Back to the US of A

I am becoming a more anxious traveler as I get older. What is up with that? Anyway, it was finally time to head back to the U.S. to catch up with my committee, head to a conference in Anaheim, and get some broomball in. Retracing my steps, I went from Nairobi to Amsterdam to Minneapolis. Let me take a moment to reiterate how joyous it is to only have one layover of four hours?

As I mentioned in a an earlier post, 9/11 changed a lot in the world of international travel. One of those is the incessant document checking. Between Nairobi and Minneapolis, I had five, almost six, different people look at my documents. I boarded two planes. Two. With that kind of scrutiny, it amazes me that someone can make it into the U.S. and get deported because of incorrect documents.

The first document check is when you enter the Nairobi airport. KLM staff people do that check. Then you go through passport control. Then before you get to the final boarding area, your documents are looked at again by none other than the KLM you just saw downstairs. The next document check was by far the most tedious and I am glad I had 5 hours to kill because two of them were spent standing in line. The plane were around 400 passengers on the NBO-AMS flight. Security in Amsterdam checked all our passports. Every. Single. Person. Just for good measure, before you get on the next plane, you have a private interview with another security (The lady I spoke with was actually very nice and even spoke a little Swahilli). Then just before you get onto the plane, there wee security people randomly picking people from the line and checking their documents again. Luckily, I was not among the randomly selected people.

Kisumu City

I want to finish in the next millennium so I chose to limit my research area to the Kenyan part of the Lake Victoria Basin in the western side of the country. Kisumu is the largest town in that area and will be my base. I spent the remainder of my time getting to know the town better. It is close to where both parents are from so I also spent time catching up with family who I had not seen in a while.

Back to the Homeland

After a week in Addis, it was time to head back to Kenya. I had places to see and people to meet. My mom had her sick leave extended so we both hopped on the plane back to Kenya. By the way, if anyone who works for or knows anybody who works for Kenya Airways ever reads this, please relay the following information. Four in the morning is an unacceptable reporting time to request of travelers leaving Addis, particularly when we have to get there using taxis who refuse to pick up after midnight. We sat at the airport, from 10:00 p.m. until 4:00 a.m. Plenty of time to get some good people-watching. You would be surprised how many people were there during those ridiculous hours. In addition to your run of the mill passenger, there were about 300 women going to the Middle East for jobs as nannies and housemaids.

Once back in Nairobi, it was time to get working. My aunt was gracious enough to show me how to get around town. I met with people from the University of Nairobi  and generally figured out how to deal with the three things I was most worried about:
Transportation: Public transportation should work fine for getting to town and back. It will require planning since timing is always an issue. Early meetings would be challenging.

Communication: There are a ton of internet cafes all over theplace. I also have the option of getting a prepaid USB connection which seems like it will be the best option.

Lodging: The cool thing about doing fieldwork in your own country is there is always somewhere to stay with family which saves moolah. in Nairobi, I can probably stay with my aunt's family and find a hostel  in town if I need to be in town early.

Detour to Addis

By the beginning of week 2, I finally figured out what time it was, i.e. I did not wake up at random hours and ravenous. I also had to go to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to attend to my mom who had surgery and therefore, could not be left alone (She's fine now). Addis is about a two hour flight from Nairobi. (Insert sarcastic tone) Yeah, more planes!

Anyway, since I was all the way there with nothing scheduled research-wise, it was an opportune time to get a new visa. I am in the U.S. on a student visa which expires every two years. That means that I can come and go as I please for 2 years after which I must apply for reentry if I am outside the country and need to come back in once the visa has expired. Things have changed since 9/11 in terms of how the visa application process works. Basically, everything takes twice as long and there are a lot more papers involved. It was with much trepidation that I approached the visit to the Embassy because even if you have all your ducks in a row, you can never be certain of the outcome.

I daresay, the Embassy in Addis has had some major upgrades since the last time I was there. You still have to get there super, ridiculously early (people start lining up at 6:00 a.m.) but at least you don't have to sit in the cold because a new and improved waiting room awaits....after you go through a number of security/document checkpoints, have been relieved of your cellphone, and have been fingerprinted. Security is taken very seriously. Fail to heed instructions and I suspect you would be unceremoniously tossed out.

The waiting room was full of people and one of the most interesting things is playing "Name that language". There is a large international community in Addis so there could be quite a diverse crowd. I also saw several kids who had been adopted by Americans coming in to get their final paperwork.

I got there at 6:30ish, cleared security by 7:30 and didn't get out again until almost 12:00 p.m. The moral of this story is that you should always take a book with you because you are going to be waiting for a while. Luckily, my interview with the (surprisingly) polite person at the window went well and I was told to come back the next day to pick up my passport.

Reality

Hah, I knew this would happen. I decided to share my experiences in a blog but then the reality of updating it hit.

I have been back in the US now for just over a month and my last update was in October. Not one to be easily discouraged, let's catch up, shall we?

Over the next couple of days, I'll get to what happened since my last update.

Now what?

Whiz, bang, zip and I was here! I love having a single layover in Amsterdam instead of airport-jumping across the globe as I try to make it home. As Week 1 ends and Week 2 of the adventure begins, these are the things I have learned.

• The "Thank you for participating in security" sign at the MSP airport makes it sound like I have a choice. Amusing.
• Jetlag bites. It really does take a day per hour to recover so it took me 9 days to finally sleep at regular hours.
  
• It's weird to have the sun come up and go down at the same time, 6 a.m. and 6 p.m., every day.
  
• Delta flight attendants are a force to be reckoned with as are KLM's.
  
• There are still a lot of people peeing on the side of the road in Addis Ababa. Even in adulthood I still find myself counting them. It passes the time.
  
• I can totally get used to having a maid.
  
• Thinking that you will arrive at your reseach site and hit the ground running is optimisitc. It takes time to get your bearings straight and in my case catch up with family you haven't seen in a while.
  
• The time is shorter that you think. It is already October 3rd and I am headed back on the 26th. So much to do but so little time.

What's in a name?

I decided the other day that I need to come up with a more exciting and witty name for the blog and for the description. It's definitely harder that I thought.

T minus 1 week!

Alright. I am one week away from beginning fieldwork for my Ph.D. research. I have a ticket. I have a plan. Inevitably the plan will change.