I struggle to understand people who have never moved away from their hometown. People who know one life, one group of people, and only one home. When I moved into my new apartment this year, I was asked to fill out an application that listed all of my residences in the past three years.
In three years alone I've lived in 11 places. And that's not counting training sites and hotels.
Now that is excessive, for sure, but over my lifetime I've had seven places that I've called home:
Bowie, Maryland, USA (18 years)
Scranton/Dumore, Pennsylvania, USA (4 years)
Crownsville, Maryland, USA (2 years)
Seoul, South Korea (2 years)
Cambridge, Massacusetts, USA (2 years)
Nairobi, Kenya (2 years)
Washington, District of Columbia, USA (1.25 years so far)
My family moved to Bowie when I was two, and its the only home home I've ever known though we lived a few other places before that. Scranton/Dunmore is where I went to college and the first place I started a life of my own. After graduating, I moved back to Maryland to teach and lived in a great place in Crownsville with three roommates with a view of the Severn River that greeted me every morning when I woke up. Seoul was the first time I ever lived in a place where I was a total outsider and had to start life over by myself. I learned a lot about who I was in Korea. Cambridge was a temporary home for grad school, and also the place that welcomed me home after my second stint living abroad.
But of all my adult homes, the place I probably grew the most was in Nairobi. The two years I spent in Kenya were, simply, transformative. I made some of my absolute closest friends, grew professionally, and explored some of the most incredible landscapes I've ever seen. Every time I touch down in Nairobi I have a profound sense of coming home. But at the same time, I remember the exact trip (September 2015) when I looked around Nairobi and realized it wasn't my place anymore. I was at a party with some friends and when I looked around I realized that I had never seen the vast majority of people there ever before. Although I still had very close friends who live there, the life I led had moved on. But going back to Kenya is a bit like a time machine; I'm able to slip back into this special time in my life, reunite with friends, visit places where I have fond memories, and have new adventures to tuck into my pockets until I return.
Luckily, in the two years since I've left Kenya, I've had the opportunity to go back six times, whether to work in Kenya specifically or simply to stop over there on the way to or from one of our other countries. It makes me so happy every time I get to go! And it makes me especially happy when I get to share my love of Kenya with new people.
In December I went back to help run a summit for our staff from all over the country, train some regional managers that support the academy level staff, and work with staff in our headquarters. I also snuck two of my favorite things - a safari and a trip to the Kenyan coast.
Right after I arrived, two of our directors who are originally from India invited me to a Diwali celebration they were hosting. It was a great evening full of food, laughter and celebrating the light and good in our lives. It was also a great excuse to wear the staff saree I had made in India and get some beautiful henna done!
Marisa, a friend of mine from grad school, now lives in Nairobi. Her husband, Mike, works for our company and Marisa works with my dear friend Craig at his company, Arifu. It's always great to see them when I go back.
Henna!
Getting back to Nairobi is also about good food at catching up with friends who live there.
Tin Roof Cafe (with branches at The Souk and Langata Link Shops) is one of my absolute favorite places to eat in Kenya. It is, quite often one of my first and last meals when I visit.
Feta, chicken, and corriander crepe plus their salad bar selections and masala tea? Bliss.
Kara, Patrick, Cassie and I having a former-Boston-office reunion and v2.0 of our annual KCPE bar crawl.
Cheers to the latest graduates!
Our first training, for our higher level managers, took place in our HQ in Nairobi. We did a bunch of management training (re: leadership styles, prioritization, roles and expectations, etc). It was great to have some time to build these important skills and hear about challenges and triumphs in the field. One of our most enjoyed activities had four teams building paper houses based on instructions from national managers who used four very different leadership styles to get their teams to the end goal. One team had a leader who gave directions one step at a time, and wouldn't let anyone move on until everyone had that one step right. There was no preview of what they were creating, and no autonomy. The second group were given very specific instructions at the beginning, had an opportunity to write them all down, and then made them at their own pace. The third group was given basic parameters (four walls, a window on each longer wall, etc) and supplies, but were allowed to make what felt right within those parameters. The last group brainstormed all the parts of a house they needed to include and then they made them. All groups were given the same amount of time to work, and then we compared all the end products and talked about the strengths and weakneses of each leadership style, and when that style might be most effective in their actual work. It was great!
Group 4 discussing the aspects of a good house.
Group 1 having step-by-step instructions fed to them.
Group 1 moved very slowly, but their houses were identical.
Group 2 getting down to business after writing down their instructions.
Group 4 starting to get creative.
Group 2 had very similar houses but felt more in control of their products.
The group with the most freedom had the most diverse and most interesting houses for sure!
Group 1 kept high fidelity to the plan, but felt dis-empowered and didn't even end up finishing.
Most agreed that group 2 and 3 (who were given structure but also had some ownership and freedom) were run with the best leadership styles for this type of project.
And while group 4's freedom and opportunity for creativity FELT great, it resulted in very different products, which might not work in situations where sticking to the plan is important.
There were also opportunities to discuss roles and responsibilities, brainstorm for upcoming projects and campaigns, and come up with solutions for problems getting in the way of school growth and improvement. The four day training felt really productive, and most of the staff who participated said it was the best training they'd had at the company and they felt excited to apply what they had learned in the field.
Discussing different job expectations in small groups.
And sharing their answers with everyone else.
Brainstorming.
Getting their thoughts organized.
So much productive conversation!
A few days later I headed to Nakuru (a town about two hours outside of Nairobi where our training site is) with my DC coworker buddies Kara and Matt. On our way out, we decided to add on a quick trip to Nakuru National Park. Nakuru National Park was the first place I ever went on safari in Kenya, way back in 2005 when I was visiting on Semester at Sea. It was the first time I'd been back in 11 years, and the visit brought back a flood of great memories. So glad I got to share it with Kara and Matt. I remember early on after I moved to Kenya a friend told me he was "safari-ed out" and I was baffled as to how that could be. Many safaris later, I am still in awe every time I look out over wildlife that many people only dream of getting to see. I don't think I'll EVER be safari-ed out.
Few things are more relaxing than a bottle of wine as the sun sets at a safari lodge.
So peaceful.
DC team pride!
Sunday morning we took a game drive.
Cheezing with my wild friends.
Man I love animal adaptations. Zebras are incredible.
Nakuru National Park has a rhino breeding project, so there are a ton of them.
What a crazy animal.
I could watch these guys for days.
Grazin' around.
So beautiful.
I will never understand poachers.
Sadly thanks to the poaching situation across Africa, this scene is becoming rarer and rarer.
Gazelles hanging out.
Everybody loves cuddles.
We also stumbled upon a whole family of lions with a recent kill.
There were two moms and about five babies.
Protecting her feast.
This brave little jackal was looking for handouts....but never got them.
Enjoying the shade.
Littlest lion getting a bloody snack.
Love her speckled stomach.
Looking ferocious...but really just yawning.
Mama giraffe getting a snack.
Closer than most people get at a theme park!
A whole giraffe family out for breakfast.
What a strange and incredible animal.
Lake Nakuru (and many of the Rift Valley lakes) has seen a rise in the waters recently. The dead trees along the edge used to be above water.
Checking out the lake from the viewpoint.
Kara, Matt and I in 2016.
As compared to my BUS 5 crew at 2005 in the same spot!
The view from the overlook is spectacular.
The park is well known for bird watching.
There are hundreds of types of birds that pass through the park each year.
Including thousands of flamingos.
We also stopped at a lovely waterfall inside the park.
Pretty!
Selfie mode.
Can you spot a little tiny Matt by the falls?
After our brief get-away, we headed to our training site for four days of productive professional development for our school leaders. There were huge whole group sessions with all 400+ trainees, as well as a ton of break out sessions for them to discuss and apply what they had learned. It was a busy time, as training always is, but we got a lot done and staff seemed excited to leave with new tool to help them be more successful when they returned home.
Whole group session with staff from over 400 schools!
Breakout session
Talking through insights they had just learned in a panel session
And discussing strategies for overcoming challenges
Led by our great facilitators
Chats with fellow staff during free time!
Right after I got back from Nakuru I left our corporate housing in Karen to head to a different part of town where I was house/cat sitting for one of our coworkers as she went back to the US for Thanksgiving. She asked me to watch her teeny little kitten, Chai, and I figured sure why not? I love animals and even though I don't really get cats, he's just a little kitten.
Little did I know he was actually a demon trapped in a very small, cute, cat body.
Eesh that cat. My arms were so torn up from him scratching and biting. If there were ever any doubt, I am definitely, without question, 100% a dog person.
Caaaan I help you with work?
For brief and fleeting seconds he was snuggly and cute.
But most of the time he was tearing me apart.
How quickly a kitten can go from tiny and unassuming to wild maniac.
We had a love hate relationship, haha.
That varied pretty much by the moment.
At the end of that week I invited a bunch of friends and co-workers out to our house in Karen for a big, home cooked Thanksgiving dinner. For those of you who have followed my blogs in the past, there are few things I love more than a big, love-filled expat holiday. We had about 15 people from five countries (US, Canada, India, Uganda, Kenya) come together for a night of good food and laughter.
Shamim (from Uganda) and Nivedita (from India) preparing the turkey.
Turkey, in chronological order...if you go counterclockwise...from...the bottom left. Normal. First (bottom left) shows the turkey brining in the bottom drawer of our fridge, then (bottom right) buttered up and ready to throw in the oven, and our final product on top!
Beautiful tree of thankfulness designed by Kara, with a leaf for every one of our friends who came (or wanted to be there)!
More decorations!
Final preps in the kitchen.
Nick and Tyler carving the turkey.
My heart.
Told you there was laughter.
Relaxation after a full meal.
After my final week in the office, four of us headed out to the Kenyan coast for a few days of sunshine and water. While I've spent a fair amount of time on the coast (mostly in the north coast town of Watamu, but also in south coast's Diani) this was my first trip to Lamu, and my first foray that far north (and therefore that close to Somalia).
Lamu is Kenya's oldest continually inhabited town, originally founded in 1380! Full of traditional Swahili architecture and history, this series of islands is home to some incredible history as well as some of Kenya's most incredible vacation homes. One of the things that Lamu is known for are the traditional dhow sailing vessels that are still very much part of day-to-day life in the islands. I was so excited to spend some time out on the water and this trip did NOT disappoint.
Priscilla, Kara, Cassie and I headed out to the coast on Friday, and met at the airport where we were picked up by Salim the boat captain and whisked off to our absolutely stunning AirBnB home for the weekend in the Shela section of Lamu. Space is at a premium on the island, so houses are usually built up instead of out, and ours was no exception. Four floors with four bedrooms, two common areas, two kitchens, and a large dining area, it was a stunning example of traditional coastal architecture and extremely good taste in furnishings...and all for less than $200 a night TOTAL. Cannot be beat.
Goodbye cloudy, gray Nairobi!
Classic. The Lamu airport is so small that this literal hole in the wall is their baggage claim. Priscilla was confused, haha.
Once you land you just walk down the (only) road and it ends right at the sea and a pier for boat pick ups.
Lots of boats jostling for position.
Our house was about a 15 minute boat ride from the airport.
K, I'll just be right here forever because I'm never leaving.
The patio outside my room. SWOON.
Views of the water from the top of the tower (where my room was).
Flowers, sun, and sea. Bliss.
The houses in Lamu are much closer together than at other places on the coast.
My room.
Shower on the right.
Personal tanning beds.
Cannot get over these flowering trees.
We hired a chef for $10 (total) per day who cooked us up three delicious meals (and, lets be honest, rustled us up 1-2 snacks) every day. I could get used to that life.
View from my shower.
During the boat ride over, we arranged with Salim send his friend over to organize a nighttime stargazing dhow ride that evening, and an all-day dhow excursion with snorkeling the following day. Salim's friend Abdul came and worked out a plan with us and then took a few us on a little walk, including a stop at the closest (only?) ATM. Holy crap Shela is a maze. I am usually really good spatially and this was a challenge. My mental landmarks were all like "right house with two goats," "left at construction zone with the huge mountain of coral blocks" and "if you hit the mosque with teal shutters, you've gone too far." But we made it. After some lounging and food, Abdul came to pick us up later that evening for our boat ride. We followed him through the winding streets and met up with his son and another guy named Yea who were the captains of the dhow we used all weekend.
Although it wasn't a very clear night, so the stars came and went, it was so relaxing to be out on the water. The dhows have a large front area covered in pillows and cushions, so we hunkered down with a bottle of wine for a few hours and enjoyed the good company...when not almost rolling off the turning boat and into the water, that is. Cassie, who is not a fan of the ocean, was white knuckling it there for a while, haha. After a few hours out on the water we were deposited back at the beach near our house and we ate some dinner, had a few drinks, and called it an early night.
The next morning we woke up and had breakfast and then it was time to head out for our full day on the water. Our captains picked us up and we were off. We sailed up the bay and around the tip of the island and then headed further north to an area where you can jump off the boat and go snorkeling. Since we were out all day, they also cooked your lunch right on the boat...yes please. It was a damn near perfect day.
Beach on the way to the boat.
Morning on the water.
Boat crew! Kara, Priscilla, Cassie and me.
View: Total relaxation.
Views of the island as we sailed.
They've built on every bit of the coast.
Taking in the views.
Basically every shape and size of boat.
Priscilla taking it all in.
Mangrove forests on another island.
Mangroves are pretty sweet, I won't lie.
Blue skies, green water.
Kara getting some sun.
This area reminded me of the meeting of the waters in Brazil.
Fresh fish for lunch!
Our captains lighting the coals for lunch.
Cooking the fish.
Sigh, beautiful views.
Can't beat all the colors from different depths of water!
But really, I could live on this boat.
Our delicious lunch. I don't know what they marinated that fish in, but holy shit it was amazing.
Ready to dig in.
Yuuuum.
When snorkeling you just hopped off the side into the water.
Back on land gawking at the diversity of flowering trees we can see from our house.
This view + glass of wine + book = bliss.
Other houses in Shela.
Dhows with their sails closed up for the night.
On Sunday morning we met up with Abdul again and his son Nabil took us up on a little boat to go to old town Lamu. Abdul stuck around with us and took us around to show us some of the old architecture and tell us a bit about the town. Old town reminded me a lot of Stonetown in Zanzibar - crazy, winding little streets that all looked so similar that I would have gotten mind-blowingly lost. It was great to have a guide to lead us around!
Classic, Nabil.
Dhow in her full glory.
Another dhow out on the water.
Gorgeous.
Old town Lamu.
I hope to one day grow up and have a house with a Swahili door.
I love that Kenya always seems to be in bloom.
Tiny corridors between buildings.
Looots of alleys.
There are no cars on Lamu, so donkeys are the main mode of transporting goods and people on land. There is a donkey sanctuary on the island to take care of them once they cannot work anymore..
Off we go!
Beautiful building made of coral. This isn't allowed anymore, but there are old buildings made completely of coral harvested from the ocean around the island.
Entry ways of buildings are important (and usually cooler temperature) meeting places for people in town.
This dooooor tho.
I also took too many pictures of doors in Stonetown...
Donkey heading to a construction site.
They were mostly led around by little kids.
Last door, I swear. I just couldn't get enough.
More exploration.
An old square and meeting site.
Cassie (with impressive knee sunburn) and Priscilla with our guide extraordinaire, Abdul.
Beautiful old town center.
Traditional market.
Fruit and veg market.
Hangry Tiger Ahmed We've all been there, Ahmed.
Heading out of the bustling market area.
Beautiful coffee shop!
On the way out we walked along the water.
Dhows are a way of life here.
And are extremely well cared for.
Waiting for Nabil to come pick us up.
Rogue donkey eating an onion. As you do.
Gateway to the city.
Sail up in the background, and down in the foreground.
One of the stunning beach houses.
Arab architecture, beach AND an acacia tree? Yes please.
Low tide.
We headed back to our house to take in the view one more time before it was time to leave. Cassie and I were on the same flight home, and we were the last of our crew to head out. Our flight ended up being further delayed so we just hung out at the tiny airport before boarding our puddle jumper back to Nairobi.
Last walk through Shela.
Seriously, if you are going to Lamu definitely consider renting this glorious house.
Even the airport view looks like a postcard.
I was only back in Nairobi for a few more days before heading home. As per usual, my six weeks there flew by and left me wanting more. The two highlights of my remaining days were our company holiday/end of year celebratory picnic and going out to get fish pedicures (I know, so random) with Priscilla at Euphoria Fish Spa. The only other time I had done that was in Korea. The fish were fine, but the rest of the pedicure was probably the best pedicure I've ever had. So relaxing.
Beautiful day for a picnic at Impala Club's rugby grounds.
Playing games.
Fish pedicure time!
What a strange sensation.
Priscilla's fish going to work.
Pedicure after. Ahhhh.
OH, and I was interviewed for Kenyan TV and had my 15 seconds of fame (which can be viewed at 12:59 in the video below) haha.
Suddenly it was time to say my goodbyes and pack to go (including the giant water buffalo head made of recycled flip flops that I purchased at a craft fair while I was there...)
Uh good thing Emirates allows two bags. Because this suit case was almost all buffalo.
Saying goodbye to Nairobi is always hard, but this time especially so since I'm not sure when I'll be back. The project I'm working on next will have me mostly stuck stateside, so it will likely be a while before I find myself back in Kenya. Kind of a strange feeling, honestly. Hopefully it won't be too long!
