Hakuna Matata

As Mr. M likes to tell us, “do not worry, it will be alright” or even Hakuna Matata which he says means peace (and they actually say that all the time here). Mr. M is essentially our babysitter for immigration/ visas/ traveling between Kenya and Tanzania. He greeted the nine of us who got off the flight from London with a huge grin and a sign that said SFS.  The other 19 students are hopefully in London right now but could still be stuck in Newark with the snow storms and ice. I left from SFO two days ago, my mind is so fried and my sense of time has gone out the window that I don’t know if it is two days or actually three. After awkwardly and nervously introducing ourselves (we all had matching shirts so it was easy to find each other)  Luke, Emily, Sarah and I left San Francisco at 5:50pm and flew direct to London. Luke and I sat next to each other and Sarah and Emily sat together in the back of the plane. The airbus was so empty that there were people switching to sleep in entire rows. I only got two seats to sleep in instead of the long 4 seat rows, but it was nice to spread out at all. After that ten hour flight we landed at Heathrow, feeling hungry, tired and sick of sitting down. We landed at 12:30pm London time and 4:30am California time. Some discussion ensued and we decided to leave the airport for our nine hour layover, when we met this really sweet Heathrow Express ticket saleslady. She asked us where we were going, we replied London, and then she asked what do you want to do in London? For some reason, and maybe it was because we were tired , we had all forgetten to ask what we all wanted to see, so we just looked at her blankly and that’s when she took over. She said go to Paddington station, then get on a double decker bus and it will take you here, here and here and she helpfully motioned with her hands in a circle how it would take us all over London and return us to the station. We just nodded and bought our roundtrip tickets and got on the HEX. Once we got to the station we decided against the bus because it was cold and a little wet outside and sitting on an open bus would suck. So naturally the tube was our next option, but we could NOT figure out what tickets to buy and how to purchase them. Twenty minutes later and a long line behind us we got it to work and then tried to figure out which train took us to St. James Park. I’m sure you can predict what happens next… we got on the wrong train. Luke and I had taken over when it came to directions and we realized once we reached Edgeware Road that we were on the wrong  train, and ironically it was an American who helped us out. So we hop off the train and run to get onto the other one without really knowing if it was the right one. Eventually we reached St. James, after several underground group photos, and stepped out to see the beautiful Buckingham Palace and St. James Park. As I was walking by the palace and observing the tourists and the cars I couldn’t help but remember what it is like to walk by the White House. After living in DC for three years it becomes something so natural, oh yeah its just four blocks down the road from my dorm, no big deal! I found myself wondering if the Britains (or is it Britons?), mainly the local Londoners feel the same way about the palace. While walking in London I could NOT have felt more like a tourist. We were loud, obnoxious, lost, huge backpacks and taking tons of photos! Classic tourists. One British lady asked us to take photos for her nephew of flat stanley, which of course we said HELL YES. She told us she knew we would say yes because we were so clearly Americans. We then promptly made her take photos of us in front of a giant Lion statue. With Luke and I in the lead we saw the palace, Westminister Abbey, Big Ben, and parliament. We were walking so fast I could swear we were beating the double decker bus the heathrow lady recommended. Then we started looking for food places, but there wasn’t much in that part of London that was in our price range so we headed to Convent Gardens and ate at the Punch and Judy Pub (advertised as the “greatest pub in the world”). I had lasgane that left a little to be desired but was so refreshing after airplane food! Even flying on a nice airlines like Virgin Atlantic food is never good on an airplane!! For the next hour we enjoyed sitting and talking and really getting to know one another. I had so much fun and it was so relaxed! I’ve noticed that people in my major (Environmental studies) tend to be more chill, laid back and fun then other fields. Especially in comparison to all the international affairs people at GWU. Returning to the airport was a breeze because by this point Luke and I were pros with the Tube. But once we got to the airport Sarah and Emily took over finding our way to security. I was SO stressed about getting back into the airport for NO reason!  Show your passport, your ticket and do all the normal stuff you have to do and it’s a breeze. Well normal airport stress included… One thing I thought was so odd was the fact that we didn’t have to take our shoes off, but they must not worry about Shoe Bombers. We waited two hours to find out what gate our plane left from and once at the gate we got to meet the other 7 people who hadn’t gotten trapped by the snowstorms in New England: Jess, Christina, Liz, Erin and Elliot.

On the plane I got stuck sitting by myself with really odd people surrounding me. I was sitting in the aisle seat of the middle row and the woman next to me across the aisle STARED at me the entire flight. She stopped staring at me occassionally to sleep and eat and go to the bathroom but every time I would look up there she would be staring. It was unnerving having her blatantly staring, I kind of wanted to say “YOU KNOW I CAN SEE YOU STARING right?????”, but I didn’t. The woman in front of me, who first off had been sitting in my seat until I told her it was my seat and then she took someone else’s seat because she didn’t want the middle seat (I totally would have swapped but I don’t think she understood me when I offered) , kept moving her seat up and down. So I’d just be watching a movie and then all of a sudden her seat would plummet towards me, then I’d go to the bathroom and come back to find it in the fully upright position. She gave me a headache with her constant movement. I barely slept on this flight even though I genuinely tried. By the time the plane landed in Nairobi I had reached a mental state of delirium and exhaustion. All of us are totally out of whack. We don’t know which way is up at all. We have three more hours before our flight to Tanzania. We’ve played cards games, talked, ate, and hung out for three hours already. I really like all the people so far, but it is only ten of us total… Allie met up with us at the Nairobi Airport, she had been in Tanzania volunteering and travelling for a month with global volunteers. Now we are all sleeping, blogging and wasting the time away before we fly for the last time! I’ve never flown this much before nor been in an airport this long in my entire life! I feel tired, nauseous, and I have a headache.. note to self: do NOT take doxycycline on an empty stomach because it will make you vomit. Even if the prescription bottle says to take it on an empty stomach. (sorry if that was too much information.. cough chelsea cough)

I’ve written too much probably and I still haven’t covered it all! Hehe I’ll have more to write after this next flight over Mount Kilimanjaro to Arusha, Tanzania… apparently with the view and everything! Unfortunately my camera battery is very low right now and there are no nearby outlets that I can use to charge it. I’d also have to dig through my backpack to find the adapter which would be such a pain! This Blog will probably be posted in a day or two. I am spending the night in Arusha and then driving to the field site in the morning. The rest of our group (fingers crossed) should get to Tanzania on Saturday. Oh and I feel I should mention that I AM IN AFRICA and even if I’ve been stuck in this airport since 8:30am I can see outside and it looks like nothing I’ve ever seen before, everything is brown and grassland, I keep expecting to see a giraffe or elephant in the distance. P.S. as I was writing this I met the Zimbabwe football team… so just in case they are famous I’m letting you know! LOL P.P.S a giraffe was actually spotted in the distance as we were boarding the plane, and I fell asleep on the flight so I missed out on seeing Kilimanjaro.. oops

-Julie