Kenya Update 8/24/09

I spent some time thinking about how crazy our bodies are, how biological clocks work and how international travel, without fail, turns you upside down and inside out. Granted these contemplations occupied my attention last night from about 1:15 am to 3:30 am, while I stared at my ceiling, listening to the guard dogs fight and wondering how I was going to function the coming day with so little rest! Luckily, at 3:30am I decided to "go to bed again" - so I covered my window with one of my blankets, had some toast, changed into my usual sleeping attire and read the Return of the King for about 35 minutes. Then I was able to go to sleep.

I learned something else about Kenya this morning. Evidently the government, in a way, rations electricity. This means that two, three maybe 4 times a day, electricity is cut off at ANU. I learned that this morning when I woke up at 9:30am (opposed to the plan: 7:00am for breakfast) Woops! I did not feel very guilty though considering how much I needed sleep. Tonight I will get to bed nice and early and hopefully get this jet lag monkey off my back!

This morning we drove Dr. James' stuff to the air freight shipping yard. Again, its ridiculous how different things are in this country. The roads are chaos, but folks are so patient with each others decisiveness road rage is literally non-existent!

I met with some folks today, Shadrack Kirunga will be "my man" when the James(s) leave, he is the Assistant Dean of Students. He asked me to come in tomorrow morning at 8, after he had some conversations at a meeting tonight about the work that needs to be done/opportunities for me to serve coming up. From what I gather, there are several things I can get involved in. They have a mentoring program for high school students that starts at the end of this week, also the music director on campus is in "desperate need" of someone who can read music on piano. Score! Or rather, sheet music! The folks in the science department are also looking for someone to tutor math (always, everywhere, people want math tutors!) The folks at IT were not quite as clear with what they need. They obviously need help, as it took them an hour and a half to set my laptop up for wireless. Hopefully I can help them out somehow with my limited IT troubleshooting skills. Speaking of which, here is an excellent xkcd comic on that very topic:

All in all it has been a decent day. I am very happy to have (all be it inconsistent) wireless working on my laptop. I got to see Christina Dave Heather and Meg tonight - and hopefully any minute now I'll connect with my Allison!! I am still not quite adjusted to things, I still feel totally uncomfortable everywhere I go, but my jobs around campus are starting to piece together. Mary Jane gave me some tea, which is very very exciting, and helps me feel at home. Dinner was interesting tonight, consisting of rice and two variations of meat goop. I hope my insides don't explode.