First Week

August 22, 2011

I realized today that I have been away from home, Portland, for officially one week now. So, I thought maybe it is time that I “blog” to update my family and friends about my journeys and such. On August 18^th I landed in Nairobi at about 9:30. There were no delays or troubles during my travels. I was able to get some sleep on my last flight, I received all my baggage on time, the people in all of the airports were very kind, I got my Visa with no trouble, and I met Ken (Jo’s cousin who picked me up from the airport) right away after I picked up my luggage. All in all it was a safe, easy, and relaxing journey from Oregon to Kenya—plus I was able to stay the night in Houston and spend some time with family I haven’t seen in way too long. 

Since I have gotten here, and for the next week or so, I will be in Nairobi. This is longer than I had originally thought or told most of you. I am not much of a city girl so it has been an interesting experience for me so far. Jo and I are staying at Ken’s apartment which is about fifteen minutes (without traffic) from downtown. For the first few days I was here I spent the majority of my time sleeping and “vegging” around—tired and jetlagged from all of my travels. I know most have been curious…but yes, there is running water, electricity, etc. His apartment is very nice and I have been able to take fairly “typical” showers and even flush the toilet! All jokes aside, when I’m at the apartment I lay around either watching TV, listening to music, or journaling. 

For the first two days, I actually never saw Nairobi in the daylight. They had taken me out during the evening to see the nightlife and, because our internal clocks were off, we slept during the majority of the day. The first day I went out during the daytime, we got up late and I went out with them to eat a typical BBQ and ugali meal—this same evening was followed with some more nightlife entertainment. I decided before I left the states that I wasn’t going to drink while I was in Kenya—since those nights I have decided to stay at the apartment when they go out. I won’t say that those nights out were a waste of time though—it was interesting experiencing those aspects of Kenya and I enjoyed seeing this element of their culture. 

On Sunday we went to Mitahato, the village I will be living in to teach once the school year begins. I was very excited to drive past the city and meet a lot of Jo’s family, see the place I will be living, visit the school, and have a first view of the culture and way of life of those living there. After this first experience I can say that I am very excited for the future year to come. I have a feeling that it will be both a challenging and rewarding experience—I have feelings of extreme excitement/eagerness along with nervousness/fear.

As far as language goes, in Nairobi the majority of people speak English, Swahili, and sometimes Kikuyu and in the village people speak primarily Kikuyu—spoken English is not very prevalent. It will be challenging for me, especially in the first couple of weeks and/or months, to communicate with those around me. I know that with the challenge I will also continually grow in my understanding of the language and culture—I’m excited for both. The two things I am nervous about in the coming months are the language barrier and the bargaining/bartering for fruits, vegetables, etc—lucky for me I have to figure out how to do both of those together at the same time! 

That is all I have for now…If you have anything else you are curious about feel free to ask me and I will answer as soon as I can. It’s easier for me to respond to questions sometimes rather than banter off. Also, my internet situation is fairly random. I can use the same SIM card I use for my phone with the internet but it is expensive (so I don’t do it too often). I also don’t know how much internet I will have accessible to me once I move to the village—I will keep you all updated.