There's a First Time for Everything

Sunrise from the plane to Nairobi

Flower Market

     Wonder of wonders, and miracle of miracles, I have made it to Migori, Kenya! It's been a very interesting week and I sometimes can't believe it's only been a few days since I left home. There have been a lot of "firsts" these last few days, so I feel that's the best way to sum everything up.

Canal in Amsterdam

Great Rift Valley -we drove through it on our way to Migori

1. First time in the Netherlands -I had an 8 hour layover in Amsterdam, so I went out to the city and walked around for a few hours. That was after about 15 hours of traveling, so I was a bit tired, but I enjoyed it immensely. I missed out on some touristy things, so I'll have to go back one day, but it was still a great time and the weather was beautiful. Actually, my favorite thing in Amsterdam, the flower market, which made me want to buy all the flowers and have a massive garden, wasn't even listed on the tourist guide's I'd looked at. Also, the Dutch get the award (if it exists) for the friendliest passport control guys. They were just joking around with me the whole time. 
2. First time south of the equator
3. First time buying a visa in the airport -I didn't have time to get my visa before I left but I just flew in, filled out a form, paid some money, took a picture, and voila! One Kenyan tourist visa. 
4. First time someone apologized that 70F and cloudy was such cold weather -Kenya is in "winter" right now, but it's often the same weather I left behind in Oregon, so I'm good. The Kenyans, on the other hand, keep complaining that it is "so cold" and put on their warmer clothing. It's pretty funny. Our driver even apologized for the weather almost as soon as I got off the plane in Nairobi.
   
5. First time going to a club -Despite all the times I've had friends say that we would go to a club, I'd never actually been to one before Nairobi. Frankly, the idea of clubbing has never sounded super appealing to me anyway. Josh took the other two new girls and me to a club in Nairobi our first night as a "welcome to Kenya." I wasn't sure at first, especially when Josh informed us the place was called "The Madhouse," but it was quite fun. We were leaving early in the morning so we left the club before things got crazy and just had a good time dancing and making the DJ angry with our song requests (I think he was annoyed because we kept disturbing his Tetris game).
6. First time in scrubs -Three words: Scrubs are awesome! I feel so bad for all the people who don't get to wear them as part of their job because scrubs are seriously comfy. I get to wear them every time I go to the hospital and they make me feel both legit and happy.
7. First days in the hospital -I'm probably going to have to do an entire post just about the hospital, but my first two days have been interesting. The first day I pretty much just went on rounds, but today I spent most of my time in the lab. At one point the technician I was assisting, Geoffrey, said I was going to draw the next patient's blood, but it was a child and I really did not want that to be my first attempt, so I still haven't done a blood draw. Soon though, if I can stop flinching when I watch the needle go in. On the way back to the lab after lunch today I got called into the pharmacy and before I knew what was happening, I was filling prescriptions, calling up patients, and explaining to them how to take their meds. After that surreal experience I finally made it back to the lab and learned how to identify malaria and tuberculosis using blood and sputum smears. That felt pretty cool.
   
8. First Swahili lesson -After playing with the malaria and TB slides, Geoffrey gave me my first official Swahili lesson. He'd taught me a few words earlier and I'd already learned "no power" (hakuna stima) thanks to frequent power outages and our cook, Helen, but today I got to learn lots of things. They're sort of random things though. I can greet people and introduce myself, but I can also say I'm going to town (naenda town), or I'm going to eat ten bananas (naenda kukula ndizi kumi). My favorite word at the moment might be the word for motorbikes (which are all over and sometimes really obnoxious): pikipiki.
9. First time being called "Mzungu" -I was wondering how long it would take for this to happen. Not long. Mzungu means "white person" or, more generally, "foreigner." We have an African American student and a Scot whose parents are from Ghana, and they are both called Mzungu. You can hear it being said whenever you pass by, and when I helped out with the blood draws, mothers would point to me in order to distract their scared children. It's an odd feeling. 
10. First time feeling like a walking $ sign -This is one of the weirdest things about being here. Everyone just seems to assume that Mzungus have money out the wazoo. The kids who come to the compound everyday often expect "sweets" or shillings. Even friends, like the people at the hospital, think that we can just fly back and forth to Africa whenever we want and ask us to bring back presents. Some students here had an awkward weekend when they went to visit a friend in Nakuru and spent an entire day being taken from one house to the next where they were treated to meals and sob story after sob story. They'd also been told that they would get to see some of the famous sights of Nakuru, but then found out that they were each expected to pay for three orphans to join them. Needless to say, it was not the weekend they'd expected.
    

Well, there's much more to say, but right now I have to go into town. The tap water here's not safe to drink so every couple days we walk 1/2 mile into town to buy 5 liter jogs of water and then pack them back. Good times.