I've been seriously remiss in terms of blogging in the last couple months. I ask my ferinds and family to forgive my spat of e-laziness. Today's entry is coming to you from beautiful Nairobi, Kenya in the Norfolk Hotel. On June 27th I met my parents here to start what turned out to be a wonderful vacation in Kenya and Tanzania. The Norfolk hotel might as well be America, and when I arrived my culture shock was intense. After salivating at the thought of cheese and reasonable beer for 12 months I was unable to perform when the breakfast buffet demanded. I was too nervous, too overwhelmed by the options, and too entranced by western art on the walls, Africans speaking English, and the general cleanliness of the Lobby. I of course arrived in torn African pants and a travel-stained shirt...its a miracle they let me check in. I then proceeded to my room where, you're not going to believe this, they had showers (hot ones), an unnecessarily large bed, towels as tall as me and at my present weight about as thick, and a host of other completely unnecessary but rather delicious amenities that I just stared at and didn't use. Then I decided to go swiming to break my stalemate with Luxury. That went well, so I moved on to good beer. That went even better, so I ordered some Cheese. Anyway, this continued apace until by the time my parents arrived I was slightly drunk, extremely full, and Conor Godfrey was beginning to emerge out of the shadow of Abubakar Diallo. In truth it took me several days to get used to the food, drink, rooms, atmosphere etc...but after two or three days I felt much more normal.

Seeing my family was amazing. THey have not changed or aged a bit, and are as wonderful as ever. It was a reminder that the real sacrifice of being in the Peace Corps is spending so much time away from family and friends.

We met up with another family- the Howards-- to fill out our 14 person Safari. They were all great traveling companions and we could not have wished for a better team. The trip ranged from two parks in S. Kenya, Savo and Ambecelli, to the Nguro Nguro Crater in Tanzania, and back to the Masai Mara in Kenya. Talking about the trip would sound like a national geographic highlight reel, but every day really seemed better than the one before it. Before coming to Kenya I was resistant to the idea of a Safari because I imagined old British couples drinking Gordons and Perrier wearing funny hats waxing poetic about romantic Africa while a bunch of black guys carried their bags. This image is not all false (especially the funny hats), but the derogatory spirit of that description is totally unfair. I learned more about East Africa than I would have in almost any other way, and I enjoyed a bit of Romantic Africa without feeling self delusional.

East Africa is completely different from West Africa. They might as well be on different continents. The landscape, the people, the politics, all beat to different drummers on different sides of the continent. The tribes in E. Africa have only been there for 300-350 years, and subsequently colonization has had a much more significant impact on their society. When I met Africans on the street in Nairobi their mannerisms were so similar to the West that I thought they were putting on a show. One could argue that this is an innate racism-- believing that other people can not possibly be like yourself, but I think it stems from my experience in Guinea. In my village, and in Guinea as a whole, the more I live there the more I think that their culture is totally alien to my own. We can offer each other our common humanity, but in my village that humanity manifests itself in ways that are totally foreign to me. My guide on this trip thought that the difference in my experience stems from two sources; the pace of modernization in Kenya, and the relatively short history of peopled E. Africa. In W. Africa the ethnic groups have such long histories in the same place that colonization was unable to totally supplant the region's indigenous culture. In E. Africa British Colonization had a much deeper cultural impact due to the short pre-colonial history (obviously excluding early man) Also, Kenya is modernizing so fast that its difficult to preserve elements of traditional lifestyles, while in W. Africa the slow pace of modernization allows traditional lifestyles enough time to adapt and learn to live within the bounds of a more modern society.

The more I live here the less I know, those were merely some thoughts our trip leaders and I played with over the course of our two weeks.

I must sign off, but I am not merely done, so until next time.

I leave tomorrow morning for Dakar, then Conakry, where I will meet Ms Madeleine Mcdougall! Send her good thoughts and best wishes, everyone needs them in the Conakry airport.

love,
Conor