Technology hasn't really been on my side recently. This is mainly due to the fact that my little toy of a computer (thank you Lauren Pengrin) decided to die on me less than 24 hours before my final 40 page ISP report was due. That certainly made for a fun evening... Not only that, but it chose to start working again right after I finally finished my paper on a friend's computer. I was not pleased... Regardless, I'd say I'm having fairly good luck on the technology front today because amazingly I am able to post this out of any wifi range from my Kindle. To be honest, it really sucks to type on it (my thumbs are already sore) but I figure it's worth the update.
My last week in Nairobi was spent frantically trying to finish up my ISP paper. We worked down to the wire, even having to run from place to place to try to find somewhere in Nairobi with power to print our papers. Of course it happens that the time we really need elecricity to write and eventually print is the rainy season when power outages are almost a daily occurance. In addition to the computer issue the utilities really didn't want to cooperate because we also had no water for our last three days in Nairobi...that got real bad real fast after my pre Mt. Kenya stair workout...let's just say no one was sitting too close to me for the next few days...
But luckily, all the stress of ISPs and power failures and all of Nairobi's other surprises is long! The coast just has a way of fixing everything (except some continued intestinal distress...I'm leaving that one to the cipro...)
I don't want to make you all too jealous (sorry for those of you who are currently taking exams as I write) but I've literally spent the past four days in paradise. A paradise complete with palm trees, ocean, four pools, all you can eat buffets,and actual day beds for sleeping in during outside during the daytime. And yes...I'll be getting credit for that... But it wasn't all fun and games because we had to listen to everyone present their ISPs, however this for the most part pretty exciting as we got to hear all about what our friends had been up to for the past month. This was the culmination of our semester and everythimg we've learned. I'm still struggling to understand that the semester is really over but this just means the start of a new set of adventures!
Our epic voyage to Zanzibar began yesterday after lunch and farewells to all. We hopped a mattu from Malindi down to Mombasa, about a two hour drive. There we spent thenight before an early morning departure to Dar es Salaam by bus. This however ws not without a new technoloical malfunction when the ATm decided to eat my friend's debit card. And obviously the security guard was atotal jurk, the manager of the bank had already gone home, so it's fairly certain she'll never see the card again... :( But we persevered and made it on the bus this morning for our ten hour trek to TZ. I almost got left behind in a bathroom at one stop,but besides that the ride was fairly uneventful. Just your normal rollercoaster ride through the country side in a seat with too little leg room even for me. After our arrival we all decided we were certainly pleased to be flying back to Nairobi on the return trip...
Tomorrow it's off to Zanzibar by ferry! Zanzibar has always just been this mysterious place in my head. The only thing I've ever known about it was from this silly song my dad and I heard on NPR probably when I was six. All I remember was the part that said, "you can't get there in a car! Zanzibar oh Zanzibar!" It also talked about there not being any tar in Zanzibar and just about anything else that ends in ar. (I know this sounds like an incredibly stupid song, and it is.) But thank you NPR for playing it way back when so that my Dad and I could then chuckle about the place any time we ever heard the name from that point on. So not only did I come full circle with the Maasai jumping contest, but also with Zanzibar. I can' wait to find out how much of the song is accurate...I'll let you know...
Ali
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