The past two days I have made a great deal of progress in my life...I walked home from the slum by myself and to the cafe by myself WITHOUT GETTING LOST. For anyone who knows me, they should be very proud because I get lost everywhere and anywhere...go figure I finally have some sort of directional sense when I’m on another continent. I hope my dad is reading this and can finally say I’m actually his daughter, I think he wonders how his own child could be so terrible with directions when he seems to have an internal compass, although I guess my sister, to this day, cannot get north and south correct :)
Anyways...besides not getting lost, today we went to the monkey park in Nairobi. Actually, it is just a city park and there happens to be hundreds of monkeys frolicking around, swinging from the trees, attacking one another, and stealing any sort of food a person takes out of their pocket. Now, when I say “we” I mean that I, along with some of my roommates, Jen, Julia, Randy, Carly, Camilla, Liz, and Karin took the five students from the Disabilities School on a bus to the park with two NVS workers (Dan and Jack) and the school cook, Evelyn. It is safe to say that I had just as much fun as the students did feeding the monkeys. One of my favorite students, Gertrude, liked to throw the peanuts on the ground so the monkeys had a feast, dueling over who got the most food. Collins, another student, scared the monkeys, not intentionally, but he doesn’t do well with impulsive animals. Then, my favorite, Martin, would tease the monkeys with the peanuts which didn’t exactly make them adore him...
Sidenote about Collins and Martin: Collins doesn’t speak much English except when you meet him. He’ll say, “Hi, what is your name?” Insert name. “My name is Collins. Where are you from?” And from then on all he says is “Mm” to anything you ask, unless Martin translates for him. However, he does like to hold my hand, not for a quick moment, for a long time. So we sit at the table or stood at the park holding hands for a good long time. Then, there is Martin who also doesn’t speak much but when he does work out his math problems out loud, I love it! He will also hold my hand and even though he pretends like he doesn’t like it, the minute I start to let go he will hold on tighter. Now Martin can get a little jealous so when Collins holds my hand, Martin will hold out his too with a little smirk on his face. I know that isn’t much but let me tell you, those are the best moments I have had so far on this trip.
Now back to the monkeys! We bought a few bags of peanuts and passed them around to the kids and adults and then...monkey mayhem ensued. I’ll admit, the first time a monkey climbed on my back I freaked out a bit and shed a tear, a little out of joy and a little because I was thinking “THERE IS A MONKEY ON MY HEAD”. But then I got over it and kept trying to get them on my head which worked a little. One monkey decided to just lay across my arms then swing from one like it was a branch, man those animals have strong little fingers! The cutest monkey, although very fiesty, was the mamma who had a small little baby clinging to her. It was hard to see because she protected her baby so well but if you got too close, she let you know she was not happy...All in all it was an entertaining day at the park with some greedy little monkeys and some very happy students (and volunteers for that matter).
OH, before I forget...it is about 6:30 pm here in Nairobi. I usually write my blog anywhere between 2:30 and now because that is when I get wifi. I like knowing that when I’m going to bed my family is in the middle of their day because it makes me feel like I have some company when I go to sleep. I know it’s cheesy but it is a very comforting feeling!
Tomorrow morning around 7am I am off for Outreach which will take all of Thursday and half of Friday. I’ll report back on more of what happens but I know there is a bike ride through Hell’s Gate and a walk through the Garbage slum...among many other activities. THEN...I’ll be back Friday afternoon and early Saturday morning I am off to Safari! I’ll most likely cry of joy when I see the animals...I already know. Safe to say this weekend will be one for the books.
This final comment is for my mother and my sister (who thinks the baby aka me never has to do any housework:) ). Today, I did my first load of handwashed laundry...now, no promises it is fully clean but nevertheless, I did it! It’s an interesting experience but I’m pretty sure I should never complain about throwing clothes in a machine that magically come out clean again. To be honest, it wasn’t that difficult but I felt fairly accomplished.
When I was younger...I never thought I’d be in Africa by age 19...it’s still surreal but I couldn’t be happier with my decision.
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed y the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” -Mark Twain
