The Daily Grind

-From The Roof Looking In: The Dining Area-

with the 1/2 way point coming up at the end of this next week and several inquiring e-mails, i thought it would be appropriate to describe daily life here. . .

classes, appropriately enough, take up the bulk of my time here. we meet on the second floor of the house, in a room that once hosted the queen of england, daily from 8:30-12:30 with copious amounts of time for coffee and tea breaks scattered about. afternoons and evenings are normally occupied with reading passages and essays, all in swahili of course.

fun/freetime involves jogging -or thinking about jogging- daily at 7am. my normal route takes me from Fort Jesus along Mama Ngina drive past the president's summer home down to the mombasa golf club. most of it is under the cover of towering, vine covered trees while the last stretch is along the ocean. it isn't a massively long route but is a good way to get the blood flowing.

books are also fun! i normally spend a couple hours in the afternoon reading on our balcony. everyone brought a good book or two, so we're all sharing each others stuff. i read barack obama's 'audacity of hope' and am currently working on the autobiography of Malcom X. occasionally abdul, the house's owner, fires up his projector and sound system to play DVD's . . . my first encounter with 'Little Miss Sunshine' was this past Thursday on Abdul's wall. Very funny movie. there's also pubs (i've decided 'baron's' is my place, beaches, and the daily -zunguka/expedition through the jumbled-up alleys of the city to keep life hopping.

the group is a good mix of grad/undergrad students: 4 yalies, 3 ohio univerity folks, 2 east tennessee state, 1 columbia guy, and 1 girl from harvard. guys are outnumbered 1 to 3 in the house, but it is all sawasawa (fine-fine).

i'm getting to know folks around town as well. living in a tourist zone in the city, all of the shop-keepers are trying to become our best friends. today i was suckered into buying a bracelet from my 'rafiki' nicholas. i'd been able to put it off for a couple weeks now, but finally caved. it was only a few dollars for me but it made his day. i'm also getting to know people who have nothing to do with the exchange of money for goods and/or services, which is nice. i've attended the kenyan evangelical lutheran church in town for the past few weeks & am starting to get to know people there too. next week sometime i hope to get in touch with their leaders to learn about life in that part of mombasa. word on the street is that they might try working me into their reading (if not preaching) schedule.

food has been good. we cook our own breakfasts and lunches while dinner is prepared for us 6 nights of the week. the food is generally good. i'm trying to learn to like fish. lots of rice and potatos and other starchy carbs. it is generally all 'African' food (whatever that means) with some Indian and Chinese influences here and there. There are several decent restaurants in town, so a decent burger is never too far off in a pinch.

generally, life is grand! i find it hard to believe that we're already over three weeks into the course . . . time sure is flying by.