Jambo!
I know I said the third newsletter was coming soon. And that was already two weeks ago. But you see, in Africa (and perhaps in your country, too) "soon" can mean anything between a few minutes to a few years, especially in restaurants, as I found out the hard way.
Anyhow, here are some of the things that have happened since my last update:
· At the end of August, we had a pastor's conference at BCEA Kenya. About 200 African pastors attended the conference. I attended some of the sessions and learned some good lessons on the Bible, many of which I never knew. I also got to learn some of the Fundamentalist perspective of Christianity. Lots of good stuff. The main speaker was Dr. Jeffery Khoo from Far Eastern Bible College (Singapore).
· Beginning of September, we opened the new Bible college in Arusha, Tanzania. Day after the opening ceremony, I went with Dr. Gary Johnson to a local church surrounded by a thick forest of banana trees. I got to share of my testimony, and Dr. Johnson preached. At the end of service three ladies came to Christ! The amazing thing was that these ladies had been going to church for at least 10 years, and had never before prayed to receive Christ! Praise God for giving us such an amazing opportunity to serve Him.
· A lot of my money was stolen at a hotel in Tanzania. It was a big mistake to leave my pouch in my hotel room. Probably while I was eating dinner, a hotel worker unlocked the door and took the money from the pouch, leaving the room as if no one had entered. I didn’t realize until I was back in Nairobi that my money was gone. So I actually don’t know for certain when or where the money was stolen.
· I got infected by some round worms. Soon after I came back from Masai Land, I was having some periodic gastric (and gas) problems. I got a chance to go to Dr. Johnson’s clinic in Kitui one day and got myself checked for parasites. When we looked at my stool sample stained with iodine under the microscope, lo and behold, there were some fertilized ascaris eggs! (I think I got infected when I drank water from a boma in Lenkijape. They get water by digging the sand in a dried-up river) At Dr. Johnson’s clinic, I bought some mebendazole and ketrax (sp?) along with some medicine for my shoulder (I landed on my right shoulder in a bicycle accident in Lenkijape). All of it cost only Ksh50 (~$0.70). What a steal! Dr. Johnson invited me to spend some time at his clinic so that I can learn some tropical medicine. I’ll probably go sometime next year. I’m really looking forward to that.
· I've been teaching two English classes at BCEA. One is for foreigners (Sudanese, Congolese, etc.) who don't speak English very well, and the other is for mostly Kenyans who've finished up to secondary school (equivalent of high school). It's been a challenge especially teaching the "beginner" class, since English is a foreign language to them. Sometimes I use a bit of French that I learned in high school to teach them English (Congolese speak French). It’s been encouraging to see many of the students improve.
· I’ve been conducting the church English choir. The church at BCEA has two choirs: Kiswahili Choir and English Choir. Since Rev. Kim’s daughter (who plays piano for English choir) left for seminary in California, Eben (who conducts the choir) now plays the piano, and I’m conducting. It’s been really fun trying to teach them vocal techniques that I’ve been learning since 10 years ago. It’s so cool to see them improve. They’re starting to read the notes and are making a lot less mistakes than when they started. It’s a huge challenge though, because they are used to singing African music (and hymns in Kiswahili often have different tune than the original). Although we may never sound like UCLA Chorale, it’s a fruitful work.
· I became a vegetarian. Ok, I’m just kidding. But I caught your attention, didn’t I? I’ve been cooking a lot since I have to prepare every meal myself. I just decided to cook only vegetables so I can eat a lot and not worry about getting fat (and being accused of causing starvation in Africa when I come back to the States). I’ve learned to cook a variety of dishes (thanks to the Internet). Mom, you’ll be proud when you sees all the pictures of the food that I cooked! Sometimes Mrs. Kim invites me over to her place for food, and once in a while the three “bachelors” (Richard, Eben, and I) do a potluck (other two are married, but their wives are out of the country). I eat a lot of meat then, so I can handle not eating meat often.
· I’m almost done with my medical school application. I finally finished writing the first draft of my personal statement, which was the last thing I had left to do. If you have some spare time and want to proof read/revise/butcher it, let me know and I’ll send you my latest draft. The deadline is October 15, so I need to finalize it very soon.
Ok, as a reward for those that read this far, I’ve finally posted some pictures online and you can see them here: http://picasaweb.google.com/doxadeo
Well, maybe not a reward since it was actually up three weeks ago, but if you don’t check my blog often, you probably haven’t seen it yet. Warning!: there are some pictures of dead animals (chicken and goat)! Just don’t click on the thumbnail if you see it. Feel free to leave some comments on the pictures! I might upload some more pics depending on your feedback.
Finally, some prayer requests. Please pray for:
· my medicals school application. I’m applying quite late (close to deadline), and it’s a disadvantage with schools that have rolling admission (which is most of the non-top-tier schools). Even after submitting this application, there’s still a lot more to do (secondary apps for each school, interviews, getting letters of recommendation, etc.). I really need God’s guidance on this matter.
· my health. I think all the parasites are gone now (except for mosquitoes... but they don’t have malaria in Nairobi). I haven’t had much stomach problem since I took the medicine other than when I used some really old kimchi water for cooking. I haven’t slept much the last couple days trying to finish my med school apps. So please pray that I can manage my health more carefully.
· my English classes. I don’t take the responsibility of teaching English lightly, especially when I’m teaching the future pastors and evangelists. Please pray that God will give me patience and wisdom to teach effectively.
· the library catalogue project. This is my biggest project that I need to finish before I go back to the US. I’ve figured out how to use the program, but I haven’t had much chance to enter the information of books on the computer. Please pray that I can work efficiently and that I’ll be able to finish the task I’m given.
· midterms. No, I’m not taking any midterms (thank God). Remember I’m on the other side of academia now. In fact I’m making midterms (ugh!). The students are taking the midterms next week. Some students have been doing very poorly that they were asked to leave (also because they couldn’t pay school fees). So please pray for the students.
· the faculty of BCEA. Recently we’ve had some trouble with one of the faculties in BCEA Tanzania. He had been AWOL for three weeks, causing burden on other faculties there. The students in Tanzania are doing wonderfully, but it seems that we don’t have enough teachers. Also pray for the faculty in BCEA Kenya. Rev. Kim is always working very hard even though his health conditions has not been at its best for a while.
· the ministries in Masai Land. Please continue to pray for both Kiluani and Lenkijape. We’ve finally resolved some land issues in Kiluani, but a lot of work needs to be done to mend the relation between the secondary school and the clinic/church. Last Sunday, 9 of our church members visited the church in Lenkijape for some one-day mission. I don’t know the details yet, but keep them in your prayers (especially if you’ve been there. Hey there, London Team!)
· whatever I forgot or didn’t mention that needs prayer. There’s always a lot to pray for here in Africa. Please remember us!
Thanks for taking the time to read the news letter! I would love to hear what’s been going on in your life if you care to share them. Best wishes to those who have stared going to school!
God Bless,
SunMin
http://doxadeo.blogspot.com
To subscribe to African Courier Newsletter, visit http://groups.google.com/group/african-courier/
Showing posts with label nairobi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nairobi. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Saturday, September 02, 2006
Doxa in Kenya: Back to Life in Nairobi
Tuesday, August 29. Nairobi
I must say it is quite nice being back. At the same time I miss living in
Lenkijape. I really hope I get to go back there again sometime.
I arrived at BCEA yesterday afternoon, and one of the first things I did was
taking a shower. For the past 5 weeks I had been washing myself with cold
water in buckets or basins, and most of the time I ended up rinsing myself
in the same water I used to wash which is soapy and slightly brown. So I
couldn't get all that clean, but it still worked and I got quite used to it.
What was nice about taking a shower yesterday was that I was the dirtiest
thing in the bathroom (except for maybe the toilet bowl). That meant if I
cleaned myself, I would stay clean for awhile. On the other hand, in places
like Lenkijape, it's hard to stay clean because everything around you is
dirty. Anyhow, I got to wash myself really well.
Also, I finally shaved. The last time I shaved was 44 days ago. When I got
back, Mrs. Kim told me that they don't allow facial hair at school (or maybe
she meant uncontrolled facial hair). So I shaved them all off. I looked at
myself in the mirror and felt like I was 5 years younger than before. I also
noticed I look more attractive when I have my glasses off, but I figured
that's because I look blurry in the mirror without my glasses (so all the
little blemishes seem to disappear).
Last night, since I had just come back from a long trip, Mrs. Kim invited me
over for dinner. She heard that I was coming back, so she got some pork and
cooked Korean food for me. I knew she's quite busy, so I didn't want her to
trouble herself so much, but I was really grateful.
It was so nice to eat some Korean food. Even if it wasn't Korean food, I
would have been so happy to eat more variety of food, especially vegetables.
In Masai Land, you would eat potatoes, tomatoes and cabbages most of the
time. Some times you would have beans, sukumawiki (kales), and maize. The
staple food here is ugali, which is like rice cake made of maize flour.
Today I got to do some cooking for myself, which was quite nice. I made some
spaghetti for the first time. I used garlic, onion, ginger, and eggplant.
The tomato sauce was a bit dark and sour, but overall it turned out really
nice. I accidentally cut my finger a little bit while cooking, but I guess
you can't learn how to cook without cutting yourself at least once.
Now that I have electricity, I should really be working on my med school
application. But at the same time, I'm so distracted because now I can do
things that I couldn't before, such as looking at and organizing pictures,
responding to e-mails, reading RSS feeds, etc.
I also found out today that I'm going to be teaching English this upcoming
term, which starts next week. I need to be making a syllabus for it. The
students don't even have textbooks, so I don't even know what to do. But I
suppose I'll find out. It seems like such a big task for me to teach a
3-month long course with a few hours every week. I'm also going to be
working on building the library catalogue, so that's going to take up a lot
of my time. So this week I should really focus on finishing up my
application.
I got a haircut today. I didn't get it all shaved though. I went to Safari
Park Hotel where there's an Ethiopian lady who knows how to cut Asian hair.
She was really slow though. I think it took about 30 minutes. A Korean
barber back home would have taken less than 15 minutes to do the same job,
probably even a bit better. The haircut itself wasn't too bad though. I
guess I'm glad I didn't have to shave my head.
There are so many things I want to write about on top of all the things I
have handwritten in my journal. And yet it seems like there's not enough
time for everything. Am I starting to get stressed out? I hope not. I had
enough for stressing out while I was in college. Oh wait, I'm still in
college, except now I'll be teaching instead of studying, and doing other
stuff at the same time. What's even worse, I'm teaching English, which is
not my forte. I suppose I know better English than most of the teachers
here, but I'm still not very confident if I can teach well. I wish the Bible
College had courses in math. I would be so glad to teach math. Couldn't math
be useful in church ministry? Even one of the books in the Bible is called
Numbers... Therefore math must be important for evangelism... Jk.
Anyhow I should get some sleep now. Speaking of sleep, it felt so good to
sleep in a cushioned bed last night. And it's big enough so that I can
stretch my arms and legs out. Although, sleeping in a sleeping bag on a very
thin mattress bed isn't too bad when you get used to it.
Friday, August 04, 2006
Doxa in Kenya: Day Trip to Nairobi Again
Sopa?
That's "How are you?" in kimasai (the Masai language), pronounced "soba". Then you answer "ipa" which sounds like "eba" and means "fine".
I've been staying in Lenkijape since Tuesday. There's no electricity, but I'm getting used to it.
I've been writing my journals on a paper (under candle light) so I'll have to type it up some other time. Just to give you some ideas what I'm doing in Lenkijape (officially called Eluanata): I went to a fellowship on Wednesday. It took 50 minutes to get there by foot. The closest home from school and church is at least 15 minutes away. The day goes by so slowly. The place is so quiet. I'm eating mostly potatoes and cabbages. The primary school closed yesterday, and closing ceremony was super long (and boring, since I didn't understand a word of it). I'm learning some kimasai. I can (theoretically) count to 10,000.
Next week I'll be going to Masai Mara with the teachers. I hear that's where they filmed the scenery to the movie Lion King and changed it to animation. I hope I get to see some simba (that's "lion" in kiswahili). We'll be staying there for 3-4 days. I'm pretty excited.
Sere! ("Bye" in kimasai)
That's "How are you?" in kimasai (the Masai language), pronounced "soba". Then you answer "ipa" which sounds like "eba" and means "fine".
I've been staying in Lenkijape since Tuesday. There's no electricity, but I'm getting used to it.
I've been writing my journals on a paper (under candle light) so I'll have to type it up some other time. Just to give you some ideas what I'm doing in Lenkijape (officially called Eluanata): I went to a fellowship on Wednesday. It took 50 minutes to get there by foot. The closest home from school and church is at least 15 minutes away. The day goes by so slowly. The place is so quiet. I'm eating mostly potatoes and cabbages. The primary school closed yesterday, and closing ceremony was super long (and boring, since I didn't understand a word of it). I'm learning some kimasai. I can (theoretically) count to 10,000.
Next week I'll be going to Masai Mara with the teachers. I hear that's where they filmed the scenery to the movie Lion King and changed it to animation. I hope I get to see some simba (that's "lion" in kiswahili). We'll be staying there for 3-4 days. I'm pretty excited.
Sere! ("Bye" in kimasai)
Friday, July 28, 2006
Doxa in Kenya: Success!
Friday, July 28. Kiluani.
I finally figured out how to use my phone to connect to the internet. I had to call customer service to get the setup information and figure out by trial-and-error which modem script I needed to use. Safaricom customer service can't support very many calls at once (and it's a telecom company, how ironic...), so I had to keep dialing until I got connected. The speed is only 9.6kbps (max data rate is about 1.2KB/s), which is 156 times slower than regular DSL (1.5Mbps or 187.5KB/s), and 5.8 times slower than dial-up (56kbps or 7KB/s). So you get the idea. On top of that, it costs Ksh10 per minute, which means it's Ksh600 ($8.40) per hour. That means I can get a maximum of 4.3MB of info in one hour for $8.40. I don't even know the upload rate, but I'm guessing it's the same or less.
So I'm going to restrict the use of internet through cellphone to maybe once or twice a week for checking/sending e-mail, posting on my blog, and downloading RSS feeds. I can post on Blogspot without using a web browser, but I can't with Xanga, so I'll update Xanga when I get better internet connection. Meanwhile, Xanga users, please visit http://doxadeo.blogspot.com to read my most updated blog (This will be the last post on Xanga for a while). You can even subscribe to my RSS feed (http://doxadeo.blogspot.com/atom.xml) using an RSS aggregator such as RSS Owl (for both Mac and PC) or Vienna (Mac only, recommended). Even if it's not for my blog, if you like reading news articles or visit a specific website regularly, RSS will make your life so much easier. So go try it! (Sorry I can't give you direct links. I'm typing this offline).
Well, all this is only possible if I have electricity. And unfortunately, I won't have any electricity when I go to Lenkijape. It's much farther from the main road than Kiluani. Apparently, permanent electricity is coming to Kiluani very soon, but not for a while in Lenkijape. It will be a good practice to live without electricity though. I'm such a city boy... (that reminds me of Sierra Leone, where most of the cars I saw had a big sticker that read "City Boy," but that's irrelevant). It'll be a big test for me.
So, what did I do in Nairobi today? Well, if you're reading this, I'm sure you've noticed that I posted a lot of journal entries. That's because I went to a cyber café in Nairobi. It was a first time I got internet access since Sunday. I think they ripped me off at the café though. It's supposed to be Ksh3 per minute, and I only used for about 50 minutes or no more than 60 minutes, but they charged me Ksh210 (which would be 70 minutes). But I was in a hurry, so I just paid and left. Then I realized I was ripped off, and I should have asked for a receipt. Always remember to ask for a receipt if you pay for anything in Kenya. It's not like Panda Express where you get free meal if they forget to give you a receipt.
Anyway, that was only one of many things we had to do in Nairobi. First we went to a big mall where we did some grocery shopping. I got a bar of soap and a shower scrub while PuiMeng got a lot of food and a haircut. She got a haircut all the way in Nairobi, because at the place she went a lady from Korea used to work there, and they know how to cut Asian hair. Otherwise if you go to a regular barber shop, you'll probably come out bald. Well, since I'm already experimenting with my facial hair, maybe I'll try shaving my head too... one of these days. Don't worry, I'll take pictures for you all to enjoy later.
While I waited for PuiMeng, I got a cup of coffee, and waited in the car. A guy named Jackson drove for us, so I got to talk with him for while. I found out that he's a Masai, and he used to hangout with morans a lot before he became Christian. He was never a moran because he went to school instead. Basically, all boys, around the age of 15 gets circumcised and become moran if they're not going to school. So before there were schools, all Masai boys became moran. So I guess there isn't a crazy ritual to become a moran (except that you get painfully circumcised). Usually there's a big ceremony when kids get circumcised. They slaughter goats (and maybe cows) and the whole village eat together. I'll write about Masai culture more later. Besides, I'll probably learn a lot more when I go to Lenkijape. I've already found out that lot of the things I heard about their culture from outsiders weren't so accurate (e.g. on promiscuity). It's better for me to learn about their culture directly from them.
We stopped by the foreign exchange, the bank, and the cyber café. We also stopped by a warehouse where they distribute free medicine to missionary clinics. The government provides vaccines, mosquito nets, and some food for babies, but we get all the medicine from a missionary organization (I can't remember the name right now). On the way back we stopped by another Nakumatt, so I bought some candles and matches in preparation for Lenkijape. I also got some potato chips. The chips here taste really good, but probably very fattening.
It takes three hours one way, so we had to travel for a long time.
I didn't get to go back to BCEA today, but I got a hold of Richard, and he's going to get the stuff for me and give them to Rev. Kim. So I'm all set as long as Rev. Kim comes down this coming week.
Tomorrow, we'll have a fellowship at someone's house, go to Namanga, and then maybe take a walk up a hill (where David Ahn said I should go). It should be a pretty eventful day.
I think they're about to turn off the small generator now. I should wrap it up for tonight.
I finally figured out how to use my phone to connect to the internet. I had to call customer service to get the setup information and figure out by trial-and-error which modem script I needed to use. Safaricom customer service can't support very many calls at once (and it's a telecom company, how ironic...), so I had to keep dialing until I got connected. The speed is only 9.6kbps (max data rate is about 1.2KB/s), which is 156 times slower than regular DSL (1.5Mbps or 187.5KB/s), and 5.8 times slower than dial-up (56kbps or 7KB/s). So you get the idea. On top of that, it costs Ksh10 per minute, which means it's Ksh600 ($8.40) per hour. That means I can get a maximum of 4.3MB of info in one hour for $8.40. I don't even know the upload rate, but I'm guessing it's the same or less.
So I'm going to restrict the use of internet through cellphone to maybe once or twice a week for checking/sending e-mail, posting on my blog, and downloading RSS feeds. I can post on Blogspot without using a web browser, but I can't with Xanga, so I'll update Xanga when I get better internet connection. Meanwhile, Xanga users, please visit http://doxadeo.blogspot.com to read my most updated blog (This will be the last post on Xanga for a while). You can even subscribe to my RSS feed (http://doxadeo.blogspot.com/atom.xml) using an RSS aggregator such as RSS Owl (for both Mac and PC) or Vienna (Mac only, recommended). Even if it's not for my blog, if you like reading news articles or visit a specific website regularly, RSS will make your life so much easier. So go try it! (Sorry I can't give you direct links. I'm typing this offline).
Well, all this is only possible if I have electricity. And unfortunately, I won't have any electricity when I go to Lenkijape. It's much farther from the main road than Kiluani. Apparently, permanent electricity is coming to Kiluani very soon, but not for a while in Lenkijape. It will be a good practice to live without electricity though. I'm such a city boy... (that reminds me of Sierra Leone, where most of the cars I saw had a big sticker that read "City Boy," but that's irrelevant). It'll be a big test for me.
So, what did I do in Nairobi today? Well, if you're reading this, I'm sure you've noticed that I posted a lot of journal entries. That's because I went to a cyber café in Nairobi. It was a first time I got internet access since Sunday. I think they ripped me off at the café though. It's supposed to be Ksh3 per minute, and I only used for about 50 minutes or no more than 60 minutes, but they charged me Ksh210 (which would be 70 minutes). But I was in a hurry, so I just paid and left. Then I realized I was ripped off, and I should have asked for a receipt. Always remember to ask for a receipt if you pay for anything in Kenya. It's not like Panda Express where you get free meal if they forget to give you a receipt.
Anyway, that was only one of many things we had to do in Nairobi. First we went to a big mall where we did some grocery shopping. I got a bar of soap and a shower scrub while PuiMeng got a lot of food and a haircut. She got a haircut all the way in Nairobi, because at the place she went a lady from Korea used to work there, and they know how to cut Asian hair. Otherwise if you go to a regular barber shop, you'll probably come out bald. Well, since I'm already experimenting with my facial hair, maybe I'll try shaving my head too... one of these days. Don't worry, I'll take pictures for you all to enjoy later.
While I waited for PuiMeng, I got a cup of coffee, and waited in the car. A guy named Jackson drove for us, so I got to talk with him for while. I found out that he's a Masai, and he used to hangout with morans a lot before he became Christian. He was never a moran because he went to school instead. Basically, all boys, around the age of 15 gets circumcised and become moran if they're not going to school. So before there were schools, all Masai boys became moran. So I guess there isn't a crazy ritual to become a moran (except that you get painfully circumcised). Usually there's a big ceremony when kids get circumcised. They slaughter goats (and maybe cows) and the whole village eat together. I'll write about Masai culture more later. Besides, I'll probably learn a lot more when I go to Lenkijape. I've already found out that lot of the things I heard about their culture from outsiders weren't so accurate (e.g. on promiscuity). It's better for me to learn about their culture directly from them.
We stopped by the foreign exchange, the bank, and the cyber café. We also stopped by a warehouse where they distribute free medicine to missionary clinics. The government provides vaccines, mosquito nets, and some food for babies, but we get all the medicine from a missionary organization (I can't remember the name right now). On the way back we stopped by another Nakumatt, so I bought some candles and matches in preparation for Lenkijape. I also got some potato chips. The chips here taste really good, but probably very fattening.
It takes three hours one way, so we had to travel for a long time.
I didn't get to go back to BCEA today, but I got a hold of Richard, and he's going to get the stuff for me and give them to Rev. Kim. So I'm all set as long as Rev. Kim comes down this coming week.
Tomorrow, we'll have a fellowship at someone's house, go to Namanga, and then maybe take a walk up a hill (where David Ahn said I should go). It should be a pretty eventful day.
I think they're about to turn off the small generator now. I should wrap it up for tonight.
Jambo from Nairobi
Just wanted to say hi to everyone who might be reading my blog. I'm back in Nairobi at a cyber café. I'm only here for a little while, and I won't be going back to BCEA. I'm going back to Kiluani right after, and staying there till Sunday or Monday or Tuesday, depending one when my ride comes. After that I'm going deeper into the woods (or semi-desert) to Lenkijape. As you can read from my recent entries, I've been having quite a fun and comfortable time in Kiluani. I guess the REAL African experience starts when I go to Lenkijape. Well, I don't know. We'l see...
I hope everyone is doing well.
I hope everyone is doing well.
Saturday, July 22, 2006
Doxa in Kenya: Back to School
Friday, July 21. Nairobi.
I'm back! ... Well, not in the US, but in Kenya.
Tanzania was actually quite nice, but I'm sure I've only seen the nicer parts. The school is coming together, but I wonder if it will really be done by end of next month.
The deaconess that I met yesterday arranged to have her two daughters join us for breakfast. Mrs. Kim, Pastor Lazarus, and Rajabu had to go back to the construction site early, so I had breakfast with the two girls, Hannah and YaeJin. Hannah is going to be a Junior in college planning to go to med school, so I was supposed to give hers some advice, especially on scholarships and stuff, but since she's an international student, I couldn't really help her much. I got a ton of financial aid and some research grant because I'm a California resident, but it's a completely different ballgame for international students. Anyhow we had a good time just chatting.
Apparently broadband internet is quite common in Tanzania, or at least among the Koreans in Tanzania. On the other hand, broadband is really expensive and not as common in Kenya, even in Nairobi. I heard that it's somehow related to the fact that the current president owns the majority of the shares in the major broadband provider. From the grassroots level all the way up to the president, corruption is prominent in Kenya. I'll write more about that some other time. Or maybe I shouldn't write about it, at least about the leaders, because there isn't much freedom of press here either... I'm afraid I'll get slapped in the face (literally) by the president's wife or have my computer destroyed by the armed forces. That's what they do to people who say things that are unfavorable about the leaders, or so I hear. [Dear President Kibaki, if you're reading this, please don't hurt me. I'm just an innocent musungu, and whatever I say are only the things I hear, so it could be completely false anyway. Just stop the freaking corruption, darn it!]
I really can't get used to the pollution here. Just riding a car with window open gives me a headache. Coming back to Nairobi was terrible because of that. I miss Tanzania already. I could smell the mountains there... Or not.
I cooked some of my sticky rice for the first time tonight. It was so good that I wanted to cry. Seriously. I can pick them up using my chopstick! I was so touched that I gave the rest of my non-sticky rice to Richard right after dinner. I can never go back. The whole world should just eat sticky rice (and nothing else). I want to feed sticky rice to the starving children all over Africa. Ok, now I'm just playing.
Would anybody dare me to go without shaving for a whole month (or perhaps longer)? Well, if nobody dares, I'll just take on my own dare. In fact, tomorrow will be a week since I shaved last time. I figured I don't really have anyone to impress, and maybe I could look a little older with some beard and mustache. It's been my childhood dream to have a big beard... Ok, just kidding. But I've always thought of trying some facial hair, but it grows unevenly, so I couldn't stand the look of the short stubs scattered around my mouth. Maybe it'll look better if I grow it a little longer. Or maybe not. I guess I'll find out when I come back from Lenkijape.
I'm back! ... Well, not in the US, but in Kenya.
Tanzania was actually quite nice, but I'm sure I've only seen the nicer parts. The school is coming together, but I wonder if it will really be done by end of next month.
The deaconess that I met yesterday arranged to have her two daughters join us for breakfast. Mrs. Kim, Pastor Lazarus, and Rajabu had to go back to the construction site early, so I had breakfast with the two girls, Hannah and YaeJin. Hannah is going to be a Junior in college planning to go to med school, so I was supposed to give hers some advice, especially on scholarships and stuff, but since she's an international student, I couldn't really help her much. I got a ton of financial aid and some research grant because I'm a California resident, but it's a completely different ballgame for international students. Anyhow we had a good time just chatting.
Apparently broadband internet is quite common in Tanzania, or at least among the Koreans in Tanzania. On the other hand, broadband is really expensive and not as common in Kenya, even in Nairobi. I heard that it's somehow related to the fact that the current president owns the majority of the shares in the major broadband provider. From the grassroots level all the way up to the president, corruption is prominent in Kenya. I'll write more about that some other time. Or maybe I shouldn't write about it, at least about the leaders, because there isn't much freedom of press here either... I'm afraid I'll get slapped in the face (literally) by the president's wife or have my computer destroyed by the armed forces. That's what they do to people who say things that are unfavorable about the leaders, or so I hear. [Dear President Kibaki, if you're reading this, please don't hurt me. I'm just an innocent musungu, and whatever I say are only the things I hear, so it could be completely false anyway. Just stop the freaking corruption, darn it!]
I really can't get used to the pollution here. Just riding a car with window open gives me a headache. Coming back to Nairobi was terrible because of that. I miss Tanzania already. I could smell the mountains there... Or not.
I cooked some of my sticky rice for the first time tonight. It was so good that I wanted to cry. Seriously. I can pick them up using my chopstick! I was so touched that I gave the rest of my non-sticky rice to Richard right after dinner. I can never go back. The whole world should just eat sticky rice (and nothing else). I want to feed sticky rice to the starving children all over Africa. Ok, now I'm just playing.
Would anybody dare me to go without shaving for a whole month (or perhaps longer)? Well, if nobody dares, I'll just take on my own dare. In fact, tomorrow will be a week since I shaved last time. I figured I don't really have anyone to impress, and maybe I could look a little older with some beard and mustache. It's been my childhood dream to have a big beard... Ok, just kidding. But I've always thought of trying some facial hair, but it grows unevenly, so I couldn't stand the look of the short stubs scattered around my mouth. Maybe it'll look better if I grow it a little longer. Or maybe not. I guess I'll find out when I come back from Lenkijape.
Friday, July 21, 2006
Doxa in Kenya: A Day in BCEA
Wednesday, July 19.
So I never got to finish explaining what a day in BCEA is like.
Like I said in a previous entry, everyday except Lord's Day (which is what we call Sunday here) starts with early morning prayer at 5:30AM. We sing a hymn, read a passage, then one of the pastors speak briefly. After that, they turn of the lights in the chapel, and people pray for a while. It's scheduled till 6:30AM, but people are free to leave when they want to (or that's what they seem to do).
At 7AM, the students eat breakfast at the cafeteria. According to the menu I saw once, they eat bread and tea every morning. The faculty, on the other hand, go back to their own places and prepare breakfast on their own. I usually eat some cereal with milk, yogurt, honey, and bananas. This morning I ran out of bananas, so I had some toast with peanut butter and honey instead. I know... why am I not starving in Africa? I mean, somehow I'm much more well-off than the students here even as a missionary. I guess knowing this fact will help me use my money (i.e. financial support from the church in California) wisely, and be a better steward of what God has given me. Those of us who live in developed countries are "spoiled" when compared to people living in developing countries. Even homeless people in the States can have access to shelters, food, and some clothing. But people here live off of bear minimum. Because I'm "spoiled," it would be so hard for me to start a day with just a piece of bread and a cup of tea. But perhaps that is something I need to learn eventually if I were to become a missionary doctor in third-world countries.
On a school day, at 7:30AM the students go back to the main chapel (named Glory Hall) for some Bible reading and meditation. At the same time, the faculty (including myself) meet together to read a passage and pray together. At 8AM, we have morning chapel, which consists of singing a hymn, scripture reading, and a sermon. The chapel lasts for about an hour. After that the students go to classes, while I go to the main office.
I'm in the office from 9AM to 12:30PM, have lunch, then come back at 2PM till 4PM. In the office, there's usually nothing to do, so I just bring my laptop and either write my journal entry or work on my med school application. There's actually one huge task waiting for me to do, which is to make an inventory of all the books we have in the office. But I'm setting it aside for later, since med school app takes precedence. Besides, I'll be gone to Masai in less than week, and I wouldn't want to start a project and leave it half-way for one whole month.
Students usually come in to fill out permission slips (for missing classes, etc.), and faculties come in to ask to make photocopies. Sometimes we have visitors who are interested in attending the school next year. Today, I spent all morning in the office typing up some final exams for the kindergarten. Mrs. Yoon is in charge of making those (or that's what I think), so she asked to type it for her, since I could do it in tenth of the time it takes for her to do it (maybe I'm exaggerating). When I gave her the finished tests, she gave me a few pieces of chicken that she cooked. Maybe it was a reward, but it could be just out of kindness, since she's usually very nice. She's helped me out a lot with food and stuff.
For lunch today, I decided to cook rice with the inner pot of the rice cooker on the stove. Since it's an electrical stove, I figured it's just like using the rice cooker, except I would have to adjust the heat. I learned that if I have the heat too high, it starts to bubble to much, the water dries up too quickly, and the rice remains uncooked. So I had to add some more water and cook at really low heat. Times like these I wish I had internet access so I could just look up "How to cook rice" or "How rice cooker works." But I guess it's also good to learn from experience. I was going to have some kimchi that Mrs. Yoon gave me, but apparently the refrigerator was set too cold, so the kimchi was partially frozen.
After lunch, I was going to go out to Outdoor Evangelism like last week, but Eben and Richard were going out for grocery shopping. Since I just moved out from Richard's place yesterday, I needed to do some shopping, and since I don't know when they'll go shopping again, I decided to go. First we went to this private residence where they sell some Korean food. They had sticky rice imported from Uganda, some rice cake for tok-kuk and tok-pok-ki, some fish, and some home made sesame oil. I got 10kg (22lb) of sticky rice for Ksh1000 ($14), a pretty good deal, I think. I also got some rice cakes for tok-kuk. Then we went to the ABC market and got some veggies and meat. Mrs. Yoon helped me choose what to buy.
For dinner tonight, I cooked rice again, but this time I was pretty confident. I set the heat high, then lower it to lowest setting when it started boil. While the rice was cooking, I marinated two chicken legs in soy sauce and honey with some garlic, onion, and red chill pepper powder (kochu-karu). Both the rice and chicken turned out really nicely. Well, the chicken was a bit salty (little too much soy sauce), but I guess I'll live and learn. At least it was fully cooked. The rice was excellent. The only thing was that I used the long-grain rice that I bought a week ago, so it wasn't as good as it would have been if it was sticky. Maybe I'll just give my remaining long-grain rice to Richard, since he uses the same kind.
So I'm here as a missionary, but it might seem like I haven't been doing much missionary work even though it's been 12 days since I got here. I'm thinking to myself, "SunMin, haven't you done enough adjusting-to-life-in-Kenya already? Get some work done!" Well, maybe I'll have to wait till I go to Masai, but right now, I'll just have to do the tasks that I'm given. I suppose one of them is to make the inventory of books in the office... Times like these, I recall the parable of the talents. I need to use the little things that God entrusts me with to glorify Him, then he might entrust me with bigger things. It's not for me to say, "God, why don't You give me something more important to do?" It's all up to Him, and I must keep obeying.
So I never got to finish explaining what a day in BCEA is like.
Like I said in a previous entry, everyday except Lord's Day (which is what we call Sunday here) starts with early morning prayer at 5:30AM. We sing a hymn, read a passage, then one of the pastors speak briefly. After that, they turn of the lights in the chapel, and people pray for a while. It's scheduled till 6:30AM, but people are free to leave when they want to (or that's what they seem to do).
At 7AM, the students eat breakfast at the cafeteria. According to the menu I saw once, they eat bread and tea every morning. The faculty, on the other hand, go back to their own places and prepare breakfast on their own. I usually eat some cereal with milk, yogurt, honey, and bananas. This morning I ran out of bananas, so I had some toast with peanut butter and honey instead. I know... why am I not starving in Africa? I mean, somehow I'm much more well-off than the students here even as a missionary. I guess knowing this fact will help me use my money (i.e. financial support from the church in California) wisely, and be a better steward of what God has given me. Those of us who live in developed countries are "spoiled" when compared to people living in developing countries. Even homeless people in the States can have access to shelters, food, and some clothing. But people here live off of bear minimum. Because I'm "spoiled," it would be so hard for me to start a day with just a piece of bread and a cup of tea. But perhaps that is something I need to learn eventually if I were to become a missionary doctor in third-world countries.
On a school day, at 7:30AM the students go back to the main chapel (named Glory Hall) for some Bible reading and meditation. At the same time, the faculty (including myself) meet together to read a passage and pray together. At 8AM, we have morning chapel, which consists of singing a hymn, scripture reading, and a sermon. The chapel lasts for about an hour. After that the students go to classes, while I go to the main office.
I'm in the office from 9AM to 12:30PM, have lunch, then come back at 2PM till 4PM. In the office, there's usually nothing to do, so I just bring my laptop and either write my journal entry or work on my med school application. There's actually one huge task waiting for me to do, which is to make an inventory of all the books we have in the office. But I'm setting it aside for later, since med school app takes precedence. Besides, I'll be gone to Masai in less than week, and I wouldn't want to start a project and leave it half-way for one whole month.
Students usually come in to fill out permission slips (for missing classes, etc.), and faculties come in to ask to make photocopies. Sometimes we have visitors who are interested in attending the school next year. Today, I spent all morning in the office typing up some final exams for the kindergarten. Mrs. Yoon is in charge of making those (or that's what I think), so she asked to type it for her, since I could do it in tenth of the time it takes for her to do it (maybe I'm exaggerating). When I gave her the finished tests, she gave me a few pieces of chicken that she cooked. Maybe it was a reward, but it could be just out of kindness, since she's usually very nice. She's helped me out a lot with food and stuff.
For lunch today, I decided to cook rice with the inner pot of the rice cooker on the stove. Since it's an electrical stove, I figured it's just like using the rice cooker, except I would have to adjust the heat. I learned that if I have the heat too high, it starts to bubble to much, the water dries up too quickly, and the rice remains uncooked. So I had to add some more water and cook at really low heat. Times like these I wish I had internet access so I could just look up "How to cook rice" or "How rice cooker works." But I guess it's also good to learn from experience. I was going to have some kimchi that Mrs. Yoon gave me, but apparently the refrigerator was set too cold, so the kimchi was partially frozen.
After lunch, I was going to go out to Outdoor Evangelism like last week, but Eben and Richard were going out for grocery shopping. Since I just moved out from Richard's place yesterday, I needed to do some shopping, and since I don't know when they'll go shopping again, I decided to go. First we went to this private residence where they sell some Korean food. They had sticky rice imported from Uganda, some rice cake for tok-kuk and tok-pok-ki, some fish, and some home made sesame oil. I got 10kg (22lb) of sticky rice for Ksh1000 ($14), a pretty good deal, I think. I also got some rice cakes for tok-kuk. Then we went to the ABC market and got some veggies and meat. Mrs. Yoon helped me choose what to buy.
For dinner tonight, I cooked rice again, but this time I was pretty confident. I set the heat high, then lower it to lowest setting when it started boil. While the rice was cooking, I marinated two chicken legs in soy sauce and honey with some garlic, onion, and red chill pepper powder (kochu-karu). Both the rice and chicken turned out really nicely. Well, the chicken was a bit salty (little too much soy sauce), but I guess I'll live and learn. At least it was fully cooked. The rice was excellent. The only thing was that I used the long-grain rice that I bought a week ago, so it wasn't as good as it would have been if it was sticky. Maybe I'll just give my remaining long-grain rice to Richard, since he uses the same kind.
So I'm here as a missionary, but it might seem like I haven't been doing much missionary work even though it's been 12 days since I got here. I'm thinking to myself, "SunMin, haven't you done enough adjusting-to-life-in-Kenya already? Get some work done!" Well, maybe I'll have to wait till I go to Masai, but right now, I'll just have to do the tasks that I'm given. I suppose one of them is to make the inventory of books in the office... Times like these, I recall the parable of the talents. I need to use the little things that God entrusts me with to glorify Him, then he might entrust me with bigger things. It's not for me to say, "God, why don't You give me something more important to do?" It's all up to Him, and I must keep obeying.
Monday, July 17, 2006
Doxa in Kenya: Bargaining & Evangelism
Thursday, July 13.
Man, it's cold here... Who would have thought it would be so cold right below the equator? At least I didn't. So I only brought one pair of jeans, and a few pairs of shorts. I needed some long pants, so yesterday I went out to a smaller Nakumatt store. Around the store, there were several people carrying random goods, such as dvds, tv antennas, kids' toys. One guy was selling pants, so Mrs. Yoon negotiated with him for me. The guy offered one pair for 500 shillings, but we ended up getting two pairs for 600 ($10 = 715 shillings). So it was a pretty good deal. I'm wearing one right now, and it fits just fine. The other one is a bit tight, but hopefully I can wear it in a couple weeks.
During the afternoon on Wednesdays, the students go out to the community for evangelism. So yesterday I followed two of them, Peter and Joel, to a village named Marurui. Peter is only 6 months younger than me, and he's probably the youngest student here. He would talk to random people walking by and start evangelizing. He talked in some Kiswahili dialect, so I couldn't understand a word he said. Marurui is a small village, but in LA standards, it's worse than the worst ghettos. People live in houses made of metal sheets, kids run around in dirty clothes, and families cook on fireplace made with a few rocks and twigs. We went into someone's house, talked, and a lady named Joyce prayed to receive Christ! We also visited Mary, one of the church members, and read some scripture and prayed together. I got to learn some Kiswahili from Peter and Joel. (I also learned that "Swahili" and "Kiswahili" are the same language, but Swahili also refers to a certain group of people.) We were out for about two hours, and I was quite exhausted afterwards.
I just talked with Rev. Kim a few minutes ago about what I could be doing for the next year in Africa. He gave me three options. One is to work at a clinic in Masai, which I mentioned in my last entry, another is to help the school here by teaching English and working on administration, and the other is to help the school in Tanzania (another Bible College they are building, which will be open this August/September) either with the building or teaching. Since I have a whole year ahead of me, I told him I'm willing to do all sorts of things. So I could be working at a clinic for a while, and also teaching English later. Tomorrow, Rev. Kim will talk to the nurse from Masai, and figure out if I can work with her, and when will be the best time for me to go there.
I'm truly grateful for what God has done to me. I really don't deserve to have all this opportunity. I'm thankful because I have been entrusted with so much. Before I came here, I didn't know what opportunities were available, but I stepped out in faith, believing that God has some purpose for me here. It was pretty clear to me and to many people that God was leading me here to Kenya. God never fails to surprise me.
Man, it's cold here... Who would have thought it would be so cold right below the equator? At least I didn't. So I only brought one pair of jeans, and a few pairs of shorts. I needed some long pants, so yesterday I went out to a smaller Nakumatt store. Around the store, there were several people carrying random goods, such as dvds, tv antennas, kids' toys. One guy was selling pants, so Mrs. Yoon negotiated with him for me. The guy offered one pair for 500 shillings, but we ended up getting two pairs for 600 ($10 = 715 shillings). So it was a pretty good deal. I'm wearing one right now, and it fits just fine. The other one is a bit tight, but hopefully I can wear it in a couple weeks.
During the afternoon on Wednesdays, the students go out to the community for evangelism. So yesterday I followed two of them, Peter and Joel, to a village named Marurui. Peter is only 6 months younger than me, and he's probably the youngest student here. He would talk to random people walking by and start evangelizing. He talked in some Kiswahili dialect, so I couldn't understand a word he said. Marurui is a small village, but in LA standards, it's worse than the worst ghettos. People live in houses made of metal sheets, kids run around in dirty clothes, and families cook on fireplace made with a few rocks and twigs. We went into someone's house, talked, and a lady named Joyce prayed to receive Christ! We also visited Mary, one of the church members, and read some scripture and prayed together. I got to learn some Kiswahili from Peter and Joel. (I also learned that "Swahili" and "Kiswahili" are the same language, but Swahili also refers to a certain group of people.) We were out for about two hours, and I was quite exhausted afterwards.
I just talked with Rev. Kim a few minutes ago about what I could be doing for the next year in Africa. He gave me three options. One is to work at a clinic in Masai, which I mentioned in my last entry, another is to help the school here by teaching English and working on administration, and the other is to help the school in Tanzania (another Bible College they are building, which will be open this August/September) either with the building or teaching. Since I have a whole year ahead of me, I told him I'm willing to do all sorts of things. So I could be working at a clinic for a while, and also teaching English later. Tomorrow, Rev. Kim will talk to the nurse from Masai, and figure out if I can work with her, and when will be the best time for me to go there.
I'm truly grateful for what God has done to me. I really don't deserve to have all this opportunity. I'm thankful because I have been entrusted with so much. Before I came here, I didn't know what opportunities were available, but I stepped out in faith, believing that God has some purpose for me here. It was pretty clear to me and to many people that God was leading me here to Kenya. God never fails to surprise me.
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Doxa in Kenya: School Day
Tuesday, July 11.
Here's another day at BCEA. But it's not the same as before, because today will be the first day with a full day of classes. Well, I'm not taking classes, but the students are. We don't have classes Friday afternoons and Mondays because some of the students minister at churches back home on Sundays, so they need time to travel.
The day starts at 5:30AM for early morning prayer. We meet at the main chapel, which is about a minute walk from my room. This morning was my second time going, and I find it quite nice to start my day in the Word and prayer... That's what I should have been doing in college, but it's much easier here because all students are required to go. Hopefully I will be disciplined to start my day with reading the Scripture and prayer.
Wednesday, July 12.
I started writing yesterday's entry in the morning, but it was a busy day, and I didn't get to finish. Starting yesterday, I've been "working" in the school office. I say "working" because I don't really do anything school related. I just sit here and do my own thing (e.g. writing my journal). Today I'm in the office again. Since I had nothing to do, yesterday Eben asked me to go with him to buy some sand for some construction project at the school. We took a pickup truck, and they dumped about a 1 ton of sand in the back using a bulldozer. When we came back, Richard approached us and told us about one of the students who passed out the night before in the bathroom. His name is Paul, and he is in his 40's. He doesn't know how long he had been out, but he must have had a stroke, because one side of his body was aching. Mrs. Kim had a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope, so I went to Paul's room, and took his blood pressure. He had a really high BP (160/100), so Richard and Pastor Kiarie took him to the hospital. Good thing I learned how to take BP when I was in FISH (Fellowship of International Service and Health). Maybe I'm not useless after all.
Yesterday after school, the students and faculty played some volleyball together in the school field. I hadn't played volleyball since... I can't even remember, but I did better than I thought I could.
It's actually quite cold right now. July is the coldest month of the year. It's been cloudy everyday that I've been here. It even rains right before dawn. But I'm told that the rest of the months are sunny and warm. I can't wait till August...
I might be going to Masai next week to volunteer at a clinic there. BCEA established an elementary school, a secondary school, and a clinic in Masai. They've handed them over to the government for them to use, but the partnership is still there. A missionary from Singapore works there as a nurse, and she'll be coming here on Friday. Rev. Kim will talk with her then if I could work with her. I would be thrilled to go and volunteer at the clinic. If I go, I'll probably be there for about a month. They say that the environment is not as nice as here, and I won't have any internet access while I'm there. That means I'll have to finish my med school application before I leave... The problem is that if I go, I'll most likely be leaving this weekend. So I really don't have much time... I guess I'll have to get working then.
Here's another day at BCEA. But it's not the same as before, because today will be the first day with a full day of classes. Well, I'm not taking classes, but the students are. We don't have classes Friday afternoons and Mondays because some of the students minister at churches back home on Sundays, so they need time to travel.
The day starts at 5:30AM for early morning prayer. We meet at the main chapel, which is about a minute walk from my room. This morning was my second time going, and I find it quite nice to start my day in the Word and prayer... That's what I should have been doing in college, but it's much easier here because all students are required to go. Hopefully I will be disciplined to start my day with reading the Scripture and prayer.
Wednesday, July 12.
I started writing yesterday's entry in the morning, but it was a busy day, and I didn't get to finish. Starting yesterday, I've been "working" in the school office. I say "working" because I don't really do anything school related. I just sit here and do my own thing (e.g. writing my journal). Today I'm in the office again. Since I had nothing to do, yesterday Eben asked me to go with him to buy some sand for some construction project at the school. We took a pickup truck, and they dumped about a 1 ton of sand in the back using a bulldozer. When we came back, Richard approached us and told us about one of the students who passed out the night before in the bathroom. His name is Paul, and he is in his 40's. He doesn't know how long he had been out, but he must have had a stroke, because one side of his body was aching. Mrs. Kim had a blood pressure cuff and a stethoscope, so I went to Paul's room, and took his blood pressure. He had a really high BP (160/100), so Richard and Pastor Kiarie took him to the hospital. Good thing I learned how to take BP when I was in FISH (Fellowship of International Service and Health). Maybe I'm not useless after all.
Yesterday after school, the students and faculty played some volleyball together in the school field. I hadn't played volleyball since... I can't even remember, but I did better than I thought I could.
It's actually quite cold right now. July is the coldest month of the year. It's been cloudy everyday that I've been here. It even rains right before dawn. But I'm told that the rest of the months are sunny and warm. I can't wait till August...
I might be going to Masai next week to volunteer at a clinic there. BCEA established an elementary school, a secondary school, and a clinic in Masai. They've handed them over to the government for them to use, but the partnership is still there. A missionary from Singapore works there as a nurse, and she'll be coming here on Friday. Rev. Kim will talk with her then if I could work with her. I would be thrilled to go and volunteer at the clinic. If I go, I'll probably be there for about a month. They say that the environment is not as nice as here, and I won't have any internet access while I'm there. That means I'll have to finish my med school application before I leave... The problem is that if I go, I'll most likely be leaving this weekend. So I really don't have much time... I guess I'll have to get working then.
Doxa in Kenya: A 22-year old baby
Monday, July 10.
I'm not going to go into details about each day here as I did before. Well, I guess there's no need to. Now that I've been living here for 3 days things are beginning to repeat itself (so I don't have to write about the same thing every time it happens).
So, let me talk about my living situation. I'm staying in one of the houses that teachers live in. I'm on the second floor, temporarily sharing an apartment with Richard Tiu, a missionary from the Philippines. I have my own room for now, but in a week or so I'll be living in my own apartment right next door (same building). Right now my apartment-to-be is filled with luggage that came with a missionary team from London (they are in Tanzania now, I'll talk about that some other time). The building is on campus, which is fenced and gated all around.
On my first day here, Rev. Kim, his daughter HaYoung, Richard, and I went out to grocery shopping. We went to a mall called Nakumatt. Apparently it's one of the nicest mall in Eastern Africa, but it's nothing like any of the malls in the States. When I got my currency exchanged, it was 71.50 Kenyan Shillings to a dollar. But interestingly they exchange $100 and $50 bills printed in 1996 and 1999 at 2 shillings lower than other bills. Someone later told me that about 60% of the large bills are counterfeits, thanks to North Korea. (Really, thanks Kim Jong Il or whoever it was, I lost KSH200 because of you!)
I need to learn how to buy groceries more effectively. First, I need to be able to quickly divide every price tag by 70, then learn where things are, what brands are "good" (or edible), how to choose fruits/veggies, and how not to get ripped-off. I never did much grocery shopping in the US, so it's hard for me to tell if something is relatively expensive or cheap.
I'm supposed to take care of my own food, but others have been helping me a lot. For breakfast, I just eat some cereal with yogurt, banana, and honey, but for lunch, Richard cooks rice and some simple food for both of us, and for dinner, I'd been invited over to people's houses. There's another Korean missionary family besides the Kims. Eben Yoon, his wife, and their daughter HaEun. HaEun is the cutest and smartest 2-year old I've ever seen. Last night, the Yoons took me out to dinner at Jambo Grill where we had some goat meat, goat liver, and chicken. It took one whole hour to prepare the food... But it was all worth it. The Yoons live in the apartment below mine.
For some reason, it's taking a while for me to adjust to the sleeping condition. Most likely I'm still jetlagged. The first couple nights I woke during the middle of the night three or four times because I had to go to the bathroom really bad. Last night I only woke up once, so I think I'm making progress. I'm sleeping under a mosquito net, but I haven't seen a single mosquito yet. Right now the season is dry and cool, so mosquitoes aren't around.
Kenyan coffee is amazing... On my first day, I went to a café called Java House, and had some iced coffee. They have wireless internet set up, but when I went, their ISP was down, so I couldn't go online.
Speaking of internet, the way I'm getting internet is by dialing through a wireless phone. It's not a cell phone, but it looks like a regular phone but uses antenna to make calls. I can only get 115kbps (twice the speed of dial-up), and only one person can use it at a time, so I don't get to go online very often. When I do, everything takes forever... I miss broadband. If only I had a car and a license, maybe I could drive myself to an internet café downtown and get fast but inexpensive internet. But what we have here is fast enough for e-mails, chats, and voice chats, but not video chat...
That's another thing I need to do: get a driving license. I also need to learn how to drive stick, because most of the cars here are manual. Err, if only I had bought international license before I came... That was my mistake. But hopefully I can get a permit here since I brought my California license.
Living here, I feel like I'm a baby all over again. I can't go anywhere outside campus, I can't get internet whenever I want... It's like I've lost my limbs, and I can't do anything by myself. I feel so dependent. I guess I was never independent, but I didn't realize how much I depended on others and different things while I lived in the US. I also feel quite useless. Yeah, so what if I graduated from UCLA with summa cum laude in biophysics? It means nothing here. So what if I speak Japanese? I'm not on a mission trip to Japan like I was two years ago. I'm just an ordinary person, just an overgrown baby.
Some people may call me foolish. They might say, "Why in the world did you go to Kenya then?" To be honest, I don't know what for yet, but I just know that I'm here because God called me here. I feel weak and useless, but I'm making myself available to what God has called me to. Only God knows what He's going to do with me, and He will reveal them to me in His time. I need to be patient.
Speaking of feeling weak, I also feel physically weak. I noticed that I start breathing heavily when I climb up stairs. It's almost like when I had asthma up to 4th grade. I just found out that it's because of the high altitude. Oxygen level is a bit lower than what I'm used to. Apparently, it's also because of the high altitude that there aren't any mosquitoes around here. The altitude is about 1.6km (1 mile or 5280ft) here.
I figured I have to get used to the low oxygen level, so I decided to pickup basketball. If you know me, you know that I'm not good with any type of sports, especially those involving a ball. Anyway, Brother Eben taught me how to play for about an hour or so. I think I'll be practicing more in the future.
We call each other "brother" here. I'm fine being called brother, but I'm still not used to calling them brothers yet, especially since they are older. I just call them by their names.
I wanted to feel useful, so I decided to cook rice for Richard and me tonight. But as soon as I was about to start, the power went out... Richard says we'll just have to wait, it'll be back in a few minutes... Or an hour. I guess we never know what happens.
Taking a shower has been interesting. Our (Richard and I) apartment is on the second floor, but the bathroom is on the third floor. So the water pressure is very low up there. So when many people are using the water on the first floor (or in the dorms) for taking showers and such, we don't get any water for the shower or the toilet. (Oh! The power's back! I'm going to go cook some rice now...)
Wow... That was some meal. We had rice, eggplant dipped in eggs, shrimp sautéed with garlic and ginger, corn cream soup (I brought packets from the US), seaweed, and papaya. I feel a bit spoiled (that I'm eating such good meals in Africa), but then it took a lot of work and time cooking. I suppose I'm learning to become more independent (or at least how to cook). I really didn't expect to eat so well here. Before I came, I thought I would be just eating with the students (who don't get to eat all that much, from what I heard). I also didn't expect to have my own room, and didn't even imagine I would have my own apartment! I thought I would be living in the dorms with the students. I really don't deserve such treatment... I was ready and willing to just rough it. But I'm sure I'll get a chance to do that as well.
Oh yeah, about shower. Thankfully, we have a water heater so I can shower in warm water, but we have to turn on the heater at least 45 minutes before you want to take a shower. Since the water pressure isn't very reliable, we collect the warm water in a bucket, and use it if the water stops in the middle of soaping up.
When resources are scarce, you start thinking of ways to conserve the resource, minimize cost, and be more effective. I'm beginning to think that way about many things. You really don't realize how much you're wasting until you don't have much.
This entry is already long, and it's getting late (It's 8PM, and I started writing this morning. Of course I wasn't writing the whole time).
I'm not going to go into details about each day here as I did before. Well, I guess there's no need to. Now that I've been living here for 3 days things are beginning to repeat itself (so I don't have to write about the same thing every time it happens).
So, let me talk about my living situation. I'm staying in one of the houses that teachers live in. I'm on the second floor, temporarily sharing an apartment with Richard Tiu, a missionary from the Philippines. I have my own room for now, but in a week or so I'll be living in my own apartment right next door (same building). Right now my apartment-to-be is filled with luggage that came with a missionary team from London (they are in Tanzania now, I'll talk about that some other time). The building is on campus, which is fenced and gated all around.
On my first day here, Rev. Kim, his daughter HaYoung, Richard, and I went out to grocery shopping. We went to a mall called Nakumatt. Apparently it's one of the nicest mall in Eastern Africa, but it's nothing like any of the malls in the States. When I got my currency exchanged, it was 71.50 Kenyan Shillings to a dollar. But interestingly they exchange $100 and $50 bills printed in 1996 and 1999 at 2 shillings lower than other bills. Someone later told me that about 60% of the large bills are counterfeits, thanks to North Korea. (Really, thanks Kim Jong Il or whoever it was, I lost KSH200 because of you!)
I need to learn how to buy groceries more effectively. First, I need to be able to quickly divide every price tag by 70, then learn where things are, what brands are "good" (or edible), how to choose fruits/veggies, and how not to get ripped-off. I never did much grocery shopping in the US, so it's hard for me to tell if something is relatively expensive or cheap.
I'm supposed to take care of my own food, but others have been helping me a lot. For breakfast, I just eat some cereal with yogurt, banana, and honey, but for lunch, Richard cooks rice and some simple food for both of us, and for dinner, I'd been invited over to people's houses. There's another Korean missionary family besides the Kims. Eben Yoon, his wife, and their daughter HaEun. HaEun is the cutest and smartest 2-year old I've ever seen. Last night, the Yoons took me out to dinner at Jambo Grill where we had some goat meat, goat liver, and chicken. It took one whole hour to prepare the food... But it was all worth it. The Yoons live in the apartment below mine.
For some reason, it's taking a while for me to adjust to the sleeping condition. Most likely I'm still jetlagged. The first couple nights I woke during the middle of the night three or four times because I had to go to the bathroom really bad. Last night I only woke up once, so I think I'm making progress. I'm sleeping under a mosquito net, but I haven't seen a single mosquito yet. Right now the season is dry and cool, so mosquitoes aren't around.
Kenyan coffee is amazing... On my first day, I went to a café called Java House, and had some iced coffee. They have wireless internet set up, but when I went, their ISP was down, so I couldn't go online.
Speaking of internet, the way I'm getting internet is by dialing through a wireless phone. It's not a cell phone, but it looks like a regular phone but uses antenna to make calls. I can only get 115kbps (twice the speed of dial-up), and only one person can use it at a time, so I don't get to go online very often. When I do, everything takes forever... I miss broadband. If only I had a car and a license, maybe I could drive myself to an internet café downtown and get fast but inexpensive internet. But what we have here is fast enough for e-mails, chats, and voice chats, but not video chat...
That's another thing I need to do: get a driving license. I also need to learn how to drive stick, because most of the cars here are manual. Err, if only I had bought international license before I came... That was my mistake. But hopefully I can get a permit here since I brought my California license.
Living here, I feel like I'm a baby all over again. I can't go anywhere outside campus, I can't get internet whenever I want... It's like I've lost my limbs, and I can't do anything by myself. I feel so dependent. I guess I was never independent, but I didn't realize how much I depended on others and different things while I lived in the US. I also feel quite useless. Yeah, so what if I graduated from UCLA with summa cum laude in biophysics? It means nothing here. So what if I speak Japanese? I'm not on a mission trip to Japan like I was two years ago. I'm just an ordinary person, just an overgrown baby.
Some people may call me foolish. They might say, "Why in the world did you go to Kenya then?" To be honest, I don't know what for yet, but I just know that I'm here because God called me here. I feel weak and useless, but I'm making myself available to what God has called me to. Only God knows what He's going to do with me, and He will reveal them to me in His time. I need to be patient.
Speaking of feeling weak, I also feel physically weak. I noticed that I start breathing heavily when I climb up stairs. It's almost like when I had asthma up to 4th grade. I just found out that it's because of the high altitude. Oxygen level is a bit lower than what I'm used to. Apparently, it's also because of the high altitude that there aren't any mosquitoes around here. The altitude is about 1.6km (1 mile or 5280ft) here.
I figured I have to get used to the low oxygen level, so I decided to pickup basketball. If you know me, you know that I'm not good with any type of sports, especially those involving a ball. Anyway, Brother Eben taught me how to play for about an hour or so. I think I'll be practicing more in the future.
We call each other "brother" here. I'm fine being called brother, but I'm still not used to calling them brothers yet, especially since they are older. I just call them by their names.
I wanted to feel useful, so I decided to cook rice for Richard and me tonight. But as soon as I was about to start, the power went out... Richard says we'll just have to wait, it'll be back in a few minutes... Or an hour. I guess we never know what happens.
Taking a shower has been interesting. Our (Richard and I) apartment is on the second floor, but the bathroom is on the third floor. So the water pressure is very low up there. So when many people are using the water on the first floor (or in the dorms) for taking showers and such, we don't get any water for the shower or the toilet. (Oh! The power's back! I'm going to go cook some rice now...)
Wow... That was some meal. We had rice, eggplant dipped in eggs, shrimp sautéed with garlic and ginger, corn cream soup (I brought packets from the US), seaweed, and papaya. I feel a bit spoiled (that I'm eating such good meals in Africa), but then it took a lot of work and time cooking. I suppose I'm learning to become more independent (or at least how to cook). I really didn't expect to eat so well here. Before I came, I thought I would be just eating with the students (who don't get to eat all that much, from what I heard). I also didn't expect to have my own room, and didn't even imagine I would have my own apartment! I thought I would be living in the dorms with the students. I really don't deserve such treatment... I was ready and willing to just rough it. But I'm sure I'll get a chance to do that as well.
Oh yeah, about shower. Thankfully, we have a water heater so I can shower in warm water, but we have to turn on the heater at least 45 minutes before you want to take a shower. Since the water pressure isn't very reliable, we collect the warm water in a bucket, and use it if the water stops in the middle of soaping up.
When resources are scarce, you start thinking of ways to conserve the resource, minimize cost, and be more effective. I'm beginning to think that way about many things. You really don't realize how much you're wasting until you don't have much.
This entry is already long, and it's getting late (It's 8PM, and I started writing this morning. Of course I wasn't writing the whole time).
Saturday, July 08, 2006
Doxa in Kenya: First day in Kenya
Saturday, July 8, 2006. Nairobi
Today is my second day in Kenya. I was way too tired to write anything yesterday, but now I feel quite rested (although I'm not used to the bed, so my back and neck hurts).
So back to where I left off. I walked around the terminal in London to look for something to eat. I was carrying a huge backpack and a guitar (with a case that's 5 times as heavy as the guitar itself), so I had to walk slowly. Finally, I decided to eat at Garunkel's Restaurant. I had some eggs, sausage, bacon, mushroom, beans, fries, and tomato... They were quite terrible. The eggs (sort of sunny-side up) felt like plastic, the fries were cold, and they cost $14!! I was hungry, so I decided not to care so much... They brought some kind of condiment that looked like brownish vinegar with some gunk floating inside and smelled like urine, and since I touched it, my hands smelled like it for a while. Quite disgusting.
I began wondering around at the airport again, and I realized I could use one of those carts to push my backpack and guitar... Why didn't I think of that earlier? I was about to collapse from the weight. Then a girl walked by as she said to me, "You go to my sister's college!" And I saw a familiar face next to her. It was Karen from Crusade (I don't know her last name since I don't have access to internet right now and that means no facebook...). I don't think I've talked to her before, but it was really nice to see someone I could recognize. She was on her way to Uganda on a mission trip with a group from Davis Christian Fellowship, and I decided to hangout with her group for a while. Their flight was an hour before mine, so after they left, I began to wonder around again.
I wanted to check my e-mail, so I put my last 50 pence coin (about $1) in the internet kiosk... But it just ate my coin and didn't do anything but spit out three 1 pence coins... If only I had 2 more pence, I would have had another 50 pence to get 5 minutes of internet... But I didn't, so no internet for me in London.
Frustrated, I went back to the Quiet Room to recharge my laptop. I was super sleepy, but since I only had 1.5 hours till my flight and I didn't want to sleep through it, I decided to stay awake. I was even more frustrated when I found out later that my flight was delayed 1.5 hours...
I slept through most of the flight to Nairobi, and the plane arrived an hour behind schedule. Getting the visa was interesting. I filled out a brief application on the plane, and when I got to the customs booth, the guy hardly looked at my application before he stamped a visa on my passport. It was the most painless visa process ever.
Thankfully, both of my luggage came through in one piece. I was stopped for baggage check right before the exit, and was asked if I was carrying any gifts and such. The lady asked how much the guitar was, how long it was used, etc, but I didn't know because the guitar belonged to the church. She told me I'm supposed to pay a fee for bringing in expensive gifts, then I told her that I'm a missionary, and she just let me go. Apparently people give special favors to missionaries, such as discounts on plane tickets.
Pastor Kim was waiting right outside the gate with a sign that had my name in Korean. I felt bad because he had to wait for so long because of the delay. But I felt even worse when Pastor Kim told me that Pastor Moon had told him I was arriving on the 6th, not 7th, so he came to the airport the night before only to find out that I was coming the next morning. I did send him a carbon copy of a e-mail I sent to the missions headquarter, but I guess he missed the part that had my flight information. Pastor Kim was also 15min late to his lecture because of me...
Ok, I don't have enough time to write all the details now. But I'll go ahead an post this one.
To be continued...
Today is my second day in Kenya. I was way too tired to write anything yesterday, but now I feel quite rested (although I'm not used to the bed, so my back and neck hurts).
So back to where I left off. I walked around the terminal in London to look for something to eat. I was carrying a huge backpack and a guitar (with a case that's 5 times as heavy as the guitar itself), so I had to walk slowly. Finally, I decided to eat at Garunkel's Restaurant. I had some eggs, sausage, bacon, mushroom, beans, fries, and tomato... They were quite terrible. The eggs (sort of sunny-side up) felt like plastic, the fries were cold, and they cost $14!! I was hungry, so I decided not to care so much... They brought some kind of condiment that looked like brownish vinegar with some gunk floating inside and smelled like urine, and since I touched it, my hands smelled like it for a while. Quite disgusting.
I began wondering around at the airport again, and I realized I could use one of those carts to push my backpack and guitar... Why didn't I think of that earlier? I was about to collapse from the weight. Then a girl walked by as she said to me, "You go to my sister's college!" And I saw a familiar face next to her. It was Karen from Crusade (I don't know her last name since I don't have access to internet right now and that means no facebook...). I don't think I've talked to her before, but it was really nice to see someone I could recognize. She was on her way to Uganda on a mission trip with a group from Davis Christian Fellowship, and I decided to hangout with her group for a while. Their flight was an hour before mine, so after they left, I began to wonder around again.
I wanted to check my e-mail, so I put my last 50 pence coin (about $1) in the internet kiosk... But it just ate my coin and didn't do anything but spit out three 1 pence coins... If only I had 2 more pence, I would have had another 50 pence to get 5 minutes of internet... But I didn't, so no internet for me in London.
Frustrated, I went back to the Quiet Room to recharge my laptop. I was super sleepy, but since I only had 1.5 hours till my flight and I didn't want to sleep through it, I decided to stay awake. I was even more frustrated when I found out later that my flight was delayed 1.5 hours...
I slept through most of the flight to Nairobi, and the plane arrived an hour behind schedule. Getting the visa was interesting. I filled out a brief application on the plane, and when I got to the customs booth, the guy hardly looked at my application before he stamped a visa on my passport. It was the most painless visa process ever.
Thankfully, both of my luggage came through in one piece. I was stopped for baggage check right before the exit, and was asked if I was carrying any gifts and such. The lady asked how much the guitar was, how long it was used, etc, but I didn't know because the guitar belonged to the church. She told me I'm supposed to pay a fee for bringing in expensive gifts, then I told her that I'm a missionary, and she just let me go. Apparently people give special favors to missionaries, such as discounts on plane tickets.
Pastor Kim was waiting right outside the gate with a sign that had my name in Korean. I felt bad because he had to wait for so long because of the delay. But I felt even worse when Pastor Kim told me that Pastor Moon had told him I was arriving on the 6th, not 7th, so he came to the airport the night before only to find out that I was coming the next morning. I did send him a carbon copy of a e-mail I sent to the missions headquarter, but I guess he missed the part that had my flight information. Pastor Kim was also 15min late to his lecture because of me...
Ok, I don't have enough time to write all the details now. But I'll go ahead an post this one.
To be continued...
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