and she was saying how she didn’t want more than 10 people there-just immediate family “And Alexandra, because she’s blood” Yay!
Me: Yeah! Why?
Her: So are we? Where are you from?
Me: Just outside Lansing, Mason.
Her: Hey, I’m from Ann Arbor and he’s from Williamston!
Me: Holy crap!
So anyway, they were only in Nairobi a few days, they’ve been backpacking their way up from Cape Town, South Africa since October! Eeps! Everytime I talk to backpackers or travelers I get so excited and catch such a travel bug!! Besides that, today I was emailing a bunch of stuff about this grant to do international peace projects abroad. I have an idea for what I want to do and want to make it into my SIP whether I get this grant or not! Now this kind of stuff makes me really excited as well.
Plus I got a lot of Christmas shopping done today, got the rest of my mountain stuff and found a bunch of dirt cheap hawker clothes that fit really well.
I’ve been seeing so many more wazungus around the city this past week, maybe visiting for Christmas. Lots of “professional tourists” as we’ve nicknamed them. You know, the ones with their backpacks on the front, their socks with their safari sandals, their khaki shorts and safari hats and occasionally a really painful looking sunburn and mosquito bitten legs. Others are better at blending in, despite the noticeable skin color difference. I like to think I’m one of those at this point.
I love some of the intimate family moments we have at our house. At the beginning I was disappointed that we don’t really have family dinners together. But we do, in our own way. We usually do eat together, or at least eat at the same time as each other in the living room while chatting or watching TV at the same time. Lots of evenings all of us girls end up in my hostmom’s room sitting on her bed in our pajamas chatting about our days and picking out her outfit for work the next day. She’ll critique the outfit and tell Rhoda which parts of it to make sure to iron really well. Then we’ll usually move over to the other bedroom and Rhoda will iron whatever outfit she picked out for my mom and hang it up for her. I love her, she’s kind of demanding sometimes, but also really warm and easy-going. That’s the relationship kids have with their parents here, they’re expected to serve them and treat them with ultimate respect. We have sort of a formal relationship at times, but I also feel like I could tell her about absolutely anything, her real daughters certainly do. Yesterday Moni’s friend was over and was asking her how many sisters she had. “5” she said-I was included! I love feeling so included in their family, my hostmom always introduces me as her daughter. Once a long time ago, maybe 2 months now, we were talking about Michelle’s eventual wedding and she was saying how she didn’t want more than 10 people there-just immediate family “And Alexandra, because she’s blood” Yay!
21 December 2007
The Large Gap
December the 21st
Sorry for the very large space of time which has occurred between now and the last time I wrote in this thing. This is due to a number of important reasons. First and foremost, I had university exams which, for the first time made up an extremely large portion of my final grade. This doesn’t mean, however, that I studied any more than I usually do, which isn’t very much in the first place. Nevertheless, simply thinking about these exams and pretending to myself that I was studying for them consumed a vast amount of my time these past weeks. Furthermore, I had an inordinate number of final papers to write, 5 to be exact, all due within a week of each other and from 5-15 pages long. I actually got quite into the writing of them and enjoyed myself more than I think I ever have before writing a paper, at least for the Geographies of Development final which was titled, Where is the Love?, after the Black-Eyed Peas song. Finally, my dog (katika US) alikufa, or died, somewhat unexpectedly. Many may already know this, but this event made for a few teary evenings and a fair amount of moping around. On the flip side, all of this is behind me now and I am feeling quite on top of the world at the moment. My internship is going to be quite fantastic at the GoDown I believe. I am leaving to climb the second highest mountain in Africa on Sunday, to reach the summit at sunrise on Christmas morning. The election is less than a week away now. Today I finally received my Christmas package which was sent a month ago. I am spending New Years on the coast in Mombasa. And I realized that I won’t be attending a single class until April which is the longest break I believe I’ve had since I entered preschool. The world is my oyster. Furthermore, I’ve also been reading a few travel books and have caught the bug in a big way and am planning a number of exciting excursions so long as the money holds out. Tanzania, Uganda or Rwanda with my host sister, Egypt, South Africa, Zanzibar and Lamu are all in the mix. Not that I actually have the money for all that, but at least some of it will happen.
Some exciting things that have happened in recent weeks:
I am now an official registered alien in Kenya. I have a special Pupil’s Pass in my passport and a big stamp acknowledging my alien status because I have been here for 3 months and visas run out after that time and you have to renew it, become an alien or figure something else out. They have all of my fingerprints 4 times given by me in a room full of men with huge guns and many many many papers filled out by me after a 4 hour wait. Yay Kenyan bureaucracy!
Speaking of guns, I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but they’re something I will never get used to. Soldiers and security guards walk around all the time carrying AK-47s and it freaks the hell out of me. It gives me reason enough to shut up and keep my head down though.
The weather is nothing short of amazing right now. It’s become summer, really. Not that it wasn’t great before, but in the past week or so it’s become really balmy and hot during the day, just like summer should be and I love it. Even though it’s hot, I just bask in the sunlight and think of all the shriveled-up, pale people in the Midwestern United States and smile.
We finished the OC season 2 last night…whoa, dramatic ending, and this show will forever be associated with Kenya for me even though it all occurs in California. I started up a new TV season, Weeds, courtesy of my Secret Santa who gave me the first 2 seasons.
Today we went hawker shopping to find stuff for our mountain climbing excursion. Found hiking boots, snacks, scarves, earrings, books, gloves, long underwear, a hot water bottle, a new watch. Spent a total of about $50. Expensive day in Kenya, cheap day in America.
I am so incredibly dirty all the time!! Having these braids only gives me an excuse not to shower very often since my hair doesn’t have to be washed. I realized the other day as I was standing in line at Nakumatt that in the fluorescent lighting my upper arm had a grey-tannish unnatural tinge to it because it was covered in a layer of dust. This is partially not my fault, sure, the not showering part is, but even when my skin acquires this color as it has on a few other occasions and I scrub and scrub, it sometimes refuses to come off…Joys of living in a smoggy, dusty city.
My taste for foods is changing so much. I get really excited now when we’re having rice and beans for dinner or sukuma-wiki and ugali. (Sukuma was the most disgusting thing in the world when I first came, it’s really bitter and dark green leafy stuff that looks like spinach but tastes nothing like it) I wonder if it’s going to be hard getting used to eating the usual foods I eat when I’m in the US again because I have really rich foods so rarely. I made no-bake oatmeal cookies the other day (since we don’t have a working oven), ate 1 ½ and my stomach felt like crap for the rest of the night, from all the sugar I think. Whenever I eat really rich foods now they’re more amazing than I can ever remember food tasting, but I can only eat a little bit.
Have I mentioned that I LOVE KENYA?! For some reason more than ever the past week or so I’ve really been in love with everything about it. The heat, the flowers, the people, my family, the relaxation about everything. I think it was partly finishing up classes and realizing I’m completely free and have no obligations and can do and go whatever and wherever I want
I was presented with an endearing gift from Rhoda today, a wooden statue of an African woman with her hair blowing in the wind and her head is partially chipping off. She’s had it for years but said she thought I’d like it more and said if I didn’t want it, she didn’t mind, but I love it. I named her Rhoda, after Rhoda and she stands guard at the dining room table.
Kenyans in general are a lot more blunt and upfront when they have a problem with something. I also love this quality in terms of speaking of race as well and they’ll just come out and say it. “This is this way because you’re white” For example, when I complain about not having anything to wear when we’re going out while my sisters are spending hours getting all dolled up, they say, “Seriously, don’t worry about it, you’re white, everyone will love you no matter what you wear.” In the US, we tiptoe around the subject of race so much and think we’re probably offending someone if we even mention it, and Kenyans have no problem talking about it. It seems a lot healthier to me. I get sick of political correctness.
Here’s a blip from my GoDev paper about how my perceptions of race have altered a bit:
“I grew up in a virtually racially homogenous community without a lot of direct exposure to other races and the effects of racial tension and came to Kenya in hopes of experiencing what it felt like to be in the racial minority in a place, which I certainly have felt. However, I will always be seen as privileged because of my skin color, which I am and never be seen as the economically disadvantaged racial minority, unlike racial minorities in the United States.”
This was something I didn’t really think about when I came to Kenya. I knew it would be a trip to be a white person in a black country, but didn’t really think about how the experience would be different from being a racial minority in a primarily white country. The difference is that whites are the privileged ones pretty much wherever they go. Even if I don’t fit in with everyone else, I still get preferential treatment sometimes-things like getting into clubs and not having to show my ID and begging them to let my sister in (who is 4 years older than me), or walking into the grocery store with a huge shopping bag and not having to turn it in to the bag counter (maybe they’re just sympathizing because they think I don’t know any better). Some things that might be the same though as other races experiencing being in the minority is the way you always question people’s motives for talking to you..do they want something from you or do they genuinely want to get to know you because they’re interested? Are they asking to take your picture with them because you’re their token white friend (a Somali couple asked me if I would have a picture with them yesterday while I was sitting in the park. When I asked them why, they said they wanted to send it back to their family and show them that I was one of their friends. I just laughed and thought it was kind of funny and chatted with them for a little while) I understand completely why being in the racial minority makes you paranoid about anyone who tries to talk to you. For awhile there a few months ago, I was a completely closed-off unfriendly jerk to anyone who approached me on the street and avoided making eye contact with anyone because it was always badgering you for something-money, a visa, to look in their shop. Then I started to feel bad when I realized how mean I was being even accidentally to people I knew who saw me across the street or something. It’s getting a little better now, and I’m a lot more comfortable in my surroundings to feel ok being friendly to people and not like I’m going to get ripped off if I actually smile at someone. I’ve been sharing a lot more laughs with people and a lot more random conversations with strangers because of it.
Sorry for the very large space of time which has occurred between now and the last time I wrote in this thing. This is due to a number of important reasons. First and foremost, I had university exams which, for the first time made up an extremely large portion of my final grade. This doesn’t mean, however, that I studied any more than I usually do, which isn’t very much in the first place. Nevertheless, simply thinking about these exams and pretending to myself that I was studying for them consumed a vast amount of my time these past weeks. Furthermore, I had an inordinate number of final papers to write, 5 to be exact, all due within a week of each other and from 5-15 pages long. I actually got quite into the writing of them and enjoyed myself more than I think I ever have before writing a paper, at least for the Geographies of Development final which was titled, Where is the Love?, after the Black-Eyed Peas song. Finally, my dog (katika US) alikufa, or died, somewhat unexpectedly. Many may already know this, but this event made for a few teary evenings and a fair amount of moping around. On the flip side, all of this is behind me now and I am feeling quite on top of the world at the moment. My internship is going to be quite fantastic at the GoDown I believe. I am leaving to climb the second highest mountain in Africa on Sunday, to reach the summit at sunrise on Christmas morning. The election is less than a week away now. Today I finally received my Christmas package which was sent a month ago. I am spending New Years on the coast in Mombasa. And I realized that I won’t be attending a single class until April which is the longest break I believe I’ve had since I entered preschool. The world is my oyster. Furthermore, I’ve also been reading a few travel books and have caught the bug in a big way and am planning a number of exciting excursions so long as the money holds out. Tanzania, Uganda or Rwanda with my host sister, Egypt, South Africa, Zanzibar and Lamu are all in the mix. Not that I actually have the money for all that, but at least some of it will happen.
Some exciting things that have happened in recent weeks:
I am now an official registered alien in Kenya. I have a special Pupil’s Pass in my passport and a big stamp acknowledging my alien status because I have been here for 3 months and visas run out after that time and you have to renew it, become an alien or figure something else out. They have all of my fingerprints 4 times given by me in a room full of men with huge guns and many many many papers filled out by me after a 4 hour wait. Yay Kenyan bureaucracy!
Speaking of guns, I don’t know if I mentioned this before, but they’re something I will never get used to. Soldiers and security guards walk around all the time carrying AK-47s and it freaks the hell out of me. It gives me reason enough to shut up and keep my head down though.
The weather is nothing short of amazing right now. It’s become summer, really. Not that it wasn’t great before, but in the past week or so it’s become really balmy and hot during the day, just like summer should be and I love it. Even though it’s hot, I just bask in the sunlight and think of all the shriveled-up, pale people in the Midwestern United States and smile.
We finished the OC season 2 last night…whoa, dramatic ending, and this show will forever be associated with Kenya for me even though it all occurs in California. I started up a new TV season, Weeds, courtesy of my Secret Santa who gave me the first 2 seasons.
Today we went hawker shopping to find stuff for our mountain climbing excursion. Found hiking boots, snacks, scarves, earrings, books, gloves, long underwear, a hot water bottle, a new watch. Spent a total of about $50. Expensive day in Kenya, cheap day in America.
I am so incredibly dirty all the time!! Having these braids only gives me an excuse not to shower very often since my hair doesn’t have to be washed. I realized the other day as I was standing in line at Nakumatt that in the fluorescent lighting my upper arm had a grey-tannish unnatural tinge to it because it was covered in a layer of dust. This is partially not my fault, sure, the not showering part is, but even when my skin acquires this color as it has on a few other occasions and I scrub and scrub, it sometimes refuses to come off…Joys of living in a smoggy, dusty city.
My taste for foods is changing so much. I get really excited now when we’re having rice and beans for dinner or sukuma-wiki and ugali. (Sukuma was the most disgusting thing in the world when I first came, it’s really bitter and dark green leafy stuff that looks like spinach but tastes nothing like it) I wonder if it’s going to be hard getting used to eating the usual foods I eat when I’m in the US again because I have really rich foods so rarely. I made no-bake oatmeal cookies the other day (since we don’t have a working oven), ate 1 ½ and my stomach felt like crap for the rest of the night, from all the sugar I think. Whenever I eat really rich foods now they’re more amazing than I can ever remember food tasting, but I can only eat a little bit.
Have I mentioned that I LOVE KENYA?! For some reason more than ever the past week or so I’ve really been in love with everything about it. The heat, the flowers, the people, my family, the relaxation about everything. I think it was partly finishing up classes and realizing I’m completely free and have no obligations and can do and go whatever and wherever I want
I was presented with an endearing gift from Rhoda today, a wooden statue of an African woman with her hair blowing in the wind and her head is partially chipping off. She’s had it for years but said she thought I’d like it more and said if I didn’t want it, she didn’t mind, but I love it. I named her Rhoda, after Rhoda and she stands guard at the dining room table.
Kenyans in general are a lot more blunt and upfront when they have a problem with something. I also love this quality in terms of speaking of race as well and they’ll just come out and say it. “This is this way because you’re white” For example, when I complain about not having anything to wear when we’re going out while my sisters are spending hours getting all dolled up, they say, “Seriously, don’t worry about it, you’re white, everyone will love you no matter what you wear.” In the US, we tiptoe around the subject of race so much and think we’re probably offending someone if we even mention it, and Kenyans have no problem talking about it. It seems a lot healthier to me. I get sick of political correctness.
Here’s a blip from my GoDev paper about how my perceptions of race have altered a bit:
“I grew up in a virtually racially homogenous community without a lot of direct exposure to other races and the effects of racial tension and came to Kenya in hopes of experiencing what it felt like to be in the racial minority in a place, which I certainly have felt. However, I will always be seen as privileged because of my skin color, which I am and never be seen as the economically disadvantaged racial minority, unlike racial minorities in the United States.”
This was something I didn’t really think about when I came to Kenya. I knew it would be a trip to be a white person in a black country, but didn’t really think about how the experience would be different from being a racial minority in a primarily white country. The difference is that whites are the privileged ones pretty much wherever they go. Even if I don’t fit in with everyone else, I still get preferential treatment sometimes-things like getting into clubs and not having to show my ID and begging them to let my sister in (who is 4 years older than me), or walking into the grocery store with a huge shopping bag and not having to turn it in to the bag counter (maybe they’re just sympathizing because they think I don’t know any better). Some things that might be the same though as other races experiencing being in the minority is the way you always question people’s motives for talking to you..do they want something from you or do they genuinely want to get to know you because they’re interested? Are they asking to take your picture with them because you’re their token white friend (a Somali couple asked me if I would have a picture with them yesterday while I was sitting in the park. When I asked them why, they said they wanted to send it back to their family and show them that I was one of their friends. I just laughed and thought it was kind of funny and chatted with them for a little while) I understand completely why being in the racial minority makes you paranoid about anyone who tries to talk to you. For awhile there a few months ago, I was a completely closed-off unfriendly jerk to anyone who approached me on the street and avoided making eye contact with anyone because it was always badgering you for something-money, a visa, to look in their shop. Then I started to feel bad when I realized how mean I was being even accidentally to people I knew who saw me across the street or something. It’s getting a little better now, and I’m a lot more comfortable in my surroundings to feel ok being friendly to people and not like I’m going to get ripped off if I actually smile at someone. I’ve been sharing a lot more laughs with people and a lot more random conversations with strangers because of it.
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