Giraffes, Elephants, Nairobi...Oh My!

I lost my charger to my phone (I'm really glad these technological issues are happening at the END of my trip as opposed to earlier!), but it's not a big deal as I can't use it for anything but updating my blog and picture taking. Thus, today's post will be void of pictures which is unfortunate because I have some really cute pics to share! I will update with pics sometime this week.Today, Isaac, our driver Joseph, and I went to the Giraffe Center, the elephant orphanage, and a market. It took us awhile to find the Giraffe Center, but our travels led us to a metalworking, jewelry, cafe shop that had some neat finds. I didn't buy anything (it was a bit expensive!) but I tried on a super cool feather ear cuff that has been in my head all day. If only I had somewhere to wear it!The Giraffe Center was SO cool and my jaw dropped the second I saw the first giraffe. Joseph said look at the giraffe and I thought it was a statue it was so close to me! You get to feed and touch the giraffes and we were lucky to see a 1-month old baby, a male, and a female...as well as several warthogs and giraffes in the distance. Isaac even kissed a giraffe and I was super jealous! There were a lot of tourists there and a cute little gift shop.The elephant orphanage is only open from 11-12 each day and the elephants are brought in in two groups: the youngest ones and the oldest ones.They run out and get fed with baby bottles that are very similar to how we feed our baby calves. The elephants were so excited and didn't like it when they ran out of food. This orphanage rescues baby elephants and rhinos until they are two years of age and brings them to this center in Nairobi where they are cared for. It takes a unique approach in that it releases them into the wild during the day, they come in for feeding at 11-12 (when the public is allowed to witness), and come back in to go to bed at 5-6PM. After so many years the animals are integrated back into the environment and the project has been very successful in reintegrating and saving these poor baby elephants who oftentimes become orphans because of human/animal conflict.After those two places, we went to the mall....and it was just like an American mall! I got some frozen yogurt and it had a different taste but was still a nice treat. We also went to the market...which reminded me a lot of Mbita. While some people tried to rip me off and I spent more money than I had originally wanted to, overall the market was a very interesting experience and I found some great items! It was very intimidating going alone...Joseph was sitting in the car directly pointed at the stand I was at and Isaac was shopping in a nearby stand, but ultimately I was alone to do the bartering and shopping. Levine and Matilda told us to be careful because people would up-charge solely because we were white and several shopkeepers were more than willing to "walk me to the ATM to get more money" or to "accept USD" instead of Kenyan Shillings, the national currency. The starting prices tended to be quite high, upwards of 128,000 KSE which is about 128 USD for only 2-3 items (Drop the last two digitis...it works almost every time!) but I managed to bring most of the prices down to a reasonable level, especially as I added more products to the mix. Most people were nice and tried to do accommodate my requests. For example, I told them I was looking for something for my dad....and the two suggestions were a walking stick and a really big knife. I think my dad would be slightly offended if I got him a walking stick, so I politely told them that my dad is not that old and that I would need to find something else. I ended up shopping at three different shops and got a wide variety of goodies to bring back to the States! One tactic they used that unfortunately worked (to my wallet's dismay) was that they had another shop "wrap" my items so then I was forced to be in another shop with new items and coerced into buying something new. Finally, I told them that I had no money left (true statement -- all of my USD and KES on me were gone, I only had one Ugandan Shilling left!) and that I did not have any credit card and had to leave.Once we got back to the Guest House, we waited until dinner and met with Dr. Midega. I shared a coconut covered donut with Isaac (okay, I gave him almost the whole thing) and had red cabbage, chicken, and potatoes for dinner with banana and sauce for dessert. Midega is SO cool, I believe I said before that he would be like my best friend and not much has changed in that regard. He has two cute little girls (and I think one more child?) that I've seen before, Sasha and Angel, and I'm sad that I didn't get to tell them goodbye. Professor Khan couldn't come to see us off but he sent his regards anyway. Midega talked with us about his life, what brought him to icipe, and about our research papers. He said that my paper was impressive and he asked where I learned to write like that (thanks, Mrs. Henley!) and then he said that he wouldn't tell me it was impressive lightly, which was reassuring to hear. My favorite section, the aflatoxin background portion, was one of my favorite ones to write as it took over two weeks..and he really liked it also! He saw my phone and asked what kind it was and when I said iPhone 6S+ he got very excited and for twenty minutes talked about how beautiful of a phone I had. It's so interesting to me that the things we take for granted, like the newest iPhone, are things that others do not experience often.Midega is so nice and he asked about our ambitions. This trip has made me very confused on what I want to do in the future, what I'm interested in, and what I even like to do for "fun". Madeline, another BR intern, and I were talking the other day and sometimes you just sit late at night (right now it is 12:10AM) and realize that you have no idea what you want to do, what you can do. There's a whole world out there (literally) and I've only just begun to experience Kenya and Uganda. I don't even know what I'm interested in or what I'm doing with my life. But, I do know that God wouldn't give me this confusion (or this experience!) if there wasn't something crazy good and  beautiful to come out of it. In less than 8 weeks, I will be at the Global Youth Institute with some of my newest favorite friends, preparing to submit a research paper I have spent months crafting and perfecting, and celebrating the next generation of hunger fighters and I could not be more excited. If one thing is for sure, this trip reassured me that working with the World Food Prize and the Missouri Youth Institute is something that I want to continue doing for the rest of my life. For sure. Besides that, I'm figuring it out as I go and I've learned that it is okay to not know all the answers.More posts to come!Goodnight,Holly