Kenya will sort them out for you.
This last week in Nairobi has been great; I've made new friends, gotten to travel around the city a bit and have "young people" fun, as well as rest, relax, and get some work done.
I spent Tuesday around the house with Joyce, and we made dinner together for the family, all of which would be joining us that evening. After seeing Alli off in the morning I was a bit sad that I wasn't going to get up to Ol Pejeta too, but managed to console myself cooking rabbit and a quick cake with Joyce. Dinner was great fun, I've definitely learned a lot by listening to NPR and being aware of the world around me, so I was able to contribute to the conversation more than occasionally. Kiuri tried to explain his philosophy of why he doesn't eat eggs, which has to do with trauma and the prevention of a potential life which I didn't quite understand, but made a valiant effort.
Wednesday was an excellent yet unproductive day. After having breakfast with Kiuri after his morning yoga, I hung out in my room and read for quite a while. I kept promising myself that at the end of that chapter I would put my book down and get to work, but never did that happen. Around 12:30 Kiuri showed up asking if I wanted to get some lunch in Westlands, and I happily accompanied him. We went to a local buffet restaurant where I was served all together too much food -- mokemo, a green-banana dish that I love, and a variety of lentils and beans, chapati, and soukuma. We chatted while I ate happily with my hands, and talked about Kenyan culture, which I am always happy to learn about. Kiuri also educated me on the subject of Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry, which was playing above us on television. The film moved incredibly slowly, Kiuri claims it moves in real time, but has never really watched all of one.
After lunch Kiuri and I ran some errands in Westlands including heading to a print shop that also makes tee-shirt prints, and then somewhere he could get some real blueprints made. We discussed the many intricacies of matatu culture and driving, including the high-paced lives of the Matatu Touts. These men are the ones that hang onto the side of each matatu and try to convince you to ride that particular matatu on that particular line. The differences matatus boast are entertainment systems -- some even have dvd players in the back in addition to cds -- interior decor, and of course the personality of the tout. Furthermore, the touts are treated like rock stars in their local communities, and often are inextricable with the drug scene. Matatus, despite my original expectations, are owned by many different cartels (Kiuri's word, not necessarily what I would have chosen) and many different matatus will run on the same line, thus requiring the touts to convince willing or unwilling passengers to get onto the matatu. It's a crazy business, and we watched some Matatus Behaving Badly outside the printshop as we waiting.
After arriving back to Joyce's I was promptly picked up by Keni, a friend of Kiuri's who is closer to my age and knows a lot of younger people around the city. I ran some quick errands with him, including picking up some wine for his sister's birthday (Nana of previous lore), and dropping said bottle off at his house. He has a family cat, Socks, who had five two-week-old kittens for me to be enamored of. Pretty incredibly adorable, and Socks was very tolerant of us picking up the babies and playing with them. The kittens were not so impressed. Then we headed to Zen Garden, a nearby restaurant and gardens, for some cocktails and pizza. Keni told me about his masters thesis on the world food crisis, and I was pretty enthralled. There are a lot of aspects of many agricultural businesses that I knew nothing about, and considering my background in agriculture and ranching, should probably educate myself on.
From Zen Gardens we headed to Abyssinia, an Ethiopian restaurant for more wine. We were shortly joined by a huge group of American tourists who were loud and very entertaining for us. I felt that I was superior to their general tourism by being a researcher, and Keni agreed that I was at least superior in that I was hanging out with a Kenyan. After Abyssinia we met two friends of his at a bistro for some dinner, both of them French women who work in very similar positions at different branches/versions of world banks. We had a great time discussing French wine tasters' unnecessarily fussy tastes, our jobs in general, and some mind bender/con artist-ish guy named Darren Brown, who Keni swears can subliminally message people into anything. We weren't so sure, but were promised links.
Thursday was another relaxing day as I did some laundry, finished up some cleaning and errands, and got ready to leave Friday morning.
This morning dawned clear and bright, and I woke up early but relaxed in bed until around 8 before getting up. Everything was packed already, so I simply had some breakfast and a chat with Kiuri again, and got ready to go. I was picked up by my driver, Evans, at 10:00 and we shortly had the car loaded with my tent, cot, and bags and were on the road. The drive to Ol Pejeta was beautiful, as usual, and not as long as I had expected; we arrived in just three short hours. Kim met us at the Nakumatt shortly with Alli and Jenny and we headed into town to get some groceries for me to contribute to our general food and run errands. Jenny headed to a hardware store (chains she wanted and chained she got, I don't work there any more), Kim got her spare tire fixed from a puncture, and I practiced driving on the right -- aka the LEFT -- side of the road. I only got left behind a few times, and even then I could navigate fairly well. We stopped at some curio shops that Kim frequently goes to, and Alli got a giraffe sculpture and some antelope. I picked up two pair of earrings and a beautiful zebra kanga (kind of a skirt-like-thing that women here wear) and nothing else. I promised the various store owners there that I would be back and there for many months so they needn't be pushy, but there were a few things I was interested in buying. I will have to figure out the best way to bargain and play my hands right so I can get the best deals while there (although I didn't get at all ripped off on my earrings today; 250 /- for 2 pair, less than $5).
After around three hours of errands we headed back to Ol Pej and Jenny led the way while I drove. Kim drove much faster and ahead. At the gate, I was happily shown through as the research coordinator had warned the gate staff of my arrival. We got to the research center and after putting my things in my room I sat down for a cup of tea and was happily greeted by David! David is one of the supervisors of the chimp sanctuary and was Brenda's and my main guide when we were in Sweetwaters last time. He is incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and generally happy. It really lifted my spirits that he was happy to see me, as I was a little sad that I was leaving Nairobi where I had had so much fun. Not that I wasn't happy to be in Ol Pejeta again, just that I had a few lingering fears about my work here (will it work? will they hate me? will I fall in the river and get chomped by hippos? will a chimp drag me into an electric fence?). I asked David if he had any updates for me about the chimps, and he told me that there was a surprise. I asked what it was, but he was pretty close-lipped. Then he sneakily discussed this something in Swahili with Kim, mocked me for my lack of Swahili (telling me that I would have to learn more!), wouldn't tell me any more, and departed smiling. I will see him tomorrow, though.
George arrived with some other Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) vets later, and was also quite happy to see me. He thanked me for the computer, and stayed for dinner. We had some great discussion about the chimps and their health checks and naming in Kenya. It was great to see the fun, non-working side of George.
Alli, Kim, and I had good talks late into the evening, and here I am, updating you now.
So basically, Ol Pejeta is awesome and I am glad I am here again. Once again, no pictures: I was driving today, and could hardly be expected to take pictures as well! Additionally my internet works quite well, and that makes me really happy, because it means I can keep updating and adding pictures.
Getting on the road today and up to my field site has done wonders for my mental state, and I'm no longer totally worried about my permits or progress or potential failure or that I might not see any animals other than chimps and how that would really be a bit sad. Thank you, Kenya, for that peace of mind.
This last week in Nairobi has been great; I've made new friends, gotten to travel around the city a bit and have "young people" fun, as well as rest, relax, and get some work done.
I spent Tuesday around the house with Joyce, and we made dinner together for the family, all of which would be joining us that evening. After seeing Alli off in the morning I was a bit sad that I wasn't going to get up to Ol Pejeta too, but managed to console myself cooking rabbit and a quick cake with Joyce. Dinner was great fun, I've definitely learned a lot by listening to NPR and being aware of the world around me, so I was able to contribute to the conversation more than occasionally. Kiuri tried to explain his philosophy of why he doesn't eat eggs, which has to do with trauma and the prevention of a potential life which I didn't quite understand, but made a valiant effort.
Wednesday was an excellent yet unproductive day. After having breakfast with Kiuri after his morning yoga, I hung out in my room and read for quite a while. I kept promising myself that at the end of that chapter I would put my book down and get to work, but never did that happen. Around 12:30 Kiuri showed up asking if I wanted to get some lunch in Westlands, and I happily accompanied him. We went to a local buffet restaurant where I was served all together too much food -- mokemo, a green-banana dish that I love, and a variety of lentils and beans, chapati, and soukuma. We chatted while I ate happily with my hands, and talked about Kenyan culture, which I am always happy to learn about. Kiuri also educated me on the subject of Nollywood, the Nigerian film industry, which was playing above us on television. The film moved incredibly slowly, Kiuri claims it moves in real time, but has never really watched all of one.
After lunch Kiuri and I ran some errands in Westlands including heading to a print shop that also makes tee-shirt prints, and then somewhere he could get some real blueprints made. We discussed the many intricacies of matatu culture and driving, including the high-paced lives of the Matatu Touts. These men are the ones that hang onto the side of each matatu and try to convince you to ride that particular matatu on that particular line. The differences matatus boast are entertainment systems -- some even have dvd players in the back in addition to cds -- interior decor, and of course the personality of the tout. Furthermore, the touts are treated like rock stars in their local communities, and often are inextricable with the drug scene. Matatus, despite my original expectations, are owned by many different cartels (Kiuri's word, not necessarily what I would have chosen) and many different matatus will run on the same line, thus requiring the touts to convince willing or unwilling passengers to get onto the matatu. It's a crazy business, and we watched some Matatus Behaving Badly outside the printshop as we waiting.
After arriving back to Joyce's I was promptly picked up by Keni, a friend of Kiuri's who is closer to my age and knows a lot of younger people around the city. I ran some quick errands with him, including picking up some wine for his sister's birthday (Nana of previous lore), and dropping said bottle off at his house. He has a family cat, Socks, who had five two-week-old kittens for me to be enamored of. Pretty incredibly adorable, and Socks was very tolerant of us picking up the babies and playing with them. The kittens were not so impressed. Then we headed to Zen Garden, a nearby restaurant and gardens, for some cocktails and pizza. Keni told me about his masters thesis on the world food crisis, and I was pretty enthralled. There are a lot of aspects of many agricultural businesses that I knew nothing about, and considering my background in agriculture and ranching, should probably educate myself on.
From Zen Gardens we headed to Abyssinia, an Ethiopian restaurant for more wine. We were shortly joined by a huge group of American tourists who were loud and very entertaining for us. I felt that I was superior to their general tourism by being a researcher, and Keni agreed that I was at least superior in that I was hanging out with a Kenyan. After Abyssinia we met two friends of his at a bistro for some dinner, both of them French women who work in very similar positions at different branches/versions of world banks. We had a great time discussing French wine tasters' unnecessarily fussy tastes, our jobs in general, and some mind bender/con artist-ish guy named Darren Brown, who Keni swears can subliminally message people into anything. We weren't so sure, but were promised links.
Thursday was another relaxing day as I did some laundry, finished up some cleaning and errands, and got ready to leave Friday morning.
This morning dawned clear and bright, and I woke up early but relaxed in bed until around 8 before getting up. Everything was packed already, so I simply had some breakfast and a chat with Kiuri again, and got ready to go. I was picked up by my driver, Evans, at 10:00 and we shortly had the car loaded with my tent, cot, and bags and were on the road. The drive to Ol Pejeta was beautiful, as usual, and not as long as I had expected; we arrived in just three short hours. Kim met us at the Nakumatt shortly with Alli and Jenny and we headed into town to get some groceries for me to contribute to our general food and run errands. Jenny headed to a hardware store (chains she wanted and chained she got, I don't work there any more), Kim got her spare tire fixed from a puncture, and I practiced driving on the right -- aka the LEFT -- side of the road. I only got left behind a few times, and even then I could navigate fairly well. We stopped at some curio shops that Kim frequently goes to, and Alli got a giraffe sculpture and some antelope. I picked up two pair of earrings and a beautiful zebra kanga (kind of a skirt-like-thing that women here wear) and nothing else. I promised the various store owners there that I would be back and there for many months so they needn't be pushy, but there were a few things I was interested in buying. I will have to figure out the best way to bargain and play my hands right so I can get the best deals while there (although I didn't get at all ripped off on my earrings today; 250 /- for 2 pair, less than $5).
After around three hours of errands we headed back to Ol Pej and Jenny led the way while I drove. Kim drove much faster and ahead. At the gate, I was happily shown through as the research coordinator had warned the gate staff of my arrival. We got to the research center and after putting my things in my room I sat down for a cup of tea and was happily greeted by David! David is one of the supervisors of the chimp sanctuary and was Brenda's and my main guide when we were in Sweetwaters last time. He is incredibly friendly, knowledgeable, and generally happy. It really lifted my spirits that he was happy to see me, as I was a little sad that I was leaving Nairobi where I had had so much fun. Not that I wasn't happy to be in Ol Pejeta again, just that I had a few lingering fears about my work here (will it work? will they hate me? will I fall in the river and get chomped by hippos? will a chimp drag me into an electric fence?). I asked David if he had any updates for me about the chimps, and he told me that there was a surprise. I asked what it was, but he was pretty close-lipped. Then he sneakily discussed this something in Swahili with Kim, mocked me for my lack of Swahili (telling me that I would have to learn more!), wouldn't tell me any more, and departed smiling. I will see him tomorrow, though.
George arrived with some other Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) vets later, and was also quite happy to see me. He thanked me for the computer, and stayed for dinner. We had some great discussion about the chimps and their health checks and naming in Kenya. It was great to see the fun, non-working side of George.
Alli, Kim, and I had good talks late into the evening, and here I am, updating you now.
So basically, Ol Pejeta is awesome and I am glad I am here again. Once again, no pictures: I was driving today, and could hardly be expected to take pictures as well! Additionally my internet works quite well, and that makes me really happy, because it means I can keep updating and adding pictures.
Getting on the road today and up to my field site has done wonders for my mental state, and I'm no longer totally worried about my permits or progress or potential failure or that I might not see any animals other than chimps and how that would really be a bit sad. Thank you, Kenya, for that peace of mind.
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