Monkeys and such...

Hey everyone,
I't been a fantastic week (I have a feeling that I probably will be saying this a lot.). We've spent most of the week going over kits (this is the equivalent to each of the 'lessons' or topics that we are going to teach.) with the Kenyans. It's been interesting lesson in learning the differences between our culture and the Kenyan culture. Here are some things that I've noticed so far:
- Kenyans drive in the right seat on the left side of the road (always fun for crossing the street-- I always look the wrong way... Nicola-- you'd love it here.)
- when passing someone, Kenyans go to the left as oppose to us going to the rihgt
-- when greeting someone you kiss on either side of the cheek, starting the the left side of course (this is kind of funny when we're used to going to the right, so as you can imagine trying to kiss the cheek of someone when you are both going the same way....ha.)
-- the toliet handle is on the right when looking at the toliet
-- Kenyans are very affectionate. I'm normally not an overly affectionate person, but I ind myself touching everybody. For example, we do a lot of laughing with the Kenyans and whenever someone says something funny, those in close proximity have to shake their hand/high five them/ hit their knee...it's so natural here and so funny.
- when asked a question, Kenyans listen and there is a little bit of a pause before speaking. Whereas we not only answer questions immediately, but tend to interupt each other (a HUGE pet peeve of mine)
- monkeys are the same as squirrels: they're everywhere, they eat garbage, they fight with each other and they climb trees. I love them. More on this later...


Okay there's lots more but that's all I can think of right now. We are living with the Kenyans. I share a room with Nat, REbecca and two Kenyans named Hadeja and Joyce. It's fun... we also share the room with a number of bugs. We used to be freaked out, but now theyre our friendly friends. (<-- wow I'm a literary genius.)

Anyway, here are some pictures we took when going to the monkey park. A park in the middle of Nairobi where monkeys live. People come (mostly tourists) and buy peanuts and feed the monkeys. It's hilarious! If you offer peanuts in your hands, monkeys will swarm to your hand and grab the nuts. IF you put them on your shoulder they'll climb up and sit on your shoulder. (again like squirrels). This is a picture of me telling a monkey to share because he was being greedy and not letting other smaller monkeys get nuts. Anther picture is of my teaching partner named Nafoola. She's in second year. She can dance beautifully...actually pretty much all Kenyans can. Last nigh, the Kenyans were sharing their culture with us. They showed us a whole bunch of dances-- beautiful.
I have more to write, but we have limited time on these computers.
Okay, you guys are great. You need to come to Kenya. A shout out to crew! I hope you're having a grand time racking.
Hope everyone's springs are going splendidly.
em

First Day in Kenya-ya!!!!

Alright, so we're now in Kenya!!!! The flight over, although 24 hours of travelling time, seemed to go by fairly quickly. I had a window seat from London to Nairobi and it was sweet. I probably took a million pictures. It was such a clear day so I got pictures of the Alps, British coast line, Lybian desert, etc. Okay, weirdest thing though. In the desert there about 16 large circles. From the plane (38000 ft above) the circles were pretty big, so on th ground they must be huge. They look like crop circles..... does anyone know what they are?
Anyway, enough about the plane. We arrived in Nairobi last night at about 9:30 pm Kenya time (so that's 2:30 pm on Mon Canada time). It was such a rush to see the lights of Nairobi and to feel the instant humidity when we got off the plane. I couldn't help but smile the whole time we were in the airport, getting our visas, picking up luggage..and then meeting the kenyans!!! Everyone greets you with a kiss to either cheek and hug/handshaking combo. They were all so welcoming. We then took a matatu (small minbus) into Nairobi to where we are staying. I think the best part of traveling to another country (or one of the best) is driving through the city at night. Everything is lit up, the music is loud, people are singing (in our case). There are a lot of advertisements for car tires (of all things) also cell phones and banks. The other thing, which I LOVE is all of the flowers: there are the beautiful pink ones we see in Nicaragua (to those who know what I'm talking about,....) also the ones you see in Hawaii, so many different colours! (Clearly not bontanist.... (or a speller apparently).) What else? Oh yes, so last night we had dinner together with the Kenyans. There are about 7 Kenyans from Nairobi U who we are teaching with and 10 or so exec meembers. They are beautiful people. They love dancing and today we learned (or rather, tried to learn) the Kenyan national anthem.
There are so many thoughts going through my head, but I don't know how to express them all. I'm trying to give you a little bit of a taste for what it is like. Once I get some pictures up it will be better.
Today's a holiday in Kenya so the city isn't really crowded, rather everyone is at one of two parks. Everywhere you go there seems to be a lot of hiphop music. It's almost like the unspoken vibe of the city.
As for the rest of the week we will be teaching the Kenyans our kits (each of the lessons). I think we'll be doing some site seeing as well.
Oh, okay here's a good story: there were two little kids outside of where we are staying. At first the little girl was pretty shy to say "Hi, Auntie" (a term of endearment, I suppose) to Nat, Becca and I, despite promptings from her caregiver. So we tried to get her to talk, but eventually went to our room. A second later, she knocked on the door and said: "Hi Auntie" Then her and her friend started this game where they would run down the hall, I would cell their names and then they would come running back giggling to give us a hug. We did this for a while and I think we would still be playing this game now, exceptr for the fact that we had to go to town. Kids are great and are the same no matter where you go.
Okay, that's it. Excpet I strongly urge you to see "The Pursuit of Happyness" I watched it on a the plane and it's my fav movie right now. A beautiful story of joy in situations that humanly speaking should not be joyful. I was left with a better and more complete understanding of what Jesus meant when he said that those "are poor" will inherit His Kingdom. Check it out.

The Team.

Okay so I feel like there should be a picture on here. But I dont know how to put one up permenantly (any help from the wiz's in this area would be great...) so here are two pictures of the Kenya team (these aren't going to be in order, so it's like a little game for you where you can try to link up the names with person....it's like a connect the dots/ pin the tail on a donkey shin dig....). Anyway these are the people going: Nat, Guz, Amit, Alex, Stu, Becca, Alanna and me. These pictures are after we won a broomball tournament at the QMO (Queen's Medical Outreach) retreat. The headbands say: "I heart Kenya". We're thinking of sporting them everyday in Kenya. pretty much the coolest ever.....

Alright and then here is a picture of me, cause I thought that it might be important to actually have a picture of this so-called 'Emily' ...purely for PR and the like.....you know how it goes.

Entry Numero Uno

Soooooo.... here we go. This is my first dip into the world of blogging. I feel like there are certain pressures associated with this: 1) The blog homepage must be asthetically pleasing; 2) There must be a decent amount of comments from friends, family and randoms and (above all else) 3) I must be impecibly witty in all of my entries.....eek.
So this may or may not happen, but at least you'll be getting a little taste of what Kenya is like through my eyes.
Egad, a week from today I will be in Kenya. How weird. There is still soooooo much to do. 1. Figure out my future (i.e. what program stream I'm in), 2. Pack (so, I had a dream last night that I was at the airport to go to Kenya and I hadn't packed...hopefully this won't be the case on Sunday) and 3. ...er....I forget, but trust, there's a list that's like 500 miles long.

Apparently I'm all about the lists. (...it's the life sci influence....oh left brain.)

Anyway, I'd love to hear how you are all doing so please comment or email or whathaveyou.

,
Emily