It seems like such a long time ago that we were in Kenya yet it was only about a week. Already the humdrum of school life has made us feel we never left! Exams, marking, lesson plans - it all falls into such a regular pattern.
The last week of Kenya was awesome, we stayed on Diana beach south of Mombassa, Kenya. (I have used that word far too much after making friends with an American, Tony, on Mt Kenya!) I was really stressed though at first because I had booked all the accommodation for the fifteen of us. (We spent the last week with all the volunteers minus one, who stayed at his project.) I met this guy who I booked it through WAYN, an internet site for travellers. I asked him if he knew anyone with a cottage we could rent and it turned out that he worked for a travel company. I booked the cottages but by the time it came to sorting out final arrangements in Nairobi I was totally paranoid that he was a con artist and that there were in fact no cottages - especially after he sent me a casual e-mail commenting that "of course, all transactions are made in Nairobi". AGH! When we got to Nairobi my phone decided not to work. Despite "Celtels" main selling point being that it is working for a united east Africa with a single network covering Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya, none of our Uganda SIM cards worked. This made meeting up with the travel agent very difficult as we kept trying to meet up but not get e-mails in time.
We finally met at Kenyetta International airport where the company had an office. I was so relieved that the company was obviously official. After asking many questions we agreed on the price. We headed back to central Nairobi a building where we had been the day before! We settled the arrangements and gave 1/2 the cost as a deposit. (Agh my bank balance!) So on the way to Lamu to Mombassa I was slightly (well ok very) worried! Would all of the volunteers turn up? (We hadn't spoken to them for a month!). How would they know where to go? Would the cottages be ok? Would we have to share the pool with 100 other people Euro camp style? When we arrived (almost) all my worries disappeared. The cottages were amazing! Some of the others had not arrived, which was a bit annoying as we had to pay but they were coming the next day (Phew!).
We had hired 4 cottages - 2 on a compound of 3 cottages which had its own pool, and 2 which were a short walk away. I had already bagzied the pool compound and I reckon we got the best house although they were all pretty good. It was a thatched cottage with a kind of pyramid roof that came down over both levels. As you approached the cottage there were steps up to the first level, some of which were a kind of outside patio but still covered by the roof. Here we had a large dining table (where we staged cooking competitions against the guys) and a set of lounge chairs and a coffee table. The outside of the cottage was painted white. Inside there was a bedroom straight to your left with a large heavy four poster bed which Mae and me shared. To the right was Zoe's room, she had her own fridge and a four poster bed! Next to my and Mae's room was the bathroom with a large sink (necessary for all our girls lotions) a double (HOT) shower and a flushing toilet - wow! Next to that was a kitchen that was equipped with... a toaster, oven and kettle! Wow it was like being back in the UK, we even had eggcups!
There was a thin staircase to the upstairs which had a high pyramid roof up to the thatch. There was another set of comfy chairs and yet another magnificent four poster bed that Eilidh occupied on her own. (She was ill and claimed she needed to sleep in isolation... whatever! lol) The room was massive as it stretched across the entire house. A massive white paper lampshade hung over the stairs. As you walked up the stairs a wooden door on you far right opened onto a balcony with a couple of chairs and table - almost as if it had been designed for morning coffee and a boiled egg and soldiers!
I spent the first couple of days sleeping and swimming in the pool - when I went to the beach it was beautiful - although not as good as Lamu of course! The beach is full of beach boys - young men aged around 25 selling various things, well usually themselves or drugs. Others of similar age hang round apparently just to talk as they have nothing else to do. The others got offered umm.... services a couple of times but no one hassled me. I made friends with one really nice guy who I saw most days. (Mainly because he had a cool Bilabong hat!) We chatted about loads, school, holidays, England, Uganda, the usual.
After three days I was bored so Mae and me went on a venture to find a windsurfing club. It was so cool! We spent 3 days doing it. By the end I could not only pull up the sail without it landing on my head in the water, I could also turn around, change direction and steer! Woo! The last day I bought a painting, then me, Mae, Eilidah, Aides, Tom and Aiden played beach volleyball. We hit the hotel residents a couple of times! Oops! When we had finished we went to the bar by the water sports club and one of the staff gave us free cocktails! Could it get any better? A perfect beach, warm, clear and free drinks!
Earlier on in the week all fifteen of us had been to a bar called Forty Thieves. It was fun getting dressed up and going out (minus the usual make up and high heels!) Tom wore his new shirt that all the guys in Lamuu wear (it's basically a sarong). Neil wore his very expensive, head to toe safari gear (with hat) it was very amusing. Unfortunately half way through the night I fell asleep on the sofa in the club! That's what comes of living in the village for too long!
The best thing about Diana beach was the Kenyans I met. One guy was about 45 and said he wanted to chat about England. We talked for a while until he asked if I would like to go for a drink - I was like ewww old leery man (again!) As soon as I said "no" though he wasn't at all push (unusually) instead he was happy just to talk about the UK, although I was pretty uncomfortable at first. I guess what you have to remember is that old men often go out with much younger women, so asking isn't necessarily socially unacceptable. On the last day he gave me two Massai statues from his stall on the path to the beach. They were probably worth about £10, which is a lot in Kenya. He also insisted that I should come back - "Even if you are married". I'm sure he meant that in a genuine way but it was still a typical African moment!
The other really nice person I met was a sixteen year old girl called Elizabeth. She was one of the most intelligent people I've me here. We talked about loads of stuff but mostly God. She was one of the few people I have met who, although very religious, was eager to question many beliefs. Why are there so many religions? Why did the bible say the world will end soon even if it was written so long ago? She also wanted to talk about boyfriends and what my beliefs were on pre-marital sex. By the time I had to leave I really wished that she lived near me in Kabale. I felt that I could easily talk to her and be proper friends (she never once asked for money). We exchanged addresses and I am planning on writing to her soon.
The journey back to Nairobi was similar to all journeys home after a holiday. You are half sad it is all over but half happy to be going home, most of all you just wish the bus travelling part was over! Having said that, unlike journeys in England we did see several zebras and many giraffes about five meters from the road during the coach journeys! About four people were desperate to get to Kampala as they had all picked up pretty bad ear infections from the private swimming pool. (A major down side to the luxury accommodation!)
Eilidh and me got to Nairobi and headed straight to the hospital where Eilidh picked up a number of pills (the size of horse tablets) excessive amounts of pain killer and eardrops. We stayed in backpackers the following day and planned to get the night bus to Kampala. It was sad to leave a city that we had really liked. During the day we went into town, as we were leaving the road from backpackers we saw a lot of rubble near to a small market square. We had eaten there before, there were a couple of cafes', some nicer than others, a butchers, some stalls and a couple of shops. As we walked into the square we realised the whole thing had been bulldozed. I asked a man who was sat on one pile of rubble what had happened and he replied that it was destroyed at night, presumably by the city council. Mae, who had visited the largest slum in Nairobi, explained that when the government acknowledge markets like this one they have to class it under "temporary housing". According to government legislation this means the council is obliged to provide water and sanitation. Rather than providing these services the government bulldozes these sites so they no longer have any obligation toward them. It is hard to see how this can be justified considering the number of people who depend on places like that for their livelihood. Considering it was at night that it was demolished this means that all the goods and materials inside the shops would have been destroyed. Everything from fruit to toothpaste, toilet rolls, televisions, washing up powder, tables, chairs, pans, stock cubes and buildings would be lost.
When we got back to Kampala we decided to go and see a film before heading back to village life! During the day we did some shopping. I bought some new shoes (well second hand new!) from the massive second hand market in the centre of town. Eilidh bought us a frying pan! I then went on a big trek to buy some flowers for our front garden/tiny bit of soil.
We went to see "Blood Diamonds" with Leonardo Di Caprio. It was so good! Very weird to be watching it in Africa though, all the scenes looked somehow familiar. Some of the comments are typically "African" as well - the guy is told to pretend he is a journalist - he is like "but I am not a journalist" then he says to the first person he sees "I am a journalist" even though it is totally inappropriate. You have to live here a while to understand how typical that comment is! More alarming is the level of violence in the movie and how you could see how it could easily happen here. The corrupt politicians and quick tempers are all too familiar.
After the movie we were on a massive high! We scoffed some ice cream and giggled at the really bad in the bowling alley next door. The ice cream was disgusting and tasted of washing up liquid but we just found it funny! Oooh, and we had pizza before the film, it was good!
The next and final day of the holiday me, Eilidh and Aiden got a coach to Kabale. It took about ten hours instead of the usual six because the wheel fell off... twice!
This weekend has been interesting, we were both tired (and bored!) after a week of invigilating exams, but the weekend has been fun. On Saturday I woke up and washed several of the sheets that had been in the spare room, they were disgusting! The water was black! I don't think they had ever been washed - so far we had just left them on the floor in the corner and avoided them!
For lunch we cooked at an Italian man's house. He owns the cheese factory (well, room) at the bottom of our compound. As his wife is away he needed some women to cook for him! It was a really weird situation! We kind of overtook his kitchen (Eilidh and I!) We made pizza, roast potatoes, salad and vegetables. His house is gorgeous! He lives in town although he used to live in one of the houses like ours. He designed the new house himself, as well as a goat and chicken farm he also has his own butchery where he makes sausages. And a garden with fresh vegetables and chillies!
Originally Franco is from the Congo, or at least that is where he has lived since he was born. He moved his business to Uganda in '92' after violence broke out, although he still regards it as his home and has his main house there. We didn't think Franco (or his Spanish friend) approved of our cooking very much but we thought it was amazing (The pizza had the most amazing combination of toppings!) still, it was interesting to get to know new people, we bonded over moaning about the massive cost of work visas here.
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Today is Sunday. In the morning we went to the school church service, usually the beginning of term service is very important so we were surprised that hardly any of the teachers were there (even the headmaster didn't attend). Although ??????? would be normal in England it is frustrating here because everyone professes to be "saved" or have huge faith! Doing and saying are obviously very different things!
Afterwards the wife of a teacher from school invited us for lunch. They have only got married recently and we were really pleased for them to see that she is pregnant! We didn't say anything however in case it is culturally insensitive, some things are rude here that you would not expect! She taught us how to make Katago, a kind of potato dish - it was delicious and pretty simple, we are going to try to cook it ourselves next week. It was the second time we had been to their house and it was great getting to know her better.
In the afternoon a couple of girls who live around the corner came for help with their maths. They are both about sixteen, I think, and really nice. They even offered to wash my clothes and peel all my potatoes for me! (This was partly because they noticed that when I peel them half the potato end up in the bin!) They are going to come back next week for more lessons and said they would bring some vegetables for us as they grow their own on a patch of land near their house! They have started teaching me Rutchiga too!
Tonight I made a pretty good spicy vegetable soup. Tomorrow I'm off to Rugerama (although Magdalina is away) and then on Tuesday I start teaching again . Time flies! In two weeks time we will be half way though our year here. Agh!