First Impressions

It’s hard to know where to begin, which sounds funny seeing as though I have only been out of the country a few days. So from the beginning...after a 31 hour door-to-door transit period, I was walking into my bedroom in a Kisumu hotel. For anyone who has been to a third world country, you can probably picture somewhat the scene that met me when I arrived...dodgy potholed roads, people chilling everywhere along the roadside, kids running everywhere, random animals around, etc etc. It reminded me so sharply of Cambodia, and at once I was so grateful for that experience as the culture shock was not as bad. Anywho, we had a fairly standard ‘just arrived’ night, comprising of eating and then falling asleep super early (under my awesome mosquito net!).

Today we were truely introduced to ‘Kenyan time’..aka people taking their sweet time to do everything (not in a bad way..just theirs). Examples include waiting in a bank line for over an hour only to be told they could not exchange our notes, going on a wild goose chase trying to exchange said notes and waiting an hour and a half for a an internet modem and sim (both which still refuse to work). Although besides the fact that it can be slightly annoying waiting, Kenyan timing has lots of positives – everyone is calm and always keen for a chat, whenever, wherever. Funny Kenya comment of the day..got into a tuk-tuk (yep..just like Thailand) and there were seat belts! I was thinking—wow..amazing! So I commented to the driver about the good safety and he replied with “Oh no, we only use seat-belt when we see the policeman.” Welcome to Kenya Lucy.

Despite Kenyas attempt to keep us in lines all day, we did some super cool things also. My ‘touristy’ highlights include a monkey jumping all over me, scratching a purring cheetah (inside its enclosure with the only defense if it chose to eat me was a stick) and boating on Lake Victoria. My massive highlight although was playing with a group of primary school kids at the animal park..their smiles are so infectious..and they stare at you like we would stare at someone really super famous..its so funny!

So I’m off to my community tomorrow..hopefully with phone reception! Can’t wait to meet more people and start my placement. Tell me how you all are!!! Love to all, Lucy xx.