Road Tripping

Good afternoon everyone! Today I'm going to talk about how to make your road trip more fun, healthier, and less stressful. For those of you that don't know me, I've driven over 10,000 miles in the past four years on account of my friends and family being scattered all over the States. My husband lives in Ohio, and I live in Illinois, so for the past 1.5 years we've had to drive to see each other. The miles add up pretty quickly, and if you don't plan right, the trip can seem interminable. To ease your 8 hour road trip extravaganza, I have some tips I'd like to share with you!

1) Cleanliness. If you're going to be spending 6+ hours in your car, even if you're not a neat freak like I am, you're going to want to clean your car before you leave. This is not only so that you feel comfortable in your environment, but so that the eventual mess that will be your passenger seat at the end of this trip is only from this trip, not from the past year. Your car will probably be cluttered again by the end of this trip, but think about cleaning your car of trash and stains so that you have less to deal with at the end of your day. This includes SMELLS!  Try to avoid discovering a half-eaten 3-month-old quesadilla two hours into your trip, and invest in a scent dispenser for your car. A small garbage bag is also a good way to contain the mess.

This is my Pepe' No Pew. He dispenses a lovely scent!

2) Nutrition. Speaking of strange foods in your car, if you want to stay alert during this trip, I recommend bringing your own food. Finding healthy food along the way is going to be either hard or expensive, and why bother when you can cook some snacks and stash them in your car? Try to pack a lot energy-packed foods to give you energy when you start drooping, like fruits and granola bars. I personally like Luna Protein bars, because I'm a veggie and I can never get enough protein.

My fave flavor. It tastes like portable Christmas!

3) Drinks vs. Amount of Pee Breaks. I'm going to be honest, sometimes I just get thirsty when I drive, and I don't think about what I'm going to need to do in an hour. I stopped 4 times to pee on my last trip back from Ohio, which is very strange for me. Frankly, if you're drinking coffee or Red Bull, be aware that it's going to make you pee, and that's going to add time to your trip. If you do decide you need energy, eat some food as well, so the liquids don't go right though your digestive system. And while it is important to stay hydrated when driving, if you're stopping to pee every hour, you're drinking too much water.

...don't do this. 

4) Finding Cheap Gas. As I'm sure anyone who lives in Chicago can tell you, gas is mad expensive compared to the rest of the state. You'll find that this is true in many major cities, and very remote locations as well. If you're passing through major cities on your trip, try to avoid buying gas in them. It won't save you that much on one tank, but if you make a habit of it, you'll have enough money to buy that cute scent dispenser...


5) Driving at Night. Some of you will disagree with me on this, but I prefer driving at night because the roads are less congested, the drivers are usually more courteous, and no one can see me rapping in my car. If you find it difficult to stay awake while driving short distances at night, this is not for you. However, I've found it very useful when on short visits to friends that are far away- by driving at night, I gain a day to spend with them, although I might be a little drowsy. I think it's a good use of time, but make sure that you either have someone else with you, or you're used to this schedule.

Me driving at night. Not an exaggeration. 

6) Being Prepared. There are a few things that you're going to need to keep in your car if you're driving lost distances alone, possible at night. Here is a short list...
a) spare tire, and the knowledge to change it
b) blanket or sleeping bag, if you get stranded
c) container of spare gas, if you have a truck bed (it will stink up a car)
d) 3-4 bottles of water
e) flashlight
f) hand-held battery-operated radio
g) First Aid kit
h) tire guage
i) spare fluid of every kind for your car, including this magical substance:

It comes from many brands, but if you don't have a spare tire, this stuff is great to have.

Well, that's it for now! Try to enjoy your road trip, and keep an eye on your gas light and tire pressure. Many happy travels!

Mia

Using the XHQ (Batumi-Hopa) Airport

Good afternoon!

Today I'm going to discuss how to get the most bang for your buck at the Batumi-Hopa Airport, and how to go about checking in if you decide to purchase the cheapest tickets. First, some background information!

The Batumi-Hopa Airport has two airport codes- BUS and XHQ. This is because the airport is used as a domestic airport by both Georgia and Turkey, and is located very close to the border. Tickets from the BUS code are much more expensive, which as a tourist, makes purchasing tickets from XHQ a better financial decision. However, there are some hoops that you'll have to hop through. Sound intriguing?

This is where the airport is located:

The first step to buying tickets from XHQ is going to Turkish Airlines' website, http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-us/. This page has a search engine on it for available flights. Make sure that when you pick the airport of departure, you pick the XHQ code.

Secondly, you must decide where you want to go! The most popular flights out of this airport are to Istanbul, and at this time this blog was written, they were around 70 USD per person for a round trip. However, flights are beginning to be available to London-Stansted, for absurdly low prices.

After you decide where and when you want to go, and buy your tickets, the slightly troublesome part begins. You see, as a XHQ customer, you must check-in at the Hopa 'terminal' in Turkey, from which you will be shuttled across the border to the physical airport. Even if you are coming from Georgia, the country in which the airport is located, you must still check-in in Turkey.

This may sound like a gigantic hassle, but I assure you, it's well worth it. There are mini-buses running from the border town of Sarp to Hopa, as well as taxies, and the terminal is well-marked with signs on the main road. The bus from the terminal to the airport passes through customs at the border with no inspections or stamps, and you don't have to exit the vehicle.

You may also be concerned about how early you have to get to the airport- this is also a non-issue due to the 2 hour time change as soon as you cross the border into Turkey. Let me show you my itinerary for when I flew out of this airport:

Time of flight on ticket for XHQ: 4 pm  local time (Georgia)
Time we had to get to the terminal: 2 pm local time (Georgia)
Time that I left the Georgian city of Batumi: 8 am local time (Georgia) *I was VERY concerned about not getting there on time*
Time that I got to Hopa: 7 am local time *We traveled for an hour, and gained back 2 hours*
Time we were allowed to check-in at Hopa terminal: 2 pm local time (now in Turkey)
Time that we actually took off from Batumi-Hopa Airport: 6 pm local time (back in Georgia)

You will notice some very odd things happening with the timing of things, but the flight landed at the time that it was supposed to in Istanbul. I never reconciled the time that it was supposed to leave with the time that it actually left, but I can safely assume that the time printed on the ticket and listed online was accidentally on Turkish time.

A final note on this airport code- if you return to XHQ, and wish to return to Georgia, you have to cross the border again. The bus that took you from the Hopa terminal to the Batumi Airport must take you back to the Hopa terminal, where you will disembark. I suppose, if one were determined, one could simply walk through passport control and claim that one had a ticket from BUS...

My pieces of advice for you:
1) Although I arrived horribly early, the border crossing sometimes becomes very congested. I got to the border just as it opened, and was one of the only people there. Also, sometimes the mini-buses won't leave unless they're full. Allow 2 hours for unforeseen problems, which basically means cancelling the time change that you'll have when you enter Turkey.
2) Know how to say basic things in Turkish or Georgian. My second language of choice is Russian, and it got me nowhere in Turkey. Just knowing how to say 'airport' and 'terminal' will be very helpful.
3) Change money into lira (Turkish money) before you get to the border. There were no ATMS there when I was there, so I made sure to change it well beforehand. Sometimes merchants will accept lari (Georgian money. *I had 4 currencies on me at the time of my border crossing :)*

Please enjoy your travels, this is a beautiful part of the world.

Mia

Homemade Tortilla Chips (with no oven)

Good morning everyone! I'm continuing on a cooking spree, because I'm feeling quite ill and don't want to leave the house. Thankfully my lovely boyfriend has been bringing groceries home, so I can relax here.

Today, I made tortilla chips from a thin Russian bread called lavash. I couldn't find any tortilla chips here, so I reasoned that I could just fry some of my own. It turned out well, and the results go well with salsa and sour cream (the avocados here are questionable, so sadly no guacamole). It's very simple to make, but it requires constant attention!


Homemade Tortilla Chips

Ingredients and Cost:
Lavash (1 or 2 large pieces): 1.50 GEL
Salt: .50 GEL
Olive Oil: 4 GEL

2 large pieces of lavash will get you the equivalent of a family size of chips, and will cost about 1.75 USD to make. Simple, right?
1) Turn on a burner, cover the bottom of a pan or pot with olive oil, and wait for the oil to heat up. Have pieces of lavash, in the size of chips that you want, ready to toss in the pot.
2) Fry them until golden brown, flipping to ensure evenness.
3) Once the chips have been fried, carefully remove them from the pot, lightly salt, and place more pieces of lavash in the pot. Do this until you have fried all of your bread! You may have to pour more olive oil into the pan throughout this process.

Once all the chips have been fried and salted, let them cool, add some salsa or cheese, and feast!!

Thanks for reading :)

Mia

A Trip to the Doctor's

Good evening my dears! I have a lovely little anecdote for you today. It begins with me feeling suddenly ill at school, calling my insurance here, and having them set me up with an appointment at a clinic. I left school a few hours early, thinking that all would be well...

Dun dun dun.

The problems began when I Google Mapped the clinic's location, and realized that I couldn't walk there. Alright, I thought, I'll take a bus. Wrong. I got onto a bus that went down Chavchavadze Street, which is the main street by the clinic...and I missed the stop by a good 15 minutes. Realizing that I would be late, I hailed a taxi and shelled out the 5 lari to get there.

Once I got there, I felt secure in that at least I would see the doctor and get some help. Again, not exactly on point- no one at the clinic spoke English, and my Russian does not extent to specific medical conditions. I told my doctor what was wrong (I'll spare you the details, but it ended up being a UTI), she repeated it back to me with lots of hand gestures, and we went downstairs to the lab...which is when the real fun began.

Apparently, just to be safe (and my insurance is amazing), she decided to give me every test she could- I received an ultrasound (my kidneys are doing splendidly), a GYN exam (at which time I took this picture...fairly alarming), and finally a few samples, for which I had to return the next day. Needless to say, I looked up more specific vocabulary for my ailments when I got home, something I should have done before I went.

The next day went much better, and I ended up getting a few prescriptions, zipping over to a nearby pharmacy, and everything was fine in a few days.

Lesson of the day: if you're not a native speaker, and you don't have a translator, bring a Russian or Georgian dictionary with you to the doctor's. Believe me, you don't know the word for _____ [whatever you're sick with].

THIS SITE IS INCREDIBLY HELPFUL FOR JUST THAT: https://www.healthinfotranslations.org/

Thanks for reading!

Mia

Stove-top Coconut Cafe Mocha

Good evening everyone! For those of you who don't know, my current living situation is somewhat unique- I don't have a fridge, and every coffee shop nearby is alarmingly overpriced. DIYers, I think you know what's coming next...it's time for a crazy stove-top mocha recipe!

Stove-top Coconut Cafe Mocha

Ingredients and Cost:
Coconut shavings: .70 GEL
Vanilla sugar: 2 GEL
Turkish coffee powder: 5 GEL (varies)
Condensed milk (it keeps better outside a fridge): 1.50 GEL
Water

I found all of this (aside from the coffee, which I bought in a small cafe on Rustaveli) at the new Smart store on Rustaveli Ave. As you can see above, the total cost for these ingredients is about 10 lari (around 7 dollars), and you will have the majority of each ingredient left over for future recipes!

Now for the baking!
PLEASE NOTE: If you prefer your coconut shavings to be melted as opposed to floating on top, add them when you add the Turkish coffee.
1) First, put about 6 cups of water into a pan.
2) Add two tablespoons of your favorite Turkish coffee, stir, and wait until it starts to boil.
3) Turn down the heat to its lowest setting, and spoon in two tablespoons of condensed milk. If you have a sweet tooth, add more!
4) Stir the mixture to ensure the milk is distributed evenly. Add 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar, and continue stirring.
5). Turn the heat up once more, until the mocha is at your desired temperature for drinking. As soon as it reaches that temperature, add in a tablespoon of coconut shavings. They will float on the top (unless you added them earlier).

Makes 4 servings.

Ladle into a coffee cup, perhaps add some more milk, and enjoy!

Thanks for reading :) I'm off to organize some pictures, and get in a nice workout.

Mia

An Unexpected Tour

Good evening my dears! As some of you know, I've been in the Republic of Georgia for about a month now (I've been awful about blogging, that will be remedied). I've been living in Tbilisi, but mostly cooking for myself and just going to school.

Given the domestic nature of my life, I was alarmed when my parents decided to come and visit me last weekend. I've barely started exploring the city, much less acquired enough knowledge to give tours to someone else! So, when they got here, I did what any sensible person would do- I told them they needed a tour guide.

After my boyfriend and I negotiated a tour of the city, my family and I were picked up the next day by a smiling chain-smoking man by the name of Dato, and a lovely English and Russian speaking tour guide named Tamara. We then embarked on an epic 4 hour tour of the city, visiting places that I'd never heard of, alarmed churchgoers (it was Sunday), and even spotting the Patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church!

 This is a picture of my parents in their palatial hotel on Rustaveli Ave. Notice the chandeliers...and the marble.

This is a view of Tbilisi from one of the many churches on the mountains here. You can see the old fortress on the mountainside, as well as the older buildings in Old Tbilisi. 

 Oh no, another church on a hill :) But really, it's a Georgian tradition! This is the famous church that overlooks Tbilisi.

 My parents conveniently arrived the weekend of Tbilisoba, which is Tbilisi's Days. There was a carnival in the streets, and horses everywhere. The smell of kebab filled the air!

 This is the Trinity Church, the most important church in the Georgian Orthodox Church. Every Sunday the Patriarch sits there on his throne and ministers to his followers. As you can see, it's massive, and covered in ornate decorations. The inside is cavernous as well, and filled with beautiful paintings of saints.

Well, that's all for now! Thanks for reading :)

Mia

"You're leaving the country again?"

Well, holy moly, am I bad at writing! You should see the journal Roy got me last Christmas- it has three entries. Obviously, I'm not the most prolific author, but I think that by having one of this blogs that I'm honor-bound to post in them every once in a while, especially when something major happens in my life.

The important thing actually happened about a month ago. Better late than never, right? 28 days ago, I finished my degree at UW Madison and FINALLY commissioned as an officer in the US Air Force. Don't get too excited, because that commission doesn't mean anything until I'm on active duty, which will be happening on ___. I had a date of 1 Oct, but I got it pushed back because of two other things that have recently transpired- 1) I'm going to Georgia (the republic) to teach English in August, and 2) One of my best friends, Julie, is getting married in December! Although it will be difficult to reconcile these two events, it's going to be a lot easier now that I won't be in Intel School in Texas.

Don't get me wrong, I've wanted to actually do something useful in the military for years, but you have to take advantage of the opportunities that you find in life, and this teaching job (1st-6th graders!) is absolutely amazing. Not to mention the fact that Roy is coming as well! We'll hopefully be living in the same apartment, and teaching in the same town. Depending on when I EAD, we may have time to (finally) go to St Petersburg, and at the time of year I've always wanted to go during!

I'll also be doing something a bit strange by coming to Julie's wedding in early December...and then flying back to Georgia to finish teaching. I have my reasons, the Georgian government officials in the Department of Education are contract sticklers. But make no mistake about it, she's worth every penny!

As for what I'm doing right now, I currently maintain a building and its nighttime financial transactions, as well as doing quality assurance, a.k.a. I work the night shift at the 7/11 in Madison. Not too exciting, but it's money, and the people are friendly. I think if the third shift were more exciting, I'd be less happy about working it...

On a side note, today is Daddy Day. Thanks for all you've done for me Mel, I know we haven't always gotten along, but you always tried your best to give me a better life. Most people don't know that I had to be talked into going to college instead of the military, and then talked into taking the Air Force scholarship I received and not the Marine Corps one. Part of me will always wonder what would have happened had I taken a different path..but then I stop being crazy, and realize that this was definitely the best path for me. Thanks for everything, Dad.

Mia

Cute Kids and Nasty Viruses

Good afternoon everyone!

So as I type this I'm literally surrounded by cute (but screaming) watoto (children) at the school I'm interning at for the next 5 weeks. They've never seen a laptop before, and they're fascinated. I've actually been here for about 1.5 weeks, and a lot has happened, so I'll try to make this brief.

Sunday- Arrived at hut compound, met family, and realized I don't have a pillow or a door. Spent most of the night being silently alarmed, but very well-fed.

Monday- Host sister (also boss), took me all over town to her school, the clinic I work at on Wednesdays, the HIV clinic I go to support group meetings at, and the school for deaf children that I lecture at on Fridays. Whew, long day.

Tuesday- All day at the school...I realize that teaching preschoolers is much harder than it looks. Props to all pre-K teachers, it takes a LOT of patience.

Wednesday- First day at the lab in Ambira. They showed me around, and I took names and information for each patient as they passed through (and got hit on incessantly by lab techs. Gotta love Kenyan men!)

Thursday- All day at Alice Hope again, this time in ECD 2. Trying to teach someone how to draw numbers correctly is also harder than it looks.

Friday- Rough day. Started off with a piki-piki accident (nothing serious), I got to the school late, and then I got lost on the way to the deaf school, Sega. I arrived 45 mins late for that, and then went home after teaching. That night I was bitten by the watchdog of the compound...thankfully it didn't break the skin, because I never got rabies shots. I watched some Gilmore Girls on my laptop in bed to calm down.

Saturday through Tuesday- Sis and I went to Nakuru to see her husband and children, and got groceries for the month. On Sunday we went to a Jehovah's Witness service (interesting), and watch some movies (they have a TV!!!). On Monday we went to the market and got enough vegetables for the month, and on Tuesday we fit it all on the 8 hr bus ride back to Ugunja. I honestly didn't think it was all going to fit, and neither did Lilian, but 6 boxes later we were happily bouncing down the road home! That is until we came upon a traffic jam caused by not 1, but 3 semis stuck in the road. That took a few hours to fix, but we got home before dark. That night, I went to John's homestead so he could use the internet and we could have some mzungu (white person) time. And watched more Gilmore Girls (John thoroughly enjoyed it).

Wednesday- Worked at Alice Hope in the morning, and worked in the lab at Ambira in the afternoon, this time using the CD4 machine to check CD4 levels, and the microscope to check for malaria. It doesn't look any better microscopically (unlike HIV, which is quite beautiful). Also, I sorted though some sputum and stool samples!

Thursday- First talk to class 1 and 2 about HIV. We couldn't find a banana, so we put the condom on a blue bottle. The kids loved that, and the teachers had a good time, too! They've obviously heard the whole 'schpiel about HIV from doctors before, but another voice reinforcing the lesson never hurts (especially at such a great age to for learning!).

This weekend I will be going to Kisumu to work on my papers and hang out with Chelsea and Kaitlyn, while hopefully wandering around the coast of Lake Victoria.

Overall things are going great, but everything moves so slowly here. Once the sun goes down, there's not much to do because we don't have electricity. I actually find it rather relaxing, because I know exactly whe my work day is going to end. Also, in typical small-town fashion, everyone always has a smile on their face, and sincerely wants to know how your days is. It seems like a lot of the people here in Ugunja really enjoy their work, which is something I don't see a lot of in the US; and when you haven't got a TV, other people become your entertainment! What this means is that you can get to know someone in a very short time, and entertain each other for hours.

It's certainly a different lifestyle, but it's starting to grow on me.

Mia

It's the End...

...of the classroom phase of this semester! Our internship starts next week, so we have our Swahili finals tomorrow and Wednesday, and the rest of the week off. It's been more than 6 weeks since we arrived here, which is hard to fathom.

I decided to spend the last weekend in Maasai Mara (there are pictures here), and it was amazing. It was well worth the cost, and we even got to step foot in Tanzania for a little while.

As for the business end of things, the research proposals are almost done, and all of the research papers have been started! I'm not sure how much I'll get done before the week is out, but I'm sure not a lot is going to be accomplished in the field, so I'm trying to wrap everything up.

The new digs

I finally have more information about my internship- I'm going to be talking working with a woman who runs a pre-school, and who's also a prominent member of the deaf community (although she's not deaf). I'll also be working with PLWH (people living with HIV) in the community, and talking about health issues.

I'm very excited about this, but it's going to be hard to leave my host family. They're really great, and on top of the warm fuzzy feelings, they JUST got cable and internet. But at least I'll have 300 channels to surf when I come back from my hut!

Well folks, looks like I'm off to the gym again. I'm trying to maximize the little metered running I have left, I don't think they have mile markers on the roads outside Kisumu.

Mia

More Kenyan Antics

So on Monday, I decided after not being able to run or exercise outside of house aerobics (squats down the hallway are a blast) that I needed to get a good workout. I pulled a random circuit/muscle-building workout off the internet and went to the nearest, cheapest gym, which happens to be 5 minutes from my house, outside of Kenyatta Market. It's only 250 shillings a day for students, and 3000 a month (the exchange rate is about 102 shillings per dollar right now).

It was a great workout, but the people in the gym seemed puzzled at my confusion as they were trying to introduce themselves to me...as I was on the treadmill with my mp3 player on. I think the gym is more of a social scene here, as everyone was having a conversation in the weight/treadmill/water room. But it's a great value, and because of the unsafe running areas around the house, and the hot showers at the gym, I'll be going back there frequently.

I was actually going to return to the gym today, but research got in the way of that. I've been sitting at my computer for about 8 hours now trying to find 'scholarly' sources for all these term papers, and the concept paper for our research proposal. For some topics, finding free sources (mostly studies), is very easy. Apparently American foreign policy in Africa during the Cold War is not one of those topics...JSTOR has failed me again (honestly, who the ^%@* wants to pay 25 dollars for an article), so I'm going to the University of Nairobi's Library tomorrow to attempt to find some of the sources I found online. But I'm sure there are other topics with more available resources, so I'll just have to play it by ear.

On a lighter note, I've been having hair issues lately (I took the braids out, and my hair is longer than it's been in 3 years), so I bit the bullet and got a straightener. I wasn't expecting much (it was 30$, only heats up to 290 degrees, and is tiny), but I was definitely in for a surprise. When I plugged it in, it heated up within 5 seconds, and made my hair the straightest I've ever seen it haha...I think it's one of the nicest ones I've ever used. Kak harasho!

Well, blog break's over, now I have to get back to writing my literature review for the concept paper. The group settled on researching refugees in northern Kenya, and I'm focusing on where and how the children are getting educated. Fun stuff, I'll probably put something about it on here next time.

Have a good day :)

Security, Beads, and Research Papers

Good afternoon!

I can't remember if I mentioned this in a previous post, but my house got broken into a few weeks ago, so my mom decided to tighten security a bit. Formerly, we had a glass door with a sliding metal grate, and a solid metal door that opens (it's about 7 feet tall). There was a space of about 8 inches between the top of the metal grate and the cement above the door that wasn't secured, and that's how the thief got in.

She had a metal grill put in above the metal grate, and soon I'm going to have a metal grate on my window as well. However, I ran into trouble today because I locked the keys (to everything, it's one keychain) in the yard outside of the aforementioned security measures. The metal grate is secured with a padlock, and there's no other way to get out to the lawn, so I had to break out of the house. Thankfully mom wasn't home, or she might have had a heart attack (I'm still not sure how I'm going to explain this...I'm thinking it might be better left unsaid).

On the upside, I've found something to do to help Kyle out with his NGO. I've decided to gather jewelry from the ladies that sell it outside the malls nearby my house, and sell it when I get back.  Now, I look like a bead hoarder because my desk is covered with necklaces, bracelets, earrings, hair pieces, and keychains! When I come around the mall on Friday and Saturday, the bead ladies give me crazy discounts because they know I'm coming back. The necklaces I'm buying are usually about 1USD, and I plan on selling them for about 7USD when I get back, so the only limit to this endeavor is how much money I can spend on it, and how much space I have in my luggage!

We have a Swahili midterm this week, and several papers (short ones) due at the end of the week. We also have about 5 term papers due at the end of the program, which I'm not looking forward to writing...15 page research papers aren't my favorite. It also looks like I may have to write them by hand, and then copy them, because I won't have electricity at the new digs in October and November. Although there IS a solar powered netbook that just came out here...tempting!

Well, this is going to be a short one, because I'm off to the gym. Hope everyone in the US has a good Saturday!

Mia

Updates from Nairobi

I'm really bad at this whole blogging business.

Updates: I've been going to Kibera, I got braids, I gave blood at the hospital yesterday, and I'm going camping tomorrow.

I started going to the Kibera Girls' Soccer Club (which is really a school) with my friend, Jeremy, to help with the girls' play. The play was this Saturday (it was amazing, look at the videos on my Facebook). At first I was incredibly pissed off that people lived like that in the slums, and that no one was doing anything about it. But after being with the girls for a while, I realized that yes, it sucks that they live in a place like that, but they're making the best of it, and they're doing a great job of it. It's incredibly inspiring to see a group of young girls reap the rewards of all their hard work, and raise money for themselves.

That same day, in the morning, I visited the giraffe center and got to kiss some giraffes! We were allowed to put giraffe food in our mouths so the the giraffe could take food from us! I got some lovely pics, particularly of another guy in our class really going for it. He got along splendidly with that giraffe...

After the play, some of the other students and I went to an Egyptian restaurant and enjoyed some Tuskers while watching the Wisconsin football game online...until we lost the feed. Then we relied on updates from Grace's boyfriend, and Roy gave me updates on the OSU game. We stayed out for a while, and Chris and I had an unfortunate almost run-in with some men with AK-47s, but the night ended with all of us happily in our beds (except maybe Steve, he may have hit the floor first).

Also, I managed to find time to get braids last Friday. I tip-toed into the Kenyatta market, trying to avoid attracting too much attention (impossible, I stick out a bit) and after a few minutes found some ladies who were willing to attempt the challenge of braiding a mzungu's hair. At one point there were five ladies working on my head, it was quite the experience!

The final result!

On a darker note, the local hospital put out a request for blood after an explosion in a nearby slum caused by a oil spill. Over 100 people were killed, and many more were injured. A lot of the MSID students went to give blood and food to the hospital, and there were tons of people lined up there when we arrived. The hospital staff said the response had been great, and that they'd reached their goal for blood.

Tomorrow I'll be going camping with Simon's (one of our coordinators) family, in Ngong Hills. It should be a great time! We will be matatu-ing out there (a kind of crazy bus), and then piki-piki-ing (a motorcycle) to the camp site. Apparently we're going on a guided hiking tour, so I'm very excited for that.

The majestic Matatu.

That's all for now, I'm off to write some papers for class.

Mia

First Experiences in Nairobi

Good afternoon! Getting internet took a really long time. I'm actually writing this on my computer (no internet) on the 3rd; I couldn't get to an internet cafe, and the service stores close early on Sat and don't open on Sun. So I'll tell you about my day today!

I met my host mom! She's an adorable Kikuyu woman with a 17 year old son. Her husband died about 16 years ago, and she lives alone with her son, but has a househelp come once a week to clean and do the laundry. We watched soap operas and the news all day, and had lots of rice and masala tea. By the way, the soap operas here are English-dubbed telenovelas (figure that one out), and EVERYONE watches them. It's very odd, but I did enjoy watching them with her. Tomorrow I'm going to meet a group of women that she's part of who loan each other money to start businesses and help each other out.

My mom also does HIV outreach in the Kibera, the largest slum in Africa, and I'm going to try to tag along with her. One of the boys in my class, Jeremy, also works in the slum with the Kibera Girls Soccer Club, which started as a soccer club but involved into a school. It's a great place, and UW Madison has strong ties to it. I'm going to visit them as well. I'm very excited by all of this, and I really like Kenya...it's so beautiful, and the people are so honest with you. I get stares everywhere because people have never seen a whitey ('mzungu') before, but everyone I've met has been friendly.

The city itself isn't that different than the worst parts of Kazan, and the house I'm in is spacious (two bathrooms!). I've got my own room, desk, and queen sized bed. However, there's rarely running water because the government rations it, and the electricity is intermittent. However, it's a good trade-off, and I have a yard to play in! Also, I'm about 20 feet from a golf course...the Air Force has followed me after all.

Sadly, I doubt I'll be drinking here. The streets are very unsafe at night, and being drunk after dark, even in a group, is a bad idea. Some guys on our program got robbed last year, and some guys this year almost got carjacked, so I'm going to be 'keeping it real' with studying and the lovely telenovelas.

Update, 5 Sep 11

So I decided that running by myself during the day wouldn't be too risky, and went for a 3 or so mile run on the streets. It's hard to run here; it's a mile higher than I'm used to, and there's smog everywhere.

I talked to Jeremy, and I'm definitely going to Kibera with him tomorrow to meet the girls. We also have 4 hours of Swahili lecture tomorrow (the director, Jama, swears up and down that it's 2 hours straight, then another 2 hours straight, but my experience with Kenyan time leads me to believe otherwise...). I'm very excited to start learning again :)

I'm thinking about getting braids with Barb next week. I know they usually don't look good on white girls, but I'm hoping to find a style that don't look too ridiculous. I've always wanted to try them, and everyone has them here so it won't look out of place (even on a mzungu). It's also incredibly cheap here, 20USD as opposed to the 100$ it usually is in the USA.

I picked up internet today, and I won't mention names, but it's awful. Splotchy, slow, and agitating in general. But, it works sometimes, which is all I need. The MSID office has wifi, so I'll be skyping there. It's about a 40 minute walk away, so it'll be very rare.

I'm watching a random American movie with my family right now (my brother has lots of them, most of them are recent, and I don't watch movies so I haven't seen any of them). It's great bonding- we watched 'Friends with Benefits' last night. It was interesting to watch it with my brother, he got almost all of the random American pop culture references, which I wasn't expecting. American culture really has permeated Kenya.

Ah, I've figured it out- the movie we're watching is 'No Ordinary Family'. Or maybe it's a TV show. I'm really not sure. But I'm going to take a break and relax on the kiti (chair). Until tomorrow!

Mia

Russia-Illinois-Texas-Ohio-Kenya

Good afternoon everyone! As had been mentioned previously, I usually forget that I have this blog, so I've gotten very, very behind on writing about my travels. This is an attempt to rectify that situation!

For the past 2 months or so, I've been studying in Kazan, Russia. I was in an intensive Russian program through Arizona State University. The program itself is called CLI, and it's a great thing to do (especially if you're in ROTC like me, they'll pay for everything). Due to some interesting circumstances I went through 2 host families; however, because of this switch, I was able to experience living with the two ethnic majorities in Kazan, Russians and Tatars. It was a valuable experience, and not just linguistically- study abroad programs, especially intensive ones, really pare you down and show you what you're made of (much more than Field Training ever did).

I got back to Wisconsin on the 13th of August, at which point I celebrated my 21st birthday with my roommate, Natalie, and several close friends! It was a belated party, as I spent my real 21st studying for a final in Russia. However, after 40 or so hours without sleep, I was beginning to doubt my commitment to partying. Thankfully, I had no choice in the matter, and was whisked out the door as soon as I arrived! I also recall consuming at least two quesadillas that night, at two different restaurants (there isn't Mexican food in Russia). The night was a success, and I ended up curled up in my bed with no ill consequences, and no hangover OR jet lag the next morning! So, if you're looking for advice on how to avoid jet lag...

After that I rushed down to Illinois to see my family, and got back to Madison in time to hop a plane to Texas to see my good friend Courtney, which is where I am right now. It's lovely down here, minus the 105 degree weather today...thankfully no humidity, or I'd never leave the apartment. Courtney and I hit up a Mexican restaurant yesterday, and she advised me to get the Purple Margarita, which is made with Everclear. They limit you to 2 for a reason, that drink is not a joke! Sadly, it also wasn't very tasty; margaritas are made with tequila for a reason.

Today we're going to terrorize the food trailers downtown, and maybe get some fish and chips for Courtney and some lovely vegan food for me! They have quite a selection of grub at the trailers, or so Courtney says. After that, it's karaoke and Harry Potter (in English this time!). I leave early tomorrow morning, so we're trying to squeeze in as much as possible.

Well, it's time for a run! I have to keep my energy up, because after I get back to Illinois, I'm driving to Ohio to see Roy, and after that...I'm going to Kenya. I'll try to post more regularly!

Mia