We got the chance to head over to the University of Nairobi today to tour the campus and see if it would be possible to send MIT students here for a summer course similar to the one currently held at Strathmore University. We had several of our students who are from the university show us around. Derick and Eric met us in town, and we headed over to Debinairs and ate pizza, which was a buy one get one free day. we ordered like 10 pizzas for seven people. we finished everthing but one whole pizza, and saved it to go. We ended up giving it to one of the instructors at the university who we saw as we were walking up to the school of computing. i must say the campus was very beautiful. palm trees, open space, fresh air. i hope AITI decides to come here next summer. it would be really great for the students here to get the opportunity to work on mobile applications. we had a meeting with the head of the computer science department, and had our students talk about their experience so far.
i myself got to chat with derick and eric somemore. it was great finding out how the education system here in kenya works. i guess you can say similar to China: one national exam everyone takes, and depending on how you score, it will determine which universities you are eligible of attending. u. of n. is a great university, obviously from the students we got this year. it was just so much fun chatting with these guys....i'm starting to already miss them already. i wish we could have just hung out at least once a week, but i guess we were too busy, and wanted to keep it a professional relationship during the course.
after our stay at the university, we headed over to fly540 a couple of blocks down to pay for our airflights after the program. we'll be doing some traveling for two weeks after the program is finished, a well earned break if i must say before heading back home and school. zach wanted to get a haircut, and in the end i decided to get one too. glad i did...i look HOT! haha j/k. no but seriously, i look much better than before with my chinese afro! afro's are just not my style. Will, you'll be glad to know i look like my old self again....i didn't cut it short...just the way you like it. haha.
oh, and the weirdest coincidence.....as we were waiting to get a matatu into town, a car pulled up by us...and michelle recognized the driver. he was a recent graduate, class of 2009, yup, from MIT!!! it was so weird. really small world. his name was Gee, course 6, born in Rwanda. He offered us a ride into town, and so we squished into his little car...all five of us. four guys in the back....lovely. mike was touching me in all the wrong places the whole trip...haha, it was good. got really close with the boys...literally.
so yeah, went to town, bought our certificate paper, and headed home. we're going out tonight with john the driver, who drives us to school every morning and drops us home every afternoon. great guy...super nice. can't wait to hang with him.
that's about it for now. loving my new haircut by the way!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
The final push/countdown
This past weekend we had our mobile boot camp at the university. Overall things went really well. Even though we had to come in on a Saturday to teach, it was worth it. Our students from our class volunteered to be lab assistants for the students in the boot camp. It was really nice seeing them help out the bootcamp students....and when there were times i didn't know why there was an error in a student's code, i would ask our students for backup.
i also got to lecture on the Location API for J2ME, which was popular among the students. there's actually a picture on the AITI blog of me lecturing.
At the end of the day, the instructors and lab assistants were all very happy with the day's work. We took a group picture before we left. I look back on this picture, and already start to feel homesick, knowing that in less than a week i'll be leaving nairobi, and not sure when i'll ever get the chance to see these guys again. i've become great friends with many of them, and have learned just as much from them as they have from us. i really like this picture, with me and the group at strathmore:
That night we went out with John and Judy, and ate at the expensive Japanese restaurant. Did some dancing at a club...i think my 'mit breakdancing' skills are kicking ass here in kenya. haha.....i'll have to learn more when i get back to the states.
that's about it for this week. past couple days the students have been mainly working on their final projects. we had a guest speaker today who was an alumni of the AITI program back four years ago. he talked about his experiences with AITI, his career, and future plans. me and zach also gave a talk about applying to U.S. colleges. Michael gave his perspective as well. i didn't realize how good of a position i was in to be at a place like MIT. many of the students knew america was the land of opportunity-great resources, research, facilities, and teachers. i hope i can help them out in any way i can to get them to come to america for college. it would be awesome to see some of them at MIT. i hope things will work out well for these guys.
well...staying up longer than usual doing android. the database in android is really weird. same sql languge, just the android syntax could need sometime to get use to. well, that's it for now. hope everyone back in the states is having a greatnd time. i'm happy and sad at the same time that my time in kenya is almost up. until next time, happy coding!
i also got to lecture on the Location API for J2ME, which was popular among the students. there's actually a picture on the AITI blog of me lecturing.
At the end of the day, the instructors and lab assistants were all very happy with the day's work. We took a group picture before we left. I look back on this picture, and already start to feel homesick, knowing that in less than a week i'll be leaving nairobi, and not sure when i'll ever get the chance to see these guys again. i've become great friends with many of them, and have learned just as much from them as they have from us. i really like this picture, with me and the group at strathmore:
That night we went out with John and Judy, and ate at the expensive Japanese restaurant. Did some dancing at a club...i think my 'mit breakdancing' skills are kicking ass here in kenya. haha.....i'll have to learn more when i get back to the states.
that's about it for this week. past couple days the students have been mainly working on their final projects. we had a guest speaker today who was an alumni of the AITI program back four years ago. he talked about his experiences with AITI, his career, and future plans. me and zach also gave a talk about applying to U.S. colleges. Michael gave his perspective as well. i didn't realize how good of a position i was in to be at a place like MIT. many of the students knew america was the land of opportunity-great resources, research, facilities, and teachers. i hope i can help them out in any way i can to get them to come to america for college. it would be awesome to see some of them at MIT. i hope things will work out well for these guys.
well...staying up longer than usual doing android. the database in android is really weird. same sql languge, just the android syntax could need sometime to get use to. well, that's it for now. hope everyone back in the states is having a greatnd time. i'm happy and sad at the same time that my time in kenya is almost up. until next time, happy coding!
Friday, July 10, 2009
A Night out with the Eagle
Tonight was one of those great moments in Kenya for me. A truly humbling and inspirational moment. We got to out and have dinner with Nathan Eagle. I had read about Nathan back at MIT when I was in the Media Lab. I read about him and starting EPROM, how involved he was with all sorts of amazing projects. I must say...I was at the edge of my seat the entire night. This man was/is incredible. The ideas he had, the projects with mobile technology he was working on. His lifestyle's pretty amazing as well. He's leaving for Beijing tomorrow....and then who knows where after. Yesterday he gave a talk on one of his projects he was working on...called txteagle. won't go into too much detail....cause i could spend pages talking about it...but it's basically paying people to complete tasks that normally computers could do but not as well as humans. From translating words to languages that not many people know about....to updating news reports, and even sending SMS messages on the current blood status at a local blood bank.....Nathan is incredible.
During our dinner conversation we talked about the companies in kenya...and how entrepreneurs have many barriers of entry into the mobile market...we talked about the students and computer science education here in africa....and how ways of expanding our program to other countries within the continent. i asked him some questions about his travels....his ideas...his life. he does so many things...to improve the community..and make it better...all while being an entpreneur...an innovator. And he has a wife as well....although he admits it's tough traveling all the time and not being able to see her. He told us he would be back to the states next summer...hopefully he'll be in the cambridge area...i would love to chat with him more often.
we departed to our seperate ways after dinner....i think we all agree Nathan Eagle is the man. So intelligent....yet so so humble. Amazing guy. I would be lucky if I ever became half as smart as him. And what's even more amazing is that he studied mechanical engineering while at Stanford for undergrad. pretty cool stuff. Michael was saying that if you have an idea....you can easily teach yourself the necessary skills to make your ideas a reality..with or without a C.S. degree....or even a degree at all. I joked while would people need to go college....or get a C.S. education....and even more important why he was doing his Ph.D. He told me so that he didn't have to go work. he's hilarious. i would want a job where i was free to do what i wanted. no restrictions....no cubicles. hearing nathan and all of his adventures...the people he's met....just absolutely incredible.
in other news.....things are starting to wind down...at least for us instructors. haven't been able to blog recently because i've been staying up preparing lecture slides...4 to be exact...on location awareness, bluetooth technology, persistent storage....and wireless messaging. i think i'm done with J2ME for awhile. Messed with Android all day today....familiarizing myself with xml and the android platform. We also decided to extend our stay till MOnday, the 20th of July...hopefully giving the students more time to work on their business plan and projects. It's going to be good....i know it. i'm already impressed with many of the projects that the students have done. i'll be sure to talk more about them soon in my next entry.
well...good night. we have class tomorrow ( saturday ) for this mobile boot camp that we signed up for back two-three weeks ago? i don't know....it's very unorganized by the people in charge....whatever. i'm happy to lecture and spread the joy of computer science education. untl next time...happy coding!
During our dinner conversation we talked about the companies in kenya...and how entrepreneurs have many barriers of entry into the mobile market...we talked about the students and computer science education here in africa....and how ways of expanding our program to other countries within the continent. i asked him some questions about his travels....his ideas...his life. he does so many things...to improve the community..and make it better...all while being an entpreneur...an innovator. And he has a wife as well....although he admits it's tough traveling all the time and not being able to see her. He told us he would be back to the states next summer...hopefully he'll be in the cambridge area...i would love to chat with him more often.
we departed to our seperate ways after dinner....i think we all agree Nathan Eagle is the man. So intelligent....yet so so humble. Amazing guy. I would be lucky if I ever became half as smart as him. And what's even more amazing is that he studied mechanical engineering while at Stanford for undergrad. pretty cool stuff. Michael was saying that if you have an idea....you can easily teach yourself the necessary skills to make your ideas a reality..with or without a C.S. degree....or even a degree at all. I joked while would people need to go college....or get a C.S. education....and even more important why he was doing his Ph.D. He told me so that he didn't have to go work. he's hilarious. i would want a job where i was free to do what i wanted. no restrictions....no cubicles. hearing nathan and all of his adventures...the people he's met....just absolutely incredible.
in other news.....things are starting to wind down...at least for us instructors. haven't been able to blog recently because i've been staying up preparing lecture slides...4 to be exact...on location awareness, bluetooth technology, persistent storage....and wireless messaging. i think i'm done with J2ME for awhile. Messed with Android all day today....familiarizing myself with xml and the android platform. We also decided to extend our stay till MOnday, the 20th of July...hopefully giving the students more time to work on their business plan and projects. It's going to be good....i know it. i'm already impressed with many of the projects that the students have done. i'll be sure to talk more about them soon in my next entry.
well...good night. we have class tomorrow ( saturday ) for this mobile boot camp that we signed up for back two-three weeks ago? i don't know....it's very unorganized by the people in charge....whatever. i'm happy to lecture and spread the joy of computer science education. untl next time...happy coding!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Independence Day in Kenya
What a great day for a BBQ! Although today is the day after independence day, we decided to have a mini cookout to celebrate America's Independence. Mike and Zach went out in the afternoon to buy a ton of meat....from goat to lamb, and chicken to steak. even some tilapia. it was great. judy and her friend peris came, and john and his fiance judy also came. very relaxing....although we had some trouble getting the coal to heat up the grill. i must have inhaled a ton of smoke trying to heat up the grill. the food was great, and the night was awesome. got to sit around and talk story with everyone. then we headed back to work on our lecture slides for the week. I spent all day yesterday and this morning researching creating powerpoint slides. Initially my task was to create a lecture on persistence storage for J2ME. Then i mentioned about bluetooth, and whether we would cover that. Mike said sure, and assigned that task to me. Then he came in Friday night, saying how we also needed to go over Location awareness with GPS, and told me I seemed interested in that topic, and that i should create that lecture as well. So, that means three lectures for me.....yay!!!!
I'm almost done. Did most of the research and coding today. it's actually very interesting. i've been playing a lot with the nokia phones we got from univeristy of nairobi. i even made my own J2ME app...nothing fancy, just an application to record and keep track of our expenses...dinner, groceries, recreation, etc. good way to keep track of who paid what and who owes what. it's really good for me to cause i learn and make apps at the same time. what's even cooler is the bluetooth and GPS on these phones. there's actually a sample bluetooth in the book on how i can make a dating app...where people can find potential partners within a room based on their cell phone. when the phone 'senses' a girl with the right profile, the one you define obviously, then you can retrieve that individual's contact info. pretty cool...might make and use this app for myself. don't worry boys, you can use it too :)
the GPS is also very cool. still new to it, but hopefully i can exploit it to its fullest potential. last night judy took us out to dinner, and then we went out dancing. it was a lot of fun, and it's funny how mike says i'm the best dancer...and that i got 'moves'. hopefully next year i'll have more time to learn more dance moves.
that's about it. the students have spent a lot of time last week creating their SMS apps, which they'll present tomorrow. looking forward to that. cant' believe july is already here. time's flying by real fast. until next time, happy coding!
I'm almost done. Did most of the research and coding today. it's actually very interesting. i've been playing a lot with the nokia phones we got from univeristy of nairobi. i even made my own J2ME app...nothing fancy, just an application to record and keep track of our expenses...dinner, groceries, recreation, etc. good way to keep track of who paid what and who owes what. it's really good for me to cause i learn and make apps at the same time. what's even cooler is the bluetooth and GPS on these phones. there's actually a sample bluetooth in the book on how i can make a dating app...where people can find potential partners within a room based on their cell phone. when the phone 'senses' a girl with the right profile, the one you define obviously, then you can retrieve that individual's contact info. pretty cool...might make and use this app for myself. don't worry boys, you can use it too :)
the GPS is also very cool. still new to it, but hopefully i can exploit it to its fullest potential. last night judy took us out to dinner, and then we went out dancing. it was a lot of fun, and it's funny how mike says i'm the best dancer...and that i got 'moves'. hopefully next year i'll have more time to learn more dance moves.
that's about it. the students have spent a lot of time last week creating their SMS apps, which they'll present tomorrow. looking forward to that. cant' believe july is already here. time's flying by real fast. until next time, happy coding!
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