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Hi Everyone! I have officially arrived in Nairobi. The weather is still great and I am certainly well fed. I am quite positive that I will be at least a ton when I get back. EVERYTHING is fried in as much oil as possible. It is just me and my host mom, Mary, and her "distant relative" who is an orphan she took in so she can go to school, but she also does all the cleaning. She is 14 yrs and her name is Lillian. The dad is in their rural home in Kisumu and the two sons are grown and living on there own. She is a very funny lady and quite set in her ways. She is of the Luo tribe and says she is a "cousin" of Barack Obama. :) She gave me the Luo name Atento (or something like that) according to the time I was born. I live in Jamhuri Estates with about 10 other students within the area. The area is right next to the huge Kibera slum that has been experiencing alot of violence and tension. We are only separated by a railroad track, but it seems to stay on that side. My mom took me there yesterday after she asked some people what it was like that day in the slum. We only went a little ways in a certain areas since she said it can change at any minute. It was so interesting to see. Only certain handpicked homes and stores were burnt because they were kikuyu and I could also see the remains of the burning road blocks, etc. It was very interesting but sad. Some of the people told Mary Mom in their Luo native tongue to tell the Mzungo (white person) to say hi to Barack Obama. Last night we went to "The Motherland" with two other ppl in our group and our moms for our first Tusker. It is the most famous Kenyan beer and named because the beer's founder was killed by an elephant. On Friday when we were still in Karen the wealthiest area of Kenya (Raila Odinga, many parliament members, and the VP live there) where the monestary was located, we walked to the giraffe shelter. It was amazing! For only 250 Kenya shillings (about 3-4 dollars) we could pet, feed, and get girafee kisses. It was so fun and I took alot of pictures. I will try to upload them sometime soon although the internet is very slow. I need to go now since it is almost 6:00 pm and I am suppose to be in before it gets dark. Miss you all and I will write more soon!!
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