Super Bowl

I last left off with us returning from Mombasa to Nairobi from our first retreat.  Welp, Henry had requested during orientation in Aug. that we all watch the Super Bowl together.  So, Henry, the Smith-Mathers, and I found ourselves walking down Rhapta Raod once more at 1 AM to our coordinators house to watch the Super Bowl.  It turned out to be a really good game; however, I was the only one awake by the last quarter of it.  I definitely watched it through a new lens.  How would I view the US if the Super Bowl was all I had from which to base my opinion.  Also, we didn't get the commercials which is usually in my opinion the best part.

Back to School

Tuesday night William (my boss) and I went out for our weekly 2 for 1 night at Pizza Inn.  There we decided it was time to start going to schools even without any Foxfires.  So, the next morning we hopped in his VW and went around to 7 different schools.  After about 4, I was like "William, you do understand I am just one man, I can't do all of these schools by myself."  We ended the day with only 3 schools ready for me to start coming now, which is a lot more than nothing.

Good-Bye Nokia 1200

Wednesday, I was on my way to meet my coordinator to help her with some laptop problems.  William and I's school antics took longer than I had anticipated so I was running late.  I went to my usual matatu stop, but was more rushed than usual...so I hopped on the first one that came.  There were some Kenyans that were saying "come on" (who were not the matatu operators) which should have told me something shady was going on.  But I hopped in.  On our way my phone buzzed with a text so I pulled the phone out of my jean's pocket and then returned it to my silky jacket pocket.  At some point in the ride I felt a tap on my side, but didn't pay any mind to it.

When I get out of matatus I always pat my pockets and make sure everything is there...welp, my phone sure wasn't.  Then everything clicked and I realized the man beside me had picked my phone.  So I chased down the matatu.  It stopped.  I found the man and told him to give me back my phone.  "What phone?" he replied.  I persisted a few more times, but I didn't want to drag him out of the matatu because he had some friends with him.  So, I decided to let it go.  I used someone else's phone to call mine and sure enough the SIM card had already been taken out.

I really just wanted the numbers out of the phone.  I didn't care too much about the phone itself, but it was gone.  My only vindication was that my snake score was like 4600 which took me 5 months to get.  So, if he attempts to beat my score he's in for a rude awakening.

I stopped at the store and bought a new Nokia 1200 within the hour.  I thought about upgrading to the Nokia 1206 which is in color, but decided that the Nokia 1200 and I were made for each other.  Then I went to the cell phone provider's office and they were able to give me a SIM card with the same number for only 20 Shillings (a quarter).  5 months in Kenya without having anything stolen...not too shabby.

I was also reminded of how much money I have compared to my close friends at AEE who I interact and shop with everyday.  If their phone had been stolen they could not have just gone like I did and drop $25 on a new phone.  It didn't even phase me besides being somewhat annoying.  So, I have spent some time reflecting upon my financial situation in comparison to those around me (once again).