Apartment hunting and Hospital visits…

Well the good news is that I finally found an apartment! After a week of hostels and running around looking for places, we found a two-bedroom apartment that’s about a 10 minute walk away from KGSA. Fully furnished and has a pool! That’s right, a pool. I’ll try and send some more photos of the place but it takes quite a while to load to the computer.

For those that don’t know, I am living with two girls (Susie and Jamie) from my MSID program 3 years ago that are doing similar work but with a primary school in the Kangemi slums. The school is called Hamomi - www.hamomi.org
Definitely check the website out, they’re doing good work. I’m learning a lot from them already as they have been around about a year and a half longer than KGSA in the states. Quite an ideal living situation if I do say so myself…

It’s by far the most productive house I’ve ever lived in – sorry Danny. We wake up and immediately make some coffee, obviously, and get on our computers and start working. We pretty much work straight through the afternoon and night taking turns with the inter-net and then around 8:00pm we’ll break out a book or an intense game of Kenyan Poker!

As to the hospital visit – yes, I unfortunately had to go to Nairobi Hospital - which was quite the experience. Last Thursday I woke up at around 3:30am with severe chest pains and had difficulty breathing. Anni and I went in around 9:00am and the testing began. From 9:00am – 5:30pm I had blood work done, EKG’s, Ultra Sounds, and a lot of waiting around. Finally, they diagnosed me with having Acute Pericarditis. Basically, the protective wall around my heart was inflamed, hence the chest pain. Movement irritates it, so I basically just sit around and read and work on the computer. Apparently cold symptoms, which I had for the first couple of days here, can turn into this if not treated right away.

So now I’m on some anti-inflammatory medication and pain pills and just trying to rest and recover. Reading a lot… The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde is what I’m working on now. I’m doing a lot better though, but I really just can’t walk around a lot. Luckily, I have inter-net and can work here at the house, but it’s quite miserable not being able to go to the school and get started there.

Last but not least, Anni left for Mfangano Island last night and has arrived safely. It was great spending the week here with her and I’m very excited about the work she’ll be doing on the island with Organic Health Response. Their website should be up soon, I don’t think it’s ready yet but the address is www.OrganicHealthResponse.org

Well, that’s it for now. I hope you are all doing well. In case anyone would like to write to me, you can send mail to:

Ryan Sarafolean
c/o MSID Kenya
P.O. Box 66731
00800 Westlands
Nairobi, Kenya

It’s my study abroad’s P.O. Box and it’s way easier this way. Talk soon, love you all.

-Ryan