AMBOSELI !

Hi everyone! I am back at the compound in Nairobi and finishing up my last 2 weeks of classes - it's going to be a long few weeks because we all have so many projects, presentations, and papers due all at the same time.

Anyways, we just got back from a weekend on the beach in Mombasa - it was amazing - we had a house right on the beach with a cook who made us lots of meals with the local seafood. We had time to relax and enjoy ourselves. One day we went snorkeling and went on camel rides on the beach. The rest of the time we spent in the ocean and pool.

Before Mombasa we spent 9 days in Amboseli where we lived at the Maasai Study Center near the Amboseli National Park at the bottom of Mt. Kilimanjaro. The trip was incredible - we really got to see how the Maasai live - and it wasn't a tourist experience at all. The Maasai land has been decreased over the years by the governemt, now the land is broken up into a handful of community ranches. Each ranch has a council of members that make decisions for everyone living there. Each person owns their own animals (they are traditionally pastoralists - but now some are converting to agriculture) and they share the land they use for grazing. Some of the ranches are now trying to sub-divide so that each person will own a separate piece of land - it was very interesting talking to different kinds of people about this matter. We stayed in the study center which is on the Kuku Ranch. The study center has a main open-air lodge for eating and lectures, and we all slept in separate tents. The tents had screens on all sides - I felt like I was literally sleeping outside - it was a little intimidating after realizing that all the animals of the area roam freely at night - the parks do not have fences at all!!

One morning we walked to school with local children who have to wake up at 4am and walk many miles to school that starts at 7:30am. It was rough getting up at 4:30 - but I learned so much walking with the kids to school and then talking to more of them once we got there. Another day we played soccer with them - they had their best players play against us - so naturally they won. We also spent time visiting the village market and talking with local farmers who constantly are annoyed with wildlife from the parks (especially elephants!!) getting into their crops. Towards the end of the week we split into groups of 2 and went on a home-stay with a Maasai family. This was probably the biggest challenge I have faced so far on this trip (besides my ankle). Jessie and I stayed with James, a man who works at the study center, and his family. He (38) has a 22 year old wife named Grace and 4 girls. Jessie and I followed his wife around for 2 days doing all the things that a 'real' Maasai woman does. MEN JUST SIT AROUND! We collected wood one afternoon - which involved climbing all over hills and through brush collecting sticks that had thorns all over them. We strapped all the wood into a bunch and hung it over our backs by holding the bundle with a string attached to our head like a head-band. We also cut lots of veggies, washed dishes, helped Grace cook, collected water from a nearby stream, watched the goats, made jewelry with the other women who live near James (all the homes together in one area make up a Boma) -and SMEARED THE HOUSE WITH COW DUNG! One morning James told us to follow Grace into the area where the cows slept. We had to pick up the freshest cow dung we could find WITH OUR HANDS and bring it back to the house and make a huge pile. Then we had to mix the pile with water and smear it all over the house to fix the cracks in the walls. At night Jessie and I slept in a hut by ourselves with 8 goats. James said some of the goats come in the huts at night because it is too dangerous / cold for them outside. Picture this though - each hut is only the size of a big car! I couldn't fully stand up in it. We slept on a bed of sticks and cow hide and tried to sleep as we listened to goats making noises and peeing all night. The huts are very warm all the time because they have no windows. It was a rough night - but I made it and I am really glad I got to experience Maasai life.

When we were not learning about the Maasai, we were out on Safari. We went on 2 day long safaris in Amboseli National Park, and another evening drive in a sanctuary near the study center. We saw so many animals - and it was so much more exciting to see them in their natural environment and not in a zoo. We saw elephants everywhere (the park has an over-population problem), also wildebeest, zebra, warthogs, cheetah, hyena, ostrich.......so so many animals. On our second Safari day we really wanted to see a lion - and my safari truck was the only one that got to see 2 male lions up close right next to the road. We watched them for a few minutes and then they walked off into the grass to stalk prey - it was unbelievable! I never got tired of seeing all the animals! Everywhere you looked there were more, and many of them co-exist peacefully together.

Here are some pictures:

* My Maasai host family + more + Jessie

* Making jewelry

* Mixing the cow dung with water - almost ready to smear the house

* Vultures eating a dead animal

* LION!

* Me with giraffe

* Giraffe

* School we walked to and also played soccer at

* School kids

* Me with Maasai women after dancing with them

* On a hill overlooking Amboseli National Park

* Cheetah

* On top of safari truck

* Hyena

* Wildebeest

* Mt. Kilimanjaro

Hope you are all having a great fall! Talk to you soon!

A little more from my week in Tanzania...

While the internet is working ok at the compound and I continue to procrastinate because I have a paper due tonight, I decided to upload a few more pictures from my Tanzania trip. Here are some simple descriptions starting from the top: view of the sunrise from the big rock we had class on and spent a lot of time on, me kind of climbing the Baobab tree ( I couldn't go all the way because of my ankle), having breakfast at camp with my 2 tent mates (Jane and Amelia), a week of being DIRTY, learning how to shoot our bow and arrow from a Hadza man (I am right behind him), drinking the goat blood after the slaughtering!!, a cool lizard we saw on a hike over the mountain and into the valley to the Hadza camp, sitting on the rock at camp watching the sunrise at 6am, and all of us carving our arrows under a Baobab tree with the Hadza men - hope you like them!

Here are some more pictures - 2 from the park - the lions and a picture with the boys along the path - also a few family pictures - my mom is in the blue shirt sitting down with me standing up and there are fun pictures of the boys - enjoy!

* Urban Homestay in Nairobi *

Some pictures from my urban homestay in Nairobi. I lived with a family for 3 weeks while I took classes at the United Kenya Club in the city with the rest of the students. Some people lived in pairs with families, but I was alone, which was nice, I got to know my family really well. Every weekday morning my mom would drive me into the city for my first class, Swahili, and then she would go to her job at the International Committee of the Red Cross. My 2 younger brothers, 7 & 8 would be driven to school by their dad, who works at a big insurance company in the city as well. We would all eat breakfast together and then leave the house by 7am to try and beat the morning traffic. Traffic is a big problem in Nairobi - no one follows traffic laws and cars are everywhere on the road. During the day in the city I would take classes and in between I would go into the city for lunch or shopping, swim laps at the YMCA pool near where I took classes, or do work in the library at the UKC. Mom picked me up each day at the UKC around 5:30pm, and we would drive home or stop on the way to do errands. We all ate dinner around 7:30pm and then I would play with the boys or do homework. I had my own room in the house and the boys loved to come in and play with all my things or watch me do homework. The first few nights I was attacked my mosquitoes and woke up with huge welts on my face and arms, so the 3rd night I asked for a net over my bed, which made the rest of the stay a lot better. I lived with the Ouma's for 2 weekends. One Saturday we went swimming at a beautiful hotel pool in the city and I helped the boys with their front crawl. Each Sunday we went to Church and then spent time with my mom's sisters who live around the city. We went to her sister's for tea one Sunday and another day we went shopping with 2 of her sisters for clothes. One Saturday night I took a taxi by myself from the house to meet up with the rest of the students at a popular club called Galileo in the city. It was so much fun and we danced to a live band who played songs we all knew by Paul Simon. It was a little scary at first to take my first taxi alone into the city, but once I was there I was fine. As long as you are aware of your surroundings in the city and be smart about what you do at night, you can keep yourself very safe. Another Saturday I went to the Maasai Market with my mom to buy small gifts and souvenirs and I bartered for everything I bought. The sellers are so pushy and grab white people who they assume are tourists with lots of money. I used some of the Swahili I have learned and bartered their prices way down. Sellers would start with ridiculous prices, like 5,000 shillings, and I would get them down to 100. Mom said she was very impressed with my bartering and said that she usually gives up with sellers and gets too impatient to barter. Later that day I went with my mom to the wedding of a woman she works with. It was amazing to see how Kenyans organize weddings and the different traditions that take place. Everyone was dressed in bright clothing and there was a lot of dancing and singing - I felt very lucky to be able to see a Kenyan wedding. I was the only mzungu (white person) there. One Wednesday I didn't have classes because the government of Kenya issued a national holiday (October 1) to celebrate the end of Ramadan for the Muslim community. The whole month of September is spent fasting, and October 1st is usually announced as a holiday for Muslims to get together to feast and spend time together. That day my family took me to the Nairobi National Park to go on the nature walk. I was surprised when we saw all kinds of animals - rhinos, zebras, leopards, and lions! Each Friday all of us students only had Swahili class in the morning and then we did "urban activities". One Friday we went to Kibera, the biggest slum in Africa, which I right outside the city. There we split into groups and got to visit community development projects that are taking place there. I visited a business called Smolfish which is run by a young man from Kibera. Smolfish produces kikoy cloth products and weaves all the cloth by hand and sells everything to shops in Nairobi. The business helps Kibera by employing people from the slum and giving money back to the community. There are 2 pictures from Smolfish - one of me using the pedal machine to wind yarn, and another with all the workers and my group with our finished products that we got to take home that day. Another Friday we went to the UN delegation in Nairobi and we visited with people from a section of the UN called UN Habitat, which is working with the youth of Nairobi (especially the ones from the slums) to improve employment and education rates and provide them with options for their futures. It was interesting to see the connections between the trip to Kibera and to the UN - both trips worked to show us how change is taking place in the city for the less fortunate.

During the 3 weeks I ate great food - every night was something different. I was given a cooking lesson one night . I learned how to make chapati and ndengu, and I was surprised when she let me do most of the work. I can't wait to cook the meal at home - delicious!

On my last night we got take-out Indian food - my mom said I couldn't leave without having it - Nairobi has amazing Indian!! I gave the family the gifts I had brought for them and also a chocolate cake. When I left after my 3 weeks I promised the boys I would write to them and we would be pen pals - they were so sad to see me leave - very cute. I look forward to keeping in touch with the family.

I have included some pictures from my 3 weeks - enjoy!

Today is Sunday October12 - I got back to the compound on Friday and we all spent the weekend catching up and relaxing - and also writing a big paper that is a culmination of our 2 homestays - rural and urban. Tomorrow, Monday, we leave early for Amboseli, where we will stay for 9 days learning from the Maasai people, who are pastoralists, and going on a few different game drives (safaris!) to see all the animals of Amboseli. Amboseli is known for awesome game viewing and is a beautiful location at the base of Mt. Kilimanjaro. When we return to the compound next Wednesday - we pack again - and then Thursday we leave (just the students by ourselves) to fly to Mombasa for 4 days to stay on the beach and relax for our midsemester break. Talk to you in a few weeks!!