Week 1

I arrived in Kenya late on Monday night and took a bus with the other 10 students to our apartment in Westlands. When we arrived the power had been shut off only in our apartment and we were told, "It's Nairobi, sometimes you don't have power." We didn't really care though as all we wanted to do was go to sleep.

On Tuesday, we left for Naivasha, a small town West of Nairobi near Lake Naivasha. We spent an intense two and a half days learning about the program and learning some basic Kiswahili. We spent Wednesday afternoon at a campground playing games and enjoying Lake Naivasha. The lake didn't resemble any other lake I had been to. The water was very shallow and mixed with red dirt until we reached the end of a very long, dangerous dock. The area around the lake was beautiful with green grass and trees and monkeys. On Thursday morning, we did a drop off. The bus drove us outside of town and we had to find our way to a place we had never been before. As Lynsey told us, "It was our time to go for a walk and get lost." I really enjoyed the drop off. It was my first chance to test my new Kiswahili.

Friday and Saturday we spent time getting to know our way around Nairobi. The first day was really overwhelming with all the people and the insane traffic that never stops for pedestrians. We went to the grocery store in Westlands to buy food for dinner that night. We helped our program assistants Collins and Ruth make dinner including Chipati with carrots and cinnamon and beef stew. It was fantastic. Saturday we visited the Kenyatta International Conference Center and the memorial museum for the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy.

Today has been our first day off and as a result we've been incredibly lazy. Monday we learn more about our externships and start classes at ISIU.