The Last Post.

OK, make that one last blog entry next month! Well, I'm back in my house, back at school, back to "real life," and although it's really great to be home (and especially great to see my family, friends, and dog), there are definitely some things I miss about Nairobi and moments when I wish I was still in Kenya. But I'm so glad that I have this blog to remember my adventure by. I'm a terrible journal/diary-writer -- I've never been able to keep one up, so I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for reading and commenting and sending me e-mails about the blog. Knowing that you guys were reading it definitely helped me to keep it up, and now I have such a wonderful memento of my time in Africa. (Nobody's actually going see this thank you since I've been home for a month and I've seen most of you guys already, but I thought I'd still put it out there.)

So this officially ends my first foray into the blogosphere. My real life is just too boring and too busy for a blog (as evidenced by the ridiculous amount of time it took me to get my "last post" posted). But I definitely hope that I have another adventure worth blogging about sometime soon ...

erica-in-columbia

I'm back in the US (and very sleepy -- door-to-door from my friend's house in Nairobi to my parents' house in Columbia took about 30 hours)! Stay tuned for one last blog entry next week...

Leavin' on a jet plane (part II) ...

100 days, 30 blog entries, and 825 photographs later, I'm finishing up my final project at work and getting ready to head home! 24 full hours on airplanes and in airports, here I come -- type to you all from DC!

Reflections

Well, as I finish things up here at work and start to pack up all of my stuff, I’ve been thinking about the things I’m going to miss about Nairobi and the things that I’m really not going to miss about Nairobi. So …

Things that I will miss about Nairobi.

1. The people. First and foremost, I will miss all the great people that I got to know/live with/travel with while I was here, especially Eleonora, Joe, Annika, Gillian, and Kristina. I’ll miss all of our jokes about cheese pies, masks, peeling hard-boiled eggs, “Kenya time,” the bible, and the mystery of the disappearing mouthwash.

2. The National Parks. What can I say? Nairobi, Amboseli, Aberdare, Mt. Longonot, Ol Donyo Sabuk, Mt. Kenya – these are some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been. The hiking’s been amazing, the scenery’s been amazing, the wildlife’s been amazing. The only problem is going to be deciding which of my photos I should print when I get home – I have to remember that I don’t have unlimited money or wall space!

3. The newness/adventure. As much as I’m looking forward to getting back to my “real life” in DC, there’s something so wonderful about being in a place that’s entirely new and completely different than the places that you’re used to living. I also love those moments of recognition when you realize that something that was so recently utterly foreign/unknown to you becomes familiar (i.e. seeing a Maasai walking down the street in traditional dress next to a guy in a business suit). It’s also great to experience a different culture firsthand. And there’s something pretty exciting/gratifying about successfully navigating your way through such a crazy city!

4. Little things. Indian food, pineapple, mangoes, the chocolate cake at Nairobi Java House, just about everything at Trattoria, shopping in the markets, no homework and no TV (and therefore plenty of time to go to the gym), getting tanner, Tusker.

Things that I will not miss about Nairobi.

1. The dirt. The soil in Nairobi is so fine it’s more like dust than soil, so it gets on everything. Add to that the fact that the cars pollute like there’s no tomorrow (emissions laws, not so much), and people burn anything and everything (including plastic!) out in little piles in front of their houses. After I’m done washing my clothes and I spill out the water, I swear it looks like chocolate milk – it’s disgusting! I’d really hate to see what the inside of my lungs look like right now.

2. The safety thing. Even though I’ve gotten used to the fact that my house has bars on every window, a huge wall around it, and a 24-hour security guard, even though DC isn’t really the safest of cities, even though I live in a relatively safe part of Nairobi, and even though I’ve not yet had any experiences where I’ve been really scared about my safety, it’s always kind of in the back of my mind. Shit happens here, and it’s happened to people I know while I’ve been here. I’m definitely looking forward to being home and just feeling a little more comfortable about my surroundings. Anyway, here’s hoping for an uneventful next 2.5 days!

3. The mzungu thing. Being a mzungu here, I feel so many conflicting emotions. On one hand, I feel so guilty to be so fortunate when there are so many people around me who are struggling to make ends meet. On the other hand, I hate that so many people try to take advantage of me/rip me off just because I’m mzungu. I hate that we live in a world where there’s such inequality that I can totally understand why someone who sees me wants to try and get some money from me. I hate that I’ve become a bit suspicious and quick to jump to conclusions that just because a lot of people are actually trying to take advantage of me/rip me off that that everyone must be trying to take advantage of me/rip me off. I hate that I don’t know what to do to try and make things better. For now, I’m going to be more vigilant about buying fair trade products when I get home, but that just seems like such a small drop in the bucket.

4. Little things. Mosquitoes, lack of good cheese that doesn’t cost a fortune (the imported cheese is so expensive domestic stuff is pretty tasteless), the international fee my bank charges me every time I go to the ATM, getting blonder (seriously, the sun is totally bleaching my hair – I’ll have to dye it brown when I get home), pretty much having one choice of beer (Tusker).

Things that I’m not sure whether or not I’ll miss about Nairobi.

1. Working for the UN. On one hand, I’ve been able to work on some really interesting projects this summer, and I really enjoyed working with my supervisor and the other people in my division. Plus, I have to admit, it is kind of cool to walk through the gates at the UN every morning and think to yourself, “hey, I work here.” On the other hand, this summer has made me a bit less optimistic about the capability of international law to solve environmental problems. I can’t exactly put my finger on what it is that’s made me feel this way, and I’m certainly not going to stop trying, but I just feel like I’m leaving here a little more pessimistic than I was when I got here. (I do generally go through peaks and valleys of optimism and pessimism about our ability to stop environmental degradation, so it could just be that I’m in a bit of a valley right now.)

2. Nairobi (the city center). Actually, it’s not that I’m not sure, it’s just that I’ll miss it and I won’t miss it. Going downtown is a good way to get an adrenaline rush – it’s exciting and crazy and busy. It’s also exhausting – the downside of crazy and busy. And to be honest, it doesn’t smell that great (see car emissions and burning trash, above). Anyway, there’s really no part of DC that I feel like I need to psyche myself up to go to, but there’s also no part of DC that I feel like, “woohoo, I made it, go me!” after I get back home.

3. Little things. The geckos in my house (on one hand, they’re cute and they eat the mosquitoes, on the other hand, they’re geckos in my house), the ginormous hill going down to my house (on one hand, it’s really annoying to have to hike up such a huge hill every time I leave my house, on the other hand, my glutes are in much better shape than they were when I got here), the weather (on one hand, I’m glad that once again, I missed the humidity and grossness of DC in the summer, on the other hand, it’s been pretty chilly here – it is winter – so I feel like I got a bit robbed of a summer this year).

Overall, I’m just really glad that I had this experience and I can’t wait to see all of you East Coasters soon!

Last Trip

Last weekend, my roommates and I went on one last trip of the summer. We went to Tiwi Beach, just south of Mombasa and had a really great time. We rented a little cottage that was practically right on the beach, it wasn't very crowded, the weather was beautiful, and the water was perfect.

On this trip, the excitement came from getting to the beach, not by actually being at the beach. We decided to take the night train from Nairobi to Mombasa -- a lot of people have said that it's a really fun experience -- you get a sleeping compartment for 2 or 4 people, there's a dining car for breakfast and dinner, it's a lot cheaper than flying, and it's a lot more enjoyable than taking the bus. The only problem is, the train is notorious for being late -- really late -- but we decided to take our chances, and we got lucky, we were only about 2 hours late getting into Mombasa (which is practically on time for the Nairobi-Mombasa train).

The excitement part actually didn't happen to me, but to my friends Isaac and Cookie. They both did Peace Corps here in Kenya a few years ago and came back for a quick vacation before school starts in a couple of weeks. They were also headed to Tiwi Beach, and had a compartment a couple of cars away from ours. Around 4:00 in the morning, I woke up and noticed that we had stopped, and it was about 1/2 an hour before we started moving again. I didn't really think much of it at the time, but when we saw Isaac and Cookie the next morning, Isaac told us that the reason the train had stopped was that he had caught a guy hanging off of the roof of the train with his head and arms inside their compartment, reaching for Isaac's bag! Isaac yelled at the guy, the guy ran away (luckily he didn't have a chance to take anything), and they stopped the train so that they could look for the guy and anyone else stowing away on the roof!!

Now Lonely Planet Kenya warned that this could happen if your window wasn't closed tightly. And Lonely Planet (a.k.a. "the bible"), is really almost never wrong, but it was still pretty nuts to actually have something like that happen on our train and to someone I know!

After that, it was a very chill weekend -- a great last trip of the summer. I guess there was a little excitement when some monkeys broke into our cottage and ate some of the mangoes we had bought from the guy who came to our door every morning to sell fresh fruit and vegtables. Why is it that monkeys seem like such cute, sweet animals until you spend any time at all around them, and then all you think is, "damn monkeys!!!"? Also, I managed to twist my ankle on an early morning jog down the beach one day. Luckily it wasn't very bad -- no need for doctors, crutches, or x-rays, thank goodness -- but just once, I would like to get through the month of August completely unscathed!!

We decided to take the bus back to Nairobi, so that we wouldn't have to worry about getting to work late the next day if the train was really delayed. The bus trip was uneventful but with the bad roads and the hyperactive children sitting in front of us, I have to say that 14 hours on the train was much more enjoyable than 9 hours on the bus. However, there was no one hanging off the roof to try and steal anything from us.


Chilling in our train compartment before dinner.


View from the train as we approached Mombasa.


Palm trees!


Our cottage. (Photo courtesy of Eleonora.)


One of the most beautiful sunrises I've seen in a long time. (Well, since Mt. Kenya, anyway) .

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Unfortunately, I didn't have phone/e-mail access on my dad's actual birthday (the photo below should give you a clue about where I was), so let me take a moment to say (a few days late) ...


More on my trip -- my last one of the summer (!) -- soon, but for now I've got to get to work. I've just got a week and a half left to go and still have a few things I need to finish up.

Day 4 – Homeward Bound

Distance hiked – 8 km (5 miles)

The reason that we had the descending route almost entirely to ourselves is that the bottom part is really, really muddy. It’s also too far to hike in one day with nowhere to camp along the way, so you have to hike out part of the way and then get picked up by a four wheel drive vehicle to pick you up and take you out to Meru, where you then get on a minibus for the 3-hour drive back to Nairobi.

So we walked for a couple of hours through a bamboo forest, keeping an ear out for elephants as we did. We didn’t see any, but one group of hikers had run into one on the way up (luckily it didn’t charge). The weather was great and I think that wind through bamboo is one of the most beautiful and peaceful sounds there is.

Unfortunately, before we knew it, we met up with an old Land Cruiser, and it was time to start the bumpy ride out to Meru. At that point, we met up with another hiker and his guide and porter, so it was a really, really tight squeeze. There was absolutely no air moving in the back where I was sitting, and my infamous motion sickness started to kick in – it wasn’t quite as bad as the ferry from Zanzibar to Dar es Salaam, but it was close. So we stopped so I could sit in the front with the driver where there was a little bit of air moving, and that made a huge difference.

The trip was long and so, so bumpy – I think that some of the ruts were over a foot deep. We only got one flat tire, though, and eventually we made it to Meru, stopped for lunch, and then got in another minibus to head back to Nairobi. Even with the bumpy ride, I’m glad we decided to take this route out – it was so beautiful.

This experience was by far the most amazing that I’ve had here in Kenya, and it definitely ranks up there in terms of life experiences in general. That said, it was nice to be home in Nairobi, take a long hot shower, drink water that didn’t taste like the iodine puritabs we’d been adding to stream and lake water for the past couple of days, and sleep in my nice warm bed!

We passed this sign as we were hiking. Could someone explain to me just exactly how you’re supposed to yield the right of way to a wild animal? (We didn't see any, by the way, but we saw a lot of elephant and buffalo droppings. And yes, I've now seen so many that I can differentiate the two.)

Stopping to change the flat tire. I'm on the left in the pink shirt, and quite frankly, just glad to be out of the vehicle for a while. (Photo courtesy of Eleonora.)

OK, well after that marathon of blogging, I don’t really have too much more to say right now, so type to you sometime next week. Have a great weekend, everyone!