C Sections and Waterfalls: My Last Full Week in Kenya

It's been a pretty uneventful week but it's flown by just the same. We were originally booked to fly home on September 3rd, but due to a technicality with the funding, our departure date got pushed back a week to the 10th. We had made our schedule based on leaving on the third, so last week was pretty chill and next week will be too.

Monday through Wednesday we just hung out on the compound and worked on some internship stuff and reports that are due when we get back. On Monday, just as we were about to start making lunch, the phone rang. There was a Cesarean section surgery about to start at the hospital and the nurses were inviting us to scrub in. We ran over to the hospital, got all geared up in scrubs and scrub caps and rubber boots and face masks and got to watch the procedure while standing right beside the doctor. While mom was getting all stitched up, I got to hold the healthy baby boy (2.7 kgs). It was pretty awesome. The nursing students here with us said that In Canada, nursing students wouldn't even be allowed to scrub into a surgery of any kind, so we were pretty lucky to have been able to scrub in. Never again will I be able to scrub in on a C section, but I'm glad I got to do it at least once. I definitely have no desire to be a nurse and do it everyday though.

While we were at the disco slash Guinness Football Challenge last Saturday night, there were video cameras everywhere. We assumed that the footage was simply being used for the big screen TV that was set up on location, but we got a phone call from Martin at about 10pm on Tuesday night saying that I was on TV at that very moment! We don't have a TV here so I couldn't actually flick it on to see myself but I'm pretty sure the footage was from a football (soccer) skills competition I entered and failed hard core at. All I could think of as I failed to dribble the ball between a couple of pylons was how much I wished my sister had been there to show all the Kenyans how it's done. Not only were Amy and I the only two girls to enter the competition, but we were probably the only two white people to enter as well. There were a couple of Kenyan guys that were showing off and doing fancy maneuvers but I'm still fairly confident Alex would have been able to dribble circles around them, which I would have very much liked to have seen.

Yesterday was our very last Saturday in Kenya! It blows my mind that it's September already, it feels like it was just last week that I was boarding the plane on my way here. I'm not sure whether I'm in bigger shock that it's September because it means leaving Kenya, or because it means the end of summer. I love summer, but I didn't really have one this year. I can't quite wrap my head around starting school the day after I get back, already a few days behind.

We wanted to make our last Saturday eventful, so Salome took us shopping in Meru, then to her sister's house for lunch, and then we went hiking to a couple of different waterfalls. She had mentioned that we would be driving to a waterfall so I mistakenly wore flip flops. Turns out we were driving to where we could hike down to the waterfalls. The first fall was only a couple kilometers from her sister's house. It was probably comparable to the size of Webster's Falls. The second was much bigger, and was a short hike from the side of the road. We met up with a couple of guys who knew the way and they lead us through the forest to the falls. To say that we went hiking is a bit of an understatement. We were literally climbing boulders and hacking our way through the forest. At the second falls, we hiked to 3 different spots to see it from different angles, but unfortunately, the second location was really muddy. I was impressed by how well my flip flops were holding up until I stepped ankle deep in mud. Wet flip flops are very very slippy, and not good for hiking. I ended up just carrying them and hiking barefoot. Good thing all my barefoot running had toughened up my feet! The last place we saw the second falls from was a giant rock in the middle of the forest. We basically had to scale the edge of it, griping on strategically sturdy vines, and rock climbed up it. Going up is always better then going down. Definitely worth the view, but getting down was a little bit trickier. We all made it down eventually with only a couple of minor slips and falls, but there were quite a few Danger Bush casualties. By the time we got off the boulder, my flip flops were dry so I was able to put them back on to hike back up to the road where the car was parked.

I only have 3 days left in Kiirua. We leave for Nairobi early Thursday morning and then fly home Friday night. I've packed one of my two suitcases and have realized how much junk I have here and how much more stuff I have to come home with than when I came. It's almost entirely full of fabric, aprons and yarn (I've developed an addiction to crocheting and am a granny square champ) and my fingers are crossed it doesn't weigh more than 50 pounds. The last 3 days will be full of packing and last minute shopping if I can find room for anything else.

Salome is coming over later today so we can teach her how to make Banana Bread and she is going to watch us make chapatis to ensure that we are doing it right. We've tried a couple more times, and although they're good, they just aren't Kenyan enough for our liking.