Thanks for the finale to your trip, Anneke. It's been fascinating to follow--you could be a travel reporter, I expect, you write so thoughtfully about all your experiences. You won't ever forget your trip to Kenya. Sorry that Brussels was such a disappointing experience--I've never been there, but if I do make it, I'll be on alert for disappointment! Glad you got the time in England as part of your transition to home.
Yours,
Tom
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Saturday, April 16, 2011
Visiting the lovely Janet!
After school, we drove out past the Canadian High Commission to a Maasai market in a mall on the other end of town. The kids went mini-putting (the mall reminded me of the west Edmunton mall in that it had a waterpark and so many great activities for kids), and Irene and I did a bit of shopping.
After dinner, we drove quickly to the airport. We were running late, so I went in to pick up my boarding pass while the Mumo's parked the car. But very unfortunately, the security is different from Canada where anyone can enter the park of the airport where people starts at the entrance to the airport, so the Mumo's couldn't come in to say good-bye. They did pass a very sweet good-bye present through security however - I book about this beautiful country signed by all four of them. They are such generous people.
Inside the airport, I hurriedly picked up my boarding pass and ran to my gate. I knew I'd be just on time, so I was walking quite quickly. I followed someone through the gate where I thought I was to board the plane, and suddenly found myself on the tarmac! I then realized that the person I was following was not a fellow passenger, but a flight attendant, and I looked around a little bewildered. As I started to walk back where I'd come from, then security found me and informed me that I wasn't allowed to be there. I nearly burst out laughing - how had no one stopped me earlier? Soon enough, I found my plane, and was on my way to Brussels. That's when I couldn't help it, and I started to cry. I missed everyone in Nairobi, everyone in Kingston, and Janet in Kettering, but I was none of those places. It was a hard plane flight.
It was quite the culture shock in Brussels as I left the warm and friendly people of Nairobi behind. I did my usual scan of the waiting area in Brussels for someone who looked a little lonely as well, and I sat down next to a lady to strike up a conversation. I did all the usual, "so, where are you from?" "are you out on vacation?" etc. She turned to me and said, "I'm not interested in conversation, thank you." Awkward silence. So I went on a hunt for someone friendly to talk to. I found a lovely lady from Nairobi waiting for her plane to visit her sister in the UK. She was on a different airline, but I decided she was worth switching gates for, so we had a very nice chat before I boarded my plane for Heathrow.
When I landed in Heathrow, everything went quickly and smoothly. I soon found the fabulous Janet, whose great smile warmed my sleepy and sad heart. We left my bags at a bag check place, and set out to explore London! We were both rather sleepy, but we had a nice time. We saw parliment, big ben, and lots of lovely architecture. We wandered through a portrait gallery, stopped for tea in a little coffee shop and participated in a service at Westminster Abbey.
And we found that we could have a pint of dad's trains!
After a nice dinner we headed home, only to discover that we'd missed the last train for Kettering. So we took the train to Bedford, wrapped up in my keekorok from the market in Nairobi because it was unexpectedly cold, and then had to get a cab home. I had a much much needed shower, and fell into bed.
The next morning, we went to Janet's lovely church, where we were happily welcomed. We picked up the goods for a delicious lunch, and had a picnic on my keekorok (who knew one keekorok could be so useful?).
We opened the delicious tea masala that I'd bought in Nairobi, and enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea. That afternoon, we went for a little run around Kettering which was a nice way to see the town. And of course finished the day with a little bit of the big bang theory... how I had missed dear Sheldon.
On monday, we took the train out to Leicester, which is a lovely city near Kettering. It was lots of fun to explore the little shops, look at all the pretty architecture, churches and art galleries, and we even got to meet two of Janet's fellow teachers for tea! Eventually, our feet were too sore to walk another step and we headed home, this time catching the train.
The next morning, I was off to Heathrow to fly home. I was welcomed by the whole family, which was so nice. And soon got my much awaited hug from my favourite Kelsea :) It was worth coming home after all ;)
After dinner, we drove quickly to the airport. We were running late, so I went in to pick up my boarding pass while the Mumo's parked the car. But very unfortunately, the security is different from Canada where anyone can enter the park of the airport where people starts at the entrance to the airport, so the Mumo's couldn't come in to say good-bye. They did pass a very sweet good-bye present through security however - I book about this beautiful country signed by all four of them. They are such generous people.
Inside the airport, I hurriedly picked up my boarding pass and ran to my gate. I knew I'd be just on time, so I was walking quite quickly. I followed someone through the gate where I thought I was to board the plane, and suddenly found myself on the tarmac! I then realized that the person I was following was not a fellow passenger, but a flight attendant, and I looked around a little bewildered. As I started to walk back where I'd come from, then security found me and informed me that I wasn't allowed to be there. I nearly burst out laughing - how had no one stopped me earlier? Soon enough, I found my plane, and was on my way to Brussels. That's when I couldn't help it, and I started to cry. I missed everyone in Nairobi, everyone in Kingston, and Janet in Kettering, but I was none of those places. It was a hard plane flight.
It was quite the culture shock in Brussels as I left the warm and friendly people of Nairobi behind. I did my usual scan of the waiting area in Brussels for someone who looked a little lonely as well, and I sat down next to a lady to strike up a conversation. I did all the usual, "so, where are you from?" "are you out on vacation?" etc. She turned to me and said, "I'm not interested in conversation, thank you." Awkward silence. So I went on a hunt for someone friendly to talk to. I found a lovely lady from Nairobi waiting for her plane to visit her sister in the UK. She was on a different airline, but I decided she was worth switching gates for, so we had a very nice chat before I boarded my plane for Heathrow.
When I landed in Heathrow, everything went quickly and smoothly. I soon found the fabulous Janet, whose great smile warmed my sleepy and sad heart. We left my bags at a bag check place, and set out to explore London! We were both rather sleepy, but we had a nice time. We saw parliment, big ben, and lots of lovely architecture. We wandered through a portrait gallery, stopped for tea in a little coffee shop and participated in a service at Westminster Abbey.
And we found that we could have a pint of dad's trains!
After a nice dinner we headed home, only to discover that we'd missed the last train for Kettering. So we took the train to Bedford, wrapped up in my keekorok from the market in Nairobi because it was unexpectedly cold, and then had to get a cab home. I had a much much needed shower, and fell into bed.
The next morning, we went to Janet's lovely church, where we were happily welcomed. We picked up the goods for a delicious lunch, and had a picnic on my keekorok (who knew one keekorok could be so useful?).
We opened the delicious tea masala that I'd bought in Nairobi, and enjoyed a lovely afternoon tea. That afternoon, we went for a little run around Kettering which was a nice way to see the town. And of course finished the day with a little bit of the big bang theory... how I had missed dear Sheldon.
On monday, we took the train out to Leicester, which is a lovely city near Kettering. It was lots of fun to explore the little shops, look at all the pretty architecture, churches and art galleries, and we even got to meet two of Janet's fellow teachers for tea! Eventually, our feet were too sore to walk another step and we headed home, this time catching the train.
The next morning, I was off to Heathrow to fly home. I was welcomed by the whole family, which was so nice. And soon got my much awaited hug from my favourite Kelsea :) It was worth coming home after all ;)
Friday, April 8, 2011
Mombasa and my last day in Nairobi
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!
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!
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Wonderful reading!
Hi Anneke,
I feel very privileged to read all you are writing about your incredible, unforgetable trip! thanks for including me.
Your stories certainly bring back memories of my time in Nigeria (40 years ago) and my very brief visit to Kenya 20+ years ago.
Have a safe trip home, see you soon!
Tom
I feel very privileged to read all you are writing about your incredible, unforgetable trip! thanks for including me.
Your stories certainly bring back memories of my time in Nigeria (40 years ago) and my very brief visit to Kenya 20+ years ago.
Have a safe trip home, see you soon!
Tom
The Marvelous Mara
Thursday was a sad day for me. Every class that I went to was another set of good-byes. And each time my students would ask when I was coming back to stay, I had to say that I didn't know. I will miss everyone at Brookhouse very much, and I really hope that I can come back again.
On Friday, Mumo drove me to the airport early in the morning. We had a very interesting conversation about strong and soft cultures. It's really quite amazing to think that Portugal held Mombasa for around 200 years, but left relatively little influence on Kenya. Whereas Britain spent just a short time in Kenya and completely altered the country permanently. He said that Kenyan culture is a soft culture like Portugal - when his family came to Canada, they had relatively little trouble adjusting because his culture is a flexible one that just adapts to the new culture that they find themselves in. I think Canadian culture is much them same - probably because we're a mix of various immigrant cultures. Anyway, it's an interesting thing to think about.
I soon hopped on a little plane to the Mara. I feel very blessed to have a flight - I hear that the barabara (road) to the Mara is very bumpy. I met all sorts of interesting people in the airport - I bumped into a Canadian who was here for research, and also heading home soon. She was missing her family at home too. The next couple I met, it was all I could do to keep from laughing. I know there are lots of very nice Americans (the lovely Julia included), but this couple was truly the stereotypical hilarious American couple. The two of them were both decked out in the funniest "safari" gear - from the shoes to the khaki vest to the fancy hat. The man worked for the army, and was telling me all about the great work America is doing in the Middle East... it didn't seem to cross his mind that anyone could perceive the US army as anything but wonderful. He talked for quite some time about how he's moving countries "forward", and finally I just couldn't smile and nod anymore, and I had to ask him what is "ahead" really?
When I arrived at the airstrip in the Mara, I met my very kind driver. He told me he was a Matatu driver for years, and has now been a guide for 20 years - and he certainly knew how to drive on the bumpy roads well! He was also very kind and knowledgeable, and helped me out with my kiswahili a bit. The airstrip isn't pavement, however, and as we were driving away, we heard a tire pop on my plane! He said there is a special airstrip for damaged planes to land in Nairobi, however, and he said they'd be alright.
At the lodge, I met all sorts of very nice people. Since it's the low season, there were hardly any guests, so I felt very spoiled, lol. There was a very nice woman, Pennina, who was also doing a student placement - she was studying tourism in Nairobi and had been at the lodge for several months on her placement. We spent a lot of time together over the weekend. I also met a very nice Maasai fellow, Lepapa, who came a long on many of our game drives. He's a naturalist, studying the different animals, and he felt very passionately about preserving the Maasai's traditional culture. He was worried that within the next century, the skills of living traditionally will be lost, and I can definitely see why he worries.
It was quite funny when I met Lepapa - he said that when he saw my name in the register, he thought my last name was Maasai and my first name was Nigerian. So it was a bit of a disappointment to find out I was Canadian, lol. Pennina and Lepapa were a lot of fun to spend some time with. They performed a dance for the guests on Saturday night, and invited me to join. lol, I was kinda the only white person in the dance, but if my name is Maasai then I must be close enough.
We had a wonderful time looking for animals. On the first day, we saw a pregnant cheetah lying in the shade, a herd of elephants, giraffe, many many impala and gazelle, a black rhino mom with her mtoto, and a lion! It was absolutely amazing to see animals who I've only ever seen in pictures. The second day, we found a whole pride of lions with their cubs, a herd of buffalo and a mother cheetah teaching her cubs how to hunt. It was so beautiful to watch the three cheetahs walk through the tall grass looking for a stray gazelle. I think the giraffe and the cheetah are my two favourite animals - they are so elegant and beautiful. I have so many pictures to share with you, but that will have to wait until I am back at the Mumo's place.
During one of the game drives, my driver, Charles, Pennina and Lepapa got on a role sharing their stories with me. It was so interesting to hear them tell the stories - they were all excellent story tellers. They pointed out a mountain called the sleeping Maasai where a warrior slept and the mountain grew into the shape of a sleeping warrior. They told me that somewhere in Kenya, there is a large snake who keeps a glowing rock in it's belly. It sets the rock in front of it at night and waits for insects to come to the light. Then it eats all the insects who come. If you can steal the glowing rock, they told me, you will be very rich and you'd never need a lamp. But it is very difficult to steal because the snake is very protective of its rock. The only way would be to take a bucket upsidedown on the end of a long stick and cover the rim of the bucket with cow dung to seal out the light. Then, you'd have to drop the bucket over the glowing rock very quickly so that the snake could not see it. They also told me about how a certain lake had been formed - I've forgotten the name of the lake. hey said that a family had lots of cows and became greedy. They decided that they had so much extra milk that they would swim in milk rather than water, so they made a swimming pool of milk. But a man nearby was upset because there were other families who were starving, and this family was wasting milk on a swimming pool, so he prayed that God would do something. While the man was sleeping, it poured rain, and the entire family was swept away except the one house where the man lived. He stepped out of his house, and everywhere he walked, there was a stepping stone until he got to the shore of the lake. I wish I could remember all the stories they told me - there were so many, and they were all very interesting.
On the second day, we drove out to a Maasai village, where they showed me how they make fire (which was quite amazing!) and how they build their houses. I met the father of the village who was 98 years old with 11 wives and many sons. As I was leaving, three of the sons were joking that I should stay. One offered 10 cows for me, another 13, and the last fellow offered 20 cows! He asked me where my father lived - if it would take 30 days? 40 days to drive the cows to him? I had to tell him that it would take a very very long time to drive cows to Canada.
On my last morning, we drove for 2 hours without finding any animals. Just as we were heading back, we passed another person who said they had found a pride of lions who had stolen a kill from a leopard who was sitting sadly in the tree. My driver was very excited, and he drove us through the craziest not frequently used path through the hills to find this. We did find the leopard and the lions - it was very exciting to see!
On the flight back to Nairobi, I met a Canadian family who was working for the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi, but unfortunately, I was too travel sick to talk. Mumo picked me up at the airport, and we dropped by their home briefly before I took a taxi out to a different airport to go to Mombasa. It was a very wobbly tummy day with two flights and two longish taxi drives, but eventually I made it to the hotel in Mombasa.
On Friday, Mumo drove me to the airport early in the morning. We had a very interesting conversation about strong and soft cultures. It's really quite amazing to think that Portugal held Mombasa for around 200 years, but left relatively little influence on Kenya. Whereas Britain spent just a short time in Kenya and completely altered the country permanently. He said that Kenyan culture is a soft culture like Portugal - when his family came to Canada, they had relatively little trouble adjusting because his culture is a flexible one that just adapts to the new culture that they find themselves in. I think Canadian culture is much them same - probably because we're a mix of various immigrant cultures. Anyway, it's an interesting thing to think about.
I soon hopped on a little plane to the Mara. I feel very blessed to have a flight - I hear that the barabara (road) to the Mara is very bumpy. I met all sorts of interesting people in the airport - I bumped into a Canadian who was here for research, and also heading home soon. She was missing her family at home too. The next couple I met, it was all I could do to keep from laughing. I know there are lots of very nice Americans (the lovely Julia included), but this couple was truly the stereotypical hilarious American couple. The two of them were both decked out in the funniest "safari" gear - from the shoes to the khaki vest to the fancy hat. The man worked for the army, and was telling me all about the great work America is doing in the Middle East... it didn't seem to cross his mind that anyone could perceive the US army as anything but wonderful. He talked for quite some time about how he's moving countries "forward", and finally I just couldn't smile and nod anymore, and I had to ask him what is "ahead" really?
When I arrived at the airstrip in the Mara, I met my very kind driver. He told me he was a Matatu driver for years, and has now been a guide for 20 years - and he certainly knew how to drive on the bumpy roads well! He was also very kind and knowledgeable, and helped me out with my kiswahili a bit. The airstrip isn't pavement, however, and as we were driving away, we heard a tire pop on my plane! He said there is a special airstrip for damaged planes to land in Nairobi, however, and he said they'd be alright.
At the lodge, I met all sorts of very nice people. Since it's the low season, there were hardly any guests, so I felt very spoiled, lol. There was a very nice woman, Pennina, who was also doing a student placement - she was studying tourism in Nairobi and had been at the lodge for several months on her placement. We spent a lot of time together over the weekend. I also met a very nice Maasai fellow, Lepapa, who came a long on many of our game drives. He's a naturalist, studying the different animals, and he felt very passionately about preserving the Maasai's traditional culture. He was worried that within the next century, the skills of living traditionally will be lost, and I can definitely see why he worries.
It was quite funny when I met Lepapa - he said that when he saw my name in the register, he thought my last name was Maasai and my first name was Nigerian. So it was a bit of a disappointment to find out I was Canadian, lol. Pennina and Lepapa were a lot of fun to spend some time with. They performed a dance for the guests on Saturday night, and invited me to join. lol, I was kinda the only white person in the dance, but if my name is Maasai then I must be close enough.
We had a wonderful time looking for animals. On the first day, we saw a pregnant cheetah lying in the shade, a herd of elephants, giraffe, many many impala and gazelle, a black rhino mom with her mtoto, and a lion! It was absolutely amazing to see animals who I've only ever seen in pictures. The second day, we found a whole pride of lions with their cubs, a herd of buffalo and a mother cheetah teaching her cubs how to hunt. It was so beautiful to watch the three cheetahs walk through the tall grass looking for a stray gazelle. I think the giraffe and the cheetah are my two favourite animals - they are so elegant and beautiful. I have so many pictures to share with you, but that will have to wait until I am back at the Mumo's place.
During one of the game drives, my driver, Charles, Pennina and Lepapa got on a role sharing their stories with me. It was so interesting to hear them tell the stories - they were all excellent story tellers. They pointed out a mountain called the sleeping Maasai where a warrior slept and the mountain grew into the shape of a sleeping warrior. They told me that somewhere in Kenya, there is a large snake who keeps a glowing rock in it's belly. It sets the rock in front of it at night and waits for insects to come to the light. Then it eats all the insects who come. If you can steal the glowing rock, they told me, you will be very rich and you'd never need a lamp. But it is very difficult to steal because the snake is very protective of its rock. The only way would be to take a bucket upsidedown on the end of a long stick and cover the rim of the bucket with cow dung to seal out the light. Then, you'd have to drop the bucket over the glowing rock very quickly so that the snake could not see it. They also told me about how a certain lake had been formed - I've forgotten the name of the lake. hey said that a family had lots of cows and became greedy. They decided that they had so much extra milk that they would swim in milk rather than water, so they made a swimming pool of milk. But a man nearby was upset because there were other families who were starving, and this family was wasting milk on a swimming pool, so he prayed that God would do something. While the man was sleeping, it poured rain, and the entire family was swept away except the one house where the man lived. He stepped out of his house, and everywhere he walked, there was a stepping stone until he got to the shore of the lake. I wish I could remember all the stories they told me - there were so many, and they were all very interesting.
On the second day, we drove out to a Maasai village, where they showed me how they make fire (which was quite amazing!) and how they build their houses. I met the father of the village who was 98 years old with 11 wives and many sons. As I was leaving, three of the sons were joking that I should stay. One offered 10 cows for me, another 13, and the last fellow offered 20 cows! He asked me where my father lived - if it would take 30 days? 40 days to drive the cows to him? I had to tell him that it would take a very very long time to drive cows to Canada.
On my last morning, we drove for 2 hours without finding any animals. Just as we were heading back, we passed another person who said they had found a pride of lions who had stolen a kill from a leopard who was sitting sadly in the tree. My driver was very excited, and he drove us through the craziest not frequently used path through the hills to find this. We did find the leopard and the lions - it was very exciting to see!
On the flight back to Nairobi, I met a Canadian family who was working for the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi, but unfortunately, I was too travel sick to talk. Mumo picked me up at the airport, and we dropped by their home briefly before I took a taxi out to a different airport to go to Mombasa. It was a very wobbly tummy day with two flights and two longish taxi drives, but eventually I made it to the hotel in Mombasa.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Visiting Another School
I had the opportunity to join a few year 7's on a school trip to a school in the Kibera neighbourhood. The students had made educational posters they wanted to bring and there were some desks in the back of the truck. It was a very good place to experience. In some ways, it couldn't have been more different than Canada, but in other ways it was really the same.
We drove as far in as the truck and van could go, and then we walked the rest of the way to the school. Through out the walk, we were greeted with a chorus of "How are you? How are you?" from many cute kids. Most people were very friendly and welcoming towards us, and I got to practice a little bit of my kiswahili.
The house contruction is very innovative - some buildings were made of branches as reinforcing rod and mud as concrete, while others were made of every different kind of scrap metal you could imagine with plastic bags to fill in cracks. The colours we passed as we walked would be beautiful in an oil painting: the yellow bananas, green hills in the distance, rust on the grey metal, the array of colours painted on the houses, and the red red dirt tying everything together. I couldn't bring myself to photograph any reference pictures for a painting, however, because something about photographs felt disrespectful - it would have been as if I was reducing a person to some advertising image for an ngo. So I just walked and greeted the people I met with my shaky kiswahili.
The damage we do as humans to our world was not covered up here. At home, I make all sorts of garbage, but I put it in a neat black bag and it all disappears magically on wednesday mornings. In Kibera, the option of making our waste invisible isn't there. The smell of burning garbage sending dangerous fumes up to the ozone and the piles of plastics that will take hundreds of thousands of years to decompose in nature reminded me to pay more attention to how I treat the world that God has given us to be stewards of.
On our way to the school, we stopped at a place where people were making beautiful bone carvings. They buy the bone that would have gone to waste at a restaurant, cut it, grind it down into the desired shape, dye it and polish it. They are very skilled artisans who are not paid nearly enough for the quality of their work. I have a lovely little giraffe to show you from them when I get home.
After a bit, we arrived at the school. Three local teachers were in the middle of lessons with a group of very sweet children. A bit of a funny story - they were showing us around and telling us about the improvements that had been made - the roof had been added, the dirt floor had been replaced with a nice concrete one, etc. But the funniest improvement they pointed out was the corner of the main classroom - apparently an old woman had used to live there, and they'd finally convinced her to move out, lol. I can just picture it - this little old lady living in the corner of the school.
The school was very simple with the same architecture of the houses, so it didn't look like a Canadian school of course. But the neat thing for me was that the smiles on the kids faces and the looks in their eyes were full of the same hope and care for eachother that kids can have anywhere in the world. And maybe that's all we really need in education and in life - hopeful eyes and care for eachother.
We drove as far in as the truck and van could go, and then we walked the rest of the way to the school. Through out the walk, we were greeted with a chorus of "How are you? How are you?" from many cute kids. Most people were very friendly and welcoming towards us, and I got to practice a little bit of my kiswahili.
The house contruction is very innovative - some buildings were made of branches as reinforcing rod and mud as concrete, while others were made of every different kind of scrap metal you could imagine with plastic bags to fill in cracks. The colours we passed as we walked would be beautiful in an oil painting: the yellow bananas, green hills in the distance, rust on the grey metal, the array of colours painted on the houses, and the red red dirt tying everything together. I couldn't bring myself to photograph any reference pictures for a painting, however, because something about photographs felt disrespectful - it would have been as if I was reducing a person to some advertising image for an ngo. So I just walked and greeted the people I met with my shaky kiswahili.
The damage we do as humans to our world was not covered up here. At home, I make all sorts of garbage, but I put it in a neat black bag and it all disappears magically on wednesday mornings. In Kibera, the option of making our waste invisible isn't there. The smell of burning garbage sending dangerous fumes up to the ozone and the piles of plastics that will take hundreds of thousands of years to decompose in nature reminded me to pay more attention to how I treat the world that God has given us to be stewards of.
On our way to the school, we stopped at a place where people were making beautiful bone carvings. They buy the bone that would have gone to waste at a restaurant, cut it, grind it down into the desired shape, dye it and polish it. They are very skilled artisans who are not paid nearly enough for the quality of their work. I have a lovely little giraffe to show you from them when I get home.
After a bit, we arrived at the school. Three local teachers were in the middle of lessons with a group of very sweet children. A bit of a funny story - they were showing us around and telling us about the improvements that had been made - the roof had been added, the dirt floor had been replaced with a nice concrete one, etc. But the funniest improvement they pointed out was the corner of the main classroom - apparently an old woman had used to live there, and they'd finally convinced her to move out, lol. I can just picture it - this little old lady living in the corner of the school.
The school was very simple with the same architecture of the houses, so it didn't look like a Canadian school of course. But the neat thing for me was that the smiles on the kids faces and the looks in their eyes were full of the same hope and care for eachother that kids can have anywhere in the world. And maybe that's all we really need in education and in life - hopeful eyes and care for eachother.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Impending Good-byes
I'm trying so hard to imagine that I have more than two short days left at Brookhouse - I really don't like good-byes. I'm going to miss all the little ones in year one and reception who give me the best clump hugs. I'll miss my little year one boy who has autism and gives me the biggest smiles when I walk into his classroom, reaches up so sweetly for my hand, and teaches me how to jump over cracks. I'm going to miss my year 4 boy with down's who is always excited to help teach his class. And I'll miss my students from out-of-class learning support who throw themselves 100% into my ridiculous literacy games and drawings and don't give up even when when I give them tough material. I'm really going to miss all the wonderful teachers who welcomed me so kindly to Brookhouse. Everyone made me feel so at home in such a different school than I'm used to.
I'm especially going to miss Irene, Mumo, Mwema and Jayna. I couldn't have stayed with a kinder family.
Irene and Mumo have bent over backwards to welcome me and show me their lovely country. They've taught me so much about the culture, and even encouraged my feeble kiswahili attempts. They've also really encouraged me in my faith - they are such wise Christians, and I've learned so much from watching how they live their life following Christ even in the short time I've stayed with them.
I'm really going to miss Jayna's perpetual laughter about everything she sees. She is such a fun bright and sweet girl. It was so great to cheer her on at the swimming gala today - she was the only competitor that had a huge smile on her face the whole time she was swimming.
I'm very much going to miss Mwema's inquisitive mind and quiet sense of humour. I really think that Mwema must be related to me and Dave - he reminds me so much of Dave and I as kids. He has a "torch" (flashlight) collection, not for the purpose of using the torches, but for the purpose of taking them all apart and figuring out how they work. He's constantly exploring and finding out what happens if... He also loves art, and learns so fast - he's truly the ideal student - he's creative, bright, inquisitive and loves to learn. It will be so hard to say good-bye to such a wonderful family - it makes me sad already.
But at the same time, I also miss my wonderful Kels, my fabulous family, lovely housemates, and my dear friends at home in Canada and Janet in the UK too. I wish we could shrink the world a little more and see all these wonderful people often. I feel like my heart is stretched across the ocean and it's a bit sore from the stretching.
I'm especially going to miss Irene, Mumo, Mwema and Jayna. I couldn't have stayed with a kinder family.
I'm really going to miss Jayna's perpetual laughter about everything she sees. She is such a fun bright and sweet girl. It was so great to cheer her on at the swimming gala today - she was the only competitor that had a huge smile on her face the whole time she was swimming.
But at the same time, I also miss my wonderful Kels, my fabulous family, lovely housemates, and my dear friends at home in Canada and Janet in the UK too. I wish we could shrink the world a little more and see all these wonderful people often. I feel like my heart is stretched across the ocean and it's a bit sore from the stretching.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Lovely Lakes and Wildlife
Thursday was an interesting day for teaching. In one of my morning classes, I had a challenging situation with a student that left me feeling pretty down about my teaching ability. However, one of my year 3's cheered me up in the afternoon. He searched all over the school to find me because I wasn't teaching in his class that particular day, he had to give me a birthday gift bag because it was his birthday. It was very cute, and reminded me of the side of kids that I love.
Now, before I go on, I must correct myself - Jayna taught me the other day that I have been saying "Ken-ya" rather than the correct pronunciation "Ke-nya", so I shall try to think the right pronunciation as I type from here on :) On Friday, I got to join Jayna and the other year 1's on their class trip to Bomas of Kenya (pronounced correctly this time). Bomas had various examples of some of the different types of traditional homes in Kenya. The kids were very funny and cute - it was lots of fun to explore a new place with them.
And we saw this hartbeast stuck on a very steep part of the hill trying to scramble up. He was so embarrassed to have been noticed in such an awkward position that he quicking sorted himself out and hurried to the top of the hill, where he glared at us for catching him at the wrong moment.
With the bumpiness of the roads, my stomach had some trouble, but Mumo was very kind and let me drive to help my stomach feel better. So I got to try driving on the wrong side of the road through the busy streets and over the challenging roads in the park. Dave - with the way you navigate snow and ice, you would have had a lot of fun figuring out how to make it up the loose rock and dirt on steep hills.
The gate to Lake Nakuru was a bit tricky to find, but Mumo explained that the lack of signage is really a benefit to Kenyan culture - you have to stop and talk to people. You can't live your individual life without ever encountering another person. So we asked various people, and eventually found our way.
The parking lot was full of monkeys! They were quite skilled at sneaking into vehicles to steal food, so we had to be very careful. And we could see the lake right away through the trees!
Right inside the gate, we met two impalas. They must have seen Jayna and thought, "I'm going to impress the lovely lady over there", and they fought for quite some time.
There were these odd looking green and purple birds too - I'm not sure how to classify them, hehe ;)
Then we drove right into the middle of a huge herd of buffalo! There must have been more than a hundred. And they all just starred at this new green animal with wheels instead of legs.
Our eventual picnic spot had a magnificant view and an amazing variety of beautiful birds, rodents, and lizards.
We got a little lost on our way out, but this resulted in us finding 23 giraffes on one side of the road, a herd of buffalo on the other side of the road, and three ostrich crossing the road! The giraffe especially were so beautiful. It was wonderful to just stand on the side of the road looking at each other.
Now, before I go on, I must correct myself - Jayna taught me the other day that I have been saying "Ken-ya" rather than the correct pronunciation "Ke-nya", so I shall try to think the right pronunciation as I type from here on :) On Friday, I got to join Jayna and the other year 1's on their class trip to Bomas of Kenya (pronounced correctly this time). Bomas had various examples of some of the different types of traditional homes in Kenya. The kids were very funny and cute - it was lots of fun to explore a new place with them.
Of course, I also couldn't help but photograph some of the beautiful trees here as well:
Right after school, we left for Lake Naivasha! I took a few photos of the drive - the first photo shows a bit of my daily drive to school and the beautiful red dirt that you can see everywhere here (Dad, you would love this dirt for your garden!). The second photo is one of the many Nairobi artisans who have shops on the sides of the road. The third is one of several little towns we passed on the highway to Naivasha. The last is the great rift valley as we drove down from Nairobi into the valley.
As we were driving to our campsite, we saw my first giraffe standing right on the edge of the road happily munching away. He was so stately and beautiful.
We arrived at Fishermans camp right on the edge of Lake Naivasha just after the sun went down. And I discovered a very interesting thing about camping in Kenya - it never dawned on me the great advantage of late evening daylight for camping in Canada. At home, it's never an issue to set up tent and prepare dinner before the sun goes down because if you're camping in the summer, it will be light out quite late. But here, the sun sets at the same time every day, and it was quite a challenge to get set up and cook in the dark!
That evening, three hippos came right up to the electric fence around our campsite! They are such funny animals - grunting and munching under the stars. It was my first night to see the stars as well! It's been cloudy most nights, but it was finally clear, and the sky was very beautiful. Orion was in the middle rather than on the horizon, and all the stars sparkled beautifully looking up through the acacia trees. It was one of those evenings when I missed my favourite Kelsea a lot.
The next morning, we were woken up by a gazillion different birds chirping away. The campsite was lovely in the morning sun.
After a very tasty breakfast, we drove to Hell's Gate National Park. As soon as we drove through the gate into the park, we were greeted by three ostrich, who stayed in that same field all day to say goodbye as we left. Just around the bend, we came across a herd of buffalo, some thompson gazelle and a warthog family all together. I was so surprised to see how comfortable the animals are with eachother.
The rock formations were incredible there as well as the animals.
After the lovely drive, we arrived at the gorge where we could hike. I was fortunate to have my hiking boots as the gorge was a little muddy and the terain a bit of a challenging climb. The rocks were absolutely incredible. The way the water carved the rock was absolutely phenomenal.
I need to look up the type of rock when I get home - it's very soft almost like chalk and yellowish. Mwema carved his name into the rock the last time he was here, and he was actually able to find his name again!
Throughout the gorge were also many amazing hot springs - and "hot" was no exaggeration! I couldn't keep my hand in the water for more than a second!
The clouds started to gather and we heard thunder. It's a scary feeling to be in the base of a gorge with an impending rain storm, so we quickly headed out of the gorge. The view from the top was equally beautiful to that at the bottom. And we made it nearly all the way back before the large drops of rain started to fall. We had to run the last little bit to escape the rain, so now I can say that I have run with Kenyans - which means I must be really fast, right? I even piggybacked a Kenyan runner... (we can leave out the part about her being six years old, hehe)
We continued to drive through the park as it began to rain. Everything was just as lovely in the rain as it had been in the sunshine earlier that morning, and my skin appreciated the break from applying sunscreen every hour.
We saw a few more animals in the rain. Unfortunately, these giraffe were a little scared of these weird creatures holding umbrellas.
Here, they call pedestrian crossings on the road "zebra crossings" because of the painted stripes on the road. So of course, I had to photograph a zebra crossing :)
And we saw this hartbeast stuck on a very steep part of the hill trying to scramble up. He was so embarrassed to have been noticed in such an awkward position that he quicking sorted himself out and hurried to the top of the hill, where he glared at us for catching him at the wrong moment.
Eventually, the sun came out and there was a lovely rainbow over the mountains.
On the way out of the park, Jayna and Mwema practiced for their 16th birthday...
And a few baboons bid us fairwell at the gate.
Soon we were on our way back to our campsite for dinner. The landscape was so beautiful as we drove away.
The next morning, we got up early, packed up our tent and drove to Lake Nakuru. It's funny how quickly things become normal. We passed the usual cattle on the side of the road, donkeys with no obvious owner, 2 adults and 3 children all piled on one tiny motorcycle with the oldest child driving - and it doesn't stand out the same way it did when I first arrived. We were joking that when I go back to Canada, I'll see all these animals behind fences and think "Why can't those poor animals roam free across the roads at their leisure?"
With the bumpiness of the roads, my stomach had some trouble, but Mumo was very kind and let me drive to help my stomach feel better. So I got to try driving on the wrong side of the road through the busy streets and over the challenging roads in the park. Dave - with the way you navigate snow and ice, you would have had a lot of fun figuring out how to make it up the loose rock and dirt on steep hills.
The gate to Lake Nakuru was a bit tricky to find, but Mumo explained that the lack of signage is really a benefit to Kenyan culture - you have to stop and talk to people. You can't live your individual life without ever encountering another person. So we asked various people, and eventually found our way.
The parking lot was full of monkeys! They were quite skilled at sneaking into vehicles to steal food, so we had to be very careful. And we could see the lake right away through the trees!
Right inside the gate, we met two impalas. They must have seen Jayna and thought, "I'm going to impress the lovely lady over there", and they fought for quite some time.
Inside the park, we saw the most beautiful birds. The pelicans were hilarious - watching them try to take off, they'd flap their wings while falling and barely lifting their huge beaks and bodies into the air.
There were these odd looking green and purple birds too - I'm not sure how to classify them, hehe ;)
And these two watched all the festivities of the other birds with very disapproving looks.
We drove onwards over the bumpy roads to meet this lovely zebra.
Then we drove right into the middle of a huge herd of buffalo! There must have been more than a hundred. And they all just starred at this new green animal with wheels instead of legs.
We attempted to eat lunch at a place inhabited by baboons, but one of them jumped up into the car, scratched Irene and stole food right from her hand. So we moved on rather quickly.
As we drove on, we found a male impala with a whole group of ladies, so he didn't have to show off to Jayna this time.
We got a little lost on our way out, but this resulted in us finding 23 giraffes on one side of the road, a herd of buffalo on the other side of the road, and three ostrich crossing the road! The giraffe especially were so beautiful. It was wonderful to just stand on the side of the road looking at each other.
And finally, we had to go home. Our asking people for directions method led us on an intriguing pathway home. We ended up in a very pretty rural neighbourhood in the opposite direction of Nairobi... it was actually quite funny - we must have asked 10 people which way to go and they all pointed us in the opposite direction of Nairobi, lol. But we got to see a part of Kenya we'd never seen before, and in the end we made it home sleepy and content.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)