Since first stepping onto Daystar's campus, the students in Trinity's exchange program have gone through quite the few phases. Three pages worth of phases to be exact. I will spare you the inside jokes and obscure phases for sake of time, but here are some of the ridiculous phases the group has gone through this semester at Daystar:
The Library Phase: We have never been given Wifi passwords or computure passwords, or anything of the sorts at Daystar, so we are forced to use general Library and BCC building internet- internet that does not require a password. It is slow to say the least. At one point, before discovering that the BCC building had internet, the American students practically lived in the Library. We were there every waking moment that we did not have class, or were eating rice and beans in the D-hall. O and not to mention that the Library closes at 10 every night and is not open on the weekends. That leads us to our next phase.
The Rocks Phase: After the Library closes at 10 p.m., we have one hour until curfew at 11 p.m. when everyone is required to be in their hostels for fear of being eaten by wild hyenas or something ridiculous...So what would we do for this last hour of freedom on campus? Sit on top of some rocks (as in very large rocks that you must climb up on), stare at the most beautiful stars, and talk about our new exciting lives. This went on nightly for quite some time.
The BCC Phase: At Daystar, there are a few hot spots on campus that do not require a password. The BCC classroom building has 2 really good hot spots. We spend our internet using hours there now. It does not close on weekends or past 10 p.m. either so we like it a lot better than the library except now that it is rainy season, mosquitoes and beetles invade our space after dark. And by invade, I mean there are beetles EVERYWHERE. Big, little, black, golden, crawling, flying, in your computer, in your hair, in your clothes. We are forced to be over our fear of bugs at this point.
The Off-campus Off-limits Phase: For quite awhile, we did not really understand how great off-campus was. It felt scary and taboo to me. One day we ventured out into the unknown. On the road outside of Daystar there is a strip of shops with food, drinks, smoothies, movies, fruit, and everyday items. Once we discovered that going to these shops was an everyday normal thing, we have spent some time there almost every day. Because of these shops and Joshu's Canteen on-campus, us Americans tend to spend some serious shillings on our food phases.
The Ice Cream Phase: One of the shops has an ice box filled with small containers of ice cream. Almost every night after dinner for a few weeks we would all go off-campus to partake in a little dairy treat. I want to say Hannah was one of the instigators of this phase...that girl sure loves her ice cream ;)
The Snickers Phase: One shop has a stock of American Snickers bars! Needless to say, we hopped on that train and ran their store out of stock. They seem to have Mars bars now but I'm still on the Snickers phase.
Hot Dog/ Smokie Phase: Joshu's canteen has hot dogs, and these little sausages called smokies. We put kachumbari (pico de gallo) on them and sometimes he even has mustard. Whenever the d-hall's food makes us sick to think about eating for the 4th or 5th time that week, we skip out and go grab one of these options. There was a point when we first discovered these hidden treasures that I don't think many of us ate in the d-hall for a week. When I look back on that, I'm kind of disgusted but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do and if a hot dog makes me happy then that's what I gotta do. Variety is key.
The Juice Phase: There is a smoothie/juice shop that makes fresh fruit drinks all day and we frequent it quite often. My favorite combination is Passion, Mango, Carrot, Beetroot. I add Avocado on days when I'm feeling a bit creamier. Haha :)
Mango Phase: When mangoes were in season, we ate them almost everyday. There is no better feeling than peeling into a fresh mango and eating its juicy flesh as you dribble all over the place. Kaitlan even invented a cleaner way to eat them for those of us who struggle to locate our mouths...we use the tops of our washing buckets as plates to catch the juice we spill all over the place. One day, at dinner, Hannah bit into her mango and a little friend crawled out...aka a nasty bug. That bug wasn't as gross as the multiple ants that crawled out of Max's sucker one day though. But for real, the mangoes here are TDF!
The Cadbury Phase: I typically don't like Cadbury chocolate, well I didn't, but Kenyans seems to treat Cadbury how Americans treats Hersey's. They have a multitude of bars that I like. The mint crunch one, the cashew coconut one, and the snack one. I actually think we will miss them when we are back to our American chocolates. I do miss me a good ol York Peppermint Patty and Butterfinger every once and a while though.
The Monkeys Are Cool Phase: At the start of the semester, monkeys were a sight to be seen. If we saw some, we would instantly shoot pics, and text each other their location. Now a days, they are a bit more annoying, a common occurrence, and basically nothing too special. At least not special enough to run to your room to grab your camera for anymore.
Health-Kick Phase: This phase includes a multitude of components. First and foremost is the yoga phase. This was spearheaded by Koly and lasted only a few weeks, if that. Then we went through a no pop phase. That lasted a week. We couldn't handle drinking only water and plus, it's not like America has black currant Fanta. Then, we went into the no chocolate phase. I won't even say how long that one lasted. Recently we went into a workout phase. We even had Kaitlan's mom send the Insanity workout videos to Kenya with Jeff. That lasted 2 weeks. Just as Jake predicted. Yes Jake, you were right! Happy? Haha :)
Kenyan Radio Phase: We can get Kenyan radio stations on our phones so we tend to listen to it a lot. The DJ's here are great at what they do. When we aren't personally listening to our own phones, our roommates and friends are usually blasting it. I am really going to miss Kenyan music and radio.
Doulos Room Phase: Doulos is the Greek word for 'servant leader.' The Doulos crew were the ones who first greeted us at the airport and who acted as our personal guides, and orientation crew the first week of being at Daystar. There is even a room called the Doulos room. It is covered with splattered paint on the walls and tons of hand-painted signatures and words. This room automatically became our groups favorite place to hangout. We would meet in there to play games, watch movies, give back rubs, or just hangout. This lasted quite a while and now and again we will go back into a Doulos room phase for short amounts of time. That room holds a dear place in my heart as I'm sure it does everyone else's in the group.
Morning Prayer Phase: Kyle and Leah both brought the Common Prayer book to Kenya and so every morning for quite some time, after we ate our four pieces of bread for breakfast, we would head to the PAC (a beautiful outdoor area at Daystar) for morning prayer. Life got busy and internships started up and so morning prayer took a break, but I believe it is being reinstated for the last week in Kenya. "
May the peace of the Lord Christ go with you wherever he may send you. May he guide you through the wilderness; protect you through the storm; may he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you; may he bring you home rejoicing, once again into our doors."
Cards Phase: There are many avid card players in our group. We are also a very talented Mafia playing group. We are also a little bit competitive to say the least. During the beginning of the semester our group was known to play mafia or cards at every given opportunity. I chalk it up to us using mafia in order to get to know each other better. Plus, we are all really good at it and have a blast playing it. I think that once we got to know each other too well that the mystery and guess work was lost and the mafia began too easily winning and thus the game of mafia died out...hopefully to be resurrected once more before our journey home.
Riddle Phase: Along with having many talented photographers, musicians, and card players in this group, we also have amazing story tellers. I'm sure we would all agree that Tyler is the best but even then, Dara and Max can give him a run for his money when it comes to riddles. I cannot think of how many stories, jokes, and riddles I have heard this semester, but trust me when I say it was probably too many. I could actually feel my brain getting frustrated at me for thinking so hard sometimes. The orange head or baby head stories will always be my favorite.
Lukenya Motocross Phase: Down the road from Daystar is a place called Lukenya Motocross. They have a pool, lounging area, and loft to hangout at. The first few weeks we made multiple visits per week. I think it was because it is pretty American feeling and also, it was super hot and the pool was refreshing. Also, when you are at school in the middle of no where, surrounded by bush and rocks, with no Target or Starbucks to retreat to for a break from the ordinary, Lukenya is the next best thing! And boy did we bring in some business for them. But really, Max and Tyler made them a promotional video. Haha :)
I hope you enjoyed reading about some of the crazy, random, and fun phases we went through. If anything, this is a blog post to help me and the others in this group remember all the funny things we did when we were just chilling at Daystar and not exploring the rest of East Africa...or in class.
