BEFORE I LEAVE FOR KENYA
Lion King
Holy smokes!!!!!! I'm leaving for Kenya THIS Friday!!! WHAT THE WHAT THE you might ask?!?! YES, that's right folks - I'm leaving to Kenya for TWO WEEKS as of this Friday. Here's an interview I conducted with myself to provide more details. *Note: subject matter was tough and evasive but I got the answers out of her.*
Q: Why are you going Katy? You don't do well in outdoor situations. You once were in Hawaii and were eating on the beach when you dropped your pickle in the sand, picked it up and ate it, and proclaimed "HEY! Is this camping?!" Why would you possibly want to go to Africa? Me thinks you're not tough enough to survive the trip.
A: GAAHH you're right, it does seem quite out of character for me. I'm going for several reasons:
1) I had the chance to apply to go on a staff subsidized trip to Africa. We send a group every year to go visit the Free The Children corporate site to see and experience all the work that they do and how our fundraising efforts help the communities in Kenya. C'mon - how many people would get an opportunity like this?!
2) I want to push myself out of my comfort zone - physically and emotionally. I'll be leaving the comfortable condo bubble of downtown Toronto and going all the way across the world to experience something different than anything I've ever known. I'll be able to see, breathe, live and experience things that I will have only seen on the Discovery Channel or National Geographic... or Lion King! Even though I'll likely be tres uncomfortable for a lot of this trip, I know it'll ultimately be life changing. I saw this quote on my instagram and I thought it was really fitting: If it doesn't challenge you, it doesn't change you. WORD
3) I want to see a lion... in person.
4) I want to meet my spirit animal - a zebra.
5) I've always wanted to go on a real life safari. I mean not going to lie, the safari they have in Animal Kingdom at Disneyworld is really good, but I'm thinking this will be 100000X better.
6) I have to repeat the #1 again because I don't think it can be emphasized enough: When else will I get the opportunity to go on a trip like this again? NEVER!
Q: What are you going to do while you're in Kenya?
A: A LOT. Here's a sample itinerary of some of the activities:
Safari X2 - a sunrise one and a sunset one
School building X3
Community water walk
Medicine walk
Maasai Warrior Training
Learning about sustainable income projects that empower the communities in Kenya
Visiting an all girl's high school
Going to the Kenya Giraffe Centre
The above are just SOME of the activities that I'll be doing on the 8 days at the Free The Children site!
BONUS: I'm staying an extra 3 days after in Nairobi with a friend who lives there. I'll be his FIRST Canadian visitor! Nevermind that he was planning a 2015 trip with our group of friends and I failed to get the invite for that haha *accident that I was missed he says*. Don't worry, I'll still be a good ambassador when I come back to endorse next year's trip :)
Q: What do you think is going to happen on this trip? How are you feeling before you're leaving?
A: Mixed emotions.
I feel like reality hasn't set in yet, even though I've packed my bags and spent the past week at Shoppers Drug Mart making sure I have everything that I could possibly need on this trip. Some part of me doesn't feel like it's real, because I have NO concept of what I will experience.
I'm scared because this is the furthest I've ever been away from my friends and family - and with little to no access to Internet while I'm there, it's not like I'll be able to reach out to a loved one back home easily. I'll literally be living OFF THE GRID.
I feel like my life is never going to be the same after this trip, because it'll be like I've seen TOO much.
The hyper irrational part of me worries that I'll likely get my period at some point on this trip and then I'm worried it'll make me a target of prey while we're on a safari. "I don't trust anything that bleeds for 5 days and doesn't die" - South Park
I'm so excited to see real life African animals right in front of me, I'll likely be so overwhelmed with emotions that I'll burst out and cry.
I'm going to miss Dan and Frankly so much I'll probably cry at least once...err... twice for them.
I'm going with a group of people I work with. Nothing brings you closer (or tears you further apart) then traveling...haha.
Q: Finally - what instructions have you left for Dan while you're away? Lord knows you would have A LOT:
A: Ahh you know me so well, I have several:
PVR The Bachelorette for me
Please make sure to keep the apartment clean even if I'm not there
Please eat healthy. No junk garbage!
Tell Frankly that I love her every single day, and show her a picture of me so she remembers who I am.
Do NOT go to any new restaurants without me while I'm away
Do NOT go to Grand Electric without me while I'm gone either
Please change the bedsheets at least once
And with that - my interview with myself is OVER!
This is the last time I'll be updating this blog until I'm back on July 4th, and theoretically I'll be so jet lagged from the trip I won't provide another update until a week in of being back. I promise to take lots of photographs and do a recap of my trip POST Africa. I can already confidently say that I'll likely read this pre-trip post and think that I'm an idiot. #CANTWAIT