Safe and sound....and exhausted

One might think that, this being my sixth trip to Kenya, I would be used to the long time in transit and jet lag; not so. My journey was as direct as possible with minimal layovers. I flew from Minneapolis to Amsterdam, then on to Nairobi and then finally to Mombasa. I arrived on schedule late Friday night and proceeded to sleep until 5pm Saturday afternoon. Experienced travellers will tell you that the best way to get over jet lag is to fight the urge to sleep at odd hours until you adjust to the time difference, but I haven't had the will this time around. Yesterday I napped the afternoon away and laid awake all of last night. Today I'm so tired I feel sick, but I'm determined to stay awake until a reasonable bedtime hour.

Since I'm not sure who all will be reading this blog, I should probably explain what I am doing here and why my blog is entitled "Becca Goes to Africa" instead of "Becca Goes to Kenya." Most readers know that I spent a year during 2004/2005 working for an international development NGO in Mombasa, Kenya. During this time I met a young man named Anit who I have since visited in Kenya three times, including a three-month visit last summer when I interned with a Kenyan NGO. In early May of this year I completed a Master of Public Policy at the University of Minnesota and began looking for a job. Still without a job in June, I decided to continue my search here in Kenya, both because gaining additional developing country work experience will be really important if I want to advance in the development field and because I am tired of being in a long distance relationship. That said, I am not limiting my job search to Kenya. Anit has plans to move to Pemba, Mozambique in August or September, so I am also looking in Mozambique, Malawi and Tanzania.

I hope my future postings will be more newsy. So far I've spent a lot of time sleeping. Anit is going to Tanzania in the morning so I will have a few days to myself to settle in and reconnect with friends.