And occasionally I go to class...

          Almost six weeks into the program I felt that it is time to reassure everybody that I do indeed take classes and all of the money that I spent upon coming here is not going to safaris and hikes (unfortunately).

            I take two courses at USIU, one of East Africa’s most well known universities, on Mondays and Wednesdays for 1 hour and 40 minutes each.  The classes that I take are Negotiation and Mediation and Simulation Excersise- courses that will hopefully help me to learn more about diplomacy and cultural nuances.  I say hopefully because it has only been within the past week that my professor has shown up earlier than twenty to thirty minutes late and turned on a powerpoint presentation let alone effectively convey the information.  It was only today that I actually received a course outline (and because I have the same professor for both classes the course outline is pretty much the exact same).  My professor is a former ambassador who loves regaling us with stories of the work that he did, regretting that he never went to UC Berkeley for his Masters, and insisiting that we bow when we leave the room so as not to create an international incident.  His two most memorable quotes thus far have been “diplomacy is all about image’ and “war is an extension of diplomacy”- two sentiments that I disagree with very strongly.  In my first class, out of sixty students about eight of them are wazungu which at times can be reassuring but in my second class I am the only mzungu and he delights in telling me to “Tell those natives!” whenever the subject of California or English proverbs arises.  I must admit that the majority of his classes are using the time to finish my Swahili homework and getting to know my classmates, most of whom are friendly and interesting to talk to.  There have been some anti- American sentiments which can be difficult to handle when it is you versus 59 East Africans but at the very least I will come back an ardent Patriot and eloquent debator.

            My other two classes are of a completely different caliber and I leave each class feeling like I have compensated for my lack of learning from my USIU classes.  I take Swahili and Politics in Culture through a program overseen by American University and it is much more efficient, organized, and well, American.  I take Intermediate Swahili with my three other apartmentmates and every day we somehow manage to give our professor a saying in Swahili, discuss our week and our future plans in Swahili as well as cram an incredible amount of grammar into our head all while trying to deal with the very depressing Swahili examples.  Whereas in America we might have “the happy boy ate cake” as an example, my book says “the refugees died of hunger” or “the boy was beaten with sticks.”  They are very different from American fairytales and childhood stories and a constant source of shock to us.  My other class is one that I take with the other nine students in my program and we spend six hours a week discussing urban planning, development, informal settlements, and politics.  The centerpiece of this class is a final research paper (due in two weeks!!) that we compile using secondary sources as well as local newspapers and interviews.  Topics range from prostitution to sanitation to perceptions on health.  I am doing my paper on the lack of a common ethos from the Kenyan government that necessitates the dependency that many Kenyans have to their tribal affiliations.  Between these two classes, I am already starting to mix my English with Swahili and I spend way too much time looking at identity and its implications on ethno political conflicts. 

            Between kissing giraffes, getting hugged by elephants, and watching cheetahs hunt, I do indeed go to class.  At times I learn more from the people around me than from the actual lecturer but every day is a learning experience and I am looking forward to seeing what else I have learned in the next ten weeks.