kenya bound (27 straight hours of travel)

June 28th: And so it begins, my first trip abroad! As I woke up in a plush bed in an air conditioned room, I had thought little about what being a part of Africa would be like. I had thought about what Africa would be like, what the complex (where I'd be living) would be like, what the Kenyans would be like...but I had yet to actually include myself in those visualizations. So the alarm goes off, I get ready for the day, and mom, ellie and I head to the cities! After a long snooze in the car, last minute trips to target with mom, quick lunch with mom and ellie and IM OFF to the airport! -filled with an excited anxiety about what was to come! I arrive at the airport, check my luggage (one suitcase of my belongings, another with medical supplies and toys to donate once in Kenya), hugged mom and ellie goodbye and met my new friend Halley, a registered nurse, at the security checkpoint! We were wide eyed and ready to begin our adventure together! 

Ironically enough and without planning our flights together (and on a double decker 747) we were seated exactly next to each other! This allowed for our first flight to be plump full of scrabble, uno!, gin and many excited conversations; great bonding time for the two of us! The most often topic of conversation was the 8 hour time change that we would be experiencing! (It can be much more confusing than one would think!) We had a lot of trouble trying to figure out when to eat, sleep, take our malaria meds, etc. Not to mention, we experienced about 3 hours of darkness that whole night and by the time we got to Amsterdam it was already a bright morning! 

June 29th: Halley and I had only slept about a half an hour on our first 8 hour flight and upon arriving in Amsterdam (to a 5 hr layover) the adrenaline was starting to wear off and we were getting deliriously sleepy! but we plugged on in the Amsterdam airport, meeting some cute old people who LOVED to travel and LOVED to share their experiences with us (they were on their way to explore gorilla trekking in another region of Kenya!). We got a good dose of the do's and don'ts of Africa, which was helpful! Our second 8 hour flight was from Amsterdam to Nairobi (the capital of Kenya), and holy kazoa did I make use of my well polished sleeping skills! The neck got a little uncomfortable by the end of the flight, but it flew by. (Pun intended) 

The arrival in Nairobi was when I first started to feel outside of my comfort zone. The flight attendants had given paperwork to fill out on the flight to Nairobi so that we could get our visas. Everything looked good on paper, to get from point A to point B during our solid 3 hour layover. Unfortunately, both planes had been delayed up to this point and we landed about an hour behind schedule in Nairobi. To make matters worse, we idled at the gate for quite awhile before we actually pulled up to the gate and de-boarded -leaving us a little over one hour to get to our next flight. 

We had asked many times (probably 7 times at this point in our journey, to various airline employees) "will our checked baggage make it all the way to Mombassa, our final destination" "yes yes", we were told. Passing the baggage claim, we walked through customs and Halley asks the attendant one more time: "will our bags make it on to our next plane with us" and the kenyan attendant looks at us (like the ignorant little white girls we are! haha) and says "no, you have to go get them!" At this point time was ticking until our flight to Mombasa departed. We rushed back to baggage claim and luckily our bags had made it that far! We load up our bags and head on out towards the check in. 

The international and domestic flights are in separate buildings, so first we have to leave our building. We pass the pick-up location (where people stand holding the signs with peoples names on them), and it was really crowded. We walk out the doors and it felt like we were on a stage. I have never felt such a feeling, it was like "holy smokes miss bergstrand, you are wayyyyy out of your element." I have never known the feeling of sticking out like a sore thumb, but I felt it in that instant. Truly feeling like a minority is a strange feeling; and strangely, a humbling experience. It really shows you how big this world is, how much there is to experience, and how small a piece of the puzzle I am! It wasn't as if I felt unsafe because of it, I just felt extremely different from everyone around me. It is a weird feeling to explain, but that was an instant that I will never forget.

We rushed through security one more time, checked in, and boarded our next plane. There are no jetways for any of their domestic flights, so once we checked in at our gate, they opened the doors and pointed to a plane and we criss-crossed across the planes' territory to climb to the plane (the whole airport seemed very unorganized!). Halley and I are seated next to what seems to be a wealthy Kenyan woman, we chat with her for awhile and she asks what we were planning to do for our time in Kenya. We tell her we will be working at Coast General Hospital in Mombasa. We ask her if she has ever been there and what it is like. She nonchalantly describes her experiences with the hospital saying "they treat you like criminals" "my friend died there" "the doctors are ignorant"... And so continues the unsettling feelings within me! I don't know how I can say this in a non-cliche, non-cheesy way, but the only thing I could think was "I hope I can make some sort of difference." I guess we'll see... :)

We arrive safely in Mombasa (after I successfully slept the entire flight, go figure!) and for the first time I find my name on one of those signs, this one labeled "elective africa." Halley and I meet Betty, the sweetest kenyan lady who brings us to our complex. It is a beautiful looking place, with all the necessities one could need! At this point, it is a little after midnight Kenyan time and so we crawl into our mosquito nets and onto hard-as-rock mattresses. What a difference a day makes, eh?