CONTINUED
….wildebeest! We went on a long walk through the bush, originally looking for giraffes. We didn’t see any, but we did see wildebeests and ostriches. It was incredible seeing those animals in the wild. It was also incredible just to be walking across part of Africa, looking for wild animals, watching the sun set. Our translators told us lots of cool stuff about the animals and plants that we saw. They always knew which direction they were going, and when I asked them they said that they didn’t use the sun to direct themselves, they just knew which way to go to get home. When we got back to the boma we sat and rested in the exact same spot as the night before. However, as Carrie observed and we all agreed, we all felt much more comfortable in the environment than last night. We sat there for a while, and then Shani came and picked up Laurie so Carrie and I were alone for the last night of our stay. It wasn’t bad at all because, as I said, we both felt much more comfortable with the people at the boma. We stayed up late again that night, mostly dancing with the children. It was very tiring because all of the dances were very energetic, involving a lot of hopping and swaying. It was incredibly beautiful and cool, but by the end I was exhausted. We ate a quick dinner and then went to bed.
The next morning we were again woken by goats. We went outside and Nixon took us to see a newborn goat that had only been born a couple of minutes before. It was so cute! It still couldn’t really stand up but it kept trying and was all wobbly. Nixon helped direct it towards its mother and then we went and drank chai again. We got chai about four times during the full day that we were there. It was delicious. Anyways, we sat there drinking chai for a while, and then exchanged gifts. Then Shani came to pick us up. Carrie and I were both sad to leave the family. They had been so kind to us and had really tried to make us comfortable and bring us into their life.
It was an incredible experience. Before I left for my home stay, after hearing other people talking about their experiences, I still had no idea what to expect. I think that each boma experience is unique and each is impossible to imagine if you aren’t experiencing it directly. Its difficult for me to describe because I experienced so many new things and feelings. I apologize for how long this post was, but I was doing my best to describe my experience. I’m not sure if I gave a good sense of the home stay, but know that it was the most incredible experience of my life.