Daystar

When all was said and done we reached school at about 10 o’clock at night. We were greeted by Esther and her friend whom I am still having trouble remembering her name (she will be my roommate soon). We found beds but they weren’t our permanent ones. I am staying in the room next to my future room in a Hostel (dorm) called Dupa. Right now I do not have a direct roommate, but a “suitemate,” Monica. She is from Canada and will also be spending the semester. The rooms are fairly small; I will put up a picture shortly.

After getting beds made and stuff locked up in the closet I went to sleep. Or should I say I tried to sleep. This definitely wasn’t easy my first night. A lot of my expectations of Daystar had been let down and I was missing my family and friends a lot. It took me a long time to fall asleep, and then I woke up, and took me a long time to fall back asleep again.

These are the things that shocked me the first night I got here, although they probably shouldn’t have. First, there was not wifi. I can live without a constant connection and I have been for a few days but I was told I would have it. I didn’t have any way to contact my mom or Jordan that night. The hot water for the showers wasn’t supposed to be working; I was told we would have it. But I guess it did work for my roommate, however it didn’t really work for my shower. But it was better than the freezing water the other dorms have. Before I came I was told that Esther would be my roommate for the semester and we had been talking over the internet, but she is leaving in a few days to Study Abroad in Korea.

Instead of listing everything I have been doing, although I would like to, I am just going to assume you don’t want to know ALL the details, I will give you a quick summary of what life has been like here at Daystar.

A living heck. No I am definitely kidding on that part but there are a few things that make me feel that way at times. Missing home for sure, every time I think about it, it is hard to hold the tears back. The food is not my style at all! So far I have tried different types of stew, beef, cooked bananas, some sort of floury doughy bread that looked similar to a tortilla, but tasted much different, and some sort of sausage. Most of these foods made me gag when eating them. I have been able to stand potatoes and bread pretty well, but the rest is a battle. I haven’t given into trying rice or beans yet, but I hope to soon because I am HUNGRY!!

Nice people. I have had my bed made for me, been invited for dinner, and have only heard kind words. All of the Kenyans offer their hand to shake and introduce themselves and for the most part are very friendly people. I wouldn’t say that I have become good friends with any of them yet, but I haven’t shied away either.

Variable weather. I was actually looking forward to the heat and sunshine but it is only here a few hours every day. From about 6, 6:30 at night until about 11 in the morning it is longsleeve or sweatshirt weather. When it gets warm there is often still a breeze that keeps you cool. Many Kenyans have made fun of me and the other girls from North America for not being as cold as them.

Unreliable. I hesitate to use that term but I like it if you can understand my definition. Among everything I listed already I have also found out that Beatrice, my main contact with Daystar will be moving to NY for some sort of schooling. Besides that we have been given schedules and absolutely NOTHING is ever on time, and it always goes much past the time it is supposed to end. Sometimes things just don’t happen, even though they are supposed to.

Pretty and dry. The campus landscape has many plants and trees and some beautiful flowers. It looks very nice, but as you can imagine the ground is pretty dry. I guess there has been a lack of water flow here and everything is a bit drier than usual too. It is supposed to be the end of the rainy season, but the rainy season hasn’t come.