A Day in the life

Trip Start Jan 15, 2002

Trip End Mar 25, 2002

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Flag of Kenya Nanyuki, Kenya
Thursday, January 17, 2002

So, I'm sitting under the shade of an acacia tree in the middle of the African savanna, writing my first email. It's times like these when you really have to stop and look at things differently. Out here you try to live life day by day and try not to take things for granted. Every once in a while though, you have to look at each day and say "Wow! Look what I've done in just one day." Here's an example:

6:00am- wake up to birds chirping and baboons screaming
6:05- steam rool your tent mates to wake them up too
6:15- lace up for a run through the African savanna, watching the sun rise over Mount Kenya. Wow! We pass some cattle herders on the way who almost die laughing when we run past yelling "Habari Yako!! (HOW ARE YA??). They anwer with "Nzuri sana!" (Great!) and we move on. Sometimes kids will follow us and talk in English "how are you? how are you?" or, "Give me pen!!" They're so cute.
7:15am- Come back and shower before breakfast. The shower is a plastic tent with a water bag hanging from a tree! You get used to it eventually.
7:30- breakfast
9:00am- Sustainable Development class (very cool!)
10:30- Anthro field trip to Maasai village- learned how to make fire, shoot a bow and arrow, dance like a Maasai warrior, drink cow blood and milk (this was a spectator sport only. Thank god!). We also donated some money to send a girl named Agnes back to school. She's 15 years old and just got expelled from elementary school because her family couldn't afford the fees. I think it's about the equivalent to $200 for the year.
1:00pm- Lunch (Mango and pineapple!! YUM)
2:00- Natural History class (not as cool as Sus D but it's all right)
3:30- Game drive!! Zebra, lion, gazelle, giraffe, wort hog, monkey, elephant (like 5 feet away!) crocodile, and we even saw two leopards courting which was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen! Our driver said he had only seen that once in almost eight years of driving! We're so lucky.
6:00pm- watch the sun go down while simultaniously watching the moon come up over the other side. It's funny the things you notice while your away. In kenya the moon is upside down, like a smile. We all just want to get up there and turn it around.
6:30= Dinner
8pm-late!- Gather by the fire drinking Tusker (kenyan beer) and debate important issues such as which way the toilets flush on the equator. If it goes counter clockwise in the northern hemisphere, and clockwise in the south, would it go straight down in Kenya? We never could come up with the answer though cuz none of us has seen a flushing toilet in almost three weeks and probably won't for another two months! Yikes!

That's all the time I have for now

Kwa heri (good bye)

Nanyuki hotels

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