Kenya, Pictures, Travel

I spent Christmas in Western Kenya with a Kenyan family I know but I’m just now getting around to posting the pictures. From what I’ve seen most Kenyans live in urban areas but keep some sort of home in their rural areas where they can spend time during the holidays. My friend’s family comes from Western Kenya, a place called Chepsaita, about an hour past Eldoret. I had only passed Western Kenya on a bus but never spent any time there. Christmas in Kenya was like any other day but with an extra-long church service thrown in. Besides, the big event was celebrating my friend’s brother’s circumcision.
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Pictures, Travel

The pictures of my Ethiopia trip are finally on my photo gallery. It’s been a while since any of you have seen a picture of me so I know you’re excited. I have about 100 photos in total but it’s not very practical for me to upload them all, and I’m sure you only want to see the best of them, so I only put about 30 online. Here are a few…

You can see the rest in the gallery here.

Kenya, Travel

I have arrived in Nairobi safely. I am now back in Tala. It feels really good to be back. Even though I noticed how different Ethiopia was before, now it’s more clear than ever. I haven’t slept in in over twenty-four hours but I have so much to do around Tala because I haven’t been here in three weeks. I walked to the market to meet up with a colleague and discuss the latest at the college (nothing new); apparently most of the teachers and students haven’t even reported yet. I guess it’s good I didn’t rush back from Ethiopia early.

Hanging out in Ethiopia was a fabulous experience and I will never forget the dramatic difference in culture from other East African countries I’ve visited. Other than a t-shirt and some music I didn’t see anything worth buying (there’s plenty of “tourist” stuff though, like wooden carvings). The t-shirt I bought has an Ethiopian singer on it, Teddy Afro; he sings in Amharic about social and political issues. I’m not sure who made this video, but you can hear the song on Youtube here. I am pretty sure this song is asking Rita Marley to bring Bob Marley’s ashes to the Rastafari village in Shashamane.
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