Thorns, poison, bacterium oh my

Day 2: 09/06/08 8:51 PM

Lesson of the Day: Everything in Africa has either thorns, spikes, or poison.

Well not exactly, but from the orientation tours given today, it may as well have seemed like so. There were the African killer bees, deadly acacia bushes, the equally painful wait-a-minute bushes, and a host of other parasites, viruses, bacterium, and critters that will bascially invade your comfort zone and unleash numeorus versions of hell. The ones I'm most worried about this summer are ranked in this order

1. Jiggers- seem like the evil counterpart of chiggers that we have in the states. They're basically tick like creatures that manage to drive and dwell into any soft parts of your body, but mostly your feet (like the skin in between your toe and toenail). So, shoes are kind of mandatory. And they hit home for me because I hate shoes. Being barefoot is on my list of things that would entail making heaven on earth. So much for that.
2. Malaria- seems like I'm the only individual who decided to risk it by not bringing along malaria pills. The side effects scare me, but then again, so does malaria.
3. Salmonella- not an issue in the States, but pretty a norm here in Kenya. They exist on the shells of all chicken eggs here, but its very easily prevented. All I need to remember is to wash my hands and my eggs before eating them. Let's hope I'll be able to do that.

I'm sure there are a couple of other concerns, such as being attached by a rabid animal or being trampled by elephants when I go on my runs, but with those I feel like I have much more control, as in the option to run for my dear life.

So, as this is Day 2, I guess I should probably offer some informatiton about Day 1.

Day 0-1

Lesson: London is very expensive and not showering for more than 2 days sucks, a lot

Kim's itinerary for Kenya:

- Leave JFK at 8:00PM: I actually teared a little at the vanishing sigh of New York. Most memorable part of this leg, getting upgraded to business and sitting next to an elderly lady who proceeded to get wasted throughout the flight. She was drinking scotch on the rocks before I even sat down.

- Arrive London at 8:00 AM, and after going through customs and sorting out baggage issues, 10:00 AM. Around that same time, come to a realization that our flight to Nairobi is not until 9:00PM of that day, which was easily solved when a couple of the other students offered to watch our stuff and me and two other girls decided to explore downtown London. Although we made the mistake of taking the train to Paddington instead of taking the "tube" to Big Ben and whatnot, I still had a cool experience checking out cafes and random Chinese herbal stores. I would visit again, but it is honestly so expensive. America, we need to pump up our dollars, for real.

- Leave London 8:00 PM. Most memorable part of this leg of the journey, sitting in extremely close proximity to babies, which actually didn't end up being that bad since they were both extremely adorable. And the best part, I got another upgrade again, only 4 rows up this time, but with so much leg space regardless. My original seat was assigned next to a toddler, and his dad wanted to trade, so I gues all in all, my flights have been pretty good.

- Arrive Nairobi 7:00 AM. Most memorable moment- feeling extremely dirty. I had never experienced such a feeling ever. Not even when I went to California and worked on the organic farm.

- After exchanging our currencies and claiming our baggages, we set out for the best off road riding of my life. The ride from Nairobi to the camp was about 5-6 hours, where 2-3 of the first leg is on paved (not really) road, and the rest on a complete lack of road. Weirdly, I managed to pass out for the whole ride, but managed to wake up at significant moments to oggle at wildlife. Our driver's name was Charles, and driving in Kenya is nothing like I driving I've even seen. First off, the roads are all unmarked. And secondly, the road is simply bumpy We saw giraffes, ostriches, buffalo, gazelles, cows, and townspeople all along the way. Pretty awesome except I was extremely delirious and thirsty.

- After arriving at camp, I was just so happy to have a home. Sadly, I ended up not being able to take a shower that night, because the water we use here is cold, and I simply could not bring myself to take a cold shower in the dark while the temperature outside was dropping. Therefore, the shower this morning at 6:30 AM was awesome and so very worth freezing for.

I'll be keeping in touch, since the camp fire outside seems very desirable right now