I’m back. It’s been a while since I’ve posted. Not only have I been busy with school work but I also have to keep journals for two of my classes which entail a lot of writing. Actual pen to paper so I can’t just copy and paste it into my blog. I’ve also been lazy. At the end of the night if there is a choice between writing stuff down or playing FIFA with my bros, FIFA always wins. My friend Dad and I talked about this exact subject just the other day. We were talking about taking pictures while out and about. In an amazing place like Kenya, it is easy to view a majority of the landscapes through your camera viewfinder if you are not careful. Some of the scenery is so amazing that you feel the need to take pictures of everything all the time. Sometimes you just need to take it in. This is how I’ve felt with writing things down. School has been crazy so I’ve just let the blogging go until now. With that said, I have a lot to say. The weekdays have been just like any other weekdays at school. Lots of work to do. We have school till around 3:30 then I usually go to this Egyptian restaurant around the corner for a cold soda and free wifi or to a Starbucks like café called Java. If I don’t go to either of those places, I go home for a much needed nap or to get some work done. The weeks fly by quickly. The weekends have been quite entertaining and exciting. So far we have had 4 weekends.
The first weekend we were very eager to get out and see Nairobi. Friday night was our first night out on the town. I went out with a bunch of the other kids from MSID and with my host sister Laura. We went to a nice place called Sailors. We had a few beers, hit the dance floor and lost about 20 pounds through sweat. Kenya does not believe in air conditioning or windows. Even in night clubs. It was a very successful night; no incidents whatsoever. Saturday morning we got up early to go to the Nairobi Giraffe Center which is not in Nairobi. The Giraffe Center is about a half hour outside of Nairobi and is a breeding ground for Giraffes. Giraffes are sent around the world from this place and it was really neat to get face to face, literally, with the giraffes.
The next weekend was quite different. Being that Sunday was Super Bowl Sunday and half of the MSID kids are huge Packers fans, we were able to talk Dr. Jama into giving us Monday off of school as the game was starting around 2:30 AM. Friday, myself and a few of my friends went to Carrey’s friends moms pool at her office complex. It was a hot day and it was nice to cool off in a freezing pool. Saturday we woke up pretty early to head downtown Nairobi to do the touristy activities. We went to the Nairobi Library, the Nairobi National Archives and the Kenyatta International Conference Center to see the Nairobi skyline. The Library and Archives were pretty cool but the Conference Center was the best by far. For a small fee of Ksh 300 (about Ksh 80 to 1 USD) we were able to get on top of the building, a skyscraper, to view the city from the helicopter landing deck. Very cool. Sunday night/Monday morning, we went to our favorite Egyptian restaurant to watch the Super Bowl. The owner, Isaac, was kind enough to host a private party for us in the early morning hours. I was fairly disinterested because I have a strong distaste for the packers and I’m not a huge fan of Big Ben. It was a fun environment and it was very TIA.
Two weekends ago we went to Simon’s family’s resort. It’s in a town called Ngong about an hour outside of Nairobi. Quickly google rift valley Kenya so that my description makes sense. The Rift Valley is basically a giant chuck of land that fell a few hundred feed leaving what looks like a tear in the earth from Northern Kenya all the way down to Southern Kenya. This resort is not what you would think of as a resort but it’s more like a permanent camp side along the edge of rift valley. Good hiking, great views and even better food courtesy of Simon’s wife. At night we had a raging TIA party around a campfire next to a huge rock wall. Very cool. It was nice to relax with some friends and enjoy the scenery. Saturday we went home and I stuck around with the fam to play some games and have some quality bro time. I’m getting very good at FIFA.
Last weekend was the most eventful weekend by far. Many of us MSIDer’s decided that we wanted to go to Hell’s Gate National Park. While it sounds intimidating, it’s one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. It actually gets its name because the Brits were so scared of entering that territory because of the feared Maasai warriors in the early twentieth century. A small group left on Friday after class but most stayed home Friday night to get up early Saturday morning. We left for downtown Nairobi to catch a matatu to Naivasha town at around 7am. We had a delightfully uneventful journey to Naivasha (a little over an hour) and then we caught another matatu to Hells Gate from there. We arrived at the park just before 10AM and the day went from there. We were able to leave our gear at the front gate which was very helpful, and then we left on our rented bikes to explore the wonders of Hells Gate. We biked around for a little bit, stopping occasionally to do some climbing and then finally made our way to the end of the park where the gorge is. FYI the movie The Lion King was based off of Hells Gate national park. We took a 3 hour tour of the gorge to find Pride Rock and to see where the stampede was that killed Mufasa. We found about 10 pride rocks and exactly where the stampede was but that’s neither here nor there. The gorge was amazing. Very sketchy at some points but a lot of fun. Check out the pictures I have up on facebook because trying to explain it would be very hard. What the pictures don’t show is the “tragedy” that occurred as a result of a man named Dan and his obsession with a Spider. Over halfway through the tour, Dan found a funny looking spider on our way back. He kept trying to take pictures of it but the spider would dance away at the last second. After over five minutes of trying to take a picture, Hannah and I were yelling at Dan to give up because the three other people in our group and the tour guide named George (yes George is a Gorge tour guide). Dan finally succeeded but by the time we ran ahead, they were nowhere to be found and there was a fork in the road. Long story short, we guessed wrong. About fifteen minutes later, at the exact moment we realized we were lost, a thunderstorm rolled through. Let me remind you that we were in a gorge, which is essentially a temporary dry river. When it rains, the gorge floods. And because we were in a gorge, I did not have cell phone reception. We decided that we needed to get to high ground so Dan, who was wearing my beloved Titleist Safari at the time, climbed a 60 degree slope to find a way out. After an unsuccessful bid, he slid down the hill. About a minute later, I realized my hat was gone. He went back to look for it but I told him it wasn’t worth it so he came back. It was getting to be a serious situation. We stood around for a minute or so thinking of what to do and which direction to head. We took the closest path that went up and a few minutes later we found the rest of the group, with the exception of George. Apparently when they realized we were lost, George went to go find us. Dan and I went back down this path to find him. About five minutes later we were all reunited. Great story but my hat is gone. Very sad. We made our way back to the gate about a half hour later in the pouring rain for most of it. Getting to camp never felt so good. As soon as we got back, we set up camp and made some hot dogs over the fire. Again, check out facebook for pictures of the camp. It was right on the edge of a cliff. We saw a b-e-a-utiful sunset followed by an impressive moon rise. I had a bad headache by the night time so I did not partake in the alcoholic festivities but everyone enjoyed themselves fully. The next morning we hung around the campsite for a few hours while the rest went rock climbing. We were lucky enough to get a ride back to the front gate from a Swedish family and a couple of Canadian guys. It was a much longer matatu ride home but we didn’t complain because it was nice to finally sit down. A great weekend indeed.
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