Thank God for Pepto...

I've been feeling pretty sick for the past few days, with a really bad stomach ache, headache, and I'm dizzy. I'm pretty sure that it's just my body acclimating to the new climate and foods (I think my culture shock so far has been the food, it's just so much different from what I'm used to). I have also started to drink a bunch more water than I have been. I hope that helps. I went out to dinner with some friends last night to my host mom's restaurant-she manages Smart Village, an Ethopian restaurant. It was delicious and I'm really starting to like the other students on the trip the more time I spend with them :)

School has been going very well so far. Dr. Jama ( the director for the program) teaches development, which focuses on Kenya. Fred Jonyo (who has his name embroidered) on all of his shirts is teaching us Country Analysis (of Kenya). I'm also taking 3rd semester Swahili with Julius and the public health "track". It's all pretty good so far. We have short papers (handwritten!) due each week and term papers and a few quizzes and such, but so far, I think it will be a pretty easy semester academically.

I'm getting more excited for my internship every day. Kisumu (right by Lake Victoria) is supposed to be even hotter than Nairobi and eat mostly fish (I'm going to have to learn to like those...).

My family is really nice. Eddah took me shopping today in Toi Market (a super cheap market with a ton of second hand stuff-shirts, jeans, shoes, books, sunglasses, kangas, dresses, skirts,e tc.) I bought a pair of jeans for 350 KSH--about $4.50 and a button down short sleeve shirt for 250 KSH--about $3. I also bought Eddah a pair of super hott Beyonce-esque shoes for 1000 KSH- about $13 (she's very, very excited!) So, I definitely packed WAY too much. I'm probably going to leave a lot of my stuff here because Eddah and I are about the same size and she continually comments on how she likes my shirts (even though they are very plain and were really cheap).

I'm going to go to Hell's Gate next weekend with some of the students to bike around the rift valley and see the sights. It will be my first traveling trip out of the city! I'm really excited to start exploring what Kenya has to offer :)

Kwaherini!

The classes have begun

Hey everyone...I'm spoiling you with two posts in one day, but I finally got this to work.

My family is really sweet here in Nairobi. I have a mother-Mama Tracy or Jennifer who works as a manageress at a Ethopian restaurant, father-Baba Tracy or Teddy who is a tour guide, so he's not home very often, a 7 year old sister named Tracy (that's where Mama and Baba Tracy come from, it's a cultural way of naming their parents), and a cousin who takes care of the house named Eddah-she's 20 and hoping to attend college in a few months. I'm really enjoying my family and they are really sweet to me.

I'm starting to get real used to bucket baths as sometimes the water does not work at all and if it does, it's freezing cold. I share a room at my house with Eddah and Tracy. On Saturday, my first night with the family, I learned to do laundry by hand and to cook chipati ( a traditional African food which is like a heavy (and super greasy) tortilla). I told the family that I would make guacamole for them one day and they were super excited!

Anyway, I'm doing well, other than an upset stomach from all the grease...

Kwaheri!

I made it to Kenya safely....

I made it to Kenya safely; I landed in Nairobi at about 8:30pm local time on Monday night after starting my journey Sunday morning at 4am. The flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam was 8 hours long and I couldn’t sleep at all! However, the flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi was another 8 hours and I slept pretty much the whole flight. I saw the sun rise and set twice over my travels to Nairobi.

The first night we stayed in a hostel at the Wildlife Clubs of Kenya, the affiliate organization working with MSID (Minnesota Studies in International Development). I showered in freezing cold water Tuesday morning and we traveled to Nakuru national park, where we have spent the first couple days in orientation and taking safaris. The park is absolutely beautiful. There are wild baboons (who like to steal our food and run around the site we are staying at), monkeys (who jump on top of our bus and steal food out of our bags), buffalo, warthogs, giraffes, hyenas, zebras, water bucks, impalas, and numerous types of birds (including flamingos)! (Don’t worry, I will get pictures up soon!)

The weather here is beautiful! It’s about 80 degrees during the day—and even hotter in the sun—and is around 60 in the mornings and evenings. AND, I’m sunburned already. Don’t worry Mom, I brought some glow with it along, so I’m healing nicely.

I found out about my internship yesterday. I’ll be staying in Kisumu town working with an organization called Family Health Option Kenya, which specializes in women’s health. The group does outreach and advocacy work with prostitutes focusing on STIs and HIV/AIDS, gynecology exams, family planning services, and counseling services. I’m so excited because this sounds like exactly what I wanted to do!

Everyone on the trip seems really cool and we’re all getting along really well. There are about 19 girls and 8 boys on the trip. We will all be in Nairobi for the first 7 weeks, starting this Saturday (classes start Monday) and then we will be around Kenya for 6 weeks for the internship phase-mostly in Kisumu (western Kenya by Lake Victoria), Nairobi (south central Kenya), and Mombasa (East coast on the Indian Ocean).

The food here is awesome as well! It’s much different from home-and there’s meat at every meal. Breakfast is almost always hard-boiled eggs with bread and jelly. Yesterday we had Kenyan peanut butter (which is NOT the same). A meal is made up of mostly starches (Ugali (corn meal and water), rice, and potatoes), vegetables and meat. It has all been really different, but really delicious.

So far I haven’t been sick at all. I felt a little icky and jet-legged the first few days, but today I feel great. We get up at about 6 in the morning here and go to sleep around 9 or 10. This morning we got up and went on a sunrise ride to baboon cliff. We left about 5:30am from the camp. At the cliff we saw the sun rise and baboons come up the cliff (they sleep about half way down it to keep safe from the lions). They were really cute and let us take a bunch of pictures of them. The first day on our way to the camp, we were stopped by a lion and a lioness in just hanging out in the middle of the road.

I found out that I will be able to skype if I buy a wireless modem for my computer. That way I can talk online for free or call the US for 2 cents a minute. This will save me a ton in cell phone charges. We are going to be buying cell phones on Monday. Pictures may be difficult, but I’ll try to post a few once I buy the modem.

I hope the semester is going well for everyone… I’ll post more in a few days

The internet here is not working well, so after I buy a wireless modem for my computer, I will update my blog more regularly. Most importantly, I'm well and Kenya is beautiful!

3 days left...

I'm just about packed to go to Africa where I'll be for the next 4 months. I leave Sunday, January 17th at 7:15 am from Green Bay and come back May 18th. I will spend most of my time in Nairobi living with a host family, and then I will have a 6 week internship in public health. I will be taking classes while in Nairobi which focus on global development. I will be taking International Development, MSID Country Analysis, and Community Internship in the Global South.