Updates, bucket showers and big bags of tea.

Habari from Kenya!

It's been four days since i've arrived in Mombasa, and so much has happened its hard to keep track of everything. From hard-core culture shocks to moving house to a change in my volunteering plan..way too much! So I will start off with DAY 1 (in bullet points of course!)

• Just got off the plane after 27 hours of travelling (and nearly 40 hours of being awake!). To be honest, one of the most tiring and difficult flying trips i've made so far. If I didn't have Chris to keep me company (random dude from Zimbabwe that happened to be sitting next to me on every flight), I might have gone mad and started throwing my grilled fish dinner at asian flight attendant. 
• While on our journey, Chris and I part-took in activities like "Find the worst asian-to-english sign" - I found a cafe at Bangkok Airport called Firm Meals - also "Climb Over Rude African Man in the Isle Seat Who Refuses to Move Just to Check Out Your Behind (me AND Chris)", and my favourite, "Find the Most Comfortable Recliners at the Airport to Take a Quick Nap (You must be drugged-up or comatose if you can sleep on those damn planes)"
• Wasn't a great start to arriving in Kenya. Nairobi airport, while filling in the numerous forms for a temporary visa, random man comes up and asks me to tell him my name and flight number I was on. My sensible reply to men that may be con-artisits? "No thanks. Go and see the lady at immigration if you need any of my information." This man starts to steam out his ears and dutifuly tells me he is the HEAD of Immigration. Bugger. Didn't even have a scary uniform on did you. Hope this doesn't affect my visa. And it doesn't thank god. 
• Waiting at the tiny domestic departure lounge for Mombasa flight. The suns starting to rise a deep orange colour and all these birds are flying around the still planes and sqarking all over the place. My first african sunrise looks pretty cool.

 FIRST IMPRESSIONS

• Njeri (pronounced Geri) my new host-mum/swimming coordinator, her brother and her two lovely boys pick me up from the airport. What am I expecting in my head? Palm trees, old vintage buildings, some kind of highway, beach on the side of the road. 
• What I actually see? Lots, and I mean lots, of dirt. Dirt on cars, dirt on buildings, dirt on babies. Highways? Oh Beth. You finally have the chance to go 4 Wheel Driving after all these years. DIdn't think it would be on a main road in Mombasa now did you? 
• And its sweltering! Wasn't sure what I thought ladies wear in a partly muslim-based country, so wore a tanktop under a dress, with tights, thick socks and trainers. Bad idea. 
• The air smells like Vietnamese streets, kind of a hot sticky, slightly sewagery body-smell. But not really thinking about that. People keep looking at me. Like i'm some kind of D-List celebrity. A short, white, weird-lookin D-Lister with too many clothes. 
• Lots of american hip-hop music playing on boom-boxes mixed with beats of kenyan drums in the background. Every now and then a random 80's song, like "When the Going Gets Tough" comes on the radio. Love it. People are talking fast swahili and I don't understand any of it.

Welcome to Kenya.

• Got to the house by driving over a paddock. Big concrete fences with broken glass cemented around the tops. I had a mum-moment and asked if it was a cute 'beachy' decoration everyone did around here. No says Njeri its to stop people climbing over and attacking your family and taking your possesions.
• No shower here folks, so got to use a bucket and scoop to get clean. Sounds weird but thats the funnest water-saving shower I've ever had. I feel like i'm doing what my cave-dwelling ancestors did several hundred years ago!
• To make me feel not so shocked about the kenyan culture, Njeri took the kids and I out to pizza for dinner. What a lovely woman.

Day 2

• First full day in Kenya! Slept most of the day yesterday, so woke up nice and early to get myself orientated. Had cup of tea and sweet potato for breakfast. Thats a first! Everything goes a bit slower in Kenya, so chilled til 11am when everyone was up and ready. Started reading from Njeri's sweet book collection (something from Candace Bushnell, can't remember the title except it was slutty). 
• All ready for a day of exploring with Ngeri when her son Kalhim doesn't feel too well. That bout of malaria has come back bad, so spent most of the day at the hospital with him while he had treatment. The mombasan people love their soft drinks, and they come in those old-school glass bottles! Had me a fanta. You give the bottle back to the shop owner who returns it to the supplier, they wash and sterilise and re-use. Pretty cool recycling. Once we got home, had chapati adn coconut kidney beans for dinner. They have a sweet-as housemaid called Remi who does friggin everything. I helped her shell a massive sack of beans, was kinda fun. I can't help but wash my plate after dinner though, Remi tells me to leave it but my mum would have a fit if I didn't.
• Njeri is moving house on 1 July, which means I will be moving with her! It's only up the road but its a little smaller. She is renovating the place before she moves in and every time I go with her to check the place out, the builders keep cracking onto me (with their bumcracks showing. Yes, it is universal.)

Day 3

• Day started out a little frustrating. I was taken to the primary school where I would be teaching most of the swimming to. I then found out that they only wanted me for 1 hour a week swimming and do english teaching/physical education teaching the rest of the time. They said it was the 'cold season' between now and August and the parents of the children didn't want them swimming in cold water. I spoke to Njeri and we sorted out a Plan B. I would be volunteering at Mombasa Technical Institute. They have their own 25 metre pool and have several schools using the pool all throughout the week. It will be the perfect opportunity to teach different levels of swimming, as well as adults who wish to learn, and work the hours that I want (and also fit in my own exercise!). Very happy. As I bought my togs along, I did my first lesson, all children swim for an hour, and the language barrier wasn't as hard as I thought. One kids was screaming in my ear and clutching onto me for dear life, by the end of the lesson I had her kicking with her eyes in the water. 
• Met Hilder who looks after the swimming program at MTI. She took me for lunch (I ended up paying..funny that) but she then took me for a walk around the town near the pool. Its pretty full-on. Constantly thinking i'm going to get mugged, drugged, then given malaria. Hundreds of small shops (not even 1X1 metre big) and lots of people trying to sell you stuff or take you for a ride (money-wise, and on a bike!). She took me to a random shop which I found out was a tea shop. Large bags of tea. And its damn good tea. I may even be part of a exporting venture to Australia soon its that good. Well maybe not.

Ok, I think i'm done now. Thanks for reading my ramblings from a kiwi in Kenya. To summarise..scary place at first, beginning to like it, got my volunteering program off to a running start, sweet potato for breakfast is kinda nice you should try it.

Kwaheri!
-Bethy