The mzungu who fell...

Tumefika - We have arrived.

And after almost a week of intense coursing, visits to churches and universities, and learning how to adapt to a whole new lifestyle, we finally got cellphones and internet yesterday.

 

Life in Kenya is great! Despite the fact that we usually lack running water and electricity (eg. warm water, quote Audhild: "Oh, the water's warm today! Wait, now it's not, oh ouch now it really is!!"), I am feeling right at home it this red, dusty land.

 

As mentioned we have been very busy, so much that I'm already forgetting what we have actually been doing. However I'll try to bring up a few highlights.

 

First a few comments on the place where we are staying, in my room there is:

1 Audhild

2 Beds

1 Desk

1 Chair

2 Mosquito nets

2 Suitcases that form...

1 Table/ Closet

... and a whole lot of shoes.

 

Next door we find Ragnhild and Miriam, and the four of us share a bathroom with a toilet and three showers. In the next house we have our kitchen, and there are a few other buildings around, housing staff's apartments and offices. 

 

Today something happened that I have been waiting for for 6 whole years. I finally got to meet my Kenyan sisters Nana and Sarah in their home country. It was just incredible to see them approach me on the road outside the FOCUS centre. We spent the whole afternoon together, eating lunch and catching up. They even joined our class. The feeling of reaching this moment after such a wait is just incredible, I am still waiting for the reality of it to strike.

 

Now, one of the most memorable incidents so far occured when we were walking back from Naivas Supermarket, just a few kilometres from our home. We had bought quite a few heavy things, so I was carrying a plastic bag on my back. As we were walking I was sure that I saw a MYSA girls, and I stared at her so hard that I didn't realize my shoe got caught in a piece of wood and I fell straight on the ground! Leave the fact that this was in the middle of rush hour and that as wazungu we already had a lot of attention. The result was 200 Kenyans turning their heads to see the mzungu who fell. I think I'm well known in the neighbourhood by now.

 

At least this experience sirved as a culture shock coping skill developer. In a new cultural setting, as one falls and makes a fool of herself, the only thing one can really do is get back up as quickly as possible and laugh the whole thing off. And anyway, being covered in red African dust from head to toe is a part of the Kenyan experience.