February 1
Hey,
So we're staying in Arusha in a Hotel for the night with the mechanic named Charlie. Then we're going to the camp tomorrow morning . Molly, the Student Affairs Manager in Kenya, said we're the only students who have ever been there before...Score! haha so I guess it's all ok. It's definitely been an experience, but I don't really mind it because I'm in Africa, and that makes me extremely happy. Waking up at 5am wasn't even hard because I'm just so stoked to be here. Moses, our driver, is really cool. He remembers my name and it makes me feel special because he doesn't know many of ours, and I got to talk with him for a while.
We had a fire lastnight and eskari (security guards) spoke with us in swahiili and talked about the animals, and told us massai stories in english. Everything has been super amazing...well, besides being booted off a plane for stupid reasons, and then having to have someone find our group that already went through customs and get numbers from them for us to call that didn't work on the airport manager's phone...yeah, stressful. But then thankfully one of us had a cell phone and got a hold of Molly and it was all ok. phew.

Can't wait to get to the site and settle in and have orientation tomorrow. Molly told me one of the Professors does research with Lions in Tanzania and is really awesome to talk to...everyone's awesome to talk to. The kids are awesome and love the attention and are REALLY good at soccer.

We went for a walk outside the perimeter of the Park site yesterday evening that took us up onto a hill where there was a soccer field and basketball hoop, and a big herd of goats and sheep grazing. It looked out onto Nairobi National Park and was really gorgeous.

After we got back I took an open air shower on the site, and finally felt clean after 3 days of wearing the same nasty clothes and starting to smell. My conditioner kinda exploded on the way to Africa, but it was in a plastic bag thankfully. It probably just opened from getting squished. We had dinner and RAP, where each Eskari was introduced, and Molly read a poem previous students had written, and then the main cook surprised us with a cake with candles and a song sung in swahili.

It was really good, and was kinda like coffee cake. super delicious.

We were warned about black and green mambas, and red spitting cobras and adders. So we had to walk with flashlights everywhere we went at night.
You could hear the monkeys and some sort of creature that sounds like women screaming but is apparently really cute.

Lion noises were cool. like and oont oont sound that they make when they're hunting. It was fun having the Eskari imitate animal noises for us. One of them put his arms up in the air and kept on saying "yay for America!" when we first met him. They all were very funny and nice to interact with. Most of the time we had absolutely no idea what they said... But I'm so excited to learn! Twigga is giraffe, simba is obviously lion, and tembo is elephant, which I haven't seen yet, but I can't wait!

Alright my batteries almost dead, but I love you and I'll keep you updated, and i know you probably just woke up cuz we're 8 hrs ahead. So, have an awesome Sunday.

Tell the fam I say hey!

Love ya,
Bets