Mara Preparations

Albert, Alkesh, Erwan, Mareike and I are leaving tomorrow to go to Masai Mara for the weekend.  I made this Thai Coconut Curried Vegetable dish to bring with us.  It is currently freezing so on the drive there tomorrow it will thaw and then we can heat it up for a lovely first night dinner.

The colors of the vegetables and curry were so vibrant,  I felt compelled to take some pictures!

I find that I am cooking a lot more here than I would at home - which is probably because I am not being enabled to be a lazy bum by my husband.

Tonight I am going to make banana bread for our trip as well.

Ashley

Quintessential Kisumu

A Billboard for a local brew.

 

A donation to Kisumu by the Asian Community...huh?

 

A tuk tuk!

 

A Rooftop.  I have no idea was Smoken is, but I liked how this looked

The solar panel on the roof of the project house. 

African Hiccups

Two and a half weeks in we hit our first Hiccup.  This was bound to happen - this is Africa.  PGH, Provincial General Hospital, also known as Russia to the locals has decided that they would like to review the protocol for my project for ethical considerations.  Despite having KNH (kenyatta national hospital) and UIC approval already, this is a necessary formality it would seem.

All signs had pointed to being able to begin recruitment for work this week, but alas it looks like we will not have our first recruitment of study participants until next week.

Now onto happier updates:
On Sunday, Mareike, Per, Michael, and I went sailing at the Yacht Club.  There wasn't a lot of wind so it was more floating in sail boats on Lake Victoria with very limited movement, but it was great nonetheless.  I sailed in what John affectionately calls the bathtub boat.  It's a one person boat that has a base much like a bathtub and so the chances of flipping it are far less - which was exactly what I was looking for.  Next time I think that I will try to take one of the Lasers out - which are also one person boats, but they have bigger sails and thus go faster, but tend to flip in higher winds - which can be problematic if you are in an area with Hippos - which has been known to occur.

We did not see any hippos once we were out sailing this week, but we could see them sunning on the shore before we left.  Michael gave me a brief refresher on sailing which included the following instructions, "When we go out try to stay between the hippos and the tires.  The tires may look like they end, but they are just submerged and hitting them is a pain.  Good enough - let's go!"

Lovely!

I didn't bring my camera sailing - but I think I will next time to take pictures of the boats.

On Monday, Matt joined me for my 10 mile run.  We ran to Dunga (the fishing village) and then through Milimani (the part of town where we live).  It was HOT!  I am getting far more used to the hills - but it is definitely still an adjustment. 

It looks like Albert and I are going to go to Masai Mara this weekend with Erwan, Mareieke and Alkesh - which is exciting.  It should be exciting to be able to get pictures with a camera that has a resonable zoom!

Below are some pictures of recent sunsets and other such fun.

Ashley

Getting into the groove

This week has been pretty hectic with trying to get my project up and running.  My two Research Assistance, Margaret and Caroline, were officially hired last Monday which meant that last week and this week will be spent doing training.

We spent a good amount of the week practicing interviewing techniques and reviewing the standard operating procedures for the project.

I have included a great picture that I took of Margaret.  This picture pretty much says it all about her - she is just happy and lovely!

Albert arrived back into the country last week so I have someone staying in the house with me now! 

I was going to try to add a few more pictures to this post - but the interwebs have not been too accommodating.

I will try to add more content over the next couple of days.  

In running news, I am not a week into marathon training (part deux).  I ran 10 miles yesterday with Matt which went really well.  It was hot and hilly - but we made it through splendidly. 

Ashley

Friday Night with Friends

An Evening at Roof Top: (Albert, Me, Nelli, Mareika, Mark, Eva, Michael)

Why bicycle helmets should be international law

I love riding the boda bodas here.  There are a few forms of transport that are commonly used; boda bodas, Tuk Tuks, Matatus, and Piki Pikis (I probably spelled every one of those wrong).  I have a great love for the boda bodas and piki pikis.  My husband, who wants me to come back in one piece, asked me to not ride the piki pikis because they are death traps.  As a result, I ride boda bodas everywhere.  Below are videos of an average ride on a boda boda.

Marathon training commenced again for me on Monday.  I have had three great days of running.  Hopefully, the trend will continue.  I did, however, get lost yesterday and hire a boda boda to take me home after I had already finished my 5 miles and was pretty unsure of where I was or how to get back to my house.

It was kind of nice to know that I could get back no problem for a mere 50 cents.

Sunday at Sunset

Leta, Matt, and Nelli came over to watch the sunset from my roof.  I took the opportunity to snap these beautiful pictures of Leta and her mommy!

It was cloudy so we didn't get to see the big moment when the sun falls beneath the horizon, but it was still stunning.

Just before we came back inside we spotted an owl.  Another gorgeous evening in Kisumu!