Karibu Kenya! (Welcome to Kenya)

It's really the little things.

Love these folks already!

It’s funny how flying makes you feel deep, thoughtful, and sentimental....and also really giggly. I've barely slept or ate in almost 24 hours and the silliest things are making my day (or night? Jet lag has taken it’s toll).

On the flight to Istanbul, there was the cutest little boy whose IPad was obnoxiously loud and he kept popping up over the seat to stare at people. It was adorable and cracked me up. In one of the meals there was a salad that was literally 5 leaves of lettuce, a half a cherry tomato, an olive, and a slice of cucumber. I’m not sure why, but I thought that was hilarious & it was delicious! That will probably be my last salad until May L

Once we arrived in Istanbul we actually got to walk down stairs coming out of the plane like the President or celebrity and we were able to be outside and breathe Turkish air! In the airport, we got to try authentic Turkish delight for free and Paige found Wi-Fi and was able to update people on our safety via Facebook. The funniest part of the layover in Istanbul was listening to Jake pronouncing Swahili words (shout out to Kaitlan for making flash cards!) in quite the accent…if you know Jake I’m sure you can guess which accent I’m taking about J

Istanbul, Turkey.
Photo Credit: Paige Alston

Once in Kenya we moved into our new rooms. Paige and I were placed in Patience Hostel with one Kenyan named Vienna. She has been great so far and has fun laughing at the questions we silly Americans have.

The next day after we were able to sleep in, we discovered that many in our group had bed bugs. Apparently there has been an outbreak in Africa, but not to worry, they fumigated the hostels. I only had three bites total when many others in our group were covered. I’m sure we will all laugh about this one day.

The Dulous that helped our group all weekend/week with orientation was absolutely amazing and I thank God for them. Dulous means 'student leader' in Greek and they are the kindest most welcoming people I have ever met. They are so patient and devoted to us and making sure we have everything we need.

We have enjoyed so many get to know you games, heard so many riddles, and played so many rounds of hide & seek! It is a blast! The people here are hilarious and have such great senses of humor. We also have learned a lot about Kenyan time...which means basically, you get where you get when you get there and that is that. Whenever we have plans that get changed (basically every day) we just say "Karibu Kenya", or TIA (This is Africa). 

Photo Credit: Dara Veenstra

Chilling out, maxing, relaxing all cool. Soaking up some sun outside of the pool. 

On Sunday, they took us for a hike (which ended up being miles) to some huge rocks to climb and have Sunday morning church (devotionals, sharing testimonies, and worship) on the top of the rocks. Let me just say that everyone in this group is amazing and obviously here because of God and I cannot wait to get to know them even better. This trip would be totally different if one of us wasn't here. I feel like each one of our personalities are such an asset to the group as a whole and I am almost never without a smile or cracking up at Tyler being spontaneous or joking about being Wzungo (white people) and how much we have to learn.  It is so great to have so many photographers on this trip as well. I cannot say enough about how much I love everyone already. We will be forever family and bonded in ways I can only imagine.

Kenyan boy who decided to join us on the rocks. 

I could get used to worshiping on a mountain... :)
Photo Credit: Dara Veenstra

Classes. I am taking Public Speaking, an African history course with our group, a one-credit seminar with our group, African Society and Traditional Religions, African Philosophy and Religion, & Christianity and Islam in Africa. So far I have attended African Soc. and Trad. Religions & Public Speaking. We debated gay marriage in Public Speaking which was interesting because Kenyans are VERY against gay marriage. It is very taboo and looked down upon... especially for men. In African Soc. and Trad. Religions we talked about evolution and someone asked if human kind originated in Africa, why there were white people? What an interesting question to encounter, esp. when you are the only white person in the class. Haha. It is so interesting to hear the African perspective on controversial topics we have in America like gay rights, Obama (who is basically a HUGE celebrity here), and Christianity.

During one of our free times (which are many here), our Dulous took us right outside campus to the equivalent of a strip mall to get fresh smoothies and juices. They were amazing! The food here is great! None of us have gotten sick…yet J It is a lot of rice, goat meat, and salad (cooked coleslaw with onion and carrots basically). They have different meals almost every day, but the same ones on the each day of the week. So far my favorite is spaghetti with ground meat and cilantro! YUM!

Fresh Smoothies & Juice
Photo Credit: Kaitlan Spencer (kaitlanspencer.wordpress.com)

On Tuesday we went to our first Chapel. It was amazing. The message was about change and my favorite quote from the sermon was “The Gospel afflicts the comfortable and comforts the afflicted.” We sang songs in Swahili and English. It was truly something I will never forget. Later that night I went to the Worship Night/Revival where we worshiped and listened to the different campus groups like Sing Africa. So amazing!

I have officially done laundry by hand. It is not as hard as I thought, but it has rained a lot the past two days so my clothes have gotten multiple washings on the line J Haha.

That is all for now. Tonight is more worship & tomorrow, I kiss a giraffe.

Nakupenda, Jess