Ducking Outta the Rain

Instead of trying to catch y'all up on everything that's gone on for the two months I've been in Kenya, I'm just going to start from scratch and hopefully eventually will sort itself out more or less. I'm still finding my feet, and as part of that, figuring out when/where I'll be able to get internet. But there is a nice place next to the supermarket I frequent, so hopefully I'll be checking in a little more often.

It is Sunday afternoon, and I just ran into one of my coworkers in town, so we decided to grab a Coke (the drink, not the drug :) ) and chat for a bit. We talked about pretty much everything, from how children are named in Kenya, which is quite complicated, to dowries - just in case I get married here - to all sorts of other things that I probably shouldn't mention here. I was just going to walk straight home, but the sky opened up just as we were passing through town, so here I am.

Just to give you an idea of what a typical Sunday might be like, I'll go through what I've done so far today... woke up about 6:30 or so and laid in bed for a half hour. I don't even lay in bed on a lazy Sunday morning in America, so I guess that is pretty atypical. Anyway, I decided I would cook myself a good breakfast, so I whipped up some scrambled eggs in my "all-stick" frying pan. It's quite a horrible frying pan, but it gets the job done. I usually don't eat a whole lot of meat here because that usually requires refrigeration, which I obviously don't have, or going out to a hoteli (i.e., restaurant), which I don't do except on Saturdays after work as kind of a celebration of the end of the work week. Eggs keep for a couple weeks without refrigeration, and fresh eggs here are incredibly good, so I eat them several times a week to get protein. Kenyans are also big on tea, which is called chai here, so I made some of that for breakfast too. But I prefer the hot-chocolate version instead of the true British-type of tea, which most people drink here. Another horrible, horrible habit I've developed is just eating the hot-chocolate mix straight out of the jar. Because it comes as cocoa and sugar together, it tastes pretty good straight from the container. And with my very low levels of self-control when it comes to sweets, well, I've gone through THREE 400-gram containers this week. In order to prevent myself from doing that again, I've decided only to buy straight cocoa - at least I'll have to work a little to make it palatable before I gorge myself. Ok, back to breakfast... last but not least, I had my main staple - buttered bread. To compensate for my bad habits with the hot chocolate, I've been consuming wheat bread. I know it isn't that much better than white bread, but hey, at least I'm trying.

After breakfast, I did my laundry. In America, that means heaping all of my dirty, stinking clothes into the washer and trying to jam the door shut before I pass out. Here things are not so easy. First, I get out my three big buckets and fill them halfway with cold water - I don't really need to say "cold" because it's not like there's a choice, I just wanted you to know that it is actually quite cold. Then, I dump the soap into one bucket and start soaking my basket full of clothes a few pieces at a time. There is a method to washing whereby one rubs the clothes together using different parts of the same piece of clothing to attempt (and usually fail) to get rid of all stains. This usually results in a lot of scrubbing, and since skin is only slightly softer than most fabric, I almost always ends up with raw bloody fingers by the end. It is really quite awful. Sipendi kufuo nguo sana sana sana!!!!! (I hate to wash clothes very very much - in Swahili). Ok, so after the clothes are cleaned in the first bucket, you soak them in the next two buckets to try to get most of the soap out. As an engineer, I am quite aware of the mass balance of soap and that none is leaving the system, but rather just getting progressively transfered to the furthest bucket. This eventually results in the clothes that are washed last having the most soap left in them, which sometimes isn't so bad because it leaves them smelling better, which also gives one the impression that they are actually clean. After the third bucket, the clothes go up onto a line to dry. And I just remembered that I forgot to take my clothes off of the line before I came to town this afternoon, so they are getting an extra soak cycle now - yes!!!

After I washed my clothes, I used the remaining water to mop my rooms after I swept them out. And yes, I have multiple rooms in my palace here - after I swept them out. I am actually not kidding about the palace part. I have two bedrooms (you know you want to come visit :) ), a main sitting room, and a small room with a flush toilet and a shower. A shower and flush toilet were completely unexpected bonuses, so I am really living it up here; except when you consider that I sleep on a box spring - not a mattress and a box spring, but just a box spring - and that massive numbers of ants regularly patrol my palace looking for any scrap of food they can find, or any resting insect or person - yikes!

After cleaning my room, I studied a little Kiswahili, then decided whether or not to go exploring. That is, I wanted to just head off into the hills, get lost, and hopefully find my way back out again by the end of the day. But since dark rain clouds were approaching, I decided just to go to town instead and pick up groceries and come back for a run - my first in Nanyuki! But then I ran into my coworker and friend, James, and we got to talking, which ended up being very relaxing and a lot of fun. Just what I needed considering that the last couple weeks have been pretty rough. My adjustment here at site has been a little more difficult than I thought it would be, mostly because I am so busy I can't even see straight. But, I'm starting to be able to set my own schedule a little more, and getting some of my routines back, so the normalcy is returning. But keeping that bit of unexpectedness is what makes life so much fun here, so hopefully I can strike a balance.

Ok, time to head on home and wring out my clothes. I'll catch up with you again soon. And I promise, one of these days I am actually going to respond to ALL of your awesome letters, cards, emails, facebook messages, and text messages! Really!

Yes, I'm Still Alive :)

Hello from East Africa! Yeah, yeah, I know, it's taken me for-freakin'-ever, but I'm finally I'm on the internet. The last two months have been a whirlwind, but I've made it through pre-service training, and I'm officially a Peace Corps volunteer with my very own site (i.e., town) to serve. I am in a reasonably large town called Nanyuki, which is about a three and a half hour drive north of Nairobi, on the northwest slope of Mt. Kenya, the second highest point in Africa at over 17,000 feet. Nanyuki sits at about 6300 ft elevation, so great for running when I finally find some time. I still have a hard time believing I'm actually here in Kenya - this has been the experience of a lifetime so far, and I just hope that I'm able to assist the people of my new home in some small way (or in a big way!) over the next two years.

Wow, where to even begin... should I start with the bucket baths and the choo, the slaughtering of the Christmas goat, the end of my 16-year streak of not throwing up, or "How-are-you?! Hill"? The stories I could tell at this point are almost endless. But, since food is on my mind at most hours of the day, I will dedicate this blog entry to food - specifically yogurt. For any of you that had ever seen my fridge in California, I always had on hand an obscene amount of yogurt. I ate one (or more) Trader Joes yogurts, one (or more) Yoplait yogurts, and toward the end of my stay, one (or more) of the Nancy's brand yogurts from Whole Foods every day. And then on the weekends, I would go to Yogurt Park in Walnut Creek and feast on the frozen yogurt. Yes, I had a problem. But when I did my cross-country trip, I forgot to pack my mini-cooler, so I adjusted to life without yogurt. Or I only had one every few days. But, here in Kenya, there is lots of dairy, and there are actually yogurt shops. There was one in Loitokitok, and there is an even bigger one here in Nanyuki. Not only that, but they sell 250ml, 500ml, and 1liter bottles in the supermarket. So, I've been ramping back up, and yesterday, I took down a full liter after the long walk home. Life is good. Really good. Gotta go pick up some food for dinner and then start the long (but very nice) walk home from town. I'll post again soon! Hope you are all well!

Peace Corps Packing List

In addition to learning Swahili from the Rosetta Stone CDs, reading all sorts of general and program-specific Peace Corps reference literature, I have spent a decent amount of time in the last month thinking about my packing list for Kenya. I decided to pack what Peace Corps requires (obviously), what I'd need to get me started (e.g., some clothes & basic toiletries to last a couple days) and then prioritize packing those things that will be most useful and give me some enjoyment. I am trying to pack light and not drag a ton-o-stuff around, and have managed to fit everything into the following three bags:

1. A 2450-cubic inch Deuter Futura Zero 39 backpack (checked)
2. A 2350-cubic inch Jansport Odyssey daypack (carry-on)
3. A 900-cubic inch Camelbak Octane 8+ pack (carry-on)

Things required by Peace Corps:
1. Peace Corps papers and volunteer manual
2. prescription glasses (2)
3. EpiPens (2) for an allergy
4. 12 passport photos for work visas, etc
5. tie
6. solar calculator
7. lighweight sleeping bag - could have substituted a blanket, but I am hoping to climb up Kilimanjaro at some point, and this packs down better
8. queen-sized sheets - supposed to bring two, but I decided one was plenty since I have never used a top sheet in my life and they take up a ton of space!
9. mud boots - again, I scaled back here and went for the $15 Grainger overshoes that fold down into nothingness

Things I'd personally not want to go without:
1. small gifts for my host family including hard candy, postcards I collected from all over the US during my cross-country road trip, and a couple matchbox cars
2. digital camera + charger + five 2-gig memory cards
3. prescription sunglasses
4. multitool
5. games/fun stuff including a mini-football (deflated), small pump for said football, aerobie, compact version of chess/checkers, deck of cards
6. Moleskine journals - 240-page variety (2)
7. Photo album with pics of family & friends, CA and PA homes, and places I've visited
8. rolled up USA and World maps to help (others) to associate locations with pictures and because I love looking at maps
9. Petzl headlamps (2)
10. watch + extra battery
11. waterbottles - 1 liter (2)
12. running shoes (2 pairs)
13. running shorts (2)
14. running shirts (2)
15. completely chewed up Go-Lite running hat
16. Buff bandana
17. Cal hat
18. Tossel cap - it does get cool in Kenya and I'm hoping to keep my head shaved
19. North Face technical pants (1 pair)
20. Kenya & Tanzania fold-up maps
21. compact shorwave radio

The usual basics:
1. short sleeve button-up work shirts (2)
2. short sleeve polo shirts (2)
3. long sleeve button-up shirts (2)
4. white undershirts (2)
5. khaki slacks (2 pairs)
6. pair of brown shoes for work
7. socks - very low cut, black (12 pairs)
8. boxers (10 pairs)
9. North Face fleece (2)
10. windbreaker jacket
11. North Face shorts (1)
12. belt
13. razor + 10 blades
14. small camp towel/chamoise
15. travel size toiletries - soap, shaving cream, toothpaste, toothbrush, ...
16. nailclippers

Other things I probably don't need or can get in Kenya, but decided to bring anyway:
1. sleeping bag liner - takes up zero space and can double as a blanket
2. solar battery charger (Sunlinq 12-watt)
3. rechargeable batteries (a few AA & AAA)
4. black Nike hat with the Peace Corps patch sewn on
5. mechanical pencils (2) + a few lead refills
6. pens - of the 10 for $1 Bic variety (10)
7. batteries (a few AA and AAA) in case the solar charger doesn't work and I have no electricity
8. USA to GBR/Kenya plug adapter
9. Ipod touch (for music and internet if I have access)
10. two pairs of contacts + two tiny bottles of solution
11. Swahili phrasebook
12. Lonely planet Kenya travel book
14. scissors
15. duct tape
16. foldable pocket knife
17. running gloves
18. hand towel & wash cloth

I know this sounds like a lot of stuff, but none of it really takes up that much space. In fact, the largest things I have are my running shoes and my photo album. In any case, I'm sure I could do without most if not all of the stuff on the above lists, but since I have the space...

Passport Photos Are A Total Ripoff

As part of my packing list for Peace Corps, I gotta bring 12 passport-sized photos. If you've gone to get a passport in the last 10 years, you'll know that "professional" photographers will swindle you for at least $10 - $15 for every two pictures. Considering that one can print digital pictures at WalMart or Target for 9 -15 cents per, this is the biggest scam since bottled water. For any future Peace Corps volunteers out there that happen upon this, I'm going to briefly describe what I did to avoid such banditry. I enlisted the help of my sister Emily as my professional photographer. Please note that you will have to find your own Emily. She found a white wall in her apartment, we cleared some stuff outta the way, moved a couple lights over to avoid any shadows, and then she took several pics at different distances. One has to make sure the measurements are all ok (i.e., distance from chin to top of hair... err, head in my case; distance from bottom of photo to eye level) and that your picture is taken straight on at eye level, but this is all laid out here: http://travel.state.gov/passport/guide/guide_2081.html





This is the result of our 3 minutes of hard work and $1.08:

Stunning, eh?




As a followup, you can also get the same result, even easier, by taking a decent pic and heading over to http://www.epassportphoto.com/ Thanks for the heads up, Shelly!