Kenya

Kenya, Teaching

I’ve been back in Tala for a little over a week now. School was supposed to open on January 5th, but I was still in Ethiopia. I don’t know why it took me so long to notice, but last semester I noticed that neither the students nor the teachers report on time for school. Last semester we started two weeks late, so this time I stayed away for an extra week; nobody cared that I was a week “late” because most of the students and teachers still weren’t even around. Nonetheless, we finally sorted out the class schedule and time table and started today.

I’ll be teaching four classes this semester. Four! Count ‘em:

  1. Two units of Introduction to Programming and Algorithms
  2. One unit of Network Essentials
  3. One unit of Object-oriented Programming

I’ve taught the first two for the past two semesters so it’s not really a big deal, but the last one is a bit new. The course content isn’t so different from the other programming class I teach, but the students are two semesters ahead, so I have to try to cover the topics deeper. I’ve had to create my own notes for these classes so far, which is a pain in the ass, but I guess I did a good job because my students always pass.

Each class is supposed to have four hours per week, but there’s no way I can talk that much. Today I had two classes and I talked for one hour in each class. Two of the classes are with students who I already know from past semesters, but for the new students I always start by telling them, “Hi, my name is Alan. Not ‘Mr. Orth’ or ‘Sir,’ just ‘Alan.’” They like to add titles, but it bugs me. Although I found a gray hair on my head the other day, I don’t have a Ph.D and I’m not fifty, so I’d actually rather they called me “dude” than “Sir” or “Mr!” Hell, most of the students are around twenty years old, and I’m pretty sure at least two or three are older than me.

In other news I bought some new sandals in Tala market the other day. They’re made from recycled tires and they cost me a little less than a dollar. Haha. I had also bought a mop so people were laughing when I was walking home; I was wearing the “new” sandals and carrying my old ones in my hand along with the mop. I guess it’s pretty funny for a couple of reasons, chiefly because the tire sandals are very “local.” I hear that they last forever, though, and they’re tough so no thorns can poke through them. Alright!

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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Kenya, Travel

I’m home safely from Mombasa (read on). I spent the week wandering around Mtwapa, Nyali, and Mombasa itself while my friend Anique was at work. I’ve been to the coast before but I have never had as much fun as I did this visit! I don’t have any pictures because my camera is dead… pole sana (so sorry)!

Highlights

  • Salsa dancing lessons
  • Swimming in the ocean for the first time since April
  • Bus home to Nairobi being attacked by people with crude weapons
  • Kid on beach bouncing a dead, but fully puffed, puffer fish
  • Being in a matatu (public service bus / minivan / taxi thing) which got in two crashes, the second one after the conductor and the door operator were yelling at each other about the first one
  • Browsing a spice market and being asked if I wanted to buy something that would let me “touch the sky”

The Bus Attack

The bus attack was pretty hardcore actually. I was on the 10pm Mash Poa bus from Mombasa to Nairobi. Mash is one of the coach carriers in Kenya (think Greyhound). I think it was around 2 am and I was asleep, but I awoke to some commotion and banging sounds around the bus. People around me were wincing and ducking, and the women were yelling “Twende!!” (Swahili for “let’s go!”). At first I thought the bus was broken but then the guy next to me said something like, “Alan, they have crude weapons!” Sure enough the front windshield had two large cracks in it from rocks. It was over as quick as it had started.

I guess what happened is that there was another Mash bus with a flat tire and we had pulled over to see if everything was ok. That’s when the commotion started. There were a bunch of cars and police after about 10 minutes and we all got out. The other bus wasn’t as lucky, several windows were completely shattered and some passengers had been robbed/beaten, including the driver.

Karibu Kenya (welcome to Kenya)!