Post by Aly on Mar 1, 2006 6:21:34 GMT -5
Hello everyone- back from my weekend on the deserted/desert isle of Kiwayuu (pronouned key- why- you).
So the first day, Friday (ijumaa), 8 hour boat ride to get there, leaving at 6 am. Lunched on a beach, played in the water, and got to the island by 2pm.
We then got towels and trekked accross the island from the archipelago bay side to the ocean side and swam for two hours in the cool blue and green of the indian ocean, the yellow and red sand extremely hot and the black birds flying and squeaking over head made it all pretty and stuff.
Kiswahili lesson:
island- kisiwia
ocean- bahari
beach- ufuo
blue- buluu
green- kijani
yellow- manjano
red- nyekundu
black- nyeusi
pretty- maridadi
So, then we hiked up a mountain (milimani) and watched the sunset (macheweo) as it fell over the rest of mainland Africa, which is all we could see in the distance, the beautiful mountains, hills and plains of kenya glowing orange and red in the light of the setting sun (jua).
So then we had dinner, which, reminds me, i am planning on coming come and having all the necessary groceries waiting for me to teach daddy how to cook kenyan food. i will give you a list in may, sawa? (Okay?)
Sawa, so, then we slept under the stars on the beach and the shootin stars flew by over head and the small waves lapped at the shore and I missed my boy and fell asleep. Brian had tied his hammock into a nearby Boabob tree and some of the girls slept inside a nearby hut (by hut I mean a roof with one wall and some mangrove poles holding it up). Everyone was happy.
Halafu (then), I woke up the next morning, (Niliamka asabuhi), and felt different. Something felt out of place. So when Sally came over and told us that Brian, who i had told not to hang his hammock 20 feet into a boabob tree (which are rumored to have evil spirits anyway), well we can all geuss whats coming.
Lets think back to high school shall we, now what did newton say? Things that go up come down. They fall at 9.18 feet per second, and gravity affects every single thing on this planet. Even Brian.
Brian fell out of the tree in the middle of night, landed on fire wood, nearly missinf the rocks around the fire place, broke his fall with his own face, and had to be rushed to the hospital back on lamu (you remember the 8 hour boat ride, right?). Luckily we had a motor boat so it only took 2 hours. He was so lucky i can not explain it. Had it been me, I wouldn;t have even bothered trying to get up from a twenty foot fall. I would have just been like, well goodbye everyone, tell my boy I love him and to read my non-legal will i put on my website for instructions.
Anyway, Brian survived. he's fine. He dislocated his right thunb when he hit the fire wood and he busted his knee reasonably well, split open his nose and broke it.
Sawa sawa. That morning i tried to go snorkeling without equpment- aka, looked at tide pools for a few hours. We caught a baracuda for lunch. Then Brian came back and had decided not to take painkillers because soemthing about poisoning the body... stupid boy to 1) tie a hammock 20 feet into a tree inhabited by evil spirits, 2) break the fall with his face, 3) not take painkillers, and 4) not say anything to or anyone BUT Katina when he got back.
Whatever. He and I had a little talk and we're poa (cool) now. He's just a cranky little man.
So the rest of the trip was simply pretty and cool and peaceful. We went back to Lamu on Sunday and Boy called me.
There are now two couples on this trip because there are two boys on this trip. Brian and Katina (No duh since day one) and Egan and Cheka (the nickname for Lia, which mean to Laugh... wait... sawa let me explain. In kiswahili LIA means to cry, but Lia laughs all the time so we call her Cheka which is kiswahili for laugh), although they are significantly less obvious and it may only be a figment of my imagination. In fact, maybe i did imagine it... huh...
So what did I learn yesterday aside from how to cook chapati na mboga: spinichi, viazi na vitunguu? Well i learned that women don't to soccer games, subsequently my presence makes people stare as I am not only the only female, but Brian and I were the only white people.
I am returning to Mombasa this weekend, where the internet is less expensive.
Hello to everyone, nana, aunt donna, mom and dad, BOY, kitty and FEED DIGBY AND PETRIE for me, please. And Congrats to Maddie about Drexel. AND TO ALL MY SIMMONS GIRLS, LOVE AND KISSES!!!!
See you in Mombasa,
-Aly-
once again, for all those slackers out there (IE everyone but aunt donna and boy, thanks for your letters, btw)
Alyson Heimer
C/0 SIT KENYA
P.O. Box 41656
Mombasa, Kenya
So the first day, Friday (ijumaa), 8 hour boat ride to get there, leaving at 6 am. Lunched on a beach, played in the water, and got to the island by 2pm.
We then got towels and trekked accross the island from the archipelago bay side to the ocean side and swam for two hours in the cool blue and green of the indian ocean, the yellow and red sand extremely hot and the black birds flying and squeaking over head made it all pretty and stuff.
Kiswahili lesson:
island- kisiwia
ocean- bahari
beach- ufuo
blue- buluu
green- kijani
yellow- manjano
red- nyekundu
black- nyeusi
pretty- maridadi
So, then we hiked up a mountain (milimani) and watched the sunset (macheweo) as it fell over the rest of mainland Africa, which is all we could see in the distance, the beautiful mountains, hills and plains of kenya glowing orange and red in the light of the setting sun (jua).
So then we had dinner, which, reminds me, i am planning on coming come and having all the necessary groceries waiting for me to teach daddy how to cook kenyan food. i will give you a list in may, sawa? (Okay?)
Sawa, so, then we slept under the stars on the beach and the shootin stars flew by over head and the small waves lapped at the shore and I missed my boy and fell asleep. Brian had tied his hammock into a nearby Boabob tree and some of the girls slept inside a nearby hut (by hut I mean a roof with one wall and some mangrove poles holding it up). Everyone was happy.
Halafu (then), I woke up the next morning, (Niliamka asabuhi), and felt different. Something felt out of place. So when Sally came over and told us that Brian, who i had told not to hang his hammock 20 feet into a boabob tree (which are rumored to have evil spirits anyway), well we can all geuss whats coming.
Lets think back to high school shall we, now what did newton say? Things that go up come down. They fall at 9.18 feet per second, and gravity affects every single thing on this planet. Even Brian.
Brian fell out of the tree in the middle of night, landed on fire wood, nearly missinf the rocks around the fire place, broke his fall with his own face, and had to be rushed to the hospital back on lamu (you remember the 8 hour boat ride, right?). Luckily we had a motor boat so it only took 2 hours. He was so lucky i can not explain it. Had it been me, I wouldn;t have even bothered trying to get up from a twenty foot fall. I would have just been like, well goodbye everyone, tell my boy I love him and to read my non-legal will i put on my website for instructions.
Anyway, Brian survived. he's fine. He dislocated his right thunb when he hit the fire wood and he busted his knee reasonably well, split open his nose and broke it.
Sawa sawa. That morning i tried to go snorkeling without equpment- aka, looked at tide pools for a few hours. We caught a baracuda for lunch. Then Brian came back and had decided not to take painkillers because soemthing about poisoning the body... stupid boy to 1) tie a hammock 20 feet into a tree inhabited by evil spirits, 2) break the fall with his face, 3) not take painkillers, and 4) not say anything to or anyone BUT Katina when he got back.
Whatever. He and I had a little talk and we're poa (cool) now. He's just a cranky little man.
So the rest of the trip was simply pretty and cool and peaceful. We went back to Lamu on Sunday and Boy called me.
There are now two couples on this trip because there are two boys on this trip. Brian and Katina (No duh since day one) and Egan and Cheka (the nickname for Lia, which mean to Laugh... wait... sawa let me explain. In kiswahili LIA means to cry, but Lia laughs all the time so we call her Cheka which is kiswahili for laugh), although they are significantly less obvious and it may only be a figment of my imagination. In fact, maybe i did imagine it... huh...
So what did I learn yesterday aside from how to cook chapati na mboga: spinichi, viazi na vitunguu? Well i learned that women don't to soccer games, subsequently my presence makes people stare as I am not only the only female, but Brian and I were the only white people.
I am returning to Mombasa this weekend, where the internet is less expensive.
Hello to everyone, nana, aunt donna, mom and dad, BOY, kitty and FEED DIGBY AND PETRIE for me, please. And Congrats to Maddie about Drexel. AND TO ALL MY SIMMONS GIRLS, LOVE AND KISSES!!!!
See you in Mombasa,
-Aly-
once again, for all those slackers out there (IE everyone but aunt donna and boy, thanks for your letters, btw)
Alyson Heimer
C/0 SIT KENYA
P.O. Box 41656
Mombasa, Kenya
