I coincidentally watched Toy Story AND found out there is a giant 5 foot long snake living in the cement slab beneath my front door… all in the same night! I was on the phone with my mom when I saw this really big black snake slither out from below where I was sitting. This thing looked like it should have been an Indiana Jones prop or something. I called my co-worker Emmanuel to come kill it and when he rushed over with a mop he realized it wasn’t going to do the job. He called reinforcements but the snake snuck back into his hole before the neighbor could bring a stump to pummel it. Maybe another night…
I realize I have a pretty amazing life. I get to make my own schedule, wake up and go to bed whenever I feel like it. I get to see crazy things like snakes that should belong in a zoo, or monstrous size bees with fur on them. I now know what celebrities feel like because everyone I pass wants to say hello or shake my hand. Children run after me and stand at my fence to stare at me for what seems like hours. I was even asked by a Kenyan if it was me on the cover of the magazine I was reading (It was actually Jennifer Aniston on the cover of People but Kenyans can’t seem to tell white people apart, especially if you have the same hair color). And I know every morning when I wake up its going to be a sunny 80 degree day.
Not only that, but on my free weekends I can hop on a matatu (public transportation) and have it take me to some exotic Kenyan destination. I can visit Kisumu which is the second largest city in Kenya to do some shopping, get a delicious meal like pizza or a cheeseburger, and spend the day at the pool. I’m only a few hours from the border of Tanzania or I can pretend I’m in the Caribbean and make my way out to the islands on Lake Victoria.
Normally I would be home in rainy cold Seattle dreaming about how nice it would be to take a beach vacation. Now, all I have to do is pack my bags and go. The boat ride can be a little scary because you have to bail water out of the rickety small wooden boat and hold on to keep from falling out. You have to be cautious for hippos that come to the shore at night and for something the locals call “night runners.” These “night runners” only show up in the Luo culture and are people who strip naked in the middle of the night and run through the villages banging on peoples’ doors and windows. Being a night runner runs in families and if you happen to be one, it is compulsory that you make the nightly run. A night runner’s wife must also stay awake while her husband is running or something bad will happen to him. It is even said that night runners can tame hippos and will even ride or milk them. I haven’t seen one in my village yet, but I always hear many stories when I visit the islands. Scary boats and night runners aside, it is a small taste of paradise to lay on a white sand beach beneath the palm trees, working on my tan. I sometimes can’t believe this is my life!
No comments:
Post a Comment