I finally slept last night. I crashed at 9:45 and woke up to the sun for the first time at 6:15. That still gave me enough time
to go to the gym and iron dry some of the cloths I washed in the tub last night before I had to leave. I still feel tired though. Too many days of 4-5 hrs sleep. Today we are planning on a shorter day, ending ~3:00. So we are thinking about going to Nairobi national park. Apparently you can see most of the range land animals that live in Kenya (including what they call ‘the big five’) in this large wildlife park 15 minutes outside of the city. Obadiah (our driver) said that the afternoon is the worst time to see the cool animals (pretty much the predators) and that we would probably only see zebras and giraffes and stuff like that. But we told him that it was our only opportunity since we are going to Masi Mara this weekend and that zebras and giraffes sounded fun to us. Then, first thing in the morning tomorrow, we will catch a van at our hotel to take the 7 hr drive across the rift valley to the Masi Mara game refuge which Obadiah says is one of the best places in all of Africa.
The lunches at the school have been a highlight of our time here. They are catered by an on campus restaurant, but it is really just one lady who makes a big pot of rice and some very
authentic (though on the nice side of authentic I think) local dish. It is often some sort of beef and ‘gravy’ but today was the most fun. It was goat spare ribs. They were super good (if a bit chewy). Apparently goat is very popular. One of the students said it costs 50% more than beef. He said that if you are having a party with lots of friends it is practically compulsory that you buy a goat and slaughter it right there before you barbecue it. The other fun part of lunch today was a Kenyan bread called Ogalli. My first reaction to Ogalli was ‘hmm, they brought a wad of bread dough and forgot to cook it.’ But apparently it is cooked in a pot of water so, it was very cooked but squishy like dough. It also wasn’t a yeasty bread so it was extremely dense. Very fun. One of the other students said that they have ogalli pretty much every day.
Class let out late as the students stuck around to practice. By the time we got out it was too late to go to the park. So Matt and I took the opportunity to explore downtown Nairobi. We started
out strolling around the park across the street. It was really nice. A great, clean urban park with a lake, sculpture, fountains, and an extremely competitive volleyball match. The way the African trees and flowers off set the Nairobi skyline was really striking. There are also these huge storks everywhere. Sometimes it seems like you could be in a European city until one of these giant storks flies by, like a St Bernard size pigeons.
After the park we swung around downtown a bit. It was similarly nice. Unfortunately we got hustled. A guy walked up and claimed to be a teacher and started asking us about US history, which I was open too b/c this happened in Nepal all the time. English teachers would approach me too practice their English and it was a fun way to interact. Then he asked for money. Not a big deal but it kind of tainted an otherwise really nice outing.
to go to the gym and iron dry some of the cloths I washed in the tub last night before I had to leave. I still feel tired though. Too many days of 4-5 hrs sleep. Today we are planning on a shorter day, ending ~3:00. So we are thinking about going to Nairobi national park. Apparently you can see most of the range land animals that live in Kenya (including what they call ‘the big five’) in this large wildlife park 15 minutes outside of the city. Obadiah (our driver) said that the afternoon is the worst time to see the cool animals (pretty much the predators) and that we would probably only see zebras and giraffes and stuff like that. But we told him that it was our only opportunity since we are going to Masi Mara this weekend and that zebras and giraffes sounded fun to us. Then, first thing in the morning tomorrow, we will catch a van at our hotel to take the 7 hr drive across the rift valley to the Masi Mara game refuge which Obadiah says is one of the best places in all of Africa.The lunches at the school have been a highlight of our time here. They are catered by an on campus restaurant, but it is really just one lady who makes a big pot of rice and some very
authentic (though on the nice side of authentic I think) local dish. It is often some sort of beef and ‘gravy’ but today was the most fun. It was goat spare ribs. They were super good (if a bit chewy). Apparently goat is very popular. One of the students said it costs 50% more than beef. He said that if you are having a party with lots of friends it is practically compulsory that you buy a goat and slaughter it right there before you barbecue it. The other fun part of lunch today was a Kenyan bread called Ogalli. My first reaction to Ogalli was ‘hmm, they brought a wad of bread dough and forgot to cook it.’ But apparently it is cooked in a pot of water so, it was very cooked but squishy like dough. It also wasn’t a yeasty bread so it was extremely dense. Very fun. One of the other students said that they have ogalli pretty much every day.Class let out late as the students stuck around to practice. By the time we got out it was too late to go to the park. So Matt and I took the opportunity to explore downtown Nairobi. We started
out strolling around the park across the street. It was really nice. A great, clean urban park with a lake, sculpture, fountains, and an extremely competitive volleyball match. The way the African trees and flowers off set the Nairobi skyline was really striking. There are also these huge storks everywhere. Sometimes it seems like you could be in a European city until one of these giant storks flies by, like a St Bernard size pigeons.After the park we swung around downtown a bit. It was similarly nice. Unfortunately we got hustled. A guy walked up and claimed to be a teacher and started asking us about US history, which I was open too b/c this happened in Nepal all the time. English teachers would approach me too practice their English and it was a fun way to interact. Then he asked for money. Not a big deal but it kind of tainted an otherwise really nice outing.
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