Four Months in Kenya - The Halfway Point

January 1st marks my four-month anniversary of staying in Kenya, as well as the halfway point of my trip (provided I leave at the end of April). December was a good month, although unlike any other. At beginning of the month I left Kisumu and my internship to come back to Nairobi for exams. Being back in Nairobi was such a shock. I had electricity (although no running water anymore here in Nairobi, there’s a serious water shortage) as well as many more creature comforts. There’s coffee, places I can take my laptop, stores with clothes that actually fit, a multitude of good restaurants – it’s amazing. There are also a lot more white people here, in addition to a much more diverse group of people. In Kisumu it’s mostly Luos, with a few other Kenyan tribes and then some Indians and wazungu. But for the most part, people have similar facial structures and skin colors, speak a common language, and hold some common culture ground. In Nairobi however, there are all tribes and all sorts of internationals. It’s a relief for me in a lot of ways. I blend in here, I can walk around without being stared at (usually) and rarely does anyone call me out. It’s like a vacation for a mzungu, and I’m loving it.

Since I have returned from Kisumu I am enjoying Nairobi a lot more than I did before. Nairobi is definitely dirty and has serious poverty and crime issues. But here feels more like what I’m used to, it’s a busy city with coffee shops and places to explore. It’s big enough that I’m not recognized everywhere I go. While I have more friends in Kisumu, and I enjoy my house and family there, I welcome my time in Nairobi for open arms.

This has also been the time of holidays and my mom’s visit. I worried about whether I’d miss home on Christmas or around the New Year, seeing as Thanksgiving had been a little hard for me. Surprisingly, I wasn’t home sick at all. Of course that was helped by my mom being here, I had some family here and I wasn’t completely on my own. If anything I’m getting more used to being here.

I think I’m also falling in love with Kenya’s weather. I get to wear sandals every day. I have the best tan of my life, and my hair keeps getting blonder. Sure, it’s hot as hell in Kisumu between the hours of 1 and 4, but once you’re adjusted it’s quite nice. The sun rises and sets at almost the same time every day, and it only rains during the rainy season, and even then, rarely during the day. There are almost never cloudy days. Just blue skies and the bright sun! I could get used to this.

Exams and final papers went quite well. I am glad to be done with them and am looking forward to the next semester. This time around is quite different. Most of my time will be in Kisumu working at my internship, save for a few research conferences in Nairobi. While I work at my internship, I’ll be working on a first-hand field research project. This is a unique opportunity to do something, and try something, that usually only graduate students get to do. My own research will be an interesting test run for me as to whether I truly enjoy research, and if I’d ever be interested in trying for a PhD. My work is driven almost only by myself and my own initiative, and I’m looking forward to the personal challenge. (I’ll post up the research topic when I have articulated it properly for my proposal.)

Another upcoming point of interest is the beginning of deciding travel plans for my spring break at the end of February, and if I’d like to travel at the end of the program. Someone has brought up the idea of traveling to Zanzibar for spring break, which sounds fantastic to me. As for after the program, originally I had considered staying to work or something, but visa-wise, that looks impossible. A work visa in Kenya is over $2,000, which is way more than the job would we worth. I’ve had two job offers, one with the NGO I work with and then a partnering NGO, but it’s not what I want to do right now. So I think I’d like to travel, but where? And with whom? These are important questions that I’m going to start researching this month.

Other than that, I look forward to my return in Kisumu around January 20th and forward to more adventures in Kisumu and Kenya!