Back to normal...or not quite

The first week after my long holiday is finished. It didn't take us long to adjust back to the village life: in bed by 10 pm, shake hands at least 15 times on my way to school, spend a whole day washing clothes and house. And just as quickly as we got back to normal, things change again! This morning Inga's mother and stepfather came to visit us, and with one visit following the other, we won't be "alone" again until the middle of June! Meaning we will spend a lot of time travelling to different places of Kenya with them. And working a bit in between, of course. Our next trip will go to Kakamega rainforest tomorrow morning. Pictures will follow!

Holiday Part 2 (3?)

No news are good news, aren't they? My blog has been standing still while I've had a great time! After leaving Cape Town on the 26th I flew to Dar Es Salaam where I spent the night before traveling on to the island Pemba north of Zanzibar. Actually, I had planned to write an entire blog post about the flight from Johannesburg-Dar Es Salaam. But I don't think I will. The anger and frustration I felt at the time has gone now. Let me just say that I had an intense feeling of "I'm sick of Africa" at some point, and that my luggage took four days to reach me.

I went to Pemba with Svein Olav, another Norwegian friend who lives in Tanzania. We made plans to go to Pemba to scuba dive already in December last year, really great that we actually managed to do it! Flying to Pemba was amazing (contrary to the previously mentioned flight), a tiny plane with only 11 passenger seats, got a great view, I felt a bit like Denys Finch Hatton. Three days of diving in warm, clear water on beautiful coral reefs, it was fantastic. We saw sea turtles and schools of fish in all sizes and shapes. In between the dives (two each day) we had lunch on small islands with white beaches and no other people around. What did I do to deserve such happiness?

We left Pemba on May 1st and traveled to Morogoro where Svein Olav lives. I got to help out a couple of days at the center for mentally handicapped youth where he works, a great place it seemed. Saturday morning (yesterday) I went back to Kenya by flying from Dar-Nairobi. I considered taking the bus, but that would have taken me a loooong time and I wasn't really up for that. Tonight Ingeborg will arrive from her holiday as well, and tomorrow we'll both go back to Sigowet.

I've had a truly unbelievably great holiday, met so many nice people and seen such beautiful places. Now I'm ready for the next chapter of village life.