Now in Nairobi: Sorting through the Bodies

I am writing this blog post from Nairobi, Kenya. 53 days into the Watson ( I can't believe it!), would you believe that Kenya is my fourth country when it was supposed to be my first? The original project that I pitched to the Watson Foundation was to study athlete's mental health in Kenya, the UK, Australia, and China, but I spent ten days in England for the Commonwealth Games, three weeks in Iceland, two weeks in Denmark, and arrived in Nairobi this past Saturday.

Due to safety concerns about the Kenyan election on August 9th, my family and I decided two weeks before August 1st that it would be best to wait until September to travel to Kenya. This was tough because I was looking forward to spending a full three months in Kenya, but also because I had to try to scramble to make connections in a new country the week before taking my MCAT (hands down the hardest test I've ever taken) and had no idea where to turn. My older brother was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, so I reached out to a sports psychologist from Durban to see if I could do some work in SA. However, our call got cut short and I wasn't able to get past first base (networking wise:). What the doctor did mention was that we could schedule another meeting after she came back from working with national team at the Commonwealth Games.

"Commonwealth Games?"-- I had to Google that because I had no idea what those were and why the US wasn't invited (the other countries want to win for once ;-), but what I did know was that would be a cool way to spend 10 days. We still had 3 weeks to fill, but we'd have to roll the dice and figure that out on the way.

Last summer, I had the privilege of working with a doctor from Iceland at the Mayo Clinic. I didn't know much about Iceland other than that it was green and Greenland was icy (they really ought to teach us more in history), but I knew that it was beautiful and that she spoke highly of it. My other option for 3 weeks was Costa Rica. After two mission trips in Uvita during my time at Davidson, I had fallen in love with the country. The FIFA U20 Women's World Cup was going on for three weeks, and it would be a really cool opportunity to practice my Spanish. Costa Rica seemed like the best alternative, but Iceland would get me out of my comfort zone. Despite not having a place to stay, a plan, or my Icelandic friends in town, I booked a ticket to Iceland and a 1-night stay at a hostel during its most expensive tourism season.

Denmark was an accident, but it was one of the best accident's I've ever made. Traveling for the first time internationally by myself has made for an interesting learning curve, but I am learning how to use public transport, talking to complete strangers, lugging a heavy guitar case across major cities, and correctly fill out visa paperwork. Yours truly didn't give himself nearly enough time for his visa paperwork to be processed. In order to travel from Iceland to Kenya, I had two layovers. I took Icelandair to Copenhagen, Denmark for an 18hr layover (8pm-4pm) and then Qatar Airways would take me through to Doha, Qatar and Nairobi. Since nobody asked me about my visa at the Reykjavik airport, I assumed that it was only something you had to present at your final destination. Oblivious to this, I spent my layover with friends from Davidson sightseeing in Nyhavn, Amelienborg, and Christiania then found out at the Qatar Airways Check-In table that Denmark would be my new home until further notice. After four days of troubleshooting, I was able to get apply for a single-entry visa book a new flight, but decided to stay in Denmark for 10 more days to try and make the most of this opportunity.

To encourage us to gang tackle ( have multiple people tackle the ballcarrier at once, see below), my defensive coordinator at Davidson, Coach Berlin, would always say "Get a piece of the hit! We'll sort through the bodies later!" and even though the imagery is quite aggressive, it has always stuck with me. There are times in life when you are "in-season", going 1000mph, and there is not much time in the immediate to "sort through the bodies" and make sense of everything that's going on. Maybe you feel like that too in the thick of your season, new job, or the pile of homework due at 11:59 that will get done at :57. It definitely has felt like that for me.

53 days into my Watson travels, life has been full of detours, unexpected plans, and a lot of "go-go-go" that has made it hard to sit and process. I think that has made me really grateful for a slower start here in Kenya and excited to "sort through the bodies" and get some perspective on just how far we've come. I pray you get the same opportunity in the midst of your busyness. Be on the lookout for more blog posts in a shorter amount of time (sorry if the notifications get annoying) because now I've got 4 countries worth of stories to recap!

- Chi

"Getting a piece of the hit"

Davidson v. Barton 9/17/22

p.s.- first picture actually says "S*!t happens", which would've made for a much cooler photograph if I was quicker at taking pictures.