So what have I been up to in Kenya Lately? Well I don’t feel like it has been entirely work oriented, but nonethe less it has been a lot of fun! Last weekend I was down in Nairobi planting trees with the Green Belt Movement. We went down on Friday morning and stayed at Nairobi Backpackers which is a pretty cool and cheap place to stay but the owner is kindof nuts… We went for Ethiopian food (which is becoming one of my favorite new types of foods so if anyone knows any good places in Toronto, let me know) and then Saturday was spent getting up early as hell, trudging through the rain to meet at the best and only coffee house chain in Kenya, Nairobi Java House, then going tree planting and leaving of course like 2 hours later than scheduled J what else is new. We went with a group of students and Citi Group organization. We planted them in a forest just outside of Nairobi, Ngong Forest, which apparently is nearby another forest Ngong Hills, where they often find 500 bodies having been dumped in annually… a little freaky eh? I was relly excited to do tree planting, and then when we got there it was more of just a media thing for Citi Bank for good publicity, as the holes were already dug, and the seedlings were already next to them, and someone came around to water them for you… so in the end, it was not exactly an authentic tree planting experience, but fun to get dirty.

(Little did I know that this week would be the week of getting my hands dirtyJ)

So I hung out in Nairobi until Sunday, bumped into an old friend from High School, Andy Kitay and we got together to catch up on Sunday before I left (what are the chances? I ran into here coming out of a grocery store). We also went to a club in Nairobi on Saturday night, won free T shirts and saw a lot of prostitutes hitting on the expats J kind of funny actually.

This week, most of the students at Kimathi are in the process of finishing up exams before they head home for the holidays (much longer break than I ever got in Canada at U of T), so I kept myself busy working more so in the community. On Wednesday and Thursday I went with some of the other interns to go paint a mural at Metropolitan Sanctuary for sick Children which acts as a drop in care center for families who have sick kids or kids who have sick families with a doctor and a physiotherapist on staff. It is funded by a church group in Northern Ireland and there are 3 of the Irish there right now helping out and ensuring things run smoothly. They are al really nice and we habg out with them every so often. Anyways, we painted this really cool mural in the Reception area. I, who claims that I am not artistic, drew and painted these really cute elephants right in the middle of the wall and thank god they turned out really well…. Kind of remind me of Babar. But ya, the entire mural turned out great and looks awsome! And it really brightens the room too!

Then on Friday, we went to help out at Nyaribo Dispensary, where 2 of the interns work, and helped to plant the rest of the community garden…It was a lot of fun to get really muddy, though I did get a lot of blisters on my hands from using the hoe and shovel a lot (this garden is actually pretty big… about 2 times the size of my Baba and Gigi’s old garden in Dauphin I’d say… but the effect was awesome to know that it is going to end up being a sustainable way for people to feed themselves out of the community garden. Then, I went to Muringato where I thought we were just going to be playing games and doing arts and crafts like we usually do, but no.. it ended up that they were also planting their school garden, so I spent an additional hour and a half gardening, breaking up the bisters and getting one hell of a work out for the day. I was so exhausted at the end of the day that all the interns were planning on going out for a beer, but we were all so tired that we just went home, showered and slept. It was a great Friday night of rest.

Otherwise things are good. I’m heading to Jinja, Uganda on Wednesday for just under a week, to relax, go tandem kayaking on the Nile and as long as I still have the guts, go bungee jumping into the nile as well J Its guaranteed to be a blast so I’m really looking forward to it J wish me luck that I don’t end up with a broken nose or something worse… Hope all is good in Canada. I heard that Toronto got its first snowfall J I always enjoy the snow for a bout 2 months then get sick of it, so maybe its for the best that I get home for February, then it will go away when I get sick of it J I’ll keep you all updated about my adventures! Let me know how you are all doing by leaving comments or sending me an email! Love ya lots! Only 2 more months here so I had better live it up ..