Charlotte's Web: Karura Forest

I've just completed my second week of my urban homestay. I can already tell that it's going to be difficult leaving my new siblings. Ethan, the 3-year-old, is becoming my close buddy. He follows me around the house constantly, chatting away in Swahili/English/gibberish. I usually can't understand what's he's saying, no matter what language it's in, but I can sometimes pick up different words here and there. It was another good week of classes, we are learning Swahili at a fast rate, and I usually try to practice with the taxi drivers when I can. We have discovered an amazing Ethiopian restaurant near our classroom. I went there two days in a row with friends. In pairs we order a mixed plate of several different dishes. The bottom is a thin layer of a spongy and slightly sour dough that you rip into pieces to scoop up the different dishes that are in piles on top.

On Friday for our weekly activity for our Culture, Environment & Development class we traveled to Karura Forest in Nairobi. Karura Forest is a protected forest in Nairobi that was founded in 1932. Since then, the forest has been challenged by the high rates of development in Nairobi. Today it serves as a protected area where tourists and locals alike will come for a variety of activities and to enjoy the beautiful natural scenery. We met with one of the employees who spoke about their history and about the different ongoing projects. Soon they will be constructing an environmental education center on the property and we got to look at the different plans for the future building. Later we planted 4 indigenous tree saplings, symbolizing the 40 years of St. Lawrence University's Kenya Semester Program. After getting our hands dirty in the soil we walked through the forest to the waterfall, spending some time there enjoying the cool mist and taking lots of photos. Check out this video I found online that shows some of Karura Forest:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WL04LDonD20

Saturday was a pretty lazy morning prior to an afternoon filled with lots of shopping at the Masaai market in the city. Sunday morning I went to church with my family, which to me seemed to be more like a Christian rock concert (not that I know what that would be like). There was lots of singing and dancing, much more energetic than the Catholic masses I'm accustomed to at home. I'm pretty sure i was the only mzungu out of maybe 1,000 people at the service. The church was basically a huge permanent wedding tent, with the ceilings decorated with red and black fabric and over a thousand plastic chairs. The service was also very loud! During the pastor's speech he made quite a few Kenyan jokes, and although he spoke in English, I did not understand why they were funny at all. He also referenced Michael Jackson at one point but I'm not too sure what that was about either.

Also, good news! I have finalized what I will be doing for my independent study (IDS) from mid-April to mid-May. I will be interning at the Kenya Forest Monkeys (KFM) research program, in Watamu, along the Kenyan coast north of Mombasa. KFM researches Sykes monkeys and I will be helping with different ongoing projects. It sounds like I will spend most of my time in the field, observing the behavior of a troop of monkeys, recording their activities and taking fecal samples. Also, my supervisor there has told me that there is a chance that a baby monkey will be born while I'm there, and if so, I get to name it! Don't worry, I'm already brainstorming for some good names.