Now I'd call that a pretty successful trip!

So I am officially back from Africa, ok ok, well actually I arrived back safe and sound on Wednesday the 11th, but I was so jet-lagged from the 20 hour plane ride that it didn't really count. Then I spent the next few days, just lying around, going to the beach, running, etc. You know the kind of things one does to extend their vacation and avoid reality for as long as possible. But today I broke down and decided it is time to get back on the horse called Work and ride my way into the school year.

My last few days in Kenya were spent at Masai Mara. Masai Mara is a large game reserve on the western edge of Kenya right next to Tanzania. It is 1,000 square miles of land all for the wild animals of Africa. While the safari I paid for included staying in a tent at an all-you-can-eat lodge, they unfortunately didn't have any tents available so they had to put me in a luxury house instead right next to the pool. Such a tragedy that I didn't get to camp.

While I did a short safari drive in the evening on Sunday the 8th and a short drive early Tuesday morning before returning to Nairobi, the majority of my excellent animal sightings took place on Monday during the full day drive. I saw so much wildlife! Impalas, Antelopes, gazelles, zebras, wildebeests(so many wildebeest!), giraffes, jackals, lions, ostriches, cheetahs, vultures, storks, warthogs, elephants, hippos, crocodiles, wombats and the list goes on and on. You may be wondering if I went on this safari completely by myself (just me and the guide) NO! of course not, I had an interesting Spanish couple and entertaining Italian couple to keep me company and to show me how to eat passion fruit as I experienced that for the first time on my safari.
In the evening on Monday, I got to see a Masai village which despite the loads of African culture I'd experienced already, found to be fascinating. Mostly because I've heard so many rumors about the Masai, I wanted to ask and find out if these stories I'd heard were true. What rumors might you ask? Well I've heard that the Masai drink cows milk and blood mixed together. This is actually a true fact. Masai will bleed their cows from the neck to gain a form of subsistence without killing the cow. So it can continually be used for milk, or bred, or butchered for meat later...talk about sustainability. The other thing I heard is that you can always tell a real Masai because it is not just the ear piercings but he'll be carrying a stick, a stick that he knows how to use to kill a man with a single blow! This rumor, as exciting as it is, actually isn't true. They use their sticks as walking sticks and sometimes for leaning during council meetings because they don't like to sit. See, way more boring than a some unannounced death stick (and that is not a Harry potter reference).
I found out a load of other interesting facts about the Masai like the women build the houses out of cow poop, a man has many wives, and no bottom tooth in the very middle. They also have their share of initiation rites into manhood and womanhood but a lot of those rites are going starting to change because more and more of the population is going to secondary school especially since so many tourists come to visit this village and the village is making a killing so they opened a pretty dazzling school with the funds. With that said, I think the best comparison for the Masai and their traditional lifestyle is to call them the Amish of Africa. As my guide, Pere said to me, " Our culture has been the same for the past couple hundred years and in a hundred years, it will still mostly be the same." Just like the Amish, ignoring modernity with intention. I had a long bumpy ride back to Nairobi, the van I was in had no suspension system. That means every little pothole (and they are not little in Kenya) translated into me just about flying into the roof) but hey I'm here writing this in the U.S. so I got back all safe and sound, if you don't count that my brains are more rattly than they were before.

So with an excellent trip to Ghana and Kenya under my belt, what now? Well it's time to see how this "Experience of a lifetime" will translate into a better education for my students. Oh, the ingenuity!... the part of my job I love the most!
All joking aside, Thanks again to FUND FOR TEACHERS. I really can't imagine a better way to have spent my summer. I realized two very important things that I think have fundamentally changed me as a person (and therefore should make me a better, more happy, confident, teacher.) 1. I enjoy my own company and 2. I can make my own friends anywhere on the planet by just being me.
Traveling...it always inflicts so much growth, doesn't it?

Today is my last day in Gede. Tomorrow morning I'll take the 10 hour bus back to Nairobi. Then from Sunday to Tuesday,I'll go to Masai Mara for a Safari! On Wednesday I fly back home via Amsterdam. It will be a 20 hour journey.

Before I leave Gede, the place where I have spent so much of my time in Kenya, I want to recap what I've done while here. On Tuesday, I went to the forestry institute (KEFRI) and again since my advisor wasn't there, they didn't have much for me to do. I did get to take a tour through the forest and I saw a buffalo rinosorous spider, beautiful painted Eucalyptus trees (They look painted but that is how they are naturally), and monkeys. They just ran wild across the treetops like squirrels, while I trudged through the rain that poured down on the tree cover of the bush we were hiking through. After my forest hike, i spent the rest of the morning doing some physical labor in the tree nursery, moving seedlings around. I moved some 600-700 seedlings during the hour and a half that I worked.

In the afternoon on Tuesday, Mercy (my host mother) took me to the butterfly garden and Gede Ruins. I got to hold a butterfly! Don't worry I took pictures. Gede Ruins was fascinating. It is a historical site that holds the remains of a medieval Arabic town. Most of the walls have crumbled due to the humongous bulba trees that have rooted up the city and left it in crumbling pieces. Again the monkeys laughed and swung on nearby trees.

Wednesday was the day of the referendum (A holiday where Kenyan's vote to pass the constitution.) Because it was a holiday, I decided to take 3 of my host brothers, Sidney (13) and the twins (10) to the beach in Watamu. We had a really enjoyable day. We made sand castles, coconut boats, and I tried to teach Sidney to swim all while avoiding lots of seaweed. The Indian ocean is beautiful, tealish blue. I want to come back and snorkel some day. (I also want to swim in the Arctic ocean with a wet suit of course, it is the only one I haven't swam in yet.) Mercy brought fried chicken and chips (fries0 for lunch. We had such a spectacular time that Mercy kept saying that the boys will never forget this day.

On Thursday, I actually got to do some work at the forestry station. Bernard, my advisor (and a scientist) decided that it would be best to utilize my teaching skills by having me compile/synthesize a training guide for starting a tree nursery. While my morning on both Thursday and Friday was less than exciting spent at a computer designing this guide/pamphlet, it was nice to be able to contribute my skill set and produce something useful for the Kenya Forestry Institute.

In the afternoon on Thursday, Mercy took me to the Sea Turtle watch in Watamu. I've never seen a sea turtle so close up. One was huge and weighed close to 100lbs. Most of the others were very sickly. The turtles at the center usually are recovering from injury or sickness. (They get sick because they eat plastic bags in the water thinking they are jellyfish...very sad and disgusting!)One of my favorite parts of going to the turtle watch was getting to ride a motorbike. They serve as a common taxi form here on the coast of Kenya.

I made guacamole for dinner last night. It was quite a hit. Tonight I'm making ground-nut soup (a Ghanaian dish). My family loves it when I cook. I figured I'd appease them one last time before leaving tomorrow morning. While I will miss Mercy, Tsofa (my host father), my host brothers, and all their kindness...I will not miss the cold showers, everyone thinking I'm italian and having unlimited amounts of money, the huge massive black wood spider that sit in the corner of my guesthouse, or having to hand wash my clothes every other day. Africa has been fun, and adventure to say the least, and the Safari on Monday and Tuesday should be amazing, but I think I'm ready to return to good old Brooklyn... 4 more days and counting.

Jambo!

Jambo is how you say "Hi" in Swahili. Before church on Sunday, my host father Tsofa taught me some basic Swahili. Now don't get too excited about church. Forget everything you know and think of when you think of church in Africa (dancing, singing, music). This place was none of those just a basic Anglican service with hymns and recitations. The most exciting thing that happened while at church was I got to pee in my first hole, (since that was what the public church bathrooms were comprised of, a hole in a small cement room with two blocks surrounding it)! I stepped up on the wobbly blocks and started to go really slow as to make sure I made it in the hole. but suddenly a huge black beetle the size of my thumb with something red coming out of it's backside scurried out of nowhere frightening me, causing my stream to flow, and sure enough I sprayed all over my ankles. Well it wasn't the first time I'd peed on my ankles and it probably won't be the last.

In the afternoon on Sunday, Mercy (my host mom) took me to Midi-creek. This was an Eco-tourist site that involved a guided tour through a mangrove forest on the coast and a walk on a suspended walkway (Indiana Jones style) for about 300m.The walkway usually hangs above a few feet of water and is surrounded between mangrove trees, but because it was low tide it there was only a few inches of water below. i got to see snails, skinks (a type of lizzard), crabs, and Sandplovers ( a type of bird). I learned a lot of interesting things about this particular coastal region that I will be able to share with my students.

When we returned to the house, Mercy and I cooked together in her kitchen. We used the ingredients bought yesterday in the market to make speghetti sauce, my own homemade recipe. I boiled some pasta too. The meal was a big hit with the family. The 3 older boys came back not only for seconds but for thirds. I'm going to cook again on Thursday.

I ran this morning for my first time in Kenya. It was harder running here than in Ghana. I think there are 2 reasons for the increase in difficulty. 1. I am much more out of shape since I haven't run in two weeks. 2. I have eaten so many starchy foods since being in Africa and I take 3 meals a day, and well...I've probably put on some weight. So as much as I'd like to blame it on the change in elevation. It's my own laziness and gluttony which will make getting back into marathon shape more difficult when I return to New york.
One other big difference between my run in Kenya vs. Ghana. No one really notices me. In Ghana everyone would yell and wave and laugh and say "Blrafono" (white man, white man!) Here few people pay me any mind and if they do they are small children who say Ciao. (They think I am Italian since a large Italian population lives in Malindi.)

This morning I went to KEFRI (Kenya Forest Institute)and took a tour of the tree nursrey. Tomorrow I'll go on a taxonomy tour for trees and birds in the bush. Wednesday is the referendum (voting day)so the office won't be open, and Thursday I start my volunteer activities at KEFRI.
In the meantime, I'm continuing to love my family, my place, my new friends, and my time here in Kenya!