Warp speed.
This is the only way to describe the pace at which Kenya is passing me by.
Today was the first day working in the new office. The place is much better than our original one and I bet it is just going to get better as they continue to make it look less like a hundred desks bunched together and more like a respectable business establishment. But there is something to be said about sitting across from your boss. It certainly makes me less likely to slack off and I can see how hard she works and how much she knows. I want to be her when I grow up. It's not like I would want to slack off either. There are so many things to do each day, so many meetings to attend and so many documents, powerpoints and videos to make but I feel like there is something to be said about the rush (sense of urgency- thanks TFA) that the company is driven by. Take for example our move. We started packing up exactly at 3pm on Friday and though this morning the place was far from perfect I had my laptop and was ready to work at 8 am. We even managed to squeeze in a pump-up/thank you session with our CEO who showed us how much the company has grown since its humble beginnings in a tourist office backroom.Even with the delicious Samosas that were part of our celebratory meal we were not off task for more than 30 minutes. Then, it was back to work, meetings, documents and improvements. A lovely thing to celebrate.
Although it may seem that most of my waking hours are spent trying to wrap my head around the School Manager training I do get to have a little rest and relaxation. Each weekend has been packed with delightful experiences. This Saturday I went to the Elephant Orphanage. This is a place where baby elephants all across Kenya are taken after being rescued and then they stay there for a number of years, always being attended to by their human foster dads that even sleep with them each night. After 3 or so years the elephants are taken to an area on the national reserve and a 5 year process of getting adopted by one of the elephant groups begins. It was very cute to see the elephants being fed with giant baby bottles and downing liters of formula in 18 seconds flat. The older set of elephants were quite playful and a little feisty. Though the highlight of the time was definitely when a 3 year old little kid got away from his parents and ran under the ropes to try and touch one of the elephants. The dad caught him just in time! One baby elephants got too friendly and passed the ropes the other way, playfully headbutting a few in the crowd.
Next, we went off to the St. Paul's Children's home where I played, chatted and chilled with some of the my favorite kids. One in particular put it upon himself to teach me some Kiswahili. Another great part to the day was when I bonded with a boy who had been raised by baboons for the first 4 years of his life. I was braiding yarn with some of the girls to make bracelets and he came over to give me the highly sought after- yet illusive- high five. Then, he sat down and engaged me by pulling on the yarn, SO I attempted, with the help of some other kids translating in swahili to teach him how to braid. It wasn't the most successful venture but it kept him occupied for at least 30 minutes and he was grinning at the tricky string and he tried to follow my instructions. Basically it was a huge success.
That night we went out. And it was awesome. I regained my awesome status by staying out till the wee hours of the morning and then getting up to go see some giraffes. That place was the first one that seemed a little too touristy for me because it was a tiny place and you had to pay 800 shillings (like $8.50) to pet some giraffes. It was quite serene and nice. I did have the pleasure of hugging the head of a giant giraffe but I was ready to go after about 7 minutes in the place, so though both of my animal adventures were a good time, neither was so amazing that I will be running back anytime soon.
I also finally got my room together a little bit more and read the instructions on my pepper spray. On Friday we found out that two people who were carpooling from work were held up at gunpoint on their way home. Luckily no one was hurt but it did remind me (especially since it was the same road I take home every day) that bad things can happen to good and careful people and even thought I have just started to feel more comfortable with my commute to work and walking around. It is sad how one moment you can feel very safe and in an instant information can make you feel uncomfortable and mistrusting of others. Really sad actually. I was walking home one day carrying 3 bags of groceries and obviously struggling after a 30 minute hike home. One man came up and offered to help me carry them and automatically I gave him a very blank stare and asked him to leave me alone. I was not happy with my behavior and decided that next time something like that happened I would first use a more polite way to avert unwanted attention but the fact that in a few short weeks I had become so hardened to approaches from strangers (who in Korea brought nothing but amusement when they attempted interactions). I hate to leave this post on this unpleasant note but I just want to say that I am fine and have a relatively worry free life and in a weird sense I appreciate the reminders that even though the illusion of safety can sometimes appear because of an array of positive interactions with locals it is still a dangerous place and it has to be treated as such.
That being said, Wednesday is a holiday and a Kenyan from my work is taking me to the Ngong hills where one must hire a guide with a gun for safety. Stay tuned...this is going to be good!
No comments:
Post a Comment