I don't know if its just that I have been enjoying my time or if being on the opposite side of the Equator has anything to do with it, but so far my time in Kenya has been flying by. My roommate Michelle and I have already been in the Kenyan Medical Student hostel for 3 weeks. We still haven't been able to figure out why there are no toilet seats in any of the bathrooms but we now realized what a luxury having a toilet is in itself. On a trip to Kisumu last Friday I learned that lesson well, when I realize how much more clean it was to use the outdoor bathroom (essentially this means the woods) than to use the squatting toilets that are about 10 inches wide all around, oval shaped and easy to miss the hole with un-toned thighs and without the proper squatting technique. More to follow in another blog
Today, I wanted to take a moment to follow up on Part 2 of my first two weeks in Kenya. Last week I told you about my smelly arrival and about our visit to the local market and my outfit that brought way too much attention. Well, I have been spending a lot of time with my roommate Michelle, who I have known for a few years but have gotten to know her even better since our month together in Kenya. There is just never a dull moment with her. I had no idea that she was so funny and full of surprises. Upon returning from the local market one Sunday afternoon, we stopped at the gate at the compound where we live to take pictures with the guard. Now this guard is quite beloved. He is an older gentleman, most certainly late sixties or older, who is always smiling, cheerful and confidently calls you by many incorrect versions of your name. I am quite certain he is more of a greeter than actually providing any form of security, unless he plans on using his big smile to ward of any terror I would have to say he's pretty harmless. At least that's what I thought until this happened. As we stood inside the boundaries of the housing compound gates ready to take our photos with the beloved guard, I threw my arm around his shoulder since I was several inches taller than him, Michelle snapped my picture and handed me her I-phone to take her photo. As he stood to the left of her smiling big and bright, being the keen guard that he is, he realized the gate was open, so he reached his right hand to close the gate while he maintained his left hand on her shoulder. As I lifted my gaze from the phone to take the photo, I looked up to find the guards hand on Michelle's left breast with his face turned away from us, and Michelle standing there with her eyes and mouth wide open. Our elderly but charming guard moved his hand from the now closed gate to put around Michelle's shoulder and grinned from ear to ear, completely oblivious that he had just gotten to second base with my friend. I snapped the photo and quickly walked away as I immediately burst into uncontrollable laughter, with Michelle walking briskly behind me, giggling hysterically from embarrassment with flushed cheeks, surprised by the fact that she was just fondled by the sweetest, most harmless security guard.
This had to have been one of the funniest things I have ever seen, and still makes me laugh every time I replay it in my head. When the guard saw us the following day, he had a puzzled look on his face as he innocently asked "Susana, Emily (name misnomers as usual) why you laugh yesterday when we take photo?" "Oh Michelle just had a funny look on her face that's all" I quickly responded, hoping to put all his concern to rest. I couldn't bring myself to tell him he had rested his hand on Michelle's breast and not her shoulder the day before when he so happily engaged us to take photos with him. Everyday I greet him at the main gate, I can't help but chuckle at the elderly guard fondling Michelle's boob.
So when we have bad days we think back on boob incident and laugh uncontrollably.
Soon to follow on Friday. My trip to Kisumu to visit a child I have helped to sponsor.
Kwaheri till next time.
~Sash!
Wednesday, February 26, 2014
Monday, February 17, 2014
Rewind Review: First 2 weeks in Kenya - Part 1
It's hard to believe that it has already been two weeks since I arrived in Kenya. And so much has happened already. After enjoying my 4 days in Amsterdam, I met my classmate Michelle at the Schipol Airport. Initially we had planned to go around Amsterdam for the day until our flight that night to Nairobi but were both too tired to bother. As we boarded our flight, we thought it would be a good idea to switch my seat so that I would be seated next to her, as she had the window seat in our 3 seat row; we were hoping no one else would sit there. That proved to be an horrific idea, just as they were about to close the airplane door, in walked an extra large man, relatively unkept, and smelling of hmmm, whatever you would imagine someone with extra meat would smell like after maybe 3 days without a bath. (Hey listen, I got some extra meat on me too, that's why I make sure to keep it fresh, just saying). Point is, I suffered the next 8 hours to Nairobi in a combination of being stuck in the middle seat, in a hot airplane with hot sweaty cheese smell next to me. I thought human beings were at best only able to hold their breaths for at most minutes, but somehow I accomplished 8 hours. That's the only way I can justify not dying from malodorous smells on that flight. Unfortunately the torture continued as both Michelle and I were stuck waiting at Jomo Kenyatta airport for 8 hours until our flight to Eldoret later that evening. But, but, but!!! we arrived to Eldoret, the rural area where our medical school has established a well-known presence, excited about our 2 months ahead.
Immediately I recognized new developments, with Eldoret showing some progression over the last 3 years. I noticed more cars on the road (damn traffic), less mud huts (hopefully the government just didn't inhumanely tear people's homes down) and get this everyone has a smart phones. Every med student I had seen so far, has a better phone than what I was given. A 1975 Nokia, that takes you 3 hours just to send one text message. Do you remember repeatedly pressing the keys to get to the different letters, that's what am working with. We got settled in the Servant's Quarter's before moving into the medical student hostel two days later. They call it SQ, as if naming it something like GQ makes up for where you are staying, but it does provide sort of an intermediate level of accommodation before moving to the Kenyan Medical Student hostel, which for some weird reason has no toilet seats. Don't get me wrong I grew up in Jamaica, and summers with my grandmother as a child meant using wooden toilets up the hill, so I am use to coming up with creative ways of passing materials from your body while avoiding contamination. But for real tho, why no toilet seats? Is it meant to tease us, like "look you get the whole toilet, but no seat... wink wink".
Whatever the reason for encouraging us to come up with more creative ways to pass materials from our bodies while avoiding contamination, which my now roommate Michelle and I brainstorm about almost on daily basis, we have made the best of the student hostel. Secretly hoping to be more creative than the complainers before us who stayed there, we are hoping, no determined to master our new lifestyle. Essentially so we can feel as if we are more globally inclined, well me at least. So far we have initiated the following, "Pee-buckets", utilized during the late night hours to avoid the walk up four flights of stairs to empty your bladder that is still on US time. Secondly "Pee-bucket Music", we take turns playing music to avoid hearing the other one, you get the point. Thirdly, "In-room-close-line" where we hang our unmentionables. And not to mention the full service breakfast area we set up, and the many wine bottles and mini-alcohol bottles my roommate has stashed for difficult days. If you are there trying to imagine how enormous our room is, it is about the size of a queen size bed all around, which explains why they put a bunk bed in the room with the rest of space requiring you to waltz in order to pass by each other. We try to only have one person standing, or getting dressed at a time in order to avoid a boxing match or bruising each other in the process.
Our first week seemed a little slow, filled with lots of orientations, lectures and trying to understand Kiswahili, the language spoken in Kenya and many East African countries. We spent our first weekend relaxing and enjoying what we thought would be a great visit to the market to buy fresh fruit. A lovely Kenyan medical student was kind enough to take us to the market, negotiating prices of mangoes and avocados as we moved from stand to stand in the town market. Unfortunately we had to move quickly, as I thought since it was a hot day, I would wear a dress that was 2 inches above my knee in the front and about 3 inches higher in the back (you know why, wink wink). Anyhoo, I was essentially called anything but a harlot in the market, as our guide translated that the women were exclaiming "what is this, what is she wearing" and the men grabbing my arm as I walked by. I couldn't help but wonder if this was the very reason our high school principal implemented the rule of skirts 2 inches below the knee. For the sole purpose of preparing us for an extremely conservative and patriarchal society such as this, or to help us avoid being mistaken for a woman of the night during the day time. I couldn't help but ask our Kenyan market guide how she felt about skirts above the knee, and turned this mini-almost-embarrassing incident into a cultural exchange. She mentioned that at times she wants to wear something a little more feminine, aka short, but she valued the conservative ideals of the community she lives in. What was worth noting were the skin tight jeans or tights that outlined the beautiful African woman's silhouette, hips and butt, but yet my dress drew more attention. Interestingly enough, at night there is an extreme transformation of these young women from long skirts or pants to tight dresses right under the butt and 6 inch heels. I have even seen Hijabs in the day time on young Muslim girls that become barely dressed in the dance clubs at night. Essentially so far I have learned to conform at day and be my 2-4 inches above the knee wearing skirt self at night. If anthropology has thought me anything, it's to respect the culture that you are in, because we are entering as visitors. So now I make sure my knee caps are completely covered to avoid drawing the attention of those who are intrigued by the folds.
Part 2 to follow soon: the boob incident, med student ran hospital, weekend rendezvous, and my new love pentagon.
Check out photo's below:
Kwaheri till next time,
~Sash
Immediately I recognized new developments, with Eldoret showing some progression over the last 3 years. I noticed more cars on the road (damn traffic), less mud huts (hopefully the government just didn't inhumanely tear people's homes down) and get this everyone has a smart phones. Every med student I had seen so far, has a better phone than what I was given. A 1975 Nokia, that takes you 3 hours just to send one text message. Do you remember repeatedly pressing the keys to get to the different letters, that's what am working with. We got settled in the Servant's Quarter's before moving into the medical student hostel two days later. They call it SQ, as if naming it something like GQ makes up for where you are staying, but it does provide sort of an intermediate level of accommodation before moving to the Kenyan Medical Student hostel, which for some weird reason has no toilet seats. Don't get me wrong I grew up in Jamaica, and summers with my grandmother as a child meant using wooden toilets up the hill, so I am use to coming up with creative ways of passing materials from your body while avoiding contamination. But for real tho, why no toilet seats? Is it meant to tease us, like "look you get the whole toilet, but no seat... wink wink".
Whatever the reason for encouraging us to come up with more creative ways to pass materials from our bodies while avoiding contamination, which my now roommate Michelle and I brainstorm about almost on daily basis, we have made the best of the student hostel. Secretly hoping to be more creative than the complainers before us who stayed there, we are hoping, no determined to master our new lifestyle. Essentially so we can feel as if we are more globally inclined, well me at least. So far we have initiated the following, "Pee-buckets", utilized during the late night hours to avoid the walk up four flights of stairs to empty your bladder that is still on US time. Secondly "Pee-bucket Music", we take turns playing music to avoid hearing the other one, you get the point. Thirdly, "In-room-close-line" where we hang our unmentionables. And not to mention the full service breakfast area we set up, and the many wine bottles and mini-alcohol bottles my roommate has stashed for difficult days. If you are there trying to imagine how enormous our room is, it is about the size of a queen size bed all around, which explains why they put a bunk bed in the room with the rest of space requiring you to waltz in order to pass by each other. We try to only have one person standing, or getting dressed at a time in order to avoid a boxing match or bruising each other in the process.
Our first week seemed a little slow, filled with lots of orientations, lectures and trying to understand Kiswahili, the language spoken in Kenya and many East African countries. We spent our first weekend relaxing and enjoying what we thought would be a great visit to the market to buy fresh fruit. A lovely Kenyan medical student was kind enough to take us to the market, negotiating prices of mangoes and avocados as we moved from stand to stand in the town market. Unfortunately we had to move quickly, as I thought since it was a hot day, I would wear a dress that was 2 inches above my knee in the front and about 3 inches higher in the back (you know why, wink wink). Anyhoo, I was essentially called anything but a harlot in the market, as our guide translated that the women were exclaiming "what is this, what is she wearing" and the men grabbing my arm as I walked by. I couldn't help but wonder if this was the very reason our high school principal implemented the rule of skirts 2 inches below the knee. For the sole purpose of preparing us for an extremely conservative and patriarchal society such as this, or to help us avoid being mistaken for a woman of the night during the day time. I couldn't help but ask our Kenyan market guide how she felt about skirts above the knee, and turned this mini-almost-embarrassing incident into a cultural exchange. She mentioned that at times she wants to wear something a little more feminine, aka short, but she valued the conservative ideals of the community she lives in. What was worth noting were the skin tight jeans or tights that outlined the beautiful African woman's silhouette, hips and butt, but yet my dress drew more attention. Interestingly enough, at night there is an extreme transformation of these young women from long skirts or pants to tight dresses right under the butt and 6 inch heels. I have even seen Hijabs in the day time on young Muslim girls that become barely dressed in the dance clubs at night. Essentially so far I have learned to conform at day and be my 2-4 inches above the knee wearing skirt self at night. If anthropology has thought me anything, it's to respect the culture that you are in, because we are entering as visitors. So now I make sure my knee caps are completely covered to avoid drawing the attention of those who are intrigued by the folds.
Part 2 to follow soon: the boob incident, med student ran hospital, weekend rendezvous, and my new love pentagon.
Check out photo's below:
She has a baby in her hand
Indian Worship Temple
In front of IU house
Boma Inn, Red Cross Owned hotel, home of our new gym
Amy trying to get kicked by a cow
The Infamous Market Dress, with Michael the Security Guard at IU House
Kwaheri till next time,
~Sash
Saturday, February 8, 2014
Proost!!! To Amsterdam, All Things F-U-N!
As a med student fitting in fun into your schedule, is something that often requires some manipulation, trickery, and ... you get the point. So when we were told that we were allowed to get 3 days off for the month, I quickly requested days off so I could spend 4 of them exploring Amsterdam before I would arrive in Kenya. Traveling Amsterdam was never really one of the "most desired places" on my list to travel, as it has always been advertised as simply a place you go to lose all your morals. Being the good girl I was raised to be, I figured I would avoid temptation. Here I stand corrected, well not about the morals part, losing them is pretty darn easy there, but but but there is more, so much more than that. In this blog I would love to share with you my top 5 tips for traveling to Amsterdam. Well, some will be tips, others things to think about, and must see locations.
#2: Pack your bags, get ready for Style/Fashion/Attitude!
#3: Plan Maximum fun with minimal Zzzzzz (Sleep)
#4: You packed, you've booked your hotel, now what to do?!
#5: Last but definitely most important - Keep ur eye on the lookout!!!
Heineken Museum
#1: Cautiously select your traveling partner.
Four years ago when I traveled Europe as my pre-starting-med-school trip to myself, I met a young man at an entrance to a historical church that tourist frequent. He stopped me at the gate and told me that my bare shoulders were apparently too sexy to enter the church and so I needed to cover up more before entering. And I bet you didn't know shoulders were sexy huh?! Well I stood there mocking him as the other guests arrive pointing out a bare shoulder or two, visible neck line, etc, and he softly told me that the Cathedral would be closing soon, and if I wanted to go in, I'd better get something to cover up soon. After our not so agreeable initial encounter and me finally purchasing a T-shirt to cover my shoulders; he offered to take me around Rome, and although you should not engage strangers while traveling because of movies like "Taken" etc, I did (hey, don't judge, I hadn't seen the movie). Well we had an almost movie like exploration of Rome, hopping on and off buses, enjoying a real italian meal of Zuppa Toscana, and seafood fettucine alfredo (with Octopus, I couldn't eat it), and ending the night with dancing and great music. So when I decided to go to Amsterdam, I saw no reason not invite my new friend who I had kept in touch with over the years through phone calls and skype. Overall, we had an exciting but challenging, interesting but chaotic time in Amsterdam. Which brings me to tip #1. When exploring a new place, I think the best traveling buddies are your friends ("ur boys or ur girls"); unless you are planning to make this a romantic getaway, don't bring the other half or someone who unbeknownst to you is attempting to be your other half. Our trip together became a little challenging & chaotic because we may have been on very different wavelengths, but....l leave the rest to your imagination.
One of many Squares...
Some of the coolest Muzungus(Kiswahili for White people) I have ever seen had to be in Amsterdam. It was like, white people, with these urban attitudes, wearing Timberlands and Adidas, funky colored tights, and crazy color blocking. In addition they had Rhythm!!! Yes to Music!!! We went dancing and I was amazed by the way both the guys and the girls whine there waistline like they were Caribbean or African descent to music that was a combination of hip-hop, reggae, reggaeton, swirled in Techno. My anthropological, culturally engaged mind was blown. So if you're going to Amsterdam, find a great way to combine comfort & style, and sprinkle a lot of attitude on it!
Famous Flower Market
In front of the Rijksmuseum
Rembrant Plein
Well, if you must sleep or keep your belongings somewhere (it would be kinda cool to just travel with all you have on, but the word gross comes to mind), here are my recommendations on where to stay. If you can afford the few extra hundred dollars, stay in Amsterdam central, the train station, Trams and Metro are what you will wake up, leaving open the option to go where ever you want whenever you want. Not to mention, eat, sleep, and play in the middle of the action. I stayed at Ibis Hotel (airport) and it was lovely, but required a shuttle to the airport, train to Amsterdam Central and then onto the Tram to explore but it saved me a few hundred dollars, and traveling on public transport is relatively cheap. So do whichever way, yuh pocket say!!! There are options for all budgets.
Just thought this sign was funny...yes it was a restaurant... lol
Yum... french onion soup!
On Tram...comfortable/high tech/cool ride
Must see locations in Amsterdam will differ based on who you ask but my recommendations are to get the Amsterdam city pass, it allows you to see many museums free or discounted, get a free canal cruise, go to the famous Heineken museum, and take public transportation (excluding trains for free). Must see are the Rijksmuseum, Van Gogh museum (go on an evening it turns into a Jazz lounge), spend a day in Rotterdam (apparently one of the top 52 places in the World to see, but who knows who made that list...), Leids plein, rembrant plein (both for restaurants and dancing), Dam (red light district, coffee shops if that's your thing).
One of many interesting mirrors in random locations, this was on a building at the Train Station.
Open your eyes! Amsterdam is beautiful... beautiful art, architecture, and people. Ladies, ladies, hmm hmm hmmh! The boys of Amsterdam get my best ratings on looks so so so cute. Shout out to the blue-eyed cutie I met out, Bas (am sure he won't ever read this) but even another reason to chose your travel partner wisely (wink wink). As a matter of fact, I am already planning, if my girls and I are single in a couple years, definitely making a girls trip to Amsterdam. Yeah guys the girls are hot too. No matter what your reason is for going to Amsterdam, there is much to see, and much to do, so get to planning.
Check out these kicks...
On the Canal...
Next blog on my Kenyan arrival and early happenings to come soon! :)
(I apologize for any incorrect grammar that is contained within this blog, as I am not an English major, and want my blog to appear to readers as if we are in a one sided conversation, where I am the only one talking, jk, I hope you enjoy)
Kwaherini Rafiki (Friend)
~Sash
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