The Orange Hat

The Accomplished day

You know when you have one of those days that you just hit everything on your check likes and just want to shout out to the world “I did it!” Well yesterday was like that for me.

I woke up at the un-holly hour of seven o’clock, which is indicative of me wanting to accomplish something regardless of how droll this hour is, to get on a matatu and ride out to the US embassy in Gigiry, would have taken about 20 min, but I had to leave the embassy to have pictures taken, and when I returned there was a line of about five people, as to the none that were there before. So I go back in 10 days is the story.
Then at Uni I met with Fiona, Cheten, and Greg and worked on a problem we’re having with some the system to recruit people, which is still in error, but is being addressed now instead of ignored.

I ate… palo? A spicy rice, and then found my way to the Doctors office in the Parklands- had insurance troubles, but talked to my doctor.

Condition: I have nerve damage in my right inner ear, it will take time to heal, and nothing can be done to help this. Dr. Din’s major concern is my fractured skull, and keeping it free of infection so that I don’t get meningitis or something of that nature. The skull fracture will take a month or so to heal, but I can’t feel it and there seems to be no leakage. Balance is at about %80.

I go back to Uni, where a Chinese intern, Annie, is saying her good bys- she taught me how to say good by in Chinese, because she has to go back to the fatherland, and in the process I convince at least half of the people I work with that it would be a good idea to further their cultural understanding of Ethiopia (because I wanted to start the tradition of eating at a ”foreign” restaurant after meetings). It’s hard to change people’s ways’ when they are used to just going to a bar, but many don’t drink – so we ended up with maybe 15 people (a good number), lots of meat, some really bitter coffee, smoking incense that the waiter had to take away, and one or two good group pictures.

I was pleased with my day.





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My week at home vs. Life in Kenya

Sunday-
US: Probably out caving or climbing in Atlanta, come home at a late hour, or if I know I have hw I stay home ( not usually a night to go out) I remember lots of house meetings and cooking on Sunday nights in the ORGT house, there was also the AIESEC leadership meetings, which would sometimes end with Maddie cooking for us after we went out and bought stuff .
Kenya: Haven’t had many, but I’ve stayed home mostly, I’m trying to change that, but I still don’t think of it as a party night, I wake up at 7 every week morning.

Monday:
US: Class in the morning, lunch with at the office with Bryan and sometimes Kat, Work till 7 – rush over to the General participant meeting [GPM] (AIESEC) then go out to eat with the Local Community afterwards (usually someplace foreign (Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Mexican…and so on)
Kenya: work till about 7. (Meeting will start to take up more time).I think there’s something at the French cultural center but I’ve yet to go to it, Michelle showed me where it is, so I might start to go, but otherwise I’ve been going home after work.

Tuesday:
US: Class in the morning, Eat with Miss Chambers, after class I would climb or go hang out in ORGT (Georgia Tech’s outdoor club) maybe work on bikes in the bike shop until 6 when ORGT General Committee would start. That ended at 7. (On some days of the month the Local Caving Grotto would meet so I would leave early and go talk with cavers). Probably eat at home. Unless I went to the caving meeting then at Moes (Tex-mex…kinda)
Kenya: work till 6,The LC’s all meet at a bar called comfort Inn not far from campus, so it’s neat to meet other LC members in Nairboi (GT, tri this, it’s not a meeting, just talking and eating… if your making a inter LC community. After that Beryl’s been taking me down to Wilson airport, where I go to the Kenyan Mountain Club, which has dinner the last Tuesday of the month, and I’ve been planning my activates around what they do… so it’s good for the rest of the week. Someone drives me home.. maybe around 10-11

Wednesday:
US: Same as Monday, class, eat with AIESEC people, Work till 7, then The caving meeting, which ends with eating out, and Chris driving me back home to the ORGT house, we might eat again at home, play with Stich (Dog), Dean and Rob fight each other, or Rachel is playing Guitar. House meetings at 2 am are great.

Kenya: Work, …. Going to have our weekly Team meetings, which I have to plan for, then type notes, and put files up on the Yahoo group. But as of now not much, go home, eat… read… sleep

Thursday:
US: Class eat lunch with Emily, Climb or bike, Rock meeting at 6, then go climb OR ride bikes with “Faster Mustache” on the leisurely Thursday night rides, which tour Atlanta, and might end in Decatur, or at Johnnys. Then eat out. It's how I learned most of what I know about the city. So Eat out (not at home) – if it was cold, or there wasn’t any riding I would climb

Kenya: work, MSS (member session seminar [?]) followed by… shens. :p first week I followed members to Central after the meeting (a police bar) then went out .. clubbing I guess. This past week I convinced a good number of people to go eat Ethiopian, and try to instill the international eating part of AIESEC that I’ve come to love. I hope to make this a weekly installment.

Friday:
US: Class, work till 7. Last Friday of the month is Critical mass, where I go ride with 300 other bikes around town, then end at Johnny's and sometimes a party after. There’s usually a party at an AIESEC’ers house or Cole was doing something [Amy's house in Blueridge, or in Emory] sometimes travel to far off conferences, or a weekend full of caving. Never home, never alone… just how it was ☺

Kenya: This past Friday I went out with a group of Chinese AIESECers to a Chinese restaurant in the Westland’s, It was nothing like I expected. They said karaoke, I though like a large restaurant where people get on stage, I also though it would just be them. There were… 10 of us, and I got to eat good Chinese in Nairobi... which felt more natural than eating Kenyan food. They were surprised that I could use chop sticks… it was weird, but w/e. I think this is pretty much the same as in US, the start of the weekend-parties, travel, and be active.

Saturday
US: work sometimes, otherwise caving, climbing, biking (road or mnt. –sometimes races), travels, I get up earlier on Saturday than other days because there’s more fun to be had.

Kenya: working on it, it’s the weekend, so far I’ve done a little exploring, and we played basketball one day. Probably active stuff and travel :P