Preemptive Post

Inevitably the following 10 questions will be asked. I have decided to answer them before they are...

1.) My favorite part of the trip has been meeting and building relationships with so many amazing people. I think I have been befriended by as many people in Kenya as I have been my whole life prior, and they will be, by far, the hardest thing to leave.

2.) My least favorite thing, has been waking up to no water from the taps. Possibly my only complaint about my whole time here will be those mornings when I woke up and just wanted to shower, turned the knob, and nothing happened. Or when I came back from hustling around town all day covered in sweat and dirt and the shower offered no cure. I look forward to again turning the shower on, and knowing, for certain, that I will be able to wash.

3.) My favorite trip has been the mission to Uganda. Although the Masai Mara was pretty breathtaking, the excitement (and food) of Uganda had to win out. From riding through small rural villages on the back of a motorbike, to 500 person open air crusades, it was a truly unique and wonderful experience.

4.) My least favorite trip, believe it or not, would have to be the flea infested smoldering hot tour through the coastal town of Mombasa. Although it did have its share of high points, the fact that I was forced to move from my room in Nairobi for half of a week afterwards to rid it of fleas solidified its spot at the bottom...

5.) As far as the food goes, its been amazing. I remember getting ready to leave in early January and stuffing my face in the name of ignorance as to what I would be eating in the months to come. The food situation was really the only thing I was nervous about coming over, and it has proved to be one of my favorite aspects of the Kenyan culture; chapti, stew, beans, rice, ugali, sukuma, all of it. Its been a delicious 6 months.

6.) One of the most interesting things, in regards to cultural differences, has been learning about the wedding customs. The man must pay a dowry to the family of his bride. Sums so large they usually take many years to pay off (if they ever actually are). The more schooling the woman has the more valuable she is, and the larger the dowry. They can be as large as millions of shillings or as small as a goat. Once the wedding is official a committee is formed and the couple does hardly any planning. Even more surprising they do very little of the funding as well. It is a community event. The community plans it, and the community pays for it. Everybody chips in what they can. They are no small event either. They probably average 300 people, and 600 guests is nothing too special...

Also interesting, elementary school students are taken on field trips to AIDS wards to scare the students away from bad decisions. They just walk down the hallways looking at all the sickly and dying patients...

7.) Health concerns? I have been extremely blessed when it comes to sickness and stomach issues. I have had none (although Malaria could show up at some point down the line I suppose...).

8.) The bugs haven't been too much of an issue. Aside from a minor flea infestation, bed bug scare, and a cockroach kitchen bastion there hasn't really been any problem to report. The mosquitoes haven't even been noticeable the past couple months. Every now and again a giant beetle may be buzzing around, a new batch of flying termites may insistently fly into the same walls over and over; during a camping trip you may step on a safari ant farm and bare the consequences; but all in all, nothing major. Of late downtown Nairobi has been swarmed with 3 inch long grasshoppers, but all things considered the bugs were a minor issue at best. (It also helps to share you room with a gecko.)

9.) What did I learn you ask? Well, that one will take much longer than this post will abide, but it is my hope that this question will be fully answered upon the posting of my reflection on the past 6 months. It should be up within a week or so of my return...

10.) Would I come back? God willing, in the shake of hippo's tail.