#6: Nairobi, Mombasa area, & Muguga, Kenya

Long time, no blog entry. I just got back from fieldwork at the coast last night and didn’t have internet access during the week, so that’s the reason. I actually still don’t have internet access – it’s Sunday, 29 May and despite having keys to the office, I still can’t get online because the internet is down. Nevertheless, now is a good time to give a run through of the last week. A lot went on; I’ll try to just give the highlights.

Saturday, 21 May: Bryson, Pat, and I made our first excursion into Nairobi without a driver. This means we took matatus, these privately owned vans that act as public transportation. Catching the one into Nairobi wasn’t so difficult because we just had to catch it from Nderi, the town right down the road. We went into the city to go to the animal orphanage and meet up with some other SPEA students. The animal orphanage is right by Nairobi National Park so there’s a ton of different monkeys and baboons running around. A guy who worked there offered to get us photos with cheetahs for $10 as the “local price” (he said it costs $500 with a receipt, i.e. officially). A handful in our group agreed to do it. We had to wait, though, for them to feed the cheetahs while the boss was out of sight. In the meantime, the guy got some of the monkeys that were running around to sit on our shoulders. That was nice for me, because even though I opted out of paying for the cheetah photo, I still got to buddy up with a monkey. Also, I got to go into the cheetah cage and take photos of the others with cheetahs and get a few photos of the animals without a fence in between.

After the animal orphanage we went to eat and then proceeded to head back to our place at KEFRI before it got too dark. Finding the right matatu home was a pain! We had to ask about fifteen people at least to find the right matatu number and then to find where this matatu picked up passengers. I doubt I will ever be a master of matatus. It was fun to ride back as it was getting dark because matatu drivers like to add some bling to their vehicles – a lot of them have black lights inside and play music so it’s like a mini party for the evening ride. Silly.

Sunday, 22 May: Pat and I were picked up by George, our driver, and Sammy (fellow intern) for the drive to Mombasa on the coast – about an eight hour trip. Once we got into Nairobi we picked up Rosemary, another KEFRI intern (though she is older with grown children – she went back to university). Pat, Rosemary, and I were squashed into the pack of the truck for the drive so it wasn’t terribly comfortable. However, the drive was cool because the scenery was really great. Not too long after we got beyond Nairobi, I spotted two giraffes (twigas!) just munching on some leaves! We also saw baboons and zebras. For the zebras we managed to stop and get photos. There were also tons of baobab trees.

We drove through Tsavo National Park too. As we got closer and closer to the coast the change in temperature was quite noticeable – it is actually pretty cool around here near Nairobi because of the altitude, but it is really hot on the coast. We checked into a hotel for a good price – 600 Shillings (about $7) for bed and breakfast. We ended up staying at this place for all but one night.

Monday, 23 May: We met up with the coast contingent of the fieldwork team and started off. The project was an assessment of traditional knowledge and how it may be used to deal with climate change and how/whether this is reflected in policy. We drove out to Kaloleni, which was quite a drive. It had been raining so we plowed through bumpy muddy roads for at least an hour. First we interviewed both the agricultural and livestock officers of the district. Then we drove a bit more to meet with a group of farmers and a group of livestock keepers. Even though these last two meetings were conducted in Swahili so I couldn’t understand much, I found them to be the most interesting. It was neat to see how these people live, because it is so different from what I’m used to.

These guys are the livestock keepers we interviewed. Both groups of people were really friendly and laughed a lot during the interviews, so it was fun. It was also neat to see all of the different animals wandering around at the livestock keepers’ place. However, I did see a few kids with distended bellies there, which was pretty depressing. It is disconcerting to think that the value of goods I had on my body at the time (namely my laptop and camera) could feed these kids for probably a couple of years.

Tuesday, 24 May: We got off to a later start this day because the car being used by the other group had to be serviced in the morning. In the meantime, Pat, Sammy, George, and I hung out in Mariakani, a town not too far from Mombasa. While we were there, George bought himself a new Swahili hat because his was worn out and he bought one for me too! Silly, but fun. Once the other vehicle was ready we set off for Kaya Fungo. Kayas are the sacred forests of the Mijikenda, an indigenous group along the coast. It depends on the Kaya, but most are off limits except to the elders, who govern them and give permission to enter. A number of them have been gazetted by the National Museums of Kenya in an effort to preserve them, and some are also UNESCO World Heritage Sites. There are a bunch of superstitions surrounding Kayas, so people don’t destroy them partially out of fear. However, a lot of these beliefs are now weakening. Anyway, we met with a group of elders outside of Kaya Fungo. Again, the interview was conducted in Swahili so I couldn’t understand much but the guys were pretty friendly.

I had to cover my hair and wear a long skirt because women are supposed to do so and are often not allowed at all into certain parts of the Kayas. We didn’t go into this Kaya, but it seemed like it has held up fairly well so far. The people around looked quite poor but it seems like the traditions surrounding the Kayas have stuck around so far there. After meeting with the elders we then met with the district forest officer, which concluded the day’s work.

Wednesday, 25 May: We started off quite early to journey to the South Coast, which involves crossing over on a ferry. Once we got there we ate some breakfast and then I had to buy a lesso (a colorful fabric worn by women) to cover myself with for meeting the next group of elders at Kaya Kinondo. We met in a building right by the forest, which is now host to an ecotourism project supported by WWF. First we interviewed a group of fishermen, then a group of farmers, and then the elders (again, in Swahili). After this, Pat, Sammy, and I took a tour of Kaya Kinondo. Like I mentioned, it has been developed into an ecotourism project so we paid for a tour. The rules were basically: be respectful, don’t engage in any inappropriate behavior, don’t take anything from the forest, don’t take any photos in one particular part of the forest, and wear these black skirt things they had. The tour was interesting and our guide showed us a lot of trees and plants and their different uses (there was a leaf you could sniff to clear up colds, for example). We also got to swing on a vine.

There are endangered Colobus monkeys in the area and we were lucky enough to see a number of them. I could tell that the traditions and the superstitions surrounding the Kaya in this area were a lot weaker (the elders were a lot younger than the other group too), so the ecotourism project is a new effort to protect the Kaya by putting monetary value on its preservation. After all of this, we had dinner at a nyama choma place (yet again… nyama choma is this type of grilled meat and the only stuff I can eat at these joints is french fries and this local vegetable kind of like kale so I had an awful lot of that) and hung out. Bryson and Rox (another KEFRI intern and our boss’s daughter) joined us that night, having taken the bus from Nairobi. We overnighted there at the South Coast.

Thursday, 26 May: We finished up our work on the South Coast, interviewing the district agricultural officer in the morning. Then, part of the team travelled to interview the fisheries officer but a group of us stayed behind to save on fuel. This was nice though, because we got to go to the beach! My first time to the Indian Ocean and now I have visited all oceans (if you don't count the optional Southern Ocean), alright. It was very pretty.

Hawkers kept coming up to us and were super persistent, which got pretty old pretty quickly. This is one of the drawbacks of being white around here I guess, though it’s understandable. We weren’t the only mzungus around though like we usually are because the coast has a bunch of tourists and a lot of (often Italian) investors. That afternoon we interviewed the district forester. A common theme among the officers was that they were working to introduce “new and improved” more efficient crop varieties, which weren’t always being taken up by the local people because they preferred to stick to their traditional crops (“out of ignorance,” according to one officer). Also, a lot of the policy seems to be directed nationally, without much in the way of local bylaws to adapt to the conditions of the region, though there are some. Furthermore, a lot of the officers hadn’t been stationed long in their areas, so while they may have been knowledgeable about their subject area, they didn’t know much about the local traditions. It seemed from our interviews with the different locals that climate change (or at least pressure on resources and changes in weather patterns) was being felt in certain ways. There is traditional knowledge that exists and some (like crop storage methods) could be used to help deal with the effects of climate change. I still need to go over my notes and get English ones on some of the Swahili interviews to speak more intelligently on the subject though.

After all of this, we drove back to the hotel we had been staying at in Mtwapa, outside of Mombasa, and hung out there. This was quite a nice place to stay overall, despite the lack of mirrors in my room, haha. We got to have breakfast on the roof and also hung out there during the evenings. It was really pleasant with a nice view.

Friday, 27 May: The group congregated in the morning to discuss our preliminary thoughts about our work. This didn’t last long, and then we went to lunch. Bryson especially wanted to get seafood but it is impossible to get if you’re on a budget, apparently. Most of the catch is either exported or sold to resort hotels so you can’t get it at normal restaurants. It seems to be similar to the coffee situation – Kenya grows a lot of good coffee but the only coffee I’ve seen here is Nescafe. The coffee beans are exported and roasted elsewhere because there is more money in that. I guess it’s the same with seafood, even along the coast. After eating we went back to our hotel and then went to the beach. This time I got to swim (and in doing so avoided the hawkers). The water was quite warm. Then we hung out on the roof of the hotel again. During these roof hang outs I spoke a fair amount with George, and he gave me the Swahili name “Kadzu.” I think this is because I am about the same age as one of his daughters, and his wife comes from a place called that, so that’s a name he would give to a daughter of his, or something. I also spoke for a while with Rosemary, who is a very nice lady. It is cool to learn about people’s lives because the way they grew up is so different from what I am familiar with. After hanging out we went to eat, and then crossed the street to look inside this club called Lambada. It was free entry for women (and 100 Shillings for men, haha) so we just popped in to look – there is a swimming pool in the middle of the bar area and we wanted to see. There are a lot of prostitutes around, though as many at this time because it is the tourist off season. After peeking in the place, I went back to the hotel to go to bed.

Saturday, 28 May: I don’t have much to say about this day other than that we drove back because, unfortunately, I’m sick. I had started to feel properly unwell the night before, and by the time I woke up I was sure I had a fever. The drive back, therefore, was pretty miserable for me because I kept having fever/chills, but because of my state I did get to sit up front. We got back around 8:30pm or something and I didn’t watch the Champions League match because I thought it would be best for me to go to bed (and Man Utd lost anyway). The Kenyans I was with said that my symptoms sounded like malaria, but hopefully not (I have gotten a ton of mosquito bites but also have been dutifully been taking my malaria pills daily); there is a good chance I could have had bad food or water too (it’s quite dirty there, trash and flies everywhere).

Today I think I am a bit better. I have been taken meds to keep down my fever which I think has helped and I don’t feel nearly as weak as I did yesterday (then it was a real struggle just to walk around). I have also been drinking a ton of water. Yesterday I was a bit frightened that I would have to go to the doctor because I really haven’t felt that badly in years and years, but since I’m no worse (and probably a bit better) today, I think I’ll hold off until tomorrow at least. If I still feel bad, I can go to the KEFRI clinic. In the meantime, I’m taking it easy today. Bryson and Pat went into Nairobi to pick up groceries but I didn’t feel up for that so I stayed behind. I finished my book (The Bad Girl by Mario Vargas Llosa, continuing my kick of Latin American lit).  We’ll see how I feel tomorrow. Hopefully the internet will be back up so I can finally post this blog entry too! Sorry it’s so long, hah. I guess that’s what happens when you’re doing interesting things with no internet!

#5: Muguga, Kenya

Hello again. Back at work, waiting for someone to give me a call after their internet is fixed so we can discuss next week's plans. Then I'll have more to do, yay.

Yesterday at work I wasn't up to much at work other than proof-reading something and adding some questions to a tool that will be used next week for a study of coastal communities and climate change. So there was more sitting and investigating music stuff online without being able to watch/listen (no videos or downloading, sad).

Here is a picture of the outside of KEFRI. We walked back from work to where we are staying yesterday and on the way we saw a ton of monkeys! There was a group of them in the trees by the road. I managed to grab my camera out of my bag and get a photo, but it's not great because by that time the monkeys had run further away. A mission: get a good monkey photo!

Also, walking back we had a brief photo stop in this field which is quite close to where we've been staying. It was nice because the sun was setting and there were these purple flowers. I really hope I don't rip my skirt tramping around, haha. I don't have many work clothes! We played some frisbee, which apparently doesn't exist around here because people (and the dogs) were curious about what we were doing. One of the guys who saw us playing invited us inside of the main building of the place we're staying at, which has a mini club for members. A bunch of older guys were there who work for the institutions in this area (there are also the agricultural and veterinary research institutes) and are pretty important people. They spent awhile talking with us. It was very interesting and all of them were very friendly and helpful. They told us about their backgrounds and their work, asked us questions about U.S. politics, talked about Kenyan politics, and answered a bunch of questions we had - both logistical and stemming from curiosity. I found out that our water comes from bore holes up here because there is no river nearby. Like I said, they were very outgoing and welcoming. People always seem curious about what we think about Kenya when we tell them it is our first time in the country.

When we left the Muguga club to walk back to our rooms the moon looked awesome. Not long after, bed.

Today, however, there has been more activity. First of all, this morning our driver told us to talk to the staff of where we're staying because word got around that we had been taking cold showers. Apparently we were supposed to have hot water the whole time! They said they would look into it. Then, our boss came into work and took us to talk to a lady who works on enterprise here. They arranged for us to move down here tomorrow! They are clearing out some rooms in the guesthouse which is not being renovated like the normal accommodations. This will be nice - it will be cheaper, we'll have more access to food, it will be right by work, etc. Also, we talked a little more about the projects we will be involved in. Like I said, I should be speaking soon with someone about next week so we'll see what happens. But it seems like things are picking up!

This weekend I think we are going to try to make the trek into Nairobi. This will involve taking a matatu. Matatus are these buses that people use for transportation, but they are privately owned so there are no set time tables. They run certain routes, but I think you just have to figure them out because they are not published anywhere, haha. Interestingly, they even charge different rates depending on the weather! I think it typically costs around $1 to get from here to Nairobi, so they are pretty cheap. Should be an adventure! We haven't made specific plans yet, but it will be fun to go do something.

So, new accommodations starting tomorrow and more work soon! More details once they are straightened out. Ta for now.

#4: Muguga, Kenya

Success! Internet on my laptop! Just at work for now, but still. This means (now that I still don't have any specific work to do) that I can finally upload some photos. I took a ton but I don't want to overload this thing, so here are a select few plus a couple of stories.

This photo is from our walk on Saturday. It's a pretty typical view of the side of the road on the walk down from where we are staying to work at KEFRI, unless there's forest.

This is where we are staying. Each of those cottages have several separate rooms.

And here are some from our Sunday hike. We walked back down to the field we discovered by accident to check out the widowbirds and see what else there was. We walked to the field, through the field, and through the forest and took tons of photos. There was a bunch of people about, probably because they just got out of church. We walked past a big gathering who had come out for a soccer match at a field nearby, some with vuvuzelas in hand.

I ran into these girls as we were walking to the field. They kept waving and saying hi so I approached them and asked if they wanted their photo taken. They said yes so I took a few and showed them and they seemed pleased. Later on we ran into some people who, when they saw us, actually asked to have their photos taken.

Hallo! By the big field. Someone told us it is used for hay. This is the home of the multitudes of widowbirds.

Descending into the field from the road.

These kids waited like five minutes for us to move up the trail to where they were. Then I chatted a little bit with them and took some photos. They said they wanted a photo with me too, so here is our funny face photo.

Yesterday we went to work (and saw two monkeys on the drive!) and met our boss. Like I said, we still don't have a set schedule but it sounds like we'll be doing some cool things soon, including some field work. Bryson and I wanted to get modems so we could have internet on our laptops back where we are staying, so we rode along with our boss to Nairobi where he had a meeting and were dropped off at a mall in a suburb of the city called Karen. This mall could have been anywhere - there was even an Apple store. We also weren't the only white people around. We picked up modems and then went to a bookstore and got some books for entertainment, and also picked up some snacks from a big grocery/everything store. Then we got some Indian food at the food court for dinner. After that we were picked up and taken back. The drive to Nairobi is pretty terrible. I got a headache from the exhaust - most of the cars are really old and just spew black stuff everywhere. Not pleasant. Also I would never dare to drive here, people cut so close to you and what is meant to be one lane is usually two. But we listened to an interesting program on the way back called "Busted!" or something like that and had some laughs. Alas, when we got back to our place neither of our modems would work. Fail. I have my receipt, though, so hopefully that can get worked out soonish.

Also, yesterday we discovered the cafeteria here - my lunch cost less than fifty cents and was more than I could eat. The strategy is to load up on breakfast at our place, lunch here at work, and then have snacks for dinner. We got hot chocolate today for breakfast which was also exciting.

In other news, I just preordered the new Patrick Wolf CD + bonus disk... a bit much since I'm ordering it from Britain but oh well. Too bad I won't get my hands on it until the end of August! I get a free song download with it too but can't download it right now. Oh well.

Anyway, I'll probably grab lunch soonish. Ta.

#3: Muguga, Kenya

It is currently just after 1pm on Saturday, 14 March 2011 and I’m in Kenya! So far, so good. I mention the date because I am currently at the place I’m staying with no internet so I’m just typing up this blog entry as a word document on my laptop in the hope that I can post it later, possibly on Monday. I might get internet set up on my laptop at work then, so we shall see. I actually had the time to update yesterday while I was at work with internet access, but blogspot was down! Bummer. But I have the time to write now, so I might as well. Here’s a summary of what has happened so far:

I drove up to Columbus, Ohio on Monday evening with my parents. We ate an awesome dinner at Haiku and got ice cream for dessert at Jeni’s. It was a good way to end my time in the states. I’ve grown to quite like Columbus actually, after spending more time there in the past year+. That night in one last effort to pack super light I took a few items of clothing out of my pack. I was successful though – one backpack plus my computer/laptop bag, neither of which are really heavy. The next morning I got up at 6:30am to shower and headed to the airport. Then I had a big string of flights and about 30 hours of travel. Columbus -> Toronto -> Montreal -> Brussels -> Bujumbura -> Nairobi (finally!).

So, flight highlights: There was some pretty bad turbulence on the way to Toronto. I guess we were flying through some storms or something because a few times the plane dropped a bit and you could feel your stomach rise in your chest, like you do on rollercoasters. It reminded me of Lost. But no problems. Montreal was just a stopover that should be considered a layover because we had to go through customs and everything. I got a Canadian stamp in my passport, alright. Now I can prove I’ve been there, since last time I went was shortly before I renewed my passport. Air Canada is a really nice airline, by the way! My vegetarian meal of vegetable lo mein was actually quite decent. On the way to Brussels I watched “The Way Back,” which was fine. Brussels airport was surprisingly not that great, and neither was Brussels Airlines. However, the general mediocrity and length of the flight to Africa was made up for by the fact that they gave us ice cream bars as we were flying over the Sahara! It was dark by the time we were coming into Bujumbura and it was honestly a bit eerie flying in – even though it’s the capital city there were hardly any lights. I guess it makes sense because Burundi has the lowest per capita GDP in the world. Those of us headed onto Nairobi had to stay on the plane, and the crew had to go through and spray the cabin with some stuff. Weird. Then it was a short flight to Nairobi and I got there at about 10:30pm.

I was picked up at the airport by a guy who works at KEFRI and he just brought me to the place I’m staying, which is basically a collection of guesthouses. My room has a bed, a chair, a closet, a TV, and an attached bathroom with a toilet, sink, and shower (cold and not separated in any way from the rest of the bathroom). It’s fairly nice and I kind of like sleeping under the mosquito net. We’re a bit far from Nairobi  – with no traffic it’s about a 30-45min drive but traffic can apparently be a nightmare which makes the drive take hours. Where I am is also down one of the worst roads I’ve ever been on (more pothole than pavement) off the highway. There are a few small towns (villages?) along the road, then there’s KEFRI, then further down is where I’m staying. Some KEFRI employees live in the same area, so that’s nice.

I went to work Thursday and Friday, but didn’t do much. I mostly just met people, introduced myself, worked on figuring out/getting help with some logistics, and read and merged a couple of documents. My boss comes in on Monday so I’ll figure out what I’ll be doing more exactly then. And hopefully get internet set up there. Mostly I want to get a modem for my computer somehow, and apparently you have to go into Nairobi for that.

Last night (Friday) was nice. Thursday was boring – it gets dark around 6pm and I shouldn’t wander around after that so I was stuck in my room with just my Swahili book for company. But on Friday I was getting a ride home with two KEFRI guys who live nearby and I was asking about where I could buy food because I didn’t have any and am not paying for dinner here (another 1000 shillings = over $10, no thanks). One of the guys (a KEFRI director actually, who also visited the Soviet Union and still speaks Russian quite well!) invited me to his place for dinner so I got tea and food there and got to hang out with his family for awhile. It was really nice. Then he and his oldest son walked me back here because it was well after dark.

Bryson (a fellow SPEA student) came this morning. I am really glad to have the company! Also this means it is a bit safer for me to wander around. Since we’re only getting breakfast here, we needed to somehow get food. After breakfast we made the trek to the nearest town, found a super tiny shop, and got some PB&J supplies, mangos, oranges, water, and juice, all of which cost about $6 or so. I also topped off money on my Kenya phone. It was quite a trek – we left here around 9am and got back after noon. The town is I’d guess 3km away so it’s a walk, but also when we were leaving here a guy pointed us the wrong way so after awhile we realized we had to turn back. It was worth the long detour though – we saw a lot of cool creatures that you can’t really notice when you’re being driven around. For example, there was a field full of what Bryson thinks might be widow birds – they have really long tails. It was super cool and I got to take some photos of the scenery. And now we have food for later today, and I have company. He did steal my novelty of being the only white person around though, haha. I had seen no other mzungu (=white person, I learned quickly) around since the aiport until he came along!

Anyway, here are a few things I’ve noticed:

Being mzungu – standing out like I do here is something I’m really not used to. I can easily blend into the crowd in other countries I’ve spent extended amounts of time in, but no way here. I’m drawing a lot of stares and shouts, but nothing negative. People sometimes shout mzungu! or go out of their way to try to say hi to me. What is especially funny are the kids, who don’t quite know what to make of me. Some seem curious but scared – they’ll stare and come a bit close and usually wave back if I wave to them, but they don’t seem to want to get too close. A boy today kept gleefully yelling “hi! hi! hi!” to Bryson and me as we walked by. We also passed by a lady with a kid and she said something which included mzungu to her kid who whipped around and saw us so we waved and they were pleased. The best was yesterday when I was being driven to the ATM to get more shillings a really small child, between one or two, saw me and his mouth and eyes got so wide and he just pointed. I waved to him and he got the biggest grin on his face and waved back. Generally people have pretty serious looks their faces but if you smile and wave and say hello they become quite animated and respond. I must say though, never before have a felt so pale… or translucent, almost!

Friendliness: People here are really friendly, more so than any other place I’ve been, I think. It’s really nice. All of the people at KEFRI have been really helpful and like I said, I was invited to dinner by one of the directors who I had only chatted with a few times before. I’ve received several other invitations for tea, etc from people I just met.

Food/Weather: Lots of carbs! Lots of tea too. They make their tea by adding tea to hot milk (not to water and then adding milk) but I quite like it this way. Also right now everything is served warm or hot because it’s their winter. It’s not that cold, maybe getting down to the high 50s or low 60s F at night and when it’s sunny during the day I’d say it’s in the low 80s. People think it’s so cold though and always ask me if I find it cool. Anyway, yesterday and today at breakfast I was even given warm juice, ha.

This entry is now massive so congratulations to anyone who has read all of this. But so far things have been great overall. I may even be going on a trip to the coast in a week for work, we’ll see! But all is well and I’m having a good time. Hurrah, and ta.

#2: Danville, Kentucky, USA

I'm mostly packed! Back home, but leaving tomorrow. I have a few errands to run in the morning, plus I am going to catch my friends Alysha and Sara once more before I leave. Tomorrow (Monday) afternoon my parents are driving me up to Columbus, Ohio and then I fly out Tuesday morning.

Since I last updated I fiddled around more with my new camera, meaning I have a few photos to share of my activities.

Ben made a very tasty Cinco de Mayo dinner of fish (for him) and tofu (a.k.a. to[e]fish; for me) tacos and corn and red peppers and other stuff. I already miss this. I also got to see some Kenyon friends before leaving. Bye, Gambier.

Then I ventured to Kentucky on Friday morning, got my hair cut, and met a kitten! Since then I've mostly been packing, reading, or running errands. I had a few last things to buy today and I got 100+ SPF sunscreen! I didn't know that existed, haha. But I probably need it, given my propensity to burn plus the fact that I'll be near the equator plus a side effect of my malaria pills being increased risk of sunburn. Let's hope my sunscreen works! And of course, I did some hanging out with Alysha and Sara at the hub, our number one Danville activity.

It's been nice to see people before taking off. My brother and sister came home from school for the weekend so I saw them too. Good thing Indiana, Ohio, and Kentucky are at least neighboring states so I could see people a bit more easily!

One last photo, so my new haircut can be seen:

Short! I think this is the shortest it has been since I was a very young child since it's a bit shorter than when I chopped it last summer.

It will be nice to be up and about tomorrow so I can finish my packing properly (I left some stuff out that I still need to use in the morning). Everything fits quite easily into my travel backpack and computer/camera bag but somehow I still feel like I've packed a lot and keep taking out clothes. I guess last time I traveled (to Iceland and Finland) I packed especially little, but that was for two weeks and I didn't need to bring work clothes or my computer and I didn't have a good camera. It is far nicer to have less to carry though, so I'm trying to keep it light.

Well, next time I update I suppose I'll be in Kenya! Now I am going to backup my computer. Ta until next time, then.

#1: Gambier, Ohio, USA

leah na twiga = "leah with giraffes" in Swahili, which is also about the extent of my Swahili. I discovered the word twiga (="giraffe") over winter break and have been enamored with it since. That's the only reason for the silly title of my very first travel blog.

I'm going to be in East Africa all summer - I leave from Columbus, Ohio on 10 May and return to the States 23 August. I will be interning at KEFRI (the Kenya Forestry Research Institute) and doing some IFRI (International Forestry Resources and Institutions) work while there as KEFRI is a collaborating research center. I'll be making a trip to Kampala, Uganda to deliver software on behalf of IFRI, and perhaps will be able to visit other centers as well. I also plan on doing a fair bit of traveling while I have the chance. So there's a quick summary of my intended summer adventures. I don't really know what to expect because I've never been to East Africa, and also because the specificities of my internship assignment will be given to me once I'm there. We shall see!

Anyway, I decided to create this blog at the prodding of some friends. I thought it would be a good way to keep in touch - I never have been one to write group emails and it is annoying to tell the same story fifty times so I'll share here when I can.

Right now, though, I'm at Kenyon, sitting in Middle Ground with Ben and Brian. They're the ones actually working since I finished my finals yesterday evening and then drove here straight away. I'm halfway done with grad school, alright. I'll be hanging out here for a few days before going home to Kentucky on Friday, buying some last minute items, doing some final packing, visiting friends, and chopping my hair. Then I'm back to Columbus to fly out Tuesday morning. I still haven't fully comprehended this, I think!

Anyway, I just thought an introductory post was in order. And since this wouldn't be my blog unless it included music, have a song:


The Veils - The Stars Came Out Once the Lights Went Out
I quite like everything about this song except the music video, so you get the lame photo slide show video version. Anyway, I've been listening to this song quite often during the past two weeks and it helped finish off my semester playlist, so there you go!

Finally, at Brian's insistence (he's the other one not truly concentrating):

You get to see my hair before it's chopped.

Ta!