Nairobi Marathon

Standing in a sea of people, 10 000 little ants, tiny Kenyan men and women with stick legs the double length of their upper bodies which had huge muscles attached to them where sharing the start line with Kenyans not being so tiny or sticky and then of course me.

The first buss left 6.00 containing the two guys running the 21 km race and the girl (who is now the pride of the school) who ran the whole marathon. At that time we were trying to ignore the wish to return to bed and forcing ourselves to eat something. For me this something was a white bread toast with only banana on since my stomach is still quite bad. I was in the middle of contemplating whether or not I really should walk a mile, without being able to stop for a toilet brake, when they came in with the specially made Swedish School Marathon t-shirts that we were supposed to get. I wanted one so I decided to give the mile a try.

First 5 km sucked. I was nauseous, my feet started to hurt and the cramps in my stomach did not make it any better. But we did keep a crazy walking tempo anyway so I’m very proud of myself and the two other girls who walked with me. The whole mile I tried to walk past whoever were in front of me thinking that the faster I got back the faster I could return to living on the toilet. After a while my body was walking all by itself and had started to ignore the pain, which made the experience of walking through the closed down streets of central Nairobi a bit more enjoyable.

For the first time we got to see the central parts of Nairobi which we have only driven through, without any cars (resulting in a smog free sky), trash laying around and beggars. It was really cool to see, even though we know that this is not how Nairobi is. But we did actually see some of the “real” Nairobi, the Nairobi we’re used to, armed men and women everywhere, the lack of stores and shops in the most central parts of town and the complete lack of respect for the cleaned streets shown by the runners. Worst of all was when we were walking down one of the roads, having been just pushed to the side was a huge shaggy dog lying on its back after having been hit by a car. They had done the effort to clean the streets from all the debris that usually cover them but this shaggy stray dog had just been left there. It tore my hart and made my banana toast jump up my throat.

All in all I’m happy I did it and maybe in a distant future I’ll try to run a mile, but that is an extraordinarily distant future.

African wildlife

I share my room with a gecko; he tried to cheer me up now that I am sick but only succeeded in getting me out of bed screaming.

The Baobab three

(Normal three, the skinny one in the front of the picture, and behind it I psycho baobab three)

When we where in Mombasa we got to witness one of Mother Nature’s wonders namely the baobab threes that grow in the area. These are old giants; threes with trunks bigger than some houses, barring “fruits” shaped like American footballs the size of a 2 year-old babies, psycho threes really.

Inside the baobab fruit there is a white fruit pulp that is quite sour but not too disgusting. The pulp is used in juice and there is also a type of candy sold in Mombasa that is made from the pulp with the baobab seeds still in it. The candy is colored red and a lot of sugar is added giving it a taste not to far from “gelehallon”.

(By the way a goat just moved in. I just love goats! Mam can I have a goat?)

Would you like to know more about Kibera?

http://allafrica.com/stories/201001050030.html

More news from Kenya

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11619970

A huge problem in this coarner of the world

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11614957

A train ride to Mombasa

(I've gone nuts, wearing a Hello Kitty t-shirt really isn't something a sane person would do)

The old town of Mombasa

White shaggy houses, a maze of alleyways to get lost in. Small shops some very touristic some less so, amazing old antique shops. Women covered from head to toe, only darkly lined eyes peering out from underneath beautiful light fabrics looking a lot more cool and conferrable than our shorts and linen. Men in long white “dresses” with small white and usually decorated hats on their heads, with long hair and beards kept the shops or walked the streets just in front of their women. I wished I had put on something covering up more of my legs because both Christian and Muslim men and women showed quite clearly that we tourists where showing a lack of respect due to our way of dressing. A quick walk in an old slave fort called Fort Jesus had to end our walk in the old streets of Mombasa because we were getting to hungry and were all drenched in sweat since it had gotten hotter and hotter during the day and the Mombasa sun was shining from straight above. After Lunch we returned to the hotel to burn our brains out by the pool.

News from Kenya

ewehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11614114

Miss them a bit

Hogwarts express

If you think SJ is bad, think again. At least the Swedish trains have been upgraded and renovated from time to time and the rails are most of the time flat. The Kenyan railway is something completely different. The train to and from Mombasa goes once a day one way and the next day the other way since it is only one rail and only one train. You always travel at night due to the days here being too hot and the trains being built before air-condition w ere invented.

We were taken by buss to the train station in Nairobi. There the sight of the human flood running into the station first met us, it was slowing down just slightly when it past the ticket salesmen (ticket machines does not exist) and then continued into the sitting carriages that were quickly filling up. We had 2 class tickets, which entitled us to a small room with four bunks and a sink in them, a lot better alternative to sitting in a crowded room for 15 hours.

I loved it! Okay so the rocking back and forth that the train did all the way to Mombasa made me seasick but still it was being on the Hogwarts express. The small compartments, the bunks, just the whole feeling of the train screamed magic.

An hour into the trip it knocked on the door and four bags of sheets and blankets were thrown into the compartment, for 2 kr the bed was made for you but the bed maker couldn’t really get into our compartment since we had thrown our stuff all over the place. After making our beds ourselves we started digging in to our snack boxes and at and at until we fell “asleep” (you sleep for 10 minuets then a bump on the rail wakes you up then you pass out again). I got one of the top bunks, it wasn’t as scary as I thought I would be to be hanging in the sealing as long as the thick safety straps were ups so I wouldn’t fall down when the train was bumping up and down a bit extra.

We were awaken 6.30 by a cowbell being rattled outside our door, time for breakfast. We went to the food carriage where we were seated and served breakfast. After that the trip wasn’t very pleasant anymore. The closer we got to Mombasa the hotter it got. In the end we were sitting in our in as little clothing as possible with our heads outside the window to catch the breeze from the train. When the train rolled up to the platform in Mombasa we were all soaked in sweat and having to carry our backpacks we almost died.

+30 degrees all week plus extreme sun and chilling by the pool made every drop of sweat worth it.

WHY??

(photos by Lisa)

That is my question! Why did I leave +35 degrees and sunny weather for a Nairobi where the rain is poring down? This town has forgotten that it is lokated in Africa, it is way too cold here I demand to be sent back to Mombasa immediately!

A fun fact for me!

Tomorrow 9 degrees in Malmö Sweden, 28 degrees in Nairobi Kenya and in Mombasa at the Kenyan coast it is 32 degrees and the sun is constantly shining. I just felt you should know. Life is very hard in Kenya.

I’m taking a brake

(I am well aware of the fact that they are disgusting)

Time for a well deserved holiday. Friday-to-Friday in Mombasa, swimming, sunbathing, relaxing and pretending that such a thing as school does not exist. I’ve started packing and made a little snack box to make the train ride a bit more fun. I’ll tell you all about Mombasa when I come back.

Have a nice week!

// PS/ I did the unforgettable and bought a pair of crocs just because you have to have something on your feet when you go swimming in the Indian Ocean //

Nairobi Hospital

Today I had to visit the place I had hoped to miss during my stay here in Kenya, Nairobi Hospital. Feeling a lot better this morning I went up to the school nurse just because she had said she wanted to check if my throat was getting any better, it wasn’t. So I got to go with Johna (one of the school bus drivers) to the hospital. Johna has worked for the school for 13 years so it was really fun to speak to him during the ride to the hospital. When I got there I had to find the way up to the doctor all by my self, which made me feel like a big girl. The doctor, a gray haired Indian man, was unlike everyone else here in Kenya very efficient and the whole thing just took 5 minuets. I have some type of infection in my throat and I am now put on antibiotics and a diet of no sugary-, salt-, nor spicy food and nothing that tastes good. According to the doctor this wont I will be able to go diving during Mombasa = YEAY!

Mombasa

http://us2.campaign-archive.com/?u=c905bbb81eaf1efddff1fa189&id=2ee563d50b

If you want to know a bit about my Mombasa trip on Friday.

Longings!

Thinking of Karamelkungen

Everyone has by now had some type of stomach problem, me included. This week it seems half of the school is having their second go at spending their days in the bathrooms. The board outside the expedition is covered with names of sick students and for lunch there is a huge pot of rise for those on a special diets that will enable them to keep some nourishment that they take in. Thank god I have yet not been put on that diet because those students really do not look forward to lunch and dinner. I, having the luck of not being to bad in my stomach, have on the other hand suffered from fever since Friday and last night was real bad. Had to visit the school nurse today to get sick leave from school because I was so exhausted. I was feeling a lot better in the morning but according to the school nurse who checked my throat it looked like crap. After feeling worse and worse all day I’m now hopping that I will not have a fever tomorrow morning because then I’ll be sent to the hospital and I was hopping I would not have to see that during my year here.

Pictures from a pool

(Pictures taken by other students)

Sunday the 10/10 -2010 and i passed my diving exam!

Once again Alliance Française

Even though I was tired and had a bit of fever I decided to get out of my bed by the afternoon to go to the Jazz concert and I did not regret it. It was two South African music price winners who together with a pianist and a drummer made up a jazz band. The first winner was a young violinist, a boy who looked very shy but didn’t play like it. The other was a woman with an amazing voice who sang in both South African, English and, to the crowd’s happiness, in Kiswahili. The whole concert was ended with the “Panta mera” song.

Food = Chakula

Ndizi = Banana

Chai = Tea

Maziwa = Milk

Maji = Water

Kahawa = Coffee

Nyama = Meat

Samaki = Fish

Tunda = Fruit

Ngano = Wheat

Mboga = Vegetable

Nazi = Coconot

Nanazi = Pineapple

News regarding Kenya

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11492499

New Life Home

Got my Open Water Diver Manual today so I can study for my PADI test and the diving lessons in Mombasa. Saturday - Sunday = divingtraining in the pool!

51 bottles of bear on the wall, 51 bottles of bear, if one of the bottles would happen to fall 50 bottles of bear on the wall!

First one has gone home after a month living on the Robinson Island.

My school from a balcony

Since it is Wednesday only have one class and since that one is canceled I have a day of, perfectly placed in the middle of the week. So far I’ve studied with Lisa on the balcony, been at the gym and now I’m planning a nap, listening to more of the audio book Harry Potter, The prisoner of Azkaban (already finished the first two).

This is how my school area looks like from the balcony:

(Lisa pretending to study, she is actually listening to Harry Potter)

(The balcony)

(The old main building now being where the younger kids go to class)

(The schoolyard)

(The schools expedition)

(One of the 2 TV rooms at the boarding)

A Kenyan monsoon outside my door

No Kanelbullar on the Kanelbullens day.

Life isn’t fair.

How the hell did they succeed?

I’ve been told so many times that here at the School that girls gain weight and guys lose it during the year, resulting in people going home either 7 kilos heavier or lighter. The first two weeks I believed this because everyone was too exhausted to train and ate like horses (mainly shoving cakes from Java down their throats). Now I’m starting to wonder how the hell they could gain that much, the only possibility is that they gained the weight in muscles because everyone here are obsessed with training.

Walkers going up at 6 o’clock to stroll for an hour before breakfast, people jogging at all hour, gym goers, tennis players, basket with Kenyans every Sunday (tell you more about that further down), night swimmers, horse people and golfers. I myself are amongst several of these people and I love it I have more energy than ever and it actually looks like I’m getting some muscles.

Yesterday it had been announced that those who wanted could come play basketball between 14-16 o’clock at the schools basketball field. I went there thinking it was just going to be a few students from the boarding tossing the ball around but I couldn’t have been more wrong. When I got there the only people there were the gymnastic teacher and a mother to one of the younger kids at school, all students were in bed resting after the party night. I asked our teacher if we still would play even though we were just three, and then they came, huge Kenyan guys. I thought I would die, I have only played with girls and guys half my size before and are used to being able to hang over people making them unable to throw the ball anywhere without me steeling it. Try that with a 2-meter tall Kenyan giant, it doesn’t work. The guys were great, friendly and really fun to play with, best of all was that they didn’t make fun of me playing quite badly.

// Quite proud of myself since I today ran longer than I’ve ever done before //

African Fashion Fair