Monday was a fully relaxing day on the beach. We
took a walk and collected shells and just soaked in the sun. We also talked to
guy about snorkeling the following day. And fun fact, that Monday was my 2.5
year anniversary with Nathaniel J
Can’t hardly believe it!
Tuesday we met up with some other people at the
beach at 8:30 ready to snorkel and relax on a boat all day. We had booked a day
on the water, 8:30-3:30, boating out to an island to snorkel, eating lunch and
returning to the beach. It was beautiful out and after a few stops along the
coastline at other beaches; we had 20 tourists on the boat ready to roll. At
9:30 our luck ended that day. It started to rain and only let up for about 45
minutes the whole day until 5pm. And 2 of our girls were still pretty sick. As
I said, luck was not on our side. We spent the first 2ish hours of rain on the
top of the boat with only 2 tarps to cover us and the couple sitting near us.
It was us against the elements hahaha. It rained pretty hard for maybe 30-45
min at one point and we were all convinced it was going to start hailing and we
were only wearing bikinis, light tank tops and short shorts. Oy. We arrived
near the island and everyone jumped off with our goggles and breathing
thingies. It was my first time ever snorkeling and my experience only added to
the laughter. I am blind as a bat without my glasses and I don’t have contacts
with me here in Kenya so as I put the goggles on, I was fully relying on my
friends to watch out for me. They were nice and did keep an eye on me but guess
how many fish I saw in the one hour of snorkeling? Now before I tell you, I did
hit a PR (personal record) since it was my first time and maybe I could
convince you that I tried to see that many so that the next time I go, I’ll
also get a PR…but the number I saw? A whopping TWO. Hahahaha oh the
ridiculousness of sitting on a boat in the pouring rain all day to see two fish
was not lost on us and we laughed about it the whole way home as we continued
to get wet. We did enjoy a lovely lunch prepared by two of the Tanzanian men,
of a large fresh fish, a vegetable salad type thing, oranges and rice-quite
good! The night ended with a big game of Farkle that Deirdre had brought and
cold showers since the hot water was out haha.
Wednesday Caitlin and I got up early to run on
the beach and it was fun and good since we didn’t feel scandalous this time. However,
beach running is still one of those things that always seems cool at first and
then it fastly loses the appeal in my opinion….and I am definitely getting
worse at English since arriving here. It took me about 5 minutes and a few
rereads of that last sentence to figure out what was wrong and realize that the
word ‘fastly’ does not exist haha. We hung around Stone town, got some
souvenirs and ate ice cream. I also learned while roaming around town that
Freddy Mercury once lived in Zanibar and now there is a restaurant named after
him and plaque on the door of the house he used to live in. The ferry left at
3:30 and guess what movie they played-the fact that one was playing at all was
crazy already-but they played ‘The Italian Job’! My brother loves that movie so
much and because of his love for it, I have seen it a million times and love it
as well. I was the only one who had seen it and so since the volume was turned
completely down, I became the narrarator for my friends. Normally I try to only
do that for my students but since the ferry felt like it was flying (we took
the fast one back that only takes 1.5 hours instead of 3) and we were all sort
of feeling a little bit seasick, it actually took our minds off of the ferry
ride and we enjoyed the first half of the movie. That evening we had bad luck
again. We had seen a discount thing in a magazine for the city on our way
through town a few days before and all of us were excited for the deal. It said
if you came in as a table of 4 ladies on a Wednesday night, you would each get
a free glass of wine and 20% off if you got an entrée. We were hooked. It ended
up being about 15 minutes outside of the city but we sat down at our table and
asked our waiter about the deal. He asked the manager and it was a no-go. He
claimed it should’ve been taken away from the magazine a few years ago and that
it was originally made for their restaurant but they moved a few months ago and
the deal doesn’t exist anymore. Same restaurant-just a different location-and
it was in the most recent magazine and yet, nothing. We ate there anyways since
we had gotten a taxi there and there weren’t really any other restaurants around.
After paying we decided it didn’t matter, we were going to dance in a club or
bar and have fun. We walked across the street a club that PC/Tanzania had
suggested and there was only a large screen playing futbol. No dancing. No
music. No nothing. We weren’t going to give up just yet. We found a taxi and
asked him to take us to the best club in the city and after talking it through
with a few of his taxi friends, they all suggested the same place. We arrive
and the person at the door says there is an 8000Tsh cover charge (about
400Kenyan shillings or a little less than $5) but it was only Wednesday night and after we looked in
we saw maybe 10 people in there…with slow chill music playing! No dancing to be
had. So we went back to our hotel and passed out.
Thursday was my day to get sick. Thankfully no
giardia but similar symptoms. We walked around the city for an hour as we
waited for the Subway to open at 9am hahaha. We had our priorities. With Subway
bags in our hands we climbed aboard yet another bus. It was 10:30am and we
didn’t leave until 12:30…and didn’t stop for a restroom until 6:45pm. All I
have to say is thank goodness for Pepto Bismol. We didn’t arrive in Arusha
until midnight but our hotel reception was very thankfully awake and could let
us in which was all we wanted and were worried about. We got a little less than
6 hours of sleep before waking up to get ready to ride another bus. This was
the point where we split up. Deirdre and I went on a bus to Nairobi while
Caitlin and Eva were going to Eastern Kenya so they opted for a different
route. Smart move. Our bus left at 8 and was smooth sailing until we reached
Nairobi. Even the border crossing was fine. We also rode the bus with a English
guy who was in the midst of traveling from South Africa all the way up to
Kenya/Uganda/Rwanda, pretty cool. Then we hit Nairobi. Freakin’ Nairobi. We sat
in traffic for maybe an hour and a half-at 2pm-partly because there is ALWAYS
traffic and partly because they are cracking down on foreigners and were doing random
passport stops with everyone on certain roads. Nairobi is getting worse and the
police are trying to crack down on things there. We got off the bus around
2:30ish, hopped in a taxi to take us to a matatu stage going towards Nakuru. We
just couldn’t get enough of transportation this vacation ;) We hit traffic
again going out to Nakuru which rarely happens and it ended up taking an hour
longer to get there than usual.
Saturday was the last day of our travels. We got
breakfast at one chain coffee house they have there and I treated myself for my
Birthday that was in two days. I got a slice of warm apple pie, a mocha
milkshake and a bagel with CREAM CHEESE! I don’t even think I ate cream cheese
when I visited the USA last year for 2 weeks, which means it’s been over 1.5
years since I’ve eaten a bagel or cream cheese and it was amazing. Our waitress
gave me a bit of a funny look bringing me pie and a milkshake at 9am but it was
sooo worth it! We hit up the clothing piles next and Deirdre and I got some good
deals/finds! She ended up with a bunch of cute dresses she can wear at school
and I found a pair of hot pink corduroy trousers for only 500Bob ($5ish) as
well as dark red trousers with black polka dots on them for the same price-whabam!
And I’m not sure if my sisters know yet but recently I found one of my best
finds yet-a pair of hot pink heels that are actually my size and were only
900Bob!! I’ve been on a search for these heels for years and I always think
I’ve found them to bring them home and realize they are too small and I have to
give them to my sisters. Well worry no more, they’ve been found J After shopping
I left Nakuru and made it home at last. It felt so so so good to be back in
Sipili.
That was one thing Deirdre and I talked about-how
good it felt to back in Kenya. Yes, Tanzania and Kenya are neighboring
countries and yes, they have many of the same tribes and speak Kiswahili, but
they’re different and Kenya feels like home. It felt right.
That’s the end of my traveling story and here we
are at the end of break. School officially starts on Wednesday, tomorrow, and
the students will start slowly rolling back in. It is also the rainy season
though it doesn’t feel like it as we are in deep need of rain. W have gotten
two itsy bitsy sprinkles in the past 2 and a half weeks and we would really
appreciate it if you guys would spread some of the rain love since according to
Facebook pictures, it appears there is plenty on the east coast, USA right now.
Thanks guys. The last thing is that this weekend I get to go to Nakuru where I
will meet up with all of the Deaf Education volunteers and a counterpart from
every school to start planning for Camp Uwezo. This will be my first year
attending and I’m very excited to hear what it’s all about. All I know is that
it is a Camp strictly for the Deaf and we will each bring 1-4 of our students
to attend the Camp later in Term 2. It’s going to be great!
I’m sorry for this post being so long and I hope
you are all off to a great start in May!!
Many kisses from Kenya,
Zabet
Ps.
For any volunteers reading this past, present, future or if you want a glimpse
in our lives, here is a funny link that is being spread around right now: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/26/signs-you-served-peace-corps_n_5023578.html
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