I'm in Africa!

Favorite quote of the day:

"What do you want Elliott, to ride a zebra or buy a giant giraffe statue?"
Elliott- "Perferably both. While riding a zebra I can pick up a giraffe statue on a drive through. Then I could ride off into the sunset riding a zebra and waveing a giraffe statue. That's what dreams are made of."

Favorite event of the day:

Trying to talk to an African woman who was my same age. And every single thing I said she would just start laughing at me. We were on a bus ride so this lasted for 5 hours.


So yesterday was AMAZING, and it really hasn't even begun. To give you the sparknotes we left for Arusha, saw a whole bunch of things on the way, and now are at Arusha. But then you are missing out on the giraffe crossing the road :)

We started the day off packing and getting ready. They found Teju's luggage at the airport now, so now we are only missing one luggage bag. I sat on the roof of Nairobi one last time which was just so overwhelming. I aslo took my first shower. For lunch we decided to try a fish and chips place down the block. We thought it would be americanized oh but it was not.

Signs everywhere said "Free tomato sauce" How cool is that? All four of us ordered chicken and fries. The place was so busy, that there were no chairs so we all stood around a table. The funny thing was we didn't get any forks. Everyone in the restaurant had a fork, but not us. So we ate with our fingers. And wow we got so many glances. Remember we are the only white people without forks. Everyone in line would always stare back at us once or twice. There was one guy who actually started stareing at us through the mirror. As if we couldn't see his eyes in the reflection :) We had a long conversation on how it didn't bother us that much. And we pondered why being the minority in the USA is so much different. Probably because we are the ones with all the money in Nairobi.

After lunch I went with Teju to go get some vegetarian food now that he felt better (Stephanie is still fairly sick). There I asked for a bottled passion juice. Unfortunately, they poored me one that was from fresh squeezed passion fruit (which I can't drink as the water is bad there). So I asked for one in a bottle. They then poored the juice into a cup. And I was like "no in a bottle" twisting my hands to represent a twisty top. So they then took that mango juice and poored it into an empty bottle of water and put on the lid. I then bought it as it only cost like 30 cents and then threw it away. Sheesh.

We walk outside after ordering and notice BJ running to put our stuff on the bus. He tells us to hurry before the bus leaves. We then load all of the equipment franticly and hop on. But Paul is missing (he went to go buy some malarone). BJ then runs off to find them. Paul gets there just in time and we take off seconds afterwards.

When we left we gave our hotel manager a $45 tip. He was so excited that when he left we could see him dancing in a suit and running into people.

On the bus ride we saw some AMAZING things. We saw the international criminal justice center and the UN building for Kenya. They looked amazing and we decided to make sure we stop by those places when we come back (it was unfortunate that we were all stuck in the dangerous part of town). Eric Kelso sat next to me and had some sever stomache cramps so that was entertaining with his constant comments of "Hold it in buddy"

SIDE NOTE-
So it appears that everyone on this trip is haveing severe stomache problems besides me. And I mean severe. For me its the opposite, my digestion system is actually working better. My theory is that I have been living off dorm food for aa year and a half straight now, and that has done so much harm to my body, that real food is actually a blessing, no matter how foreing. Yah dorm food!

The bus was so hot that we all took off our shirts. Scairly, someone in another car drove by one of the female students and mollested her. That was upsetting to say the least. The bus picked up more passengers and Kelso was able to use the bathroom. I now sat next to a girl named Everly and a man from Norway sat behind us who looked incredibly high.

So I actually tried to have a confersation with Everly which was the second African I have actually been able to talk to. Strange note, both people I have had talked to so far are African women my own age. Strange. So from my conversation I found out that Everly attends school in Arusha and is studying Graphic Design (which uses computers). She hopes to one day make maps. She was born in Arusha but grew up in Kenya. She likes Tanzania (Arusha is in Tanzania) a lot better. I asked her what she was doing in Kenya and she said visiting friends. I asked her what she did with her friends and she started laughing and wouldn't answer. Seems like college kids are all the same on what they do in their free time :) She told me that one day she wants to visit America, but loves it here. Now you know Everly.

Getting out of the city we saw many wonderful sights. We passed through the desert with the strangest looking