Greetings from JKUAT in Juja!
It has now been 12 days since we have been in Kenya and what an experience it has been! I was reading Time magazine’s top 10 things to do in Kenya and in the first few days we knocked out a few of them and we plan to try our best to do them all.
We have successfully tasted the local beer called Tusker, we have tried Nyoma Choma (it means smoked meat in Swahili – It’s mostly fat haha) and we have also ridden the ridiculously packed Matatus! I know that on our agenda we will also visit the Nairobi Java House, pass through the Rift valley, and we are pretty sure we will enjoy the first class train ride to Mombasa to visit our friends that are teaching there and enjoying the beautiful beaches. If we complete any other top 10’s I will be sure to blog about it.
We have immersed ourselves in the culture here and our students are so helpful in showing us the unique parts of their lifestyle that the average tourist in Kenya might not experience. Kayla’s previous blog mentioned a few great experiences. However, now that classes have started and we can travel in large groups with students to guide us, (an keep us safe for the Mothers reading this) we have done some adventuring. Friday night we traveled to a larger town called Thika to go to one of the more popular nightlife spots called Klub Image. To say the least, it was a very different experience from Jim Bob Ray’s in London. Nonetheless, it was an awesome opportunity to talk with the students outside of class about their thoughts on love, life, business, and culture.
I have said to many of the students that I feel somewhat guilty about some of the assumptions I may have made coming into Kenya. In the media they truly downplay how advanced Kenya as a developing nation is. I find that once you can cut through the accents and a few cultural differences I have so much in common with the business students. We are all experiencing the hardship of finding internships, we are all missing home as an independent university student, and of course we all love to go out and relax on a Friday night after a hard week of cases and studying.
For those reading, stay tuned and we miss all of you Canadians!
P.S. Happy belated Mother’s Day J.