nairobi is insane. i am convinced this city is the most unpredictable/wacky city i've ever been in and i adore it.
at the end/beginning of each month the traffic is unbelievable-the timing is because the end of the month is when everyone in the city gets paid therefore everyone has money to go and spend on things like gas, going out, etc. so it tends to be crazier than usual (even though thats hard to believe as well). so the past few days have been extra ridiculous because the entire city seems to be out of petrol as well? the gas stations have been dry of gas since monday and this is causing quite a ruckus. the few gas stations that have petrol have lines multiple hours long waiting for gas, and even me, i ventured out in the late hours of the night to go fill the nearly empty tank of the car. the gas light of the car had been on since earlier in the day and it seemed like the only time to take care of it was in the middle of the night-and even then we waited about an hour!!
since my last post i've been to amboseli and back in a 24 hour time frame, done hours of yoga in a beautiful park in Nairobi with some of my favorite people, planned an official trip to ethiopia, committed 100% to the kilimanjaro hike (i put in my deposit), and still managed to take care of some other work as well.
i'm welcoming the next few months in Kenya with open arms.
to write a bit about my masai village excursion:
so, my motive to going to amboseli was to drop off some patches and shirts for the AYP shirts to be beaded. when i arrived there, i had no idea what was in store...little did i know that the day i arrived, 2 babies, a calf, a dog, AND a goat had been born!!!!!!!!!! talk about intense-not only have i never held a new born baby before, i NEVER thought i would be holding a BRAND new baby in a cow dung hut next to 5 Masai women. the experience was amazing, moving, intense, and left me feeling so grateful for this path i've ended up on. without AYP i would have never been able to have all of these unbelievable things happen in my life, so i'd like to acknowledge Paige and the rest of AYP because without these experience i would have had no idea how amazing and educational life really can be.
also, about 30 AYP teachers and I have spent the last few days in the arboretum park working on helping each others teaching skills and just sharing with one another. it has been a lot of yoga combined with some amazing conversations and i'm happy to have shared the time with them. they're such awesome people and even though we've grown up worlds apart we can really relate to one another about certain things. i've become such good friends with all of the teachers and i still continue to be fascinated by humans and the level of connection we can feel with one another.
one last thing-the trip to amboseli i did was with Hassan (AYPs driver) was quite the bonding experience. when you spend about 10 hours in a 36 hour time frame in a car together, you really get to know someone. i already adored him and his father-like tendencies, but he really out did himself this time. knowing the trip was purely for business, he was so conscious and tentative making sure we were both on the same page about timing, where we needed to be when, and through all of this he still kept asking me if i was ok-if i had enough rest, etc. i found out more than i could have imagined about him and i'm sure the same for him about me. for those of you who know me i can be pretty chatty, and Hassan and i found ourselves chatting about life, politics, our past, the future of kenya and the world, and many other things. he's quite an interesting character and i know it may be hard for you to understand exactly where i'm coming from, but i think he is just such a great guy and really cares about the people he comes into contact with as well as AYP.
back to work but wanted to share a bit of the recent occurrences in my life-
at the end/beginning of each month the traffic is unbelievable-the timing is because the end of the month is when everyone in the city gets paid therefore everyone has money to go and spend on things like gas, going out, etc. so it tends to be crazier than usual (even though thats hard to believe as well). so the past few days have been extra ridiculous because the entire city seems to be out of petrol as well? the gas stations have been dry of gas since monday and this is causing quite a ruckus. the few gas stations that have petrol have lines multiple hours long waiting for gas, and even me, i ventured out in the late hours of the night to go fill the nearly empty tank of the car. the gas light of the car had been on since earlier in the day and it seemed like the only time to take care of it was in the middle of the night-and even then we waited about an hour!!
since my last post i've been to amboseli and back in a 24 hour time frame, done hours of yoga in a beautiful park in Nairobi with some of my favorite people, planned an official trip to ethiopia, committed 100% to the kilimanjaro hike (i put in my deposit), and still managed to take care of some other work as well.
i'm welcoming the next few months in Kenya with open arms.
to write a bit about my masai village excursion:
so, my motive to going to amboseli was to drop off some patches and shirts for the AYP shirts to be beaded. when i arrived there, i had no idea what was in store...little did i know that the day i arrived, 2 babies, a calf, a dog, AND a goat had been born!!!!!!!!!! talk about intense-not only have i never held a new born baby before, i NEVER thought i would be holding a BRAND new baby in a cow dung hut next to 5 Masai women. the experience was amazing, moving, intense, and left me feeling so grateful for this path i've ended up on. without AYP i would have never been able to have all of these unbelievable things happen in my life, so i'd like to acknowledge Paige and the rest of AYP because without these experience i would have had no idea how amazing and educational life really can be.
also, about 30 AYP teachers and I have spent the last few days in the arboretum park working on helping each others teaching skills and just sharing with one another. it has been a lot of yoga combined with some amazing conversations and i'm happy to have shared the time with them. they're such awesome people and even though we've grown up worlds apart we can really relate to one another about certain things. i've become such good friends with all of the teachers and i still continue to be fascinated by humans and the level of connection we can feel with one another.
one last thing-the trip to amboseli i did was with Hassan (AYPs driver) was quite the bonding experience. when you spend about 10 hours in a 36 hour time frame in a car together, you really get to know someone. i already adored him and his father-like tendencies, but he really out did himself this time. knowing the trip was purely for business, he was so conscious and tentative making sure we were both on the same page about timing, where we needed to be when, and through all of this he still kept asking me if i was ok-if i had enough rest, etc. i found out more than i could have imagined about him and i'm sure the same for him about me. for those of you who know me i can be pretty chatty, and Hassan and i found ourselves chatting about life, politics, our past, the future of kenya and the world, and many other things. he's quite an interesting character and i know it may be hard for you to understand exactly where i'm coming from, but i think he is just such a great guy and really cares about the people he comes into contact with as well as AYP.
back to work but wanted to share a bit of the recent occurrences in my life-
 |
| a bit of safari |
 |
| kilimanjaro behind the clouds-see you in juneee |
 |
| meeting in the village |
 |
| hassan and i at the park exit |
