Figured this would be a nice easy way for me to keep up-to-date with any of you folks interested (that includes appeasing the family Fagan) whilst kinda sharing the SLT work I'll be doing with the SALTs/SLuTs/Speechlettes/other names I studied with at uni :) whilst keepin it logged for the future (boring I know!).
Sooo, will try and keep my first 2 weeks very brief so can be up-to-date!
15th - 16th Aug: Arrived in Nairobi, got accosted by numerous people wanting me to go on safari, ate far too much awesome food (chapati, curry, mandazi (like a donut), matoke (sweet potato in a kick-ass sauce) and much more.. In general the people of Nairobi are really friendly and the CBD (Central Business District) is pretty tiny (you can walk from one end to the other in 25 minutes) so I feel like I know Nairobi like the back of my hand already. Won't mean I'll be venturing out when the sun goes down though - everyone has warned me of taking taxis/tuk-tuks everywhere at night even if it's only a few blocks. Guess it's not called "Nairobbery" for no reason.
17th Aug: Met Rachael (my supervisor), who has been living in Vihiga (about 30 mins north from me by matatu - minivan/deathtrap) for 2 months and will stay for at least another year and also Isis who had just finished a 3 month stint in Mumias, nearish the Ugandan border. These 2 places along with mine (Kisumu) are the locations of the yellow house volunteers in Western Kenya. Went for a most excellent Ethopian chowdown to fill our bellys before our wee trip down to Mombasa and beyond.
19th Aug: Arrived in Mombasa - Mombasa is truly awesome; tiny bustling market passageways, amazing food (as per anywhere in Kenya really but here is a real mix from different cultures and countries), fort jesus and it's on the coast so can get some breeze whilst melting. Some of the friendliest people I have met so far were in and around Mombasa including a legend called Paul who I'll mention in a bit. The only lowlight was a "student volunteer" who took us around Fort Jesus for a bit than switched on us at the flick of a switch when we were like "thanks, we are alright by ourselves to go find somewhere to eat" and started swearing at us and threatening us: "Mombasa is very small you know", "Everyone knows me here" blah blah blah. We had to give him some money to cock off cos he was just following us and being pretty aggressive :( Had a big night out in Mombasa where we met some other SLT's based there and then went to "Florida" which we was told was a bit sleazy. We didnt quite expect the floor show/strip/women dry humping anything in sight and about 100 prostitutes in the bar/club - Rachael and Isis were the only woman not in the oldest profession in the world. We ended up having a pretty funny night drinking and dancing like idiots. Although Rach may be scarred for life after seeing a punter giving a note to a dancer who took it in the most unsavoury way imaginable. What a woman.
20th - 22nd: Tiwi beach - absolute paradise. We rented a cottage which was beautiful and surrounded by a million blue-balled monkeys (literally flourescent blue balls. Couldn't stop staring), cats, chickens, birds and ducks oddly enough. About 60 seconds walk to a pretty much secluded beach and 5 km from any shops. Was absolutely amazing. We self-catered ourselves into heaven, treating ourselves to some cheese and wine, cold beer (we had a fridge!! Something which I don't have anymore!) and fresh prawns from a fisherman. Gorgeous stuff.
22nd - 24th: Back from Tiwi, to Mombasa (1 night) and Nairobi (1 night). Special mention to Paul - the nicest man in Kenya - he offered us a lift from Tiwi not only to the ferry port but over the ferry and to our hostel in Mombasa as he was heading that way anyways. He was pulled over by coppers who thought he was illegally cabbying and we had to explain to the police that he wasnt takin money from us before he got let free to continue driving. On the way to ours he gave money to a homeless kid and stopped for an old dude to cross the road. Neither of these things are something you commonly see anyone do in Kenya. And then as he let us off he said not to give him money and to buy a cold soda instead. What. A. Nice. Guy.
25th: I arrive at my home!.... continued on next post!
Top 3 songs on Itunes shuffle whilst writing this:
1. Death - White Lies
2. Start a war - The National
3. Don't make me a target - Spoon
