Mombasa is very beautiful and hot! I'm glad I was in Nairobi for some time first to acclimatize a little bit! I'm inside blogging today because my body just can't survive any more heat outside - even my sunscreen just melts off, lol. The hotel here is amazing - the architecture looks to be a mix of Arabic, Kenyan, and Greek influences. The walls are all painted white with lovely curves and lines around the doorways, and the furniture is all a handmade old stained dark wood.
On my first dinner, I happened to sit down with a couple who knew where my home town is! I was so excited. They grew up in Canada, but have been working in Nairobi for the last 20 years studying animal epidemiology. Everyone here is very friendly, welcoming and pleasantly surprised when I try to use my tiny bit of kiswahili. My room steward is the sweetest little elderly man - he picked me flowers to fill my ash tray when he saw I didn't smoke, and left me a note that said "Hello, This is my flowers to make you happy. Sleep well." It made my day :)
I think the people who animated Finding Nemo must have visited Mombasa - I went snorkling and saw so many beautiful fish and sea turtles! It was incredible - the fish were of every different shape size and colour, and the coral was beautiful. I went with a family from the UK, and it was quite funny to hear their different take on the experience. While I was blown away by all the amazing sea creatures, they were upset that there weren't enough fish (though there were so many different kinds of fish that I could see). Then they told me about there last vacation to the Galapalos Islands, and they said it was alright, but there were too many conservation projects, lol. I was tempted to explain that you can't exactly have lots of fish and few conservation projects at the same time... but I held my tongue.
I also went kayaking around the bay. The staff warned me be for I left that the tide was going out, but ridiculous me, I thought, "Oh I've canoed lots - I'm fine". Of course, I didn't pay close enough attention to the tide and ended up kayaking over a shallow area to a deeper spot in a little bay. The tide did indeed go out, and I found myself surrounded by too shallow water and dry ground, so I had to rather humbly walk back carrying my kayak. It was rather embarrassing, lol. A little later, a nice fellow taught me how to use a catamaran, which was lots of fun and the tide was going in this time :)
The people in Mombasa are even friendlier than the people in Nairobi. I actually never thought I'd meet people who were so friendly that I'd feel uncomfortable - usually, I think I'm the one making other people uncomfortable by striking up a random conversation, lol. Nairobi for me is just the right amount of friendliness - people are happy to talk, but if you want some time alone they're good with that too. On the beach, I literally didn't have a second alone. Irene explained to me that apparently some tourists come to Mombasa to pick up a date, so perhaps that's what they assumed I was there for, but it was quite awkward. On the upside, before the awkward part of these conversations, they shared some interesting things about their culture with me. Education seems to be viewed much more positively here than in Canada. Perhaps because it's so easily accessible in Canada, students take school for granted and often dislike it. Here, nearly everyone I've met was very excited to hear that I'm studying education. They felt that education was the key to a good life and spoke very positively about schools and learning. They also helped me a bit with my kiswahili, found me sea cucumbers, explained how the hollow out a canoe from a mango tree, and many other interesting things. So I appreciated their friendliness in what I learned, but I'm not very used to being quite so "popular" and that was a bit uncomfortable for me.
For dinner time, I did my usual scan to find a kind looking older couple to sit with. On my last dinner, I met a very nice couple from Holland who reminded me so much of my family - it made me feel a little bit homesick. They even gave me a package of schoolkrijt (a black licorice candy which is covered in icing sugar and shaped to look like school chalk) when I left. They were so nice to chat with.
On my last day, I explored a bit of the old city which was very interesting. The architecture is very beautiful and the people very welcoming. I wandered around Fort Jesus, which is quite lovely with redish orange walls on the seaside, and I visited a Hindu temple. In the Hindu temple, there were depictions of what happens to you if you eat meat, so I felt a little guilty when we went to the Carnivore, a restuarant in Nairobi with the Mumos when I got home that evening. The Carnivore was quite an experience though - I tried ostrich, crocodile, camel, and every kind of ridiculous meat - I think I gained 20 pounds in one meal, lol. Sorry dad, there was no horse meat, pickled herring or eel though ;)
When we got home, I packed my bags and fell into bed, very full and very sleepy. Today was my last day at Brookhouse. It was so nice to see everyone one more time - I will really miss everyone. There was a rather lengthy school assembly, so I sat with the year three's and did my best to keep them entertained - I felt badly for them, especially my one student who I think is somewhere on the ADHD spectrum. I started to draw a few students nearby and then gave the drawing to this student to finish to keep her occupied so she wouldn't get in trouble for squirming.
It was an especially sad good-bye to one of my very sweet year 8 boys - I think he must have said good-bye for a solid 15 or 20 minutes - he is such a wonderful student, but I really worry for him going into highschool next year. He would thrive in a place where he could develop his already wonderful skills working with young children, but he really struggles with academics, and I am so worried that four years of highschool academics will just crush his beautiful but fragile spirit. I will really miss him. Saying goodbye to the teachers was very sad too - they have all been so good to me. I would love to learn so much more from them about education, culture, language, birds, students, and so much else. But on the happy side, I'm also looking very forward to seeing all of you at home!
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