December

View from Ngong Hills



Biking Through Hell's Gate












Me and Michael in a tea field in Kericho













Happy Holidays Everyone! I hope you're all doing well and staying warm. December has been a pretty awesome month for me. School closed on the 5th, so I took off the two weeks following the last day to relax and travel. I got to spend a lot of time with my friends, eat too much nyama choma, enjoy a few Tuskers and spend time with my family here. Plus, I got to spend 6 days traveling around Western Kenya with Michael. We took an overnight bus to Kisumu that arrived at 4:30 in the morning. Kisumu is the 3rd largest city in Kenya, with a population of around 330,000-a pretty large step down from Mombasa (730,000) and Nairobi (3 million). We met up with some of Michael's friends from last time he visited there, walked around the town a little and spent an afternoon relaxing at Kiboko Bay which is on the shores of Lake Victoria. It was beautiful and we couldn't have asked for nicer weather. That night we went out a bar called Octopus's Bottoms Up Club. When we first got there and were shooting some pool, there was lots of lovely Christmas music playing, followed by the first ~45 seconds of "Thriller" six times in a row, then a DVD of a late 80's Michael Jackson concert. How do you have a bad night after that?
The next day, we packed up and headed to a small town called Kericho. If you've ever had tea from Kenya, there's a pretty solid chance this is where it came from, as they produce about 75% of Kenya's tea. But while they do tea very well, that's about it. We had a nice dinner and went to bed early as there really isn't much to do there. The next morning we got up early and went on a tea tour in one of the plantations. It was really beautiful and I learned more than I ever expected to about tea. After that, we got on a really crowded matatu (at one point, 20 people in what's supposed to be a 15 person vehicle) to Naivasha Town. We took another quick ride and arrived at Fisherman's Camp, right on the banks of Lake Naivasha. We spent the afternoon and evening relaxing, having dinner, and sitting on the pier. Unfortunately, the lake is extremely low right now, so we didn't see any hippos in the water, but the views were beautiful none the less. We got up very early the next day to rent bikes to go to the nearby national park, Hell's Gate. What an incredible way to go on safari! You bike through the park and there's nothing separating you from the wildlife. They say there are cheetahs and leopards there, but we didn't see any-something I was semi-OK with. While it would have been thrilling, and I'm sure we would have been fine, being at the total mercy of a large cat is not something I was totally prepared for. In total, we biked about 30 km (18 miles), and it made me painfully aware of how out of shape I am. Might be time to join a gym. Also, I got totally sunburned, but don't worry, I'm not asking for sympathy from anyone who can see snow outside right now. That night, as we were sitting around having some pizza, a hippo came up from the lake and was grazing no more than 30 ft. away from us. It was awesome.
We headed back on a Saturday and that night, met up with some friends and went to see Brick and Lace in concert. They were the "it" band last time I was here, so we were all pretty pumped. Unfortunately, in true Kenyan style, they were about 5 hours late and a concert that was supposed to start around 9 pm didn't actually start until 2:30 am. Then, after 3 songs, they went off stage again, so we threw in the towel and went home. Brick and Lace were definitely a let down, but there were about 6 other bands that played, so we still had a good time.
As for the rest of my month, I went into school a few times to play soccer and frisbee, do art, and teach the kids about computers. And we got the results from the KCPE's, the national exams our boys took-they did amazing. All of them passed with above average scores, some extremely competitive. I could not be more proud and can't help but smile every time I think about it. Knowing where most of them came from and the hardships they've had to endure, the fact that their hard work has really paid off and they all get to go to secondary is so exciting. So big ups to my boys.
The holidays were a little difficult, first Christmas away from home. Luckily I have my surrogate brother here, so we were able to partake in our tradition of watching A Muppet Christmas Carol together on Christmas Eve. On Christmas, my host family had a big party, so that was a lot of fun as well. Definitely a very different holiday season-no snow! Hardly felt like Christmas.
New Years Eve was a lot of fun, but not terribly different than any other night out in Nairobi for a lot of Kenyans. People here party pretty hard. There was no count down at the bar we went to, all of the sudden everyone just started popping balloons. So happy 2010!
The day after Christmas, a few friends and I took a day trip out to Ngong Hills, only ~30 minutes outside Nairobi. Our friend Simon just opened up a restaurant there and the view out over the Rift Valley is incredible. We did a mini-hike and visited a place called Pride Rock-pretty sure Pride Rock from The Lion King was based on this view (not really, but I took a picture where I pretended to hold up Simba anyway).
School started again today, it was great to see all of the kids that left during December again. The weather has been totally crazy, raining almost every night and many days. It makes walking to school on a dirt, excuse me, mud road a little tricky in flip flops. This is supposed to be the dry season, but there's nothing dry about it and they say El Nino is the culprit. It's not all bad though, there was a pretty serious drought before I got here, so the rain is good. Should make Maasai Mara nice and green for when my parents come visit.
Ok, gotta run. I hope you all had wonderful holidays and good luck on any resolutions you may have made. I miss you!
Peace and Love, Hannah