I want to start out this post by giving you some very important information. My address here is:

Janna Huff
Daystar University
PO Box 17-90145
Daystar
Nairobi
Kenya

Now I will share some photos for your viewing pleasure!

This is from my brief outing in London. You can see Big Ben in the background and it is  approximately 3:17 pm.

  Typical tourist picture. Notice the other man taking the same picture at the booth behind us.

The dorm I stay in at Daystar. It's called Dupa. I think that means something, but I don't know what.

The four floors of Dupa after laundry day. I'm standing in my doorway to take this picture. There is a courtyard between the two sides.

My earthly possessions. I'm standing in the door to my room. You can see one side of the desk with one chair. There is another chair next to it and my roommates closet. The bunk bed is right beside me and that's it.

A sampling of the food I eat here. There is rice, fried chicken (this was a nice dinner so it usually isn't that and it's beans or stew), fries (we have these every Wednesday for lunch), greens that I have to mix with my rice to eat them because I don't like them but I think that they actually have nutrients so I try to eat them. And the triangle thing on top of the fries (or chips here) is chipati. Usually it is just round like a tortilla. I really like it.

This was taken from the steps of the library. It's a sunset over the 300 acres of beautiful bush country surrounding the university.

Read the last posts first.

I have been here for a little over 2 weeks now, but it seems like forever. Not because I don't like it, it just seems like I've been here a long time. We were supposed to start class last week, but apparently no one thinks anyone else will go to class the first week, so very few people go. The professors don't even go. I went. Only 2 of my professors came, and I think the biggest class had 6 in it. That was last week. It was very boring. I didn't even bring any books to read with me. Hillary and I hung out a lot, we are in the same suite, but different bed rooms. We got to know her roommate a little bit, mine was at home in Nairobi. We went to church with an American woman here who works at Daystar at the Nairobi Campus last Sunday. Then she took us to an Ethiopian restaurant. It was great to get off campus.

So far this week, I have had all of my classes. The classes are much bigger. One class that I had today was called "Theology in the African Context". It is a little bit challenging because I don't know much about the African context, but that also means that the teacher doesn't call on me. I'm interested to see what comes of this class because already today I could tell that the lecturer was trying to be careful about what he said about other countries influences on African so that he wouldn't offend my American-ness. He did ask me a few things about America, but I didn't really know the answer because it was about the economy and population. I know nothing about such things.

I met a girl here named Goodness who is from Cameroon and is trying to start a woman's soccer team here. She convinced me to come play with them. I told here I can't commit, but I'm excited to to just have something to do when I can that I enjoy! She and some other girls also go running together in the morning. Also so great! For the last two weeks I have felt so lazy and bored and I am so happy to do something active again.

We have also met some other people who have mentioned things like taking us to their villages or some other place in Kenya that I don't know. I hope they follow through because I want to see more than just Daystar and Nairobi! Nairobi is big and busy and dirty and I don't really like it, but maybe I haven't been to the good parts yet...

"Jana" means Yesterday

In Kenya, and I’m sure other countries in Africa, when people meet other people they greet everyone in the group at once. For instance, if some people and I were talking to a person and then someone new came up that knew one of the people; the new person will greet not only the person that he knows, but everyone in the group. This means that I have been doing a lot of hand-shaking and telling people my name since I have been here. This is where the title comes from. It turns out that in Kiswahili Jana (with one N) means yesterday. When I tell people my name and they speak Kiswahili they say, after some confusion, “Oh, jana, like yesterday”. I’ve heard that many times now.  I can’t just always say “Hi, my name is Janna, like yesterday” because not everyone is from Kenya or the surrounding countries that speak Kiswahili. If I said that to some one from Malawi, they would look it me with a weird look and think I was crazy. I just wait for them to react, or just say ok and still not really know what my name is. I do that to some people when I learn their name. It’s hard sometimes because of their accents to know what they are saying. If I have to ask more than 2 or 3 times, I just say Ok :) but really I have no idea what their name is. 

Hellos! (8/16/10)

I have arrived in Kenya! Sorry for the long delay in this, but this week has been really busy and I was not able to get internet on my computer until today. Posts will hopefully be more regular now, but I’m can’t make any promises, but I’m sure that you would like to know what I have been up too this week.

I will start by telling you about London. Yes, I went to London!! Our flight from MN had an 8 hour layover there, so we had a chance to see the city. It was really great because we met a woman on our flight who was also going on to Nairobi and whose daughter goes to Bethel! What a small world! She had never been to London either, so we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus (thanks Sarah!) and walked around for a while. We saw all the good stuff: Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, statues, Big Ben, the London Eye… and other things that I didn’t know what they were. I really liked the city. It was old and had a lot of character. But then we left.

Our plane landed in Nairobi at 6:30 am their time after we had spent 2 nights “sleeping” on the plane. We took the university bus to the campus about an hour away. When we arrived, we were greeted by upper classman students singing and playing a vuvuzela (the horn from the world cup that was really loud and annoying). We went right into orientation and did stuff with that for the rest of the week. It was boring.  A lot of the things we learned we already knew because we have been to college already, but it was great to get to know some people.

All of the people that we have met so far a very friendly. We stick out like sore thumbs, so many people come a greet us. I have started to learn some Swahili words. Here they mix English and Swahili in the same sentence, so I think I’ll pick up some from just talking to people.

I’m also leaning a lot about South Korea while I’m here. There are 3 students from a school there who are here this semester too. The girl, Sarah, has been teaching us things about South Korea and shared some of her Korean food with us. This is definitely a multicultural experience. Oh and there are also a lot of students here from other African countries.

Some things that I don’t like to far: the food is always the same. We have rice, and stew and cabbage. Sometimes there are different things in the stew, but it always tastes the same. For breakfast we have 4 slices of bread with jelly and butter and an egg or sausage and we have lots of tea. Also, the toilets don’t flush well, and they run out of toilet paper a lot.

Things I like: everyone greets everyone in a group when they see them, usually with a handshake. There have been multiple people who have told us that if we need anything, just ask them. The weather is AMAZING! It is in the 70’s and sunny with a slight breeze everyday. It’s a lot like fall. The first few days were a bit chilly, but now they are great. They say it will heat up, but not much above 85 degrees or so. I am very happy about that! And it isn’t humid! There is a food called chipati (I have no idea how to spell that). I really like it. From what I can tell, it’s just fried maze flower and water, but it is surprisingly good. They only serve it sometimes, but it helps make the stew and rice better. We had some pineapple once that was really good too.

Let me explain the reason for the title. It is not a typo. In Swahili when you say hello to a group of people it is plural. When they translate to English, they also make it plural. We have heard many “Hellos” “Good Mornings” and “HIs” since we’ve been here.

This is a boring, but informative, post and I will try to do better in the future.

I haven't left yet.

I'm going to Africa, and being the efficient person that I am, I decided that the best use of my time would be spent typing only one letter/e-mail/blog that everyone can read instead of a million to everyone who will want to know about all of the great and amazing things that I'll be doing there! Or maybe not doing. Who knows?!
As the title of this post points out, I am still in the US. I leave in approximately 58 hours, or on Saturday August 7 at 9:40 pm if you prefer. I have not finished packing yet, but my cat keeps taking naps in my suitcase so it isn't entirely my fault. I have nothing much to say now. But I would love to hear from people while I'm away and your prayers are always appreciated and needed. Right now safe travel, peace of mind, and not forgetting anything important are some things you could pray for.
I'll see y'all when I return!
Peace, Hope, and Love