In my last entry I hadn't been feeling too well after a day of painting at the BOC school. I decided not to go to Hope school on Thursday and instead I stayed in the cottage wrapped up in a duvet, eating crisps and watching films. By the time the rest of the girls got home I felt much better. On Friday we went back to BOC for more painting. As a lefty it turns out I’m terrible at painting walls and get my arm in the paint continually, so I don’t think I contributed much, but the girls did a great job of painting all the animals. In the afternoon we went back to the markets as we do every Friday, and I discovered a place that does chocolate ice-cream with chocolate sauce... amazing.
On the weekends with African Impact you're free to do what you want. They'll help you book trips around the area, you could visit more schools & projects in the area, or you can just relax in the grounds. That weekend we planned to go to Nairobi National park, the giraffe sanctuary and the elephant orphanage. We got up at 5:30 to be ready for the bus at 6. In Kenyan time, that means that the bus will come any time between 6 and 6:55, and he turned up at 6:40am.... We were all starving having had no breakfast so we were a bit grumbly on the way to the park. I decided to pack a flask of tea though so I was fine (yes i know i am a grandma).
There were 6 of us on the trip - two Canadians Megan and Gill, another Megan from the UK, Fer from Mexico, and me and Lisa, it was a really great group. When we got to the park the driver did something to the roof so it lifted right up and you could stand up and see outside. He drove us around the park looking for animals. I had my binoculars so I could see things a bit more clearly than everyone else but Fer had a great camera, so between us we got so see a lot and got some good photos. The driver however, clearly couldn't be bothered with the trip and failed to stop a number of times when we asked him too, nearly ran over an ostrich and also took speed bumps at about 30mph, and as we were all standing all the time this would send us flying. But we did think it was funny and part of the experience, we had to be quite forceful with him in the end shouting "STOP THE VAN!" etc. To begin with we saw a few distance giraffes which I got a bit over-excited about, then we saw loads and loads of close up giraffes, and then we were bored of giraffes - they were like the pigeons of the park. We also saw lions - a male and female together, and a pack of females, we saw water buffalo and zebras, ostriches and rhinos, and I was lucky enough to see a 2m water monitor which quickly scuttled off so no-one else got to see it. It was such an amazing morning.
After the national park we went to an Elephant orphanage. They bring the baby elephants in and there are hundreds of tourists there snapping away as someone gives a talk and the elephants get fed and frolic in the mud. They were adorable, and so small, most of them would come up to your waist! Then they brought out some slightly bigger elephants and the snappers snapped away again. I got a good video of one of the elephants telling off some passing warthogs which was quite amusing. It was a bit touristy for me, and I was feeling rather faint from the lack of food and heat and I did stumble over at one point, so I was glad when the girls started saying similar things and there became talk of going to get a pizza...
After the pizza lunch we felt so much better and made our way to the giraffe sanctuary. Here you climb into sort of tree houses and the giraffes stick their heads in and you can feed them. The park attendants encourage you to give the giraffes a kiss by putting the food in your mouth so the giraffes eat it right out of your lips...an experience i'll never forget! The giraffe tongues are hygienic as the saliva is a natural antiseptic, so there was no harm in doing it. It was great fun, we all had a laugh and after a bit of time and much squealing from the girls, everyone ended up doing it. The tongue feels a bit like worn sandpaper, and yes it was slobbery! But they were so unbelievable up close, i can't believe how close i've been to a giraffes face.
That was Saturday day and we got back at 5ish. We were quite tired so most went to bed early that night. The next day a few of the girls went to church with one of the teachers, but I was planning a lie-in. Unfortunately i woke up really quite unwell, as did Lisa. It seems that the illness I had in the previous week had started to take hold again and as i was coughing up new lifeforms, Lisas glands were up and she was coughing and aching.
So we couldn't go swimming which was a bit disappointing, especially for Fer who was perfectly well. All we could do is lie around in the sun and hope we got better. On Monday morning i did feel slightly better, so i went to Hope school, though i asked to be picked up at lunchtime so that i didn't completely exhaust myself. We spent the morning colouring again (surprise surprise) and had some local college students in to take notes on the class, to get tips (tips on how to create intense chaos in the smallest space possible?!) Normally I try to be really active in the class, drawing pictures, marking books, picking up the kids who fall over, spotting the ones who've wet themselves and giving them to the teacher, etc, but it just all got a bit much for me, and by the lunch break i was sat with probably 10 kids all trying to clamber on top of me, then i saw one baby walk past with his pants down and what looked like poo all over his hands, and my illness just broke me - i got up and stood round the side of the building for a few minutes trying to work out what to do, so i got my water and some Nurofen, got a stool sat in the shade and told the teacher that i was really unwell and i needed to be picked up ASAP.
They came really quickly, and took me to the doctors on site at Brackenhurst. He concluded that i've got a chest infection, and the kidney pain he couldn't explain but my god did he give me some strong painkillers for that! So i now have to take 9 pills a day, and feel like i'm floating in a cloud every time i take the painkillers! Altogether that cost me 1200 shillings, which is about 12 dollars/10 pounds.
I went to bed early Monday night and then stayed at home Tuesday. Bored, eating crisps and watching the entire series 6 of Flight of the Conchords. The day of rest and the antibiotics has sorted me out completely and now i feel like a different person, ready to take on the rest of the week...
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