Well here I am, at the midway point through our independent research time, and I'm spending a couple of days in Nairobi. But to backtrack a couple of days to the beginning of this week....
Monday and Tuesday I was back out at the camp doing more interviews. Unfortunately for me, but very luckily for all the camp residents, most people had gotten casual jobs, so I didn't have many people to interview- I only interviewed four people each day. Both of the camps were distinct from all the others I'd been to. The camp I went to on Monday was an entirely tent camp, and the tents were TINY. I had my first taste of a little unrest in the camp too, although it wasn't severe at all. Apparently one of the men I interviewed has a neighbor he doesn't get along with, so even though we were on my interviewee's property and he had consented to answer my questions, the guy came onto his property and started yelling and basically having a little tantrum. Of course this is all going in Swahili, so I have no earthly idea what is going on, so I just sat there. But then when my translator got up and started trying to calm both the men down, I got a little worried. But soon after she started talking, the angry neighbor left, and then one of my interviewee's friends that had been nearby went to tell the camp chairman about what had happened- apparently this guy does stuff like that frequently. Hmm. Anyway, I'm not really sure if it was because of me or not, but either way, it was a little unsettling because I was warned that the camp might not be safe, but up until that point I had encountered nothing but welcoming smiles and handshakes, so it threw me off. But nothing like that has happened again!
Tuesday was also interesting because we went to a camp that was so far away from all the other camps I didn't even realize it was there. Mary and I had to walk for about 45 minutes to get there. This camp was different from all the others because the people neither lived in permanent brick homes nor tents- they had built their own mud homes. Many of the homes by the road were deserted and partially destroyed with huge chunks of the walls missing. But most of the homes in this camp were back away from the road a ways. To get to the main area of the camp, we had to climb through the biggest ravine I've seen in any of the camps. All the camps deal with flash floods and the subsequent destruction of much of the land, but this ravine was something else. It was probably 25-30 feet deep and had a horrible pathway down one side and up the other. Mary and I had to help each other down and up on each side- it was steep and covered in loose sand so we had no traction whatsoever (of course I was not blessed with a natural grace or sense of balance either, so that helped a whole lot, too). And yet small children run through there everyday- scary. Anyway, while the answers I got from my interviewees there were similar to what I've been hearing in a lot of the other camps, the physical structure and layout of the camp was so different it still made it noteworthy to me.
Wednesday, I had an easy-going morning, and then Izzo came and picked me up and drove me back into Nairobi. I got into town around 12pm, and went straight to the apartment and saw the gang there for the first time in what felt like forever- but it had really only been 10 days! We hung out for a bit, and then since we were preparing for Thanksgiving the next day, a few of us made a run to the store for some necessary items. We spent the afternoon just running around, and chatting- it was definitely nice to have some familiar people to talk with- even though I've been around a lot of people when I'm in the camps, they're all strangers, so it was nice to be in a comfortable environment again! I also made fruit salad Wednesday afternoon. Its a McNelly family traditional holiday dish, and it sounds totally gross, but its canned fruit, mini marshmallows, and sour cream all mixed together and then refrigerated overnight- its one of my favorites! But canned fruit doesn't exist in Kenya, so I had to buy all fresh fruit (and not the right fruits either, so instead of fruit cocktail, I chopped up mangoes and kiwi... but of course I replaced the canned pineapple and oranges with fresh pineapple and oranges, so at least that was close). Also mini marshmallows are nowhere to be found. So I found giant pink marshmallows that I had to cut up. And then the sour cream was the consistency of milk. And it was chunky. So I mixed up all of that wonderfulness in a bowl and stuck it in the fridge (the next day it kind of looked like vomit, but oh well).
And even though I still can't believe it, Wednesday was my 21st birthday! So after a nice afternoon hanging out, I put on my only article of clean clothing, and six of us went out to a place called Brew Bistro, where we've been before. We were only there a couple of hours, but we had a great time and got some quality pictures (which I needed later so people could prove to me that I danced...whoops, didn't mean for that to happen!), and we somehow made it back to the apartment with everybody. Then we made homemade pizza for dinner and enjoyed a delicious chocolate torte that they had made earlier, and everybody collapsed into bed.
Then it was Thanksgiving!!! In the morning, I went with two of my friends to a nursery school, which is run by one of my friend's host mom. So we took a matatu to the edge of town where the school is, and spent a few hours watching some adorable children graduate from preschool and perform little songs and poems. It was pretty cute! It was nice to get out of the apartment for a few hours so I wasn't inside all day. It was interesting too, to see the interactions between the parents and their children in a celebratory environment, and how the parents interacted with the teachers. Overall, it was a very nice way to spend part of the day.
Then it was back to the apartment where the one student in the apartment who is actually a good cook was workin' away on dinner, and the rest of us took it easy. I did a little work, watched some tv on my computer, and then helped clean the apartment a little. A little after 6, all of the guests started arriving.
Well there were 8 students, so we'll start there. Then, there is an American that we've all met who is taking a gap year and working here in Kenya, and her parents came to visit for Thanksgiving, so the three of them came over. Then one of the student's host mom came over, alone with two previous SIT students that she hosted, who now live in Kenya. So that brings our total count to 14 so far. Then two of our professors came, which was a riot- they are quite comical. 16. And one of our Swahili teachers crashed the party- which brings us to 17! It was a full house, but it was definitely a lot of fun, and there was SO MUCH FOOD. Although, I must say, I think it was only me and one or two other people that tried the fruit salad- it looked pretty gross, but it actually didn't taste that different from when my mom makes it at home! So I was happy with it, anyway.
Then, as everybody started heading home for the night, we did some cleaning and the Christmas music started, which was lovely- I LOVE Christmas music! And then about 1am we decided to watch Elf, but I fell asleep about 15 minutes in, so we all stopped it and I'm sure we'll watch it in its entirety soon.
And now, even though I'm still in Nairobi for a couple more days, its time to get back to work!
I hope you all had a great kick-off to your holiday season!!!!
Monday and Tuesday I was back out at the camp doing more interviews. Unfortunately for me, but very luckily for all the camp residents, most people had gotten casual jobs, so I didn't have many people to interview- I only interviewed four people each day. Both of the camps were distinct from all the others I'd been to. The camp I went to on Monday was an entirely tent camp, and the tents were TINY. I had my first taste of a little unrest in the camp too, although it wasn't severe at all. Apparently one of the men I interviewed has a neighbor he doesn't get along with, so even though we were on my interviewee's property and he had consented to answer my questions, the guy came onto his property and started yelling and basically having a little tantrum. Of course this is all going in Swahili, so I have no earthly idea what is going on, so I just sat there. But then when my translator got up and started trying to calm both the men down, I got a little worried. But soon after she started talking, the angry neighbor left, and then one of my interviewee's friends that had been nearby went to tell the camp chairman about what had happened- apparently this guy does stuff like that frequently. Hmm. Anyway, I'm not really sure if it was because of me or not, but either way, it was a little unsettling because I was warned that the camp might not be safe, but up until that point I had encountered nothing but welcoming smiles and handshakes, so it threw me off. But nothing like that has happened again!
Tuesday was also interesting because we went to a camp that was so far away from all the other camps I didn't even realize it was there. Mary and I had to walk for about 45 minutes to get there. This camp was different from all the others because the people neither lived in permanent brick homes nor tents- they had built their own mud homes. Many of the homes by the road were deserted and partially destroyed with huge chunks of the walls missing. But most of the homes in this camp were back away from the road a ways. To get to the main area of the camp, we had to climb through the biggest ravine I've seen in any of the camps. All the camps deal with flash floods and the subsequent destruction of much of the land, but this ravine was something else. It was probably 25-30 feet deep and had a horrible pathway down one side and up the other. Mary and I had to help each other down and up on each side- it was steep and covered in loose sand so we had no traction whatsoever (of course I was not blessed with a natural grace or sense of balance either, so that helped a whole lot, too). And yet small children run through there everyday- scary. Anyway, while the answers I got from my interviewees there were similar to what I've been hearing in a lot of the other camps, the physical structure and layout of the camp was so different it still made it noteworthy to me.
Wednesday, I had an easy-going morning, and then Izzo came and picked me up and drove me back into Nairobi. I got into town around 12pm, and went straight to the apartment and saw the gang there for the first time in what felt like forever- but it had really only been 10 days! We hung out for a bit, and then since we were preparing for Thanksgiving the next day, a few of us made a run to the store for some necessary items. We spent the afternoon just running around, and chatting- it was definitely nice to have some familiar people to talk with- even though I've been around a lot of people when I'm in the camps, they're all strangers, so it was nice to be in a comfortable environment again! I also made fruit salad Wednesday afternoon. Its a McNelly family traditional holiday dish, and it sounds totally gross, but its canned fruit, mini marshmallows, and sour cream all mixed together and then refrigerated overnight- its one of my favorites! But canned fruit doesn't exist in Kenya, so I had to buy all fresh fruit (and not the right fruits either, so instead of fruit cocktail, I chopped up mangoes and kiwi... but of course I replaced the canned pineapple and oranges with fresh pineapple and oranges, so at least that was close). Also mini marshmallows are nowhere to be found. So I found giant pink marshmallows that I had to cut up. And then the sour cream was the consistency of milk. And it was chunky. So I mixed up all of that wonderfulness in a bowl and stuck it in the fridge (the next day it kind of looked like vomit, but oh well).
And even though I still can't believe it, Wednesday was my 21st birthday! So after a nice afternoon hanging out, I put on my only article of clean clothing, and six of us went out to a place called Brew Bistro, where we've been before. We were only there a couple of hours, but we had a great time and got some quality pictures (which I needed later so people could prove to me that I danced...whoops, didn't mean for that to happen!), and we somehow made it back to the apartment with everybody. Then we made homemade pizza for dinner and enjoyed a delicious chocolate torte that they had made earlier, and everybody collapsed into bed.
Then it was Thanksgiving!!! In the morning, I went with two of my friends to a nursery school, which is run by one of my friend's host mom. So we took a matatu to the edge of town where the school is, and spent a few hours watching some adorable children graduate from preschool and perform little songs and poems. It was pretty cute! It was nice to get out of the apartment for a few hours so I wasn't inside all day. It was interesting too, to see the interactions between the parents and their children in a celebratory environment, and how the parents interacted with the teachers. Overall, it was a very nice way to spend part of the day.
Then it was back to the apartment where the one student in the apartment who is actually a good cook was workin' away on dinner, and the rest of us took it easy. I did a little work, watched some tv on my computer, and then helped clean the apartment a little. A little after 6, all of the guests started arriving.
Well there were 8 students, so we'll start there. Then, there is an American that we've all met who is taking a gap year and working here in Kenya, and her parents came to visit for Thanksgiving, so the three of them came over. Then one of the student's host mom came over, alone with two previous SIT students that she hosted, who now live in Kenya. So that brings our total count to 14 so far. Then two of our professors came, which was a riot- they are quite comical. 16. And one of our Swahili teachers crashed the party- which brings us to 17! It was a full house, but it was definitely a lot of fun, and there was SO MUCH FOOD. Although, I must say, I think it was only me and one or two other people that tried the fruit salad- it looked pretty gross, but it actually didn't taste that different from when my mom makes it at home! So I was happy with it, anyway.
Then, as everybody started heading home for the night, we did some cleaning and the Christmas music started, which was lovely- I LOVE Christmas music! And then about 1am we decided to watch Elf, but I fell asleep about 15 minutes in, so we all stopped it and I'm sure we'll watch it in its entirety soon.
And now, even though I'm still in Nairobi for a couple more days, its time to get back to work!
I hope you all had a great kick-off to your holiday season!!!!
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