A lovely weekend in Nairobi and then being sick...

So not this weekend that just finished but the one before I got to get away to Nairobi for a lovely weekend break...

But first the sick for any alarmists out there... While no fun, all I have is a cold, and this past Saturday I was able to get some antibiotics and cough medicine and am feeling much better. The medicine was all over the counter, and cost 750 shillings, which is a little less than 10 dollars. No big deal. For me, at least, I can part with ten dollars pretty easily, and I feel way better. I was thinking though, what about all the people who ten dollars would be a big deal to? I heard that the builders who come and work on the school make around three dollars a day, which goes farther here than back home perhaps, but still... And the antibiotic is to be taken twice daily after a meal. What about all the people who really only have one meal if that a day? While here at Hope, we are more fortunate than that, many people in the surrounding community are not. So as I take my nasty cough medicine, I can't help but feel very privileged and distressed for how something that should be so basic and simple, health, is neither basic or simple. There are so many disparities around the world, and what for me is no big deal and now I am feeling a lot better, for so many people would be prohibitively expensive... For many people, they wait until things get bad before they seek medical attention, here certainly but also this is true for the uninsured in the States, and so when they finally go in, it is a race against time for the doctors, especially places where the medical facility may be underequipped or understaffed... Some things to ponder the next time you go and get medicine for something as small as a cold... please do not take it for granted...

Nairobi, meanwhile, was lovely even if our time was short. The other volunteer and myself were very much excited to have a little break away, and I was able to restock up on reading material which adds greatly to my daily level of sanity. We got a mtatu from here to Naivasha, the nearest bigger town hub, and then from Naivasha to Nairobi arriving in a slightly drizzly Nairobi around 11. While I had been looking forward to a break from the rain, the overcast was better than the general Nairobi heat this time of year. Especially for our plans, which were pretty minimal but involved a lot of just walking around downtown for the sake of walking around. While I always roughly knew where I was, it was fun to wander and explore. Nairobi is a busy place even on a Saturday afternoon. For lunch we met up with my old Swahili teacher which was fun. We always laugh a lot when we are together. And for lunch, we had fries and milkshakes... being here is making me acquire a taste for junk food.

That afternoon Lynne wanted to do some souveneir shopping, and rather by chance we stumbled across Nairobi's City Market, which is one of the places where those are sold. It reminded me honestly very much of souveneir and craft markets I have visited in South Africa or Ghana. Many of the same things are sold, everyone claims to have made all their wares themselves which is not completely true, and it is all about haggling. Some people try and sweet talk you into their shops while others try the no hassle approach which is a little more enjoyable. Not that the haggling and sweet talking doesn't work either. I ended up buying a scarf from a woman partly because I liked the scarf and partly because I had enjoyed chatting with her. I also had a very funny exchange with one man. I was wearing my brown blazer and several of the vendors commented on it, one wanting to trade one of his wares for it, anther just telling me it looked 'very smart'. A third man, however, told me he liked it and that it looked like something Michelle would wear. 'Obama?' I asked. He agreed, to which I added, "if it looks like anything she might wear, I must look classy.' To which he replied, 'if you want to stay in Kenya, we could make another Obama...' To which I replied, "No thank you, but thank you...' It was quite funny... Another man asked if I lived in Kenya, to which I said yes, to which he said he had thought so, I looked like I did... I am not sure exactly what that means, but I took it as a compliment... At the very least, I don't look lost, and over the years I have learned my way around African market places...

Then, after picking up some bread, cheese, mangoes and an avacodo for our dinner, we headed to the Mennonite Guest House where I stayed when I first arrived and where we had booked rooms. First of all, after living mostly off some form of beans and maize for two months, we had an amazing picnic dinner! Also, at the guest house we ran into some of the other MCC workers, so it was fun to reconnect with them. They were in town because the Guest House has a hymn sing the first Sunday of every month that they make a point of attending, and which I attended the next morning as well as several of the other service workers who were around Nairobi... It was lovely to reconnect with all of them and to get to be part of that larger community. Between the social reconnecting with my teacher and the service workers, a good amount of exploring and getting lost, and restocking up on books, the weekend was exactly what I had needed.

Then, getting back before I was too sick was good too, and while only a cold, I spent most of last week sleeping. Fortunately for me, because the grade eights were taking the KCPE, their national examination to enter high school, the rest of the school was closed, so while I had a creaky door frog voice, I did not have to teach, or miss, any classes. Now, this week is going to be full of review with the primary exams starting on Thursday, or Friday or Monday... starting soon(and if I know the day before it comes I honestly will be pretty impressed...) I hope my students will do well in English, and in all their subjects... and now I ought to be writing lessons, not blog posts...