Getting to Colorado

Enough posting for today. Just a quick update. If you want to see what was going on during the first week of the Unreasonable Institute (at the start of this month) head over to www.unreasonable.tv

72 hours at home

NB: Written in June, but the events are from the end of May.

After over 20 hours of travel, I made it back to O'Hare airport in Chicago where I started this journey on November 13, 2008. I got to see my parents and my sister (only one was in town, but she was especially generous in giving me things to taunt her about). We spent a lot of time catching up. After that, I got to spend some time with friends at home.

Grace is one of my oldest and closest friends, and she's one of the few people I know who can form stronger bonds with a puppy than I can. It was nice seeing her and her puppies. Her brother also showed me his tattoos, which are pretty impressive. The most memorable part was definitely when she let me play with one of her new pets. I can't seem to remember the name of the pet, but she crawled up my arm and climbed onto my head. I think I prefer puppies to snakes.

Amy is one of my good friends from college and she works downtown, so I went and spent an afternoon with her. We visited the Art Institute of Chicago and walked around Millenium Park and Navy Pier. I have to say that in 3.5 years of going to school together, I doubt I saw her in a skirt even five times. And then, on her off-day from work she was wearing a skirt. It's amazing how life post-college changes us. Anyway, we had a fantastic day and caught up on tons (a lot has happened to both of us) and spending a day in downtown Chicago was really revitalizing for me.

I also took the opportunity to stop by my old high school and say hi to some teachers. It was great to talk to a lot of people and see how things have changed in such a short time. (Well, I graduated six years ago, but still...) I walked past the chemistry classrooms and thought fondly of how much I learned there (Mr. Hunt who taught me for two years has since retired) and how useful it had been during my time in Kenya. I gave a short talk to a class and realized that it's hard to sum up the previous 199 posts on this blog. Even to give a quick synopsis and some lessons learned. I could barely string together a few words to convey much of anything.

We also had family over on Friday night. It was nice to see my cousins and catch up with them (more people on the list of people who I should send updates to but never manage to). My dad threw a fantastic barbecue. I finally met my sister's fiancé and learned a good deal about him (I think he already knew a lot more about me). After that, I snuck out for a quick poker game. I had a string of rough hands, but ultimately won 25 cents on the night. I also got to catch up more with high school friends, including one who is about to go serve with the Peace Corps. I also gave him a bunch of files and packing tips for his imminent service.

And then it was time to fly away. Not back to Africa, but on to Colorado. More to come on that soon.

P.S. 200th post :)

Preparing for take-off

Sorry for the immense delay. It was nice to take a little time off of reflection. I probably won't get to fill in all the details from the last month, but I'll do my best to get some of the better stories up here.

Well, just before leaving Arusha I had finally settled into a pretty good routine. I settled into the new house, which is certainly comfortable, but its location means that the kids like to visit me. A lot. I feel less like a playmate and more like a toy. It's also unfortunate that our "sitting room" is a workshop during the day, so there's plenty of dangerous things to keep out of their hands. Just a little exhausting. On the plus side, we're keeping the house stocked with lots of vegetables, so I was eating at least a salad per day. And my puppy was spending every moment that he could with me. I'm not sure how he's doing now that I'm gone. I miss him, and I hope that he'll still be around when I get back. Not exactly a sure thing.

Work was pretty hectic as I tried to finish up a lot of loose ends before leaving. Too many hours spent on accounting, but at least I squared it all away before leaving. I also followed up with a bunch of my contacts around town to check in with them. The most important stop was definitely at Tanganyika Farmers' Association (TFA). TFA has large agriculture shops in 11 major cities across Tanzania and I visited 5 of them on my trip to the south. I went in to schedule an appointment since I wasn't sure which person I needed to call. They brought me to an office and asked what work the company does, so I explained to them about how our maize sheller works. The woman was very polite in telling me that it didn't seem like a good fit with the other products that they stock. She was about to show me to the door when I stopped her. I explained how much positive feedback we had received from the branch managers at each branch and I started dropping names. I think her favorite part was when I did an impression of Mr. Werekyasa in Mafinga (every time I explained a feature of the product he just replied by saying "Sure?!?" and it kinda made me feel like I was hosting an infomercial or something). Anyway, she invited me to meet with the Director so that we could formally begin the negotiation process.

I was also trying to work on my external tasks (I woke up for the last IDDS meeting while I was in Tanzania, but was just too exhausted for one last 1:30 AM meeting). I made an introduction over email between two groups working on similar projects and got the following reply "Your intro has turned into a 10 person meeting at the UN logistics base in Port au Prince..." That was pretty exciting.

Anyway, after I finished up everything in Arusha and said way too many hasty good-byes, I returned to Nairobi. In true Daniel fashion, I had to frantically search for a small plastic bag that I lost on the bus-ride and found it a week later in my suitcase. (I swear that I turned that bag inside out twice!) I took care of a bunch of GCS errands in Nairobi's industrial area all morning. I didn't feel like taking matatus, so I think I wound up walking about 10 miles running my errands. At one point, someone on the street called me a Kikuyu (the most populous tribe in Kenya). I replied (I was walking past his stall, so it was probably shouting rather than just replying) that I was a Taita (the tribe I lived with for 12 months in Kenya). Then someone greeted me in the Taita language from a neighboring stall. I replied and greeted them back, and everyone cheered. Oftentimes, Nairobi is frustrating, but that was actually a really fun exchange.

After I finished with those errands, I decided to visit the Peace Corps office. Just outside the office, a Land Cruiser stopped alongside me and some of the volunteers who were taking care of Peace Corps business in Nairobi recognized me and greeted me. And then they told me that they were just talking about me. That was pretty random, since I had not communicated with them in 5 months at that point (all my fault, I need to be better about keeping in touch with my "neighbors"). At the office, I first went to talk to Louis (he was one of my most trusted allies there) and ask him how things were going in the Small Enterprise Development sector which he manages. We had a really nice conversation and I told him all about my work at GCS. He told me that he wanted us to demonstrate our machines at training and that he might want one for his mother who harvested such a huge crop this year that she's worried about losing it to weevils and other pests (still, that's a much better problem to have than recent years when farmers had to cope with little or no harvest at all). I also dropped by to visit with Enos (the director of PC Kenya's education program, which is the program I was part of for 14 months) and we had a nice conversation. I have to say that in general, when education doesn't come up with Enos, our discussions are very pleasant.

After that, I went back and actually spent a little time with the volunteers in Nairobi and they all wanted to know how they could buy our maize shellers as well. It was really exciting. They also filled me in on the latest program news and made me feel like I hadn't left at all. But after we all finished our first beer, I realized that I needed to hurry back to City Centre to pick up my suitcase and head to the airport for my final departure. At the airport I made some phone calls to some friends in country, but I had used up most of my credit calling Zambia and Ghana for IDDS, so I didn't get to talk for too long. Then, after passing through security 3 times (yeah, it's complicated at Nairobi's airport) I got on the plane (first time in 18 months) and set off back home.

At the gate

So much to write, but that will have to wait. I'm about to board my
plane back to the US. I'll give a full report later this week, but I
promise that my last days here were plenty eventful. It's been quite a
ride over here, but I'm looking forward to two and a half months in
the states before coming back here. Don't worry, the adventures will
continue. Stay tuned!

Just another Thursday

The morning did not start off well.

I was a bit slow getting out of bed. Then when I got outside, there was a dead dog lying next to my house. Poor guy, I'm not really sure what happened to him. The trail of blood out of his eye hinted that it probably wasn't a peaceful death either.

Then, when we were driving into work, the car stalled out and wouldn't restart. After several attempts, I decided to look under the hood. I was pretty sure I knew the problem. There was fuel in the something-or-another (I don't know my way around under the hood of a car very well, but this is a recurring problem, so I'm pretty familiar with it) which was preventing the car from starting. The remedy is to remove one of the hoses and use it as a straw to draw out the gas. The Tanzanians seem to have no problem with this at all. I managed to spit every drop out (I think), but I still felt nauseous for the rest of the morning.

Later on, I went to a store in town where I met an incredibly rude manager who seemed more interested in exerting his authority than running a business.

Oh well, after that the day definitely picked up. I got to ride the bike all over town. And I had some productive meetings. And some of the neighborhood kids came over to play with me (which is much nicer than play on me). It's going to be a long night, but that's a good thing, I am tying up some loose ends at work (that'll take a weight off my mind) and I have a 1:30 AM meeting, but this should be my last one of those for a looooong time.

1 week + song lyrics

My flight is in a week. I've got a lot to take care of before then. Also, I'm sure you'll be excited to know that in base 14, this is my 100th post!

Anyway, just for fun I decided to put some of my favorite song lyrics into kiswahili. I put the literal translations at the bottom.

1. Huwezi kupata daima unachotaka, lakini ukijaribu pengine, labda utaona, wapata unachohitaji

2. Jenny nina namba yako. Jenny uwe wangu. Jenny usibadilishe namba yako, nane-sita-saba-tano-tatu-sifuri-tisa.

3. Ukitaka kuharibu sweta yangu, vuta waya huu ninapotembea kwingine.

4. Nyumba yetu, katikati ya barabara. Nyumba yetu, katikati ya barabara

5. Bang, bang Maxwell nyundo ya fedha akaja chini kupiga kichwa cha kike

6. Alikuwa msichana ya mji mdogo tu, kuishi katika dunia upeke, akasafiri na gari la moshi la saa sita usiku kwenda po pote.

7. Billie Jean siye mpenzi wangu, yeye ni msichana asemaye mimi ni yule mtu, lakini mtoto siye wangu.

8. Na rafiki hawawezi kupatikana, kama daraja juu ya maji ya matatizo, nitajipumzisha

9. Kama ungeweza kuona ndimi ninayekufahamu, nimekuwa hapa wakati mzima kwa hivyo kwa nini huoni uwe nami?

10. Nina hisia, usiku huu utakuwa usiku mzuri, usiku huu utakuwa usiku mzuri, usiku huu utakuwa mzurimzuri.

11. Kwa sebabu nguruwe zangu wanapokufa napata zaida ya laki tatu

12. Kule wanakotembea, kule wanakokimbia, kule wanakoishi siku nzima chini ya jua, kutembeatembea wahuru, nataka kuwa sehemu ya ile dunia.

13. Upendo ni nini? Bebi usiniumishe, usiniumishe, usiniumishe tena.

14. Ni kama mvua yanyesha kwa siku ya harusi ama lifti ya bure baada ya umeshalipa ama mshauri mzuri hukusikia

15. Nimepanda kuta hizi za jiji kuwa pamoja nawe tu, lakini bado sijapata ninachotafuta.

16. Nina roho lakini mimi si askari. Nina roho lakini mimi si askari.

17. Lakini tangu umekuwa ulienda, naweza kuvuta pumzi kwa mara ya kwanza.

18. Sijali uliye, ulikotoka, sijali ulivyofanya ukinipenda.

19. Nataka unitake. Nahitaji unihitaji. Napenda unipende. Nakuomba kuniomba.

20. Lolly, Lolly, Lolly pata vielezi hapa; baba, mwana na Lolly wanauza vielezi hapa.

-----

1. You cannot receive always what you want, but if you try sometimes, maybe you will see, you receive what you need

2. Jenny I have your number. Jenny be mine. Jenny don't change your number, eight-six-seven-five-three-zero-nine.

3. If you want to destroy my sweater, pull this thread as I walk to another place.

4. Our house, in the middle of the road. Our house, in the middle of the road.

5. Bang, bang, Maxwell Hammer of Silver came down to hit her head.

6. She was just a girl of a small town, living in a world of loneliness, she traveled with the 12:00 AM train going anyplace.

7. Billie Jean is not my lover, she's just a girl who says that I am that person but the child is not mine.

8. And friends cannot be found, like a bridge over water of troubles, I will lay myself down.

9. If you could see I am the person who understands you, I've been here the whole time so why do you not see you should be with me? [I have nothing to be ashamed of; she's a talented artist and the video won that prize or something]

10. I have a feeling, this night will be a good night, this night will be a good night, this night will be a good good night.

11. Because when my pigs die I receive over three hundred thousand. [This one is actually almost literal out of Yeah by Usher]

12. There where they walk, there where they run, there where they stay the whole day under the sun, wandering free, I want to be part of that world. [Nope, nothing to be ashamed of at all]

13. What is love? Baby don't hurt me, don't hurt me, don't hurt me again.

14. It is like rain on the day of the wedding or the free ride after you have already paid or the good advice you didn't hear.

15. I have climbed these walls of the city only to be with you, but I still have not gotten what I am looking for.

16. I have a soul, but I am not a soldier. I have a soul, but I am not a soldier.

17. But since you have been gone, I can breathe for the first time. [Okay, maybe I should be a little ashamed]

18. I don't care who you are, where you come from, what you did, if you love me [Or maybe more than a little ashamed...]

19. I want that you want me. I need that you need me. I love that you love me. I request that you request me.

20. Lolly, Lolly, Lolly get your adverbs here; father, son and Lolly are selling adverbs here. [I had to end with a classic song]

So much for unwinding...

Last night was supposed to be a good chance to unwind a bit. I tried staying at the office past 5, since I figured that I could get some alone time there to collect my thoughts since my head is swimming. Then all the kids in the houses surrounding the office decided today would be a good day to find out if I'm scary or not. Apparently I'm not. Which meant that there were 6 kids (under age 7) in the office trying to figure out how the stapler worked and games to play with the phone and how to use a computer (basically, they're strategy consisted of banging on the keyboard and seeing what would happen on the screen; I hid my laptop really fast). I finally managed to push them out the door so that I could lock up and head home.

When I got home, I went to the kitchen to make myself a PB&J. Immediately, one of the neighbors' kids saw me and ran over to knock on the door. I let him in. 2 1/2 hours later, I finally got my alone time. It started by making a peanut butter sandwich for him and his friend (4 and 5 years old). Then, I decided to go play with Juju (my puppy) in the hopes that that would get them outside. Instead, it resulted in several dollops of peanut butter on the floor and some peanut butter footprints. I especially like the game they've invented where they spray bug spray on one another (and often me) or when they seek out the knives in the house and start playing with them.

So I came inside to do some clean-up. One of the neighboring teenagers came over to play with his kid brother (the first kid who came in), which basically negated my efforts to clean up. They wrapped a rubber band around a piece of thin rubber and had a soccer ball the size of a ping-pong ball and started kicking it around the living room (which is actually a workshop with 4 plastic chairs). Then three other teenagers came over and somehow, I was playing host to everyone. The teenagers just sat in the living room talking while I sat there making occasional comments. Part of the reason I wasn't making many comments was that my head was swimming even more than it had been earlier. The other part of the reason is that the two kids decided to play king of the mountain using my neck as the mountain.

So yeah, my planned restful evening wound up being anything but restful. My batteries could really use a good recharging. It seems like I'll have to wait a bit longer before they get it.