One Chapter Ends, Another Begins- Leaving Nairobi for My Internship in Kisumu

Hamjambo, rafiki zangu! (Hello, my friends!)

I'm currently sitting in my house on my last day here in Nairobi.  I seriously cannot believe my 8 weeks of being in Kenya has already come and gone.  I'm over halfway done with the program, and in less than 50 days, I'll be back in the States.  WHAT?!

Nailing our Kiswahili final 

We had our last week of class this week, so we wrapped up our courses, took our final Kiswahili exam, and now all that's left is to write our research papers.  I'll be leaving tomorrow morning for Kisumu, located in Western Kenya on Lake Victoria to start my internship.  I'll be getting a new host family and my internship is at an orphanage for abused, mistreated, abandoned, and orphaned street children.  I'm very excited to start my internship, as I'll get to play with cute little nuggets all day :) ….

BUT, I don't want to leave Nairobi.  The city itself is whatever, but I can't imagine leaving my family.  We've finally gotten so adjusted to each other, I'm feeling right at home… And now I have to leave?  I don't want to.  I don't want to start all over and redo the whole adjustment and getting comfortable phase.  I wish I could just pick up my brothers, my mom, and my dad, put them in my suitcase, and take them with me.  I honestly believe that I got THE BEST host family out there.  Seriously though.  I can't imagine Kenyan life without them.  So I'll probably cry and my host brothers will look at my like I'm psychotic (because that's what brothers do, and it's probably exactly what Tym and Chris would do back home), but I don't care because I'm so sad to leave! :(  They've been the most welcoming, most caring, most warm-hearted, fun people, and while I'm sure my next family will be great too, they've sure got a lot to live up to!

I'll get to come back and stay with them for my final week in Kenya, but then it's off to small town PI (which my family here, like everyone else, loves to make fun of because it's so dinky).  LOLZ. These last 7 weeks are seriously going to FLY by.  All of the other students in the program with me are heading their separate ways for internship, so some will be going to the Kisumu area with me, but this time we are much more on our own.  AHH! Just thinking about it is giving me anxiety.  When we got to Nairobi we had each other to talk to while we were all adjusting and our program directors were right there every step of the way, but now, we won't be seeing each other much and our directors are 8 hours away… YIKES! (Let's hope we don't get into any trouble) ;)

Happy 21st to Johnna!

Our final week in Nairobi was a good one to end on though!  This week we had guest speakers who played African music and taught us some Kenyan dances!  It was a blast, and the boys (who are total naturals) were fun to watch ;)  Don't worry, I'll remember some of these moves to show all of you back home, so get ready to shake it!  It was also one of our friend's birthdays, so we celebrated with some Indian food, cake, and dancing on our last night together in Nairobi!

My first try at Indian food and I loved it!

Just doing our thang.

Learning the African Dance

I'm very excited to see what God has in store for me as I continue on in my African Adventure.  I'm sure my anxiety will wear down once I get there, meet my host family, and start my internship, but for now I'm still a little bit of a mixed emotion mess full of happiness, excitement, anxiety, and sadness!  BUT BRING IT ON, KENYA PART 2- I'M COMING FOR YA!  :)

XOXO,

Jenni with a Heart

Last night out in Nairobi with my faves