The Mombasa not so Express!

Wow a lot has happened since my last post about 2 weeks ago! I am really beginning to get use to the fact that I live in Kenya and will be living here for a year. Nairobi is really becoming home to me and I can’t wait to see what the year brings.

Mombasa was fun and crazy at the same time. Mombasa is completely different than Nairobi. It seemed like everywhere we went there was a mazungu(white person in Kiswahili) unlike Nairobi where most of the time the mazungu only hang out at the various malls in the city. Mombasa is very much of a tourist trap and reminded me a lot of Florida. There were beach resorts and very touristy shops and the weather was just like Florida’s as well; hot and humid! We were very busy while in Mombasa with waking up early and going to bed really late! We learned a lot while in Mombasa about the culture in Kenya and we also had fun at the beach!

Mombassa or Bust!

Tomorrow we get to go to the place that I will be working all year for a lecture on the Sudan! I am exciting about the lecture, but I am really excited about seeing where I will be working for the next year! I am also excited to be meeting some of the people that I will be working with as well.

After the lecture tomorrow, the other YAV's and I are on our way to Mombassa for 5 days! :) We are going with an archeologist and learning more about the different cultures in Kenya. Even though this trip is filled with educational things, we are all hoping that we will be able to swim in the Indian Ocean! The trip is about 7 hours, according to our wonderful driver Hudson! We are driving by van, which is similar to a matatu(the type of public transportation). It should be a pretty interesting ride.

Karibu Kenya!

I have finally made it to Kenya! Its been a crazy couple of weeks since my last update; from "Hurricane" Irene to finally making it to Kenya! These past two weeks have been filled with happiness and sadness, but altogether it has been a great past two weeks!

After a week of orientation I was ready to leave for Kenya, but the weather wasn't looking to good. I was never worried about this "Hurricane" Irene since I am so used to hurricanes, but the Northern folks that hardly ever get hurricanes were making this small hurricane (if it can even be called that) into a huge disaster! Flights for Monday were already getting canceled starting on Friday! Which was crazy since the storm wasn't hitting till Sunday! When Irene finally hit late Saturday night, it was only a tropical storm, bringing only heavy showers and some wind. Irene was gone by lunch time on Sunday!