A Day in the Life

I have finished my first week of classes and can now fill you in a little more on our routine :)

I get up at 6:30, have breakfast, usually Wheatabix and toast, with coffee, then take a shower (showering consists of one pot full of hot water, which the house-help Eda puts in my basin, and then I can add cold water from the spigot in the bathroom as a wish), and get ready to leave. I get a fresh Nalgene of treated water for the day, and then treat it again myself. I leave the house at 7:30 to meet with 5 others girls around the corner and we walk to school together~about a 45 minute walk.

We discovered this great coffee place called Java, we like to grab coffee again there in the morning if we aren't running too late. Its one of those spots that feels like home considering how much time we spend in coffee shops during the year, and it was nice to find after living without one all summer in Jonesville (wow I really sound like a coffee shop junkie, but I'll be honest, I love the place).

Class starts at 8:30 and we have three classes throughout the day. 8:30-10:30, a fifteen minute tea break, 10:45-12:45, a 45 minute lunch break and then one more class in the afternoon, 1:30-3:30. We don't find out which classes we will have in which time periods until the week before- they change slots week to week and it is a very different feel from the structure of UW.

After class we head home. On Mondays and Wednesdays we have decided to play soccer. About 20 of the 32 of us go, and usually some locals play too. Yesterday we played after class and the MSID staff came as well (and they are really good!). I'm a little rusty, but this is definitely my favorite way to exercise so I'm glad others are excited about it as well. The field we play on is all dirt, the grass has been grazed over by cows and they have also left behind unpleasant additions to the field. Sometimes the dust clouds are so think you can't see the rest of your team, but this seems to be a general trend across the city in the wake of no rain.

Speaking of the city...the neighborhood I live in is called Jamhuri. There is a main road between the University and Jamhuri called Ngong road. We walk for probably 2-3 miles down this paved road with varying sidewalks and then turn into Jamhuri which has lots of local vendors lining the streets. And the roads turn to dirt roads that would beach the Smart Car in a second. On our walks we are usually accompanied by herds of cattle, or goats, all grazing and fighting for what's left of the greenery here.

After school and soccer or shopping, we head home and are in for the night. We are not allowed to leave our homes after the sun sets. I live in a gated area and so do most other MSID students, we have a security guard on 24hours (the day guard always wears a Twins hat! though I dont think he understands my excitement ;)) Crime in the city is really bad, and muzungos are especially targeted, through we haven't had any problems so far. Street children will ask us for money, but one of the first things we learned to say was "Mimi ni mwanafunzi, sina pesa." or "I am a student, I have no money."

Last night we went out to Smart Village, the Ethiopian restaurant my host mom manages. There were about 20 of us, and we all shared food. Ethiopian food can be really spicy (especially for us Midwestern kids) but it is very good. Mama Tracy's boss also made us a cake which we all shared too. Afterwards we all shared cabs downtown to a restaurant with live music. The music was Kikuyo (one of Kenya's 42 tribes, and also the one my host mother descends from). I went home around midnight, as I usually go to bed around 9, and am also getting over a cold (some nasty sinus thing I picked up at the end of the week, but don't worry ma, no fever or anything so I'm pretty sure its just a cold). The cab driver who brought us home is pretty much the resident MSID driver, he is friends with the program staff and knows all about the program. A cab from downtown to the front door is only 400/= which is like $4, so not bad regardless, but especially when you split if four ways.

Last night my host father came home! Papa Tracy is a tour guide and is gone for days at a time so I had not met him yet. We sat and talked for quite a while and he is very nice. (Note for Pete: he said Tenant should check out Nakumat (the chain grocer/everything store here), and that they would hop on to the new technology. I mean I have no idea how this would play out but I thought I'd pass along the message).

Papa Tracy told me about a weekend long trip to one of the national state game parks where you camp in large tents that have beds provided for you, and that we would for sure see elephants and lions, so a few friends and I might to that in two weekends.

As for the upcoming weekend, the 21st will most likely be declared a national holiday (though they haven't declared it yet...) so celebrate the end of Ramadan. So we won't have class on Monday. The other students who had internships in Kisumu and I are thinking of going to the coast for a weekend, most likely the city of Mombassa. Papa Tracy said the beach is great, and it would be nice to be in some hot weather for a change.

With the early curfew I have a lot of time to read. I am in for the night at 6:30, and don't have too much homework (yet...) so I've already finished three books. If you have any recommendations, send them my way! Being able to read this much is fantastic, and because I think I read literally only 20 pages of one book all summer. Another contributing factor is that I am not so into the TV shows my family watches. They include: Storms over Paradise (a spanish soap opera dubbed back in English), and an east african rendition of American Idol, so yay, lots of ready time :)

I finally found out my address, it will be the same for the whole semester even though I move:
Marta Jewson
c/o MSID Kenya
PO Box 66731
00800 Westlands
Nairobi, Kenya

Thanks for reading!