SIASA (politics)

Okay, now I can finish up my last post and add a few more details about the past 2 days. I think the only thing I left out was what happened when I met my brother, Kip's, friends in Kericho that night. Geoff and I had driven into Kericho town so I could 1) use the internet because JESSE IS COMING TO NAIROBI THIS WEEKEND!!!!!!! and 2) buy groceries for the breakfast I made Sunday morning. We were also going to pick up Kip, who requested that we buy some Brandy and Coke for him at this sketchy little store down a dark alley. =P After doing these things, we went to get Kip......or so I thought. In fact, we went to MEET him and ended up staying at his bachelor pad on the porch, drinking Brandy and Tusker with him and his friends. I was fine with staying for a little bit, but it turned into a 3 hour event. His friends were nice and funny, but as the drinks kept pouring (I opted out after just one, FYI) they got very interested in talking about American girls and how much they all want to marry one. I got at least 2 proposals, and the fact that I am not looking to get married anytime in the near future seemed irrelevant to them!! When it became clear I wasn't going to walk down the aisle with any of them, they started asking about all the other girls on my program. I tried to divert them from this thought, but they couldn't get over the fact that there are 24 American girls living in Nairobi right now that they think they can have access to. Yeah right. I got pretty annoyed after dodging these kinds of inquiries for an hour, and the final straw was when one of them suggested a game: either dance by yourself for 2 minutes or take 2 shots of brandy. I was not going to do either one of those, but my efforts to leave (including kicking Geoff in the shins repeatedly, texting him in Swahili that I was going to kill him, etc...) weren't working. We ate ugali and french fries (an unpleasant combination with Tusker) and fiiiinnallllyyyy we left. At this point I had missed out on a delicious dinner back at the house AND I felt sick. So I just got back and went straight to bed. It was not my best night.

Anyway, here's what's been going on since. Monday was relatively uneventful. I had a full day of classes, which was brutal to sit through, then after school the Golf Course/Sunview crew all came over to my place to chill. We just hung out, got some fries and samosas at a nearby place called the Chips Hotel (hehe, I think it's funny), then later that night I hung out with my mom, her friend, and our neighbor Ken for a while. Wrote a few essays, then went to bed. Yesterday (Tuesday) was really fun. Another full day of classes, but the first 4 hours were Swahili and I actually enjoy that one. We ended up talking (in English, lol) about Kenyan politics and how insane Kibaki's wife, Lucy, is for the final hour. I've never really been too interested in politics. In the states, I simply find such discussions exhausting. And let's be honest, BUA did not teach me ANYTHING about US political history, so I don't have much info to go on. But here in Kenya, politics are ingrained with the culture because they are based on the inter-tribal relationships (or lack-thereof) that make up the basis of modern Kenyan society. It's so interesting to learn about the 45 year history of Kenya as an independent country. And the current political atmosphere is so charged since the conflict this past January. Everything seems to revolve around what Kibaki and Odinga are doing or not doing and how the new system is working out. Kenya only became a multi-party political system in 1991, and only since the 2007 elections have things started to take any kind of true democratic form. But it's only a whisper right now. In the US, we have the Democrats and the Republicans, the 2 major parties which are based on certain ideologies and platforms. But here, the 2 emerging political parties seem to have no platforms whatsoever. PNU (Party of National Unity-Kibaki's party) and ODM (Orange Democratic Movement-Odinga's) are merely fronts used during election time. But once in office, neither party seems to have a clear-cut plan or any particular agenda. There's no way to say that PNU believes in such and such, and ODM believes in the opposite. Kibaki is Kikuyu and Odinga is Luo, and all politics seem to follow these very clearly defined ethnic lines. It will be interesting to continue following Kenyan politics and see if they ever turn away from tribal affliations.

After classes, I went home and chilled for a while, then I got ready to go out again. Today is a holiday because it is the end of Ramadhan, so no school today! And last night a big group of us went out to a place called Club Vibro. It's a restaurant with live music and a dance floor that Lisa introduced us to. The drinks are SUPER cheap and the food is incredible. We ordered huge plates of chicken, spinach, ugali, fries, and tomatoes with onions and absolutely gorged ourselves on them. And a highlight of the meal was that we ate everything with our hands. :) I love not having to worry about utensils, just grabbing a handful of spinach and chicken then washing my hands off in a plastic bowl they carry around the table. It's very informal and fun. And the bathrooms are just SUCH a kick. Even when there are actual toilets, they often dont flush, and a bathroom attendent hands you a few pieces of toilet paper because there isn't any in the actual stalls. And since there was no running water in the bathroom sinks and the soap dispenser doesn't work, you just stick your hands straight into a bowl of liquid soap and the attendant pours some water over your hands from a plastic cup. Then you air dry cause there's no paper towels or working dryers. I think its funny, but other people are starting to get a little fed up with it. =P Then after dinner, we joined the 30 and 40-something Kenyans on the dance floor. A huge group of wazungu (white people) dancing to a local band really gave everyone a kick, and some of the girls in our group became VERY popular with a few elderly men. I was getting kind of annoyed by their advances and made that really clear, so they just pushed past me and did their "lord of the dance" routines with my friends instead! They were shaking their butts and backing it up and bumping hips like a bunch of teenage girls. It was actually funny, but I couldn't let on that I thought so because otherwise they'd probably start trying to dance with me. I focused instead on copying the choreography of the band, which was really fun. And anytime we all went back to sit down for a rest, this one particularly encouragable guy in a leather jacket who must've been about 50 years old would come and harrass us to get back on the floor! He'd spend at least 2 minutes pleading with us to come back, gesturing wildly and putting his arms around the boys at our table saying "come on, get your ladies to come back. bring your partners for one more dance!". He was ridiculous. By midnight, most everybody was tired and since several of them were staying over at my house because they were locked out of theirs, I left with them for home. I had kind of wanted to go out dancing at a younger location, but it was okay. While we waited outside for our taxis, some of our group was leaning up against a car. Then the owner of the car came out, a stately gentleman in a suit, and began harassing them about why they were "sitting" on his car? He was giving us such crap about it and looked super pissed, even though all they were doing was leaning against the trunk a little bit! Then my friend Joey jumped into the conversation. She's had 3 years of Swahili already and is one of the most advanced people in our group, so she spoke harshly to him in Swahili, saying "they aren't trying to make trouble. Do we have a problem, sir?" He said "oh, you speak Swahili?" "Yes, I do. Are we okay here??" "Oh...yeah...sure we're okay." And that was that. Joey: 1, Rude Kenyan: 0. He shut up and didn't give us anymore problems. And all the while, the security guards at the door of club were laughing at us and enjoying the show: 8 white kids vs. 1 Kenyan man.

We piled into a cab, 6 of us returning to Sunview/Golfcourse and the others headed to Jamhuri. Shalinda slept at my place, but seeing as it was only just past midnight when we got back, we ended up watching Prison Break Season 1 for the next 4 hours. My brother, Toti, has gotten me completely hooked on that show!!

Anyway, now I'm just enjoying a lazy day off. Some family and friends were over earlier and I chilled and played with this ADORABLE baby for a while. May or may not actually do anything. =P Then this Saturday, Jesse is coming into town for a day!!! I'm SO excited to see him and hear all about his Egyptian adventures. Everyone take care, and I'm sending lots of love and warm weather your way. XOXO!