Enta Sopa oleng!!!!
This is once again Nashipae (Clare) and Namunyak (Jesse) back in Canada. We thought it was about time to write up another blog and possibly give you some pointers if you ever choose to go to Najile, Kenya.
1. You should first understand that there is no such thing as personal space. We discovered this while camping on Mount Suswa with the VCT staff over many events while staying there. During the night, in our 2 person tent with 4 people staying in it (and all the food for the week), we found that sleeping on top of one another was considered normal? ( Elizabeth had no problem sleeping flat on top of Clare). We also soon learned that it is ok to whip down your pants and take a little 'sit' (squat), even if you are surrounded by crowds of people. This took a while to adjust to, but eventually we didnt really care.
2. Be prepared to feel like massive giraffes in a zoo. Well...maybe we only felt this because we are two massively tall white girls in a foregin country. But seriously...waking in the morning to crowds of children peeking through your window or tent was how we started our day. We had many occations where we attempted to shoo them away...but it seemed that everything we said was absolutely hilarious to them. This became a little frustrating.
3. Goat is considered a very special food to eat. Not only the meat of the goat..but eveything..including the hooves, heart, lungs and tongue.This was not so special for us. It took us a while to figure out exactly what it tasted like..but after spending some time surrounded by herds of goats, we soon realized that it tastes exactly how they smell..which is not too pleasant. We also discovered that if you have the choice to eat inside our outside...outside is definetly the place to eat. This gives you a chance to sneakily chuck the goat pieces over your shoulder with a small flick of the wrist. You must undestand that this food was not going to waste. The hungry dogs enjoyed it very much which made us feel much less guilty. However, sometimes we ate inside. This is when a napkin comes in handy to 'wipe your mouth'.
4. Bathing with a small tin of water is much harder than you think. Not only is the water for yourself..but for the following person using it. It was even more difficult for both Jesse and I to bath in the maasai huts. These huts are not made for people over 5 feet.. it was a little tight but we managed to squeeze our long limbs inside and somehow divide the small cup of water between us evenly.
5. You may be forced to drink a traditional maasai drink or 'herb' on special occasions. This herb is made up of all the rare roots of trees on Mount Suswa mixed with goat fat and water that and then fermented over a long period of time. On Clares birthday, a large cup of this was given to drink. We had a pretty good sleep after that.
Toads between your toes, mosquito nets wrapped around you like a cocoon, special herb drinks, leopards and hyenas lurking behind every acacia tree...well, not really...milking goats and making cjapaties and chai...it really could not get any better than that! An amazing two extra weeks. We wish we could go back! Olesari! Nashipae and Namunyak
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