that time I went CAMPING and found a SCORPION in my tent...

(Still trying to catch up with this blog! This post is mainly what happened last week and the week before that....)----

On Wednesday it was non-program day and we finally had a day with no schedule, well kinda. There was jewelry making that day which was so fun. Maasai mamas from the local village came to camp and helped us make bracelets like the ones they sell. It is such hard work, but really relaxing. We all sat on blankets in the yard and beaded for hours. That day we also went to the Kimana sanctuary were they have captive lions whose parents were killed by farmers. We got incredibly close to them! There was literally just a fence between us and the lions. We visited the sanctuary right before their feeding time, so we got to see them eat and it was such a sight! They were scratching up against the fence a lot of the time and were so close I could have put my hands on the fence and touch them, but of course I didn't. It was very tempting however.

On Thursday we packed for our week long expedition to Tsavo-West National Park and the Chyulu hills. We had an expedition introduction to explain what we would be doing and the dangers we have to be aware of. Apparently a few years ago tourists got dragged out of there tent by lions, but weren't hurt badly. Also, some SFS students have had encounters with lions at the campground, but we weren't told about what had happened. Last year a hyena walked past some girls going to the bathroom and they were in a complete panic. We were pretty much just told to be aware of the wildlife around the camp. That day we also ran into Kimana to get beads for jewelry making and I also paid around $7 to have a skirt made for me with my measurements. I got a little lost in Kimana with another girl, so we wandered around the town for a little bit, and I was extremely surprised at how safe I felt wandering around in Kenya. Everyone seems to know everyone and is so friendly here. 

On friday we left for expedition early in the morning and drove for around two hours to get to Tsavo-West National Park where are campsite was. The ride to camp was beautiful and the Chyulu hills could be seen off in the distance, it was a wonderful sight. The Chyulu hills are spectacular. On the way to our camp we stopped at the Shatani lava flow and Mzima springs, which are big tourist attractions. We saw A LOT of French tourists there. Most of the tourists here in Kenya seem to be very unfriendly. Our camp ground was actually in a national park,Tsavo-West National Park,  with no gates or fences around it. As we drove into our campsite we saw elephants right down the road and had some walk right next to our camp. It was so cool to camp in a national park with wildlife roaming freely. The first day we set up tents (which were not that big but somehow managed to fit five girls and all their backpacks), unpacked, and hung around camp. There was a shower, which was pretty nice, and the bathrooms were holes in the ground, which took a long time to get used to. Apparently hyenas and lions stroll through camp at night often. Because of all the wildlife, it is required to have KWS (Kenya Wildlife Services) guards with us at all times. To go to the bathroom at night we had to get one of the guards to walk with us, incase wildlife was close by. The KWS guards carried huge guns around with them at all times and dressed like military men. 

On day two of camping (Saturday), we had such a busy and wonderful day. In the morning we drove a long ways away to the Chyulu hills. The roads we drove through were the bumpiest roads EVER. I seriously mean EVER. It was crazy! We drove through such intense terrain and through magnificent rainforest like vegetation, with the Chyulu hills in the backdrop. The day had a stressful start though. So, midway through the drive we got out to go to the bathroom on the side of the road, like we often do since bathrooms are hard to come by. It is also hard to find trees or bushes to go behind, since there is mostly just dust and little shrubs on most roads. Anyways, so I went to the bathroom and had my camera in my pocket and then got back in the car. A few minutes later I couldn't find my camera in my pocket, so we stopped the car and I went back to look for my camera in the spot I peed, thinking it fell out there. It was kinda funny because me and a few of the staff members were frantically going around looking for the spot were I peed. It took awhile to find the spot, but we eventually did, after looking at many other pee spots haha. My camera wasn't there, so I was starting to freak out a little. But eventually, after 20 minutes or so of looking, someone found it in the trunk of the jeep, which probably should have been check first haha. That off tracked the morning a little, but the rest of the day was full of adventure. 

We reached our destination eventually which was a small hill. We climbed the hill and had environmental policy class there. The hill was covered in gravel so it was extremely slippery climbing up and going down, but that was only the least of it. After that, we walked to one of the Chyulu hills and climbed it. It was the most strenuous outdoor activity I have ever done, ever. We climbed a series of three hills to get to the top. While climbing the huge hill (mountain) I thought we had made it to the top and was so relieved, when seconds later I was told we weren't even a third of the way done (!). I honestly didn't think I could make it to the top when I heard that. It was the biggest hill i've ever seen. Walking with us was a KWS guard to watch out for wildlife. It was so straining and I thought my lungs would explode from my asthma, but I made it to the top eventually. It was such a breathtaking sight. The surrounding mountains and hills looked like a mixture of Jurassic park and a Dr. Seuss book combined to make the most beautiful scenery. The hills had peaks, some were slanted, and some were caved in, it was so pretty. I was so so so so relieved to get to the top, but honestly I have no desire to climb another hill/mountain anytime soon. But I can now say that I have climbed a Chyulu hill. When climbing down I fell completely on my butt, two times. The grass was slippery and there was nothing to hang on to going down, so I was grasping at tall grass and slowly slipping down the hills. On the drive back to camp we stopped at a gas station and got ICE CREAM! Ice cream is not very common or popular in Kenya, so we were so excited to get some. That night we had a campfire and had a competition to see who could do the best teacher impersonations. It was one of the funniest things, I could not stop laughing. The teachers here all have very distinct phrases, accents, and mannerisms which makes them hilarious to impersonate.

On day three of camping (Sunday), we drove around and looked at vegetation. Afterwards we discussed practical solutions to conservation in the area and whether conservation can ever successfully be achieved. It's a very fascinating topic to think about, I feel like i've spend the majority of my time here trying to answer these conservation questions and not having the answers. That night we had another campfire and a very entertaining talent show. That was also the night I found a scorpion in my tent!!!!!! Scariest thing ever! It all started because a girl in my tent and I had noticed the zipper to our tent was slightly opened and we were warned about all the scorpions, snakes, and beetles around our camp ground, so on a whim we decided to check the entire tent to see if anything had crawled in. We lifted up our backpacks and sleeping bags, and when we lifted up one girls sleeping pad out ran a little scorpion that was almost a clear color. I screamed my lungs off, and the other girl and I were in the corner hysterical and both screaming for help! I was frantically trying to open the window of the tent and crawl out, but I was too panicked to unzip it. It was a pretty funny sight to look back on, but at the time my heart dropped and my lungs hurt from screaming. Eventually a boy walked by our tent and got a KWS guard to come over. The KWS guard came and got the scorpion onto the sleeping pad and lifted it out of the tent. He said that it was very dangerous and apparently it was the same type of scorpion that sent one of the staff members to the hospital and the bite was so painful it required a morphine drip. I could not believe the one night we decided to check for bugs that we found a scorpion in our tent. After the whole incident, we asked if anyone had heard us scream, and no one had! Our tent was practically right next to the campfire where everyone was, and no one heard us screaming, which was not comforting to know. That night it took me a looooong time to fall asleep. On the fourth day of camping (Monday) we went to a rhino sanctuary and had a wildlife ecology class there. While there, KWS guys talked to us about their efforts to conserve the black rhino, how they track them, and how they are working to get their populations up. After that, we had a game drive for hours and got kinda lost, but it was still really fun. We also got to see a leopard for the first time, which was pretty cool.

On the fifth day (Tuesday) we drove around in groups for a few hours and counted all the wildlife we saw, recording the species and habitat. We got fairly close to a group of hyenas, which are one of my favorite animals here in Kenya. They have the most distinctive walk, I just love watching them. We also saw A LOT of dik dik's, which are small antelopes that are the cutest! So far my favorite animals i've seen here are hyaenas, warthogs, elephants, and dik dik's. Warthogs are super cute, they have a prance in their walk and a bounce in their step. After the wildlife count we drove to a lodge and spent the day relaxing and eating. It was spectacular! Yet also really weird going from camping to a five star lodge. It was almost like culture shock, going from peeing in a hole, sleeping in a tent, and being covered head to toe in dirt to being in a lodge with actual toilets and extremely fancy decor and food. It was one of the nicest hotel/lodges I have ever seen. I can't even imagine how much it would cost to stay there a night. The lodge was placed by a watering hole in Tsavo-West National Park, so we could see wildlife coming for water while we were sitting down drinking our tea. There was a open ledge with a magnificent view of the Chyulu hills, wildlife, and the blue sky. We ate the buffet and it was some of the best food i've had here, mainly because I am extremely tired of the food at camp. I have to force myself to eat it some nights. It was so nice to have a different variety at the buffet, I ate SO MUCH. Also, cheese is not common here in Kenya and we rarely have foods with cheese, so at the buffet I practically ate a block of cheese! It was delicious. After lunch, I hung around the pool and than got a massage, which was desperately needed. I was so warn out from camping and my back hurt from sleeping on the ground (since my sleeping pad had gotten a hole in it on the first night of camping). After that we headed back to camp and spent our last night in Tsavo. Apparently hyenas were wandering close to our camp that night and some students could hear them from their tents.

On Wednesday we drove back to camp early and were thrown back into classes and homework. The next few days were spent swamped with HOMEWORK and STUDYING. Exams here count for 40% of our grades in Kenya, so I spent a lot of time studying. The atmosphere around camp was a little stressful and quiet, because of everyone in study mode. On friday it rained for the first time while we've been here. It was so exciting! It seriously was pouring rain for hours, a lot of us got on our raincoats and took some rain pictures. Some people played volleyball and frisbee in the rain. It was definitely a stress reliever. The next day it also poured for hours. Our camp is starting to bud little green sprouts after the heavy rain and the dust is not as bad around camp now. Sunday and Monday were exam days. Exams were fine, considering the material on the tests were very science based and included biology calculations way out of my realm of study. We got grades the day after exams and I'm very content with them. Oh also, backtracking, I was MOD (which I found out means Mwanafunzi (student) of the day) on Thursday. For my RAP I recruited six other girls and we choreographed a dance/fashion show. We got dressed up just like the Maasai mamas, wearing cloths and covered in jewelry. The girls all wore my jewry, which is an extensive collection. We practiced for days and finally had it down. It was hard to keep a straight face when dancing, because our choreography was so ridiculous, but it was so much fun to perform!

☮ Lexi

it's been a while...

(I wrote this like three weeks ago, i've be horrible at keeping up with this blog, but I swear I will get better! Or at least try haha):

Sorry i've been a little lazy with this whole blogging thing. I've been busy, busy, busy with homework and fun. I suppose i'll start off talking about last Friday when we visited a Maasai cultural manyatta. A cultural manyatta is like a village open to tourists. It is a place where a community of Maasai live and give tourists tours of their homes. It was honestly one of the weirdest experiences. It seemed a little like exploitation of a culture and of the Maasai, but it is also a way for the community to make money from tourists. The Maasai in the cultural manyatta danced, sang and gave us a tour of their homes. It was interesting to compare visiting this tourist Maasai village to the experience of visiting Maasai villages not open for tourists. At the manyatta, our guide led us to a group of children who performed songs about Jesus and answered math problems for the tourists. It was so bazaar. It seemed like the children were put on display and had to put on shows for the tourists. It was extremely weird to see. Overall going to the cultural manyatta was a very fascinating experience, to say the least. After that, we went to a lodge and ate at a amazing buffet, it was so nice to eat some different food. The food at camp is always the same and it gets real old, real fast. The lodge was SO NICE, there were actual toilets there and not just holes in the ground! There were also Maasai walking around for tourists, which seemed very odd. It was really weird to see other tourists, or mazungus (white people) as they call them here. The lodge was such a nice change and it was breathtaking how fancy it was.

So on a side note, I have build up a reputation around camp as a shopping addict. I just love the jewelry so much here! Every time we enter Amboseli National Park mamas swarm our jeeps and sell such pretty necklaces and bracelets. It's funny because they say things like "Support mama" and if you say no they say "You're killing mama". So I always joke that I'm buying jewelry to help "Support the mamas".

On thursday we had class riding around in the jeeps all around the local Kimana area, where our camp is. We would drive to one location and one of our teachers would talk about the issues in that specific area, and then drive to another location and a different teacher would talk about the issues in that area. It was really interesting having a traveling lecture and being able to view the actual problems being discussed in this area. Thursday, friday, and saturday consisted of mainly homework and classes. I have so many classes a day! I'm used to having two classes a day at college, but here I can have three classes a day, each two hours long. Sometimes i'll have four hours of Environmental Policy in one day. The homework load here is not that different than what I'm used to at Beloit, but it's the whole science aspect of it that is extremely hard for me. I have no idea how to write or think scientifically, so most of the homework assignments for Wildlife Management and Wildlife Ecology are over my head. However, for my Swahili and Culture class I've had to write three essays this past week, which was actually enjoyable. It's so funny talking to all the biology majors in this program and hearing them complain about the cultural essays and how hard they are to write, when that's the only homework I understand and like doing. Also, most of the group doesn't like our Environmental Policy class, which is my favorite class! I find it endlessly fascinating how people can think and learn so differently. I love the policy and cultural aspects that go into conservation, while most of the people here love the science aspect of it. I'm glad I add a little spice to a group full of science majors haha.

In Tanzania we spend most of our time working on the Directed Research (DR) class, in which we get to chose our focus of either wildlife management, wildlife ecology, or environmental policy. I'm excited to get to focus more on environmental policy, which will be the DR I chose. My time here in Kenya is going by so fast! it's already been over a month, i can't even believe it. in a few weeks we will be moving to the other camp in Tanzania. Apparently the camp in Tanzania has great internet, hot showers, huge bandas, and American restaurants in town. It pretty much sounds like a resort! I'm excited to change things up and experience something new in Tanzania, but I'm also gonna miss Kenya! The staff here are incredible and hilarious. I feel like I know the in's and out's of camp and I love everything about Kilimanjaro Bush Camp, well, minus the bugs and snakes.

Anyways, on sunday we went to a local church, which was soooooooo much fun! There was a lot of singing and dancing! It was wonderful to see what church was like in Kenya. The church we went to was in the process of being built, it had rows of plastic chairs and only half a roof. There was a DJ with a soundboard to mix music on. Kids would dance down the aisle and had the coolest dance moves. After church we went to Club Kimana (club K for short) and had a absolutely absurd and fun time. Monday and Tuesday were filled with classes. Wednesday we went out into the field and interviewed farmers again for Environmental Policy. It was super interesting to walk around to all these small farms and interview farmers about the issues they are facing with wildlife. That day we also slaughtered a goat at camp and roasted it. There's no way I could have watched it, I heard afterwards that it was extremely gruesome, so I'm glad I hadn't witnessed it. On Thursday it was community service day so we went back to the local school and painted a classroom with pictures of wildlife. Some of the kids got to help paint and one picture they painted was of a child working, with the caption 'Child labor', while all the SFS students painted lions, giraffes and happy things haha. After painting we got to hangout with the kids. They are so adorable, there was the cutest girl following me around, I wanted to take her back with me. She was seriously the cutest little button ever. 

The next day was spent at Amboseli National Park and than hanging out at a beautiful lodge again. On Saturday we had non-program day, so we went to a market in a nearby town and than to an orphanage. (Side note: so since Obama's grandparents are from Kenya, everyone in Kenya loves Obama. At the markets they sell Obama shirts, belt buckles, gum, bags, and other ridiculously silly Obama things, it's so funny!). Anyways, after the market, we drove to the orphanage. I was expecting it to be a little sad, but the kids were so sweet! I hung around the girls and they were all around 13 or 14 years old. They all wanted to go to college and work, and when I asked if they had boyfriends they told me they had "No time to entertain boys", which cracked me up! The orphanage was more like a boarding school. Most of the girls still had families but chose to go to the orphanage for reasons such as not wanted FGM or if their families wanted to marry them off early. On Sunday and Monday it was more classes and homework. On Tuesday we went back to the Kimana market and were swarmed by mamas selling jewelry, but i've gotten better at handling them. And not to brag, but I am pretty great at getting the prices I want.

So a few random things to mention- first, my banda has been invaded my mice. The other night I was sitting in my bed reading and I could see four or five mice scurrying around the floor, hopping onto suitcases, digging in the garbage can, and going under the beds. The staff said that there has been a recent "MOUSE EXPLOSION" (quoting the exact words they used to describe the recent infestation) in Kenya over the past few weeks so they are going to put poison in the bandas since mice attract snakes, and we can't have snakes coming inside the bandas. Also the other night, one of the askaris (the camp night watchmen) killed a huge black mamba by the bathrooms. SCARY. Also, on my way to the bathroom one night as I was opening the door the biggest spider ever attacked me. By attacked, I mean it crawled onto my hand as I was opening the door and I freaked out and ran back to my banda without going to the bathroom. Any who, it's getting late but tomorrow I will write about the expedition to Tsavo and camping, and have it posted ASAP :]

☮ Lexi

Kenya handle this super long blog post?

(Sorry in advance for the spelling & grammar errors)-

I have no idea where to begin this blog post, it has been such an amazing week! I'll go in chronological order of events. Well, a few days ago I was m.o.d., which is kinda like student of the day. Being m.o.d. I had to give a r.a.p. (reflection, announcements, presentation) after dinner. For my presentation we played a game where everyone gets in a circle and has to do a goofy dance move. The catch is that you have to repeat the dance moves of everyone a head of you. It's pretty funny by the time it gets to the end and the last person has to repeat the dance moves of everyone in the circle. For my reflection I read a passage out of my favorite book, The Grapes of Wrath. Here's the passage I read (the last fews lines are my absolute favorite ever)--

"And the stars down so close, and sadness and pleasure so close together, really the same thing.  Like to stay drunk all the time.  Who says it's bad?  Preachers, but they got their own kind of drunkenness.  Thin, barren women, but they are too miserable to know.  Reformers, but they don't bite deep enough into living to know.  No, the stars are close and dear and I have joined the brotherhood of the worlds.  And everything's holy, everything, even me."

On friday I had four hours of my Environmental Policy class. It was a loooonnnggg day. We also had a guest speaker come in and talk to us about Maasai culture. It was extremely fascinating. She talked a lot about FGM and how it is still really prevalent in Maasai culture. She explained how it was practiced and perceived by the women and community. The rest of the day was spent doing homework, which is really difficult to get done since there's been no internet for 4 days and my current homework involves researching articles.

Saturday was AMAZING, AMAZING, AMAZING. (I know i keep using the same words, like amazing, wonderful, incredible, fascinating, but my vocabulary is limited and those words fit so perfectly with my experiences so far.) Anyways, I went to Amboseli National Park again on saturday and did a census of all the animals. No other SFS students have been apart of a censes before, we were really lucky. The census was through KWS (Kenya Wildlife Services) who are the head government conservation people (they are pretty much a big deal). Taking part in a KWS census meant we got special access to the park, so we got to go off roading! The only vehicles allowed to go off the roads are ones doing research in the park, so we got to go pretty much where ever we wanted. We could ride our jeep right up to a herd of zebras or wildebeest, it was the coolest thing ever. Our job that day was to count all the animals we saw, so each jeep took a block of the park and counted all the animals in that block. Our block was filled with large herds of elephants, zebras, gazelle, and wildebeest. When we got to a large group of animals we would count each species and write it down. It was a hard task. There was one time when we counted over 250 wildebeest in one little area of land. Now every time I see animals my initial reaction is to count them. It was so fabulous to go off roading at Amboseli National Park, definitely a highlight.

On sunday we went to a huge Maasai celebration. This celebration only happens every 15 years and it was incredibly special to see. The celebration was for young men and boys to become junior warriors. Maasai from all around Kenya and even Tanzania gathered at this one village to hold the celebration. The men going through the ceremony were dressed in red and had their hair and faces painted with dark red paint. In the early morning they slaughtered a few cows and roasted them in a circle were the men would go in, eat a piece of meat, and get a cow skin ring placed on their finger. They would than exit the circle as a junior warrior. There were tons of people at the celebration and it was so much fun to walk around and talk to people. The people there were some of the most welcoming people. I had so many interesting conversations. I talked to one guy about FGM and it was really fascinating to hear a locals perspective on it. He told me although it's still going on, in his community it has become less common. It was also fascinating that he was so open and willing to talk about it. I talked to another guy about music for a little bit and he told me all about the local music scene in Nairobi. He also told me all of his favorite artists, which included Ne-Yo, Chris Brown, Usher, 50 Cent, and his favorite, Eminem! I  found it so interesting that he listened to all the same artists that are popular in the U.S.. 

Everyone I talked to kept on welcoming me to the celebration and told me to take as many pictures as I like. Even though all of us stood out as foreigners and were obviously not Maasai, I really didn't feel uncomfortable or like an outsider. It was such an incredible event, I felt so lucky to have gone to a celebration that only happens every 15 years. Also, I forgot to mention the jeep ride to and from the celebration. We literally drove out to the absolute middle of nowhere to get there. We drove for about an hour and a half and for a majority of the drive there were no roads. The jeeps we drive are so intense, they can handle anything. Driving on some of the roads here would be the equivalent of off roading in the U.S., only with way more bumps.  

Today (Monday) was the best day here in Kenya thus far. FABULOUS. Words can not even describe what a great day it was, but i'll go ahead and try. Today we did home stays with local Maasai mamas. We were split into groups of two and went off to different Maasai villages. Me and another girl walked to our home stay, while most other groups drove. We met our host mama and she was so nice, her name was Joyce. She didn't speak any english and knew a little Swahili, but didn't understand anything I tried to say in Swahili. She mainly spoke a Maasai language. We didn't really communicate through speech, yet somehow we had a lot of fun together. She wanted us to take pictures of everything, it was kinda funny. We would be pouring tea and she would say "picture" and wanted us to take a picture, than she would look at it and have the biggest smile. She went about her daily routine and we helped her out, it was really cool to shadow her for a day. 

We started the day rolling up cow hides, which the Maasai use as mattresses. We than walked a long ways to collect water from a stream. My host mama filled up large cartons of water and placed one on my back. That thing was heavy! A rope went around my head to help me carry and support the water, but I thought I was going to topple over. I can't believe the mamas do this multiple times a day, it's intense labor. The walk back was sooo long and after I set the water carton down my arms felt like jelly. We than did the BEST thing ever. My host mama handed us buckets and took us into the cattle area. We had no idea what we were going to do. She pointed to cow poop and motioned for us to pick it up. I started laughing hysterically and I could not stop! I just couldn't believe what we were about to do. It was so gross at first, but I embraced it. I picked up the mushy cow poop and loaded it up in a bucket. The mama than poured water and dirt in the poop and started mixing it together. We were going to be helping her fix up the outside of her house. She grabbed a chunk of the cow poop mix and rubbed it onto her house. I started grabbing the cow poop and putting it over the cracks on the house. It was actually really hard to blend it in, there is a definite strategy to layering the poop on the outside. Spackling that house was one of the coolest things i've ever done, ever. Instead of cow poop I just kept telling myself it was like clay haha. 

After fixing up the house we washed our hands and started making tea and cooking lunch. Lunch was ugali, which is pretty much like grits in a cake like form. It doesn't have much of a taste, but is a very commonly eaten food here in Kenya. We also cooked cabbage, onions, and tomatoes with half a container of pure vegetable fat. I'm not exaggerating, we cooked the vegetables in so much fat! And they were delicious. The mama served us the biggest pieces of ugali, it probably weighed a pound. I proudly finished it all and gained 5 pounds in the process. Lunch was spent with a group of other women and although I didn't understand anything they said to one another, it felt like I was just 'lunching with the girls'. After lunch we hung out and played a little with the two kids my host mama had. They were so adorable. I also got to hold a goat! So cute. And there was the CUTEST puppy hanging around the village, I wanted to take him home. I tried to give him some water and he ended up drinking a little out of my water bottle, so now I have to bleach it so I don't get worms. Apparently most of the dogs here have worms, but I can't help myself, I have to pet them all. Later in the day we sat on a cow hied in the shade and did some bead work. It was incredibly time consuming and it made me appreciate all the work that goes into the jewelry the mamas make. I helped my host mama make a beautiful bracelet and than I got to keep it :) It's my new favorite piece of jewelry. It was so much fun to spend the entire day in the life of a Maasai woman. It was one of the best days of my young life.

~Lexi's weekly dose of Swahili~

Question: "Habari?" (pronounced ha-bar-ee) meaning "How are you?"

Answers: "Salama" / "Mzuri" / "Safi" (pronounced salama / ma-zer-re / sa-fee) meaning "Peaceful" / "Good" / "Clean"

☮ Lexi

Lions, Bush Babies & Elephants, oh my!

Hello all! Well, this week has bee packed with classes. We get one non-program day a week, but the rest of the week is class, class, class. This past Saturday and Sunday were spent in classes most of the morning and afternoon. The classes are pretty interesting, but also a little challenging to grasp. The conservation issues here are a lot more complicated than they seem. It's super fascinating to learn about how the local people feel about conservation and wildlife. Anyways,.... since my last post I've been to a market, club, safari, wedding & more! I went to the local market last week and it was very, very, overwhelming. The mamas that sell their jewelry will circle around you and are very persistent that you buy from them. They follow you and do not leave the foreigners alone. I learned how to say "No thank you" and "I don't have any money" in Swahili, but they always respond in English by saying "No problem, no problem" and keep following you. The market was a very interesting experience. Afterwards we went to Club Kimana, which is a bar like hangout place. The bathrooms there were very interesting, to say the least- it's a hole in the ground. There were two stalls that looked pretty normal until I opened the door and saw a little hole in the cement ground. Most bathrooms in Kenya are like this. Still, club Kimana was extremely fun to say the least :)

Last week I also went on my first safari! We drove to Amboseli National Park and had to count all the animals we saw. And we saw A LOT of animals- giraffes, zebras, hyenas, hippos, gazelle, waterbuck, wildebeest, elephants, baboons, & more. It was so wonderful!! We road in the jeeps and got to take the tops off of them. It was sooo much fun riding in a jeep hanging out of the roof! I felt like such a safari tourist with my binoculars (binocs, for short) and camera. I now know why dogs love to stick their heads out of car windows haha. At the beginning of our drive we could see elephant herds off in the distance. After a while we got to a heard of elephants that were right next to the road. We got extremely close to them and it was such a sight!! They made the most wonderful crunching noises while eating. I <3 elephants, so much. The hyenas were also incredible to see. I didn't expect them to walk so distinctively, they are really fascinating (and cute) animals to watch. As we were driving on one road, baboons started to flock towards out car and they were such hams! They would just plop down in the middle of the road and pose. Amboseli was so, so, so, so wonderful to see. We are going to go back next week to do more animal counting. Oh and also, most importantly, there is one rule to follow on any safari- no shooting. "No shooting" means no farting (ahahaha), this rule is for the drivers sake. 

Around four days ago we got invited to a Maasai wedding reception of one of the staff members here. Their were people dressed up with beautiful fabrics and beaded jewelry. The reception consisted of everyone dancing and jumping in a circle for hours and hours. Everyone would lean in the circle and jump back, over, and over again. I eventually joined in and it was super fun! Some of the men would have jumping competitions in the circle to see who could jump higher. I finally got to witness the amazing jumping skills the Maasai have. They can jump a good 3-4 feet in the air! After attending a wedding it is customary to give the bride and groom a wedding gift, so we are putting our money together to buy them a goat. The other night I went with the group on a nighttime nature walk. I was soo paranoid that I would run into a snake, but so far i've only seen one nonpoisonous snake. I did see bush babies on the walk, and they are the cutest lil' nuggets! Their eyes peak out in the trees and they leap amazing distances, they are seriously the cutest. 

Now, I thought i'd fill you in on some random things that are here in Kenya. First off, there is dust EVERYWHERE. Seriously, everywhere. Dust flies everywhere I walk and everywhere we drive. There is always dust in my hair, on my feet, and in my nose. There are also little prickly things EVERYWHERE. They are like mini thorns and the bottoms of all my shoes are covered in them. They always manage to sneak in my bed and on my clothes. There are also little bed bug like insects here that leave red spot all over my arms, so I had to get my mattress washed. And strangely enough, I have never seen a mosquito flying around, yet my entire body is covered in mosquito bites. The weird thing is NO ONE ELSE HAS ANY BITES. I talked to a staff member about it and she said mosquitos just like some people more than others. So apparently mosquitos love me very, very much. Good thing it's not the wet season yet and malaria is not as common around this time of the year. There is also garbage and plastic bags littered through out the entire landscape of Kenya. Driving down every road, I probably see thousands of plastic bags on the ground and stuck on plants. There is no such thing as recycling here, in fact, the way they dispose of garbage is by burning it.

Monday was incredible. We visited a local school and hung out with the kids. The kids where really fascinated with us and wanted their picture taken all the time. I really didn't want to take "those" pictures, ya know, the ones with groups of nameless poor children, I just seems to overdone and a little unethical. But I eventually caved. The kids love to see the pictures taken of them. So I took a lot of pictures just to show the kids, they got so excited and had the biggest smiles on their faces when they saw themselves in the pictures. We worked at the school painting a classroom. The room was in poor condition and very small, but somehow managed to hold 70 students. The kids talked about how they had no school supplies or water, which was really sad to hear. The kids did seem really happy though. Some of the SFS students played soccer with the kids, and others (including me) had a dance party with them. It was so much fun!!!!! One person brought ipod speaker so we played music and danced. The kids gathered around us to watch, and some joined in, while others just giggled at how ridiculous we probably looked.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was a non-program day so we didn't have classes, but we were still pretty scheduled. In the morning we took a hike down to a gorge. The climb down was pretty steep, but at the bottom of the gorge it was beautiful. It looked like something out of Jurassic Park. Seeing any green plants or trees here is a rarity since it's the dry season, but the gorge was filled with green, it was breathtaking. After our hike we drove to an AIDS support group center. We met a group of women and they told us their stories about living with ADIS and the stigmas attached to it here in Kenya. It was really fascinating and sad to hear. For me, the worst part was to hear that the husbands are the main ones that bring AIDS home to their wives and yet take no responsibility. Many of the women we talked to said their husbands would not admit to being unfaithful or contracting the disease to their family, and the women just accept it, stay with their husbands, and sweep it under the rug. The support group raised money by selling jewelry and so they had a little store filled with nick nacks. I definitely spent way to much money there, but the jewelry the women made was beautiful! Later that day we went to Club Kimana and it was, yet again, another fun night. We also watched The Lion King that night, which either takes place in Kenya or Tanzania. There are actually a good amount of Swahili words in it. Simba means lion (which was the first Swahili word I had down), Rafiki means friend, and Akuna Matata really does mean no worries. My inner child was extremely happy to be watching The Lion King in Africa. 

Today was spent out in the field talking to farmers in the local communities about their crops. It was really interesting to hear their stories about how elephants and zebras destroy their crops and also to see how their farms are run. However, it is not fun to have stomach problems when the only place to go to the bathroom is a hole in the ground and instead of toilet paper there is news paper. Lets just say it hasn't been the most pleasant day. It was an experience though. Anywho, sorry if this post is all over the place. I've been writing it sporadically throughout the week and have to wait to post when there is a strong internet connection. The only website that is fast is FaceBook oddly enough. Loading this blog and my e-mail takes a few hours, but FB is pretty fast.

I thought i'd post a Swahili word/greeting at the end of every entry: 

~Lexi's Swahili word of the week~

question: "Vipi?" (pronounced vee pee) slang for "What's up?"

response: "Freshi" (pronounced freshee) means "I'm fresh"

☮ Lexi

First post from Kenya!

(Internet connection is very, VERY, spotty. I wrote this post a fews days ago, but haven't been able to post it until now. Also, the internet won't allow me to upload photos to this blog site, so I will try to put picture on facebook, but it might take a while, sorry! (Sorry for the poor writing on this blog, I really didn't spent any time re-reading it or checking grammar & spelling) But thanks so much to anyone who is reading this! I hope it's worth your time!...)

Jambo! (which means 'Hello' in Swahili). So much has happened this past week.... I don't even know where to begin! I guess I should start at the beginning though. Well, before arriving in Kenya I had a 12 hour layover in London so I decided to leave the airport and venture around the city. As it turned out, the Tube was on strike that day, so the people of London were scurrying around the city looking for transportation. This meant that we had to do a lot of walking in order to get around. And by 'we' I mean a few other SFS students who I had met at the Newark airport. London was fun to wander around, especially after the 8 hour flight it took to get there.

We eventually got back to the airport and had a 9 hour flight to Nairobi. I didn't sleep much on the flight, but I was so energized just to be in Africa that the jet lag hadn't hit me yet. We exchanged our money, got our bags, and loaded them up in the SFS jeeps that were waiting for us at the airport. It was such an amazing feeling to finally be in Kenya after days of traveling, and it was also my birthday! When I hopped in the front seat of one of the jeeps I saw that it was decorated with streamers and balloons (which I happen to be terrified of, but it's the thought that counts) for my birthday :) Also, after dinner later that day they brought me out a cake that said "Happy Birthday Lexi"! It was so nice of them. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday. Arriving in Kenya was possibly the best present ever.

But backtracking from that, we then drove 4 hours to reach the camp, Kilimanjaro Bush Camp (KBC). On the drive down I learned that I am 40% more likely to die on a freeway in Kenya than on a freeway in the U.S. (not comforting to know haha). After getting to the camp it was so exciting to look around and settle into a banda (a thatched off the ground house/hunt). To my surprise the living conditions were a lot nicer than I had expected, but it might take awhile to get used to the bathrooms....which are not exactly what I'm used to. The showers are not heated during the day, but after 6:00 the generator turns on and the water gets a tiny amount of heat. I have internet every other day from 6:30pm-11:00pm, but the internet is EXTREMELY slow and some nights doesn't work at all (which is why i've been bad at updating this blog). My banda gets electricity after 6:00pm, so it's a little strange not to have light in the morning or afternoon. 

It gets dark pretty early here, like around 8pm. At night I have to wear a headlamp everywhere I walk so I don't step on snakes. Apparently there are many poisonous snakes I have to look out for, such as a black mamba, green mamba, and red spitting cobra. There are also scorpions I have to watch out for, since I'm told there bites hurt extremely bad. My bed has a mosquito net which has to be tucked in at all times, even during the day, so snakes and other insects don't get in. I was told by a staff member that no students have ever been bitten by a snake though, which made me feel a little safer. BUT, I was also told that one girl forgot to tuck in her mosquito net one time and woke up with a black mamba in here sleeping bag. I'm so paranoid after hearing that.

I stared my classes a few days ago and they seem pretty challenging, but also really interesting. My professors are all from Kenya and know a lot about what they are teaching. The classes I'm in our Wildlife Ecology, Wildlife Management, Environmental Policy, and Swahili and Culture. At the camp there is wildlife all around me. There are many beautiful (and noisy) birds here and yesterday I saw a baboon casually walking through camp! I also had one of the most incredible experiences of my life the other day- we got to visit our neighbors, the Maasai, who live across the road. It is traditional when meeting neighbors for each party to preform a song and dance. The Maasai sang beautiful songs and were dressed in colorful, bright clothing and beaded jewelry. It was so amazing to meet them! In return we had to preform a dance, so we decided to do the macarena. Let me just say, there were 28 kids doing the macarena and it was hilarious :D The Maasai seemed to enjoy it, they were clapping and some were trying to follow along. We then got to take a tour of one of their homes, which were made of cow poop, tree brush, and other materials. It was so fascinating to see! The inside had a bedroom/living room, kitchen, closet, and a little den for baby goats to sleep. After that, the Maasai women gathered in a huge circled and laid out the beaded jewelry they had made to sell. It was so pretty, wanted to buy it all! It was also really inexpensive, for example, I got a big circular beaded necklace for around $12. The Maasai women are very pushy when it comes to selling their goods and I had to learn the art of hackling, because they start their prices very, very high (since they assume all Americans are rich).

Today was packed full of adventure. We left camp at 7:30am and drove an hour to climb a hill (more like a mountain). On the way there I saw wild giraffes, zebras, kudu, and gazelles! Seeing packs of wild giraffes was so exciting! There is something indescribable about seeing them in their natural habitat just chillin'. Earlier that day I knew we were going to do some sort of a hike, but I had no idea what I was in for. Climbing that hill/mountain was the most strenuous physical activity I have ever done. It was EXTREMELY steep and slippery. I had to lift myself over boulders and with the high altitude it was hard to catch my breath. But I made it to the top! Once at the top, I had to walk over huge boulders to get to another huge boulder where we all sat and had a class. Yes, we had Environmental Policy class on top of a mountain, sitting on a boulder, it was amazing. The teacher got out a stand with notes, stuck it into the ground, and started his lecture. As he was explaining the different land areas around us, he was able to point each one out and from where we were sitting we could see the exact area he was describing. The hike down was a little tricky, and very slippery, but iI felt like I had accomplished something spectacular afterwards. Well, this blog post is already super long so I guess i'll stop here... Goodnight or la la salama as they say here in Kenya :)


☮ Lexi

my first blog post....

I decided to start this blog to document by study abroad experiences in Kenya and Tanzania. While there I'll be studying the wildlife, environment, and culture. Now, I've always found blogging to be a little self-indulgent, but I thought this would be a good way for my family and friends to see what I'm up to in Africa. 

So, at the moment I don't have much to blog about. I'm leaving for Kenya tomorrow and have a lot of last minute things to do. I'll be traveling for two days and taking three planes to reach my final destination: Kenya! I leave from Detroit to New Jersey, then to London, and finally Kenya. I'll be arriving to Kenya on September 8th, which just so happens to be my birthday :) I don't think it's hit me yet that I'm leaving tomorrow, but I'm sure when I get to the airport i'll be getting that nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. As of right now though, I'm filled with excitement and can't wait to be in AFRICA. 

I'll be spending my last day with someone i'll miss a whole lot..... my dog Bartley :)

☮ Lexi