Jambo from Africa

It feels like I haven’t updated in such a long time because the flight to Africa was very lengthy!  I can officially say I am here, safe and sound! After leaving Germany at 7:00 am I was very happy to finally arrive in Mombasa at 2:00 am the next morning.  We had stops in Ethiopia and we even stopped in Sudan briefly to refuel. I can officially tell Deb and Victoria that I have been to Sudan! I was very happy to arrive because this leg of the flight really took a toll on my sprained ankle.  It was very painful and swollen because of all the sitting. Once we got off the plane it took a while to fill out our customs application, find our bags, and go through the final security check.  One difference we found right away was the moisture in the air.  Everything felt wet as walked through the airport, almost as if there were mist spraying us. We went outside and our program coordinator had a sign that said “South Dakota State University. Go Jacks!.”  We filled into the car, zombie-like ready to get to our compound.  Most of us went around to the right side of the car, where in America is the passenger side.  To our surprise everything was opposite and we drove on the opposite side of the road. 
As we were driving away from the airport towards our house I nervously wondered what I had gotten myself into.  People were still crowding the streets and it was almost 3 am.  Some of the buildings we passed looked so rundown and intimidating, especially in the darkness.  We soon arrived into the compound where we were divided into rooms.  I am in a room with two girls from my school; one who had went with me to Germany.  The other girl was from Texas and she has already been here for three weeks.  It’s nice having her in our room because she can give us the inside scoop on life here in Mombasa. Although we were tired everyone wanted to listen to what the other six people living here had to say about the program.  The way they made it sound was that they got to do a lot of procedural stuff and have seen incredible things.  I can’t wait to get into the hospital on Monday. After staying up for another hour we finally went to bed.  We crawled under our mosquito net beds and feel asleep right away.

                                  the main room of our house

The next morning we woke up later, showered, and got ready for orientation.  As I stepped out of our cabin two chickens and three chicks crossed my path.  They live on the compound and supply us with fresh eggs.  There are also two dogs here and various monkeys running around.  We soon started orientation in the main room and the run down on Swahili words, how to get internet and phone, and finally how to get to the beach.  We walked with our program coordinator into town, it felt like we walked forever, but we first exchanged money into the Kenyan Schillings.  Then we made our way to the market to get phone minutes and data as well as other things we may have forgotten.  Finally we made our way back to our compound.  There were so many people out and about on the streets and hanging their head out the windows.  A group of 15 white foreigners is pretty conspicuous. The funny thing was that people would honk or openly shout at us “mgeni” which means foreigner or white people.  Although I was wary the night before I actually felt really safe with our program coordinator and such a large group of people.   Everything is so different here, and I thought Germany was different.  Before we could enter the market we were patted down and scanned with a metal detector by the police.

                                             the chickens in our compound

                                                      A monkey on the fence

Once we left the market we were shown the beach.  Again we walked a long time and were greeted with locals trying to sell you something.  They were very persistent and worked hard to get foreigners to buy their products. When we finally made it to the beach it was breathtaking! The sand was so pure white and the ocean was very blue.  It was a hot day but the ocean breeze made everything bearable.  We walked down the beach for a while as all the African children in the ocean waved at us.  We sat around a table with the other six students here on the beach for a while until the sun began to set.  The other students here are from Canada, Texas, Massachusetts, nice and the United Kingdom.  They are all really and insightful and shared some helpful tips. We walked back to the compound famished where our cook had made us dinner.

                                          the camels on the beach that you can ride

Dinner was a rice dish with potatoes and beef, as well as this triangle-type bread.  The bread is so delicious and I could eat it plain. I didn’t know how much I would like the food but it was delicious.  Once we finished eating the six who were here before us wanted us to come to a local café with them.  The café had wifi and drinks at night.  We loaded up two “tuk-tuks” which are like little motorized carts and two vans and made our way to the café.  We sat around the table and talked and had some drinks and ordered tapas which are appetizers.  Once it was later no one wanted to go home yet so we walked a block to an outdoor bar called Bob’s. We had a fun night of dancing but most of us were really jet-lagged still and decided it was time to go.  Once back at the compound everyone was pretty wound up so we quickly changed into our swimsuits and went for a dip in the pool on our compound. The weather was so hot so it felt good to cool off before bedtime.  I decided it was time for bed and I feel asleep instantly as my head hit the pillow.