Off to Nairobi!

Nothing too exciting has happened in the past week. We had final exams the past few days for all our classes, so most of our time was spent studying...or procrastinating by watching videos on our laptops and playing soccer. We'll have a few more assignments in the next two weeks, but mostly we will be preparing to start directed research (DR). Exciting! We're already halfway through the semester...

We did get out of the fence a few times. First we had a field exercise for Environmental Policy. We interviewed farmers in the group ranch about their conflicts and views on wildlife. People told us that they don't sleep except for two months (the wet season, which is supposed to be now although it hasn't started and might not). They are always awake at night, getting maybe a few hours in, to make sure that zebras, gazelle, and especially elephants do not ruin their crop. Most of the farmers believe that the government doesn't do much to help them, which is unfortunately true. They believe that wildlife is inherently good, but they have a hard time seeing this in their daily lives. The other time we got out of KBC was to go to K-town again for market day. My cook crew (Luo) got aprons made from Obama fabrics. Then today after our last final we went to the bar in Oloitokitok to unwind. I didn't get to kill any elephants (they ran out of Tuskers) so I tried some Kili. All the beers here just taste like Coors light, but it's still nice to have a cool-ish beverage.

One of the staff, Marias, got a new job and left SFS last week. He has worked here for a long time, so many people were sad to see him go. We roasted a goat for him, a much tastier one than the first one we slaughtered. After the first time we killed the goat, I decided I wasn't going to participate in it again (a lot of the guys have discussed doing it again...for example today they bought some chickens from the market to kill and eat...) But this would have been like turning down birthday cake. It was nice to share in eating the goat with our friend before he left.

Tomorrow we are going to Nairobi for the next two weeks. SFS has two sites in Kenya - Kilimanjaro Bush Camp (where I am now) and Nairobi Park Site (NPS). They used to have students at both sites simultaneously throughout the semester, but now they only have one group at KBC for the most the time, and NPS is a trip of sorts. Apparently it's the same as KBC in terms of set up and management, but there is no internet or hot water showers. So this is the last time I'll be on the internet until April 4! Kwa heri!