Hello everyone! I have just returned from Maasai Mara national park where despite the interesting vehicular conditions I saw some wildlife. Here are some excerpts from my journal over the past few weeks: "Last night I arrived at Kikuyu town by bus and Richard's brother Achira was there to meet me. We went by matatu to his house -- it was the most uncomfortable matatu ride ever because there was a man who was transporting a windshield for a car sitting next to me, and my legs were crammed up against the engine which was very hot, and I thought it was going to burn me." "I'm riding down a dirt road (not really road) in a 1973 Fiat that looks like it was part of the offensive in World War three. They have fixed the broken windshield with stickers, and tried to put the dashboard back together with silver spray paint. Smoke is coming into the car through the floor which seems like my foot may go through at any moment." "I am sitting around the fire with a bunch of Maasai, and the man sitting next to me has hung his earlobes over his ear which looks like a weaving. The other man is very tall and thin, and he has huge buck teeth, when he coughs he sounds like a little girl. He has only offered me 10 cows to become his second wife, whereas yesterday in the bar I was offered more than 100. But that was to become a sixth wife to a very old man who had a lot of cows." Anyway, my trip to Maasai Mara was, well, adventurous, the Canadians I was with referred to it as the "Safari from hell" but I think that overall it was an interesting life experience.
- posted by Sarah @ 3:32 AM

 
Today, we went to see the Independence Day celebration downtown at the stadium. There was music, dancing, a military display, and a parade, and then the president gave a really long speech about how wonderful he is, and then we went home. My favorite part was when a large crane landed in the middle of the field in the middle of the president's speech and just walked around looking at all 30,000 of us. I was one of 6 foreigners there. Did I mention that I live with twins? I think so, anyway, they are very fun, and we play a lot. Their father is a doctor, and I have had a personal tour of every hospital in Nairobi. Two days ago, we went to his hospital and took a tour of where he works in the urology department. We got to see all of these people having dialysis treatment, and I was reminded of Osama sitting somewhere in a cave on dialysis. Anyway it was yuck. In fact, the hospital is way way too crammed full, and some people don't have beds, so they are just on the floor. In one of the hallways there was a trash can overflowing onto the stairs with all kinds of biohazard stuff like dirty needles. Ewwww. One of my friends here is a nurse, and she thinks my bug collection as well as my stories of reptiles are really gross. I would take a large hairy cockroach over watching people have dialysis any day!!! Maybe I'm just weird. You should write to Osmond, he wants e-mails from random americans. He's a nice guy and we need to convince him that he is not right for the priesthood. Yesterday, I went on a tour of the insect collection at the National Museum, and spent the morning socializing with Kenyan entomologists. YAY!! The person who went with me was bored to tears. Thankfully, I think I have now seen all of the hospitals, and I am looking forward to going to the countryside tomorrow. Over and Out, Sarah P.S. Is anyone named Jennifer alive? I have tried to e-mail and SMS both J.D. and J.T. with no response. P.P.S. If you have a cell phone, you can send me text messages for almost nothing at 011 254 735 805379 You can also call this number, but sometimes you have to dial twice or you won't get through. Also, I turn it off at night which is mostly your afternoon. Love to all, Sarah
- posted by Sarah @ 8:03 AM