On.African.Soil.

My plane arrived in Nairobi at 9 pm. The airport there reminded me a lot of the Domincan or Jamaican airport - small, tropical pictures, and not really anything like Heathrowe or Boston. I just followed the crowd from the plane and the few signs, until I got to the line to get a Visa. Within an hour I had my visa and baggage, and then had to find Jeffrey, the CFK employee picking me up. When I walked out of the airport however, there were probably 100 different Kenyans all holding up signs of who they were picking up. I did not see my name anywhere, and as I was walking around looking for it, taxi drivers kept coming up to me asking me to take their taxi. I was looking for Daisy's face too, since her plane was supposed to arrive at 6pm, but didn't see her anywhere. I finally went into the bathroom (water closet) to look up Jeffrey's number on my computer (I didn't want to break out my laptop in the middle of the airport), and then asked an airport employee if I could use her phone to call him. She called him for me, and said he was already there. So I went outside again and found him finally. Together we took a taxi to my home stay. Jeffrey said that Daisy had missed her flight, so she would be here on Friday. This was another chance to worry, as the thought of trying to get through my first 2 days here alone kind of freaked me out. But God was using it to teach me to trust him…"be very strong and courageous"

Driving there was very interesting. I couldn't see a lot because it was dark out…but could definitely tell the different parts of Nairobi we were in. Near the airport there were highways and lots of people. Once we got off the highway, we drove through tiny neighborhoods, and areas that were completely impoverished - worse than the Dominican Republic. There were all these little 'stands', like a lemonade stand almost, made out of tree branches…Im not really sure what they were. There were plenty of shacks that we drove by. On one road, we had to pull over for the police to check the stickers on our car (every car had to pull over); it took a few seconds and then we drove away. Finally we came to a little apartment complex sort of building that was walled in. The taxi dropped us off there, and we took a tiny elevator (Jeffrey and I barely fit in it with my bag) to the second floor where my host family lived.   When they opened the door, the daughter (who is 24…so when Jeffrey said they had a girl, didn't mean they had kids) introduced herself first. I then met the father and mother, who were very welcoming. We talked for a  bit, and then Jeffrey left. They showed me my room, which is beautiful, with its own bathroom! Their house is very nice, nicer than I was expecting…they have running water and electricity, a tv, refrigerator, washing machine, oven etc.  

I used the daughters laptop to send my mom an email, and then unpacked a bit. Her and my mom then went to bed, so I watched tv and talked with the dad. We talked about the weather in Boston compared to in Kenya, and his job (he manufactures mouthwash, toothpaste, medicines). He told me I would learn a lot here, and that Kibera would probably shock me…but he also said I was very brave for coming here. I then read my Bible and headed to bed. I asked him about their water, and he said it was treated, but they still boil it, so it was safe for me to drink (although I'm still being really cautious, and using hand sanitizer frequently). They had a mosquito net over the bed so I slept under that even though they say malaria risk is minimal in Nairobi. 

I slept really well, despite it technically being 6pm for me. Waking up in the morning was difficult - the bed was very comfortable. I got up, showered (they said they had hot water…but my shower was freeezingggg) and got dressed. For breakfast, my host mom gave me tea (with really strong ginger), really good bread (not like our processed American bread), with red plum jelly. She then made me scrambled eggs, and then gave me a banana. She basically just kept feeding me…I guess my mom isn't the only one who loves to feed people. 

On tv this morning there was a Christian sermon of sorts. Then as my host mom was cleaning the house she turned on Christian radio - I knew some of the songs which was pretty cool, and heard some worship songs in Swahili! Its cool to think that while I am worshiping God at home these people are worshipping the same God, and that even though I am from so far away, we can still connect on a spiritual level. 

I hung around the house for a few hours, reading on the window sill of my room.

My host mom gave me a tour of the compound (a slow tour…I felt like it was weird that we were walking very slow, but I kept telling myself that Africans are not Bostonians who practically run from place to place, and how she was walking was normal). The compound is beautiful, very tropical looking, and even has a workout room with one treadmill and a few weight machines. She said not to use the elevator too often because if the electricity goes out, your stuck there….good thing I like stairs haha. They always wear flip flops in their house, because the floors are cold, and often wear them with socks…its a little weird for me, so Ive just been wearing socks.

A little later, I went to the grocery store with her. Her car is about as ancient as mine, she just drove way faster and crazier, and on the other side of the rode. We went to Nakumatt, basically like a Walmart. They had normal size carts, and then tiny little carts. Most people were using the tiny ones. In America, we have this mindset that we always need enough food in the house to feed us for months, like some big disaster is going to happen at anytime, when in reality, we live in these safe little bubbles where if we ever need something we could run to the store at anytime. Here, they live day by day…the house doesn't seem too full of food, and she bought 5 small things. I don't think I will be complaining that "we have nothing to eat" anytime soon…or that when we spend $200 in one grocery trip we forgot something. It was cool to see all the different foods, fruittttt, and prices! I had no idea if things were expensive or not: 24,000 shillings for a digital camera? 250 shillings for a bag of sugar (which was called White Sugar but was actually tinted brown). 

At Nakumatt I met up with David (an MIT student who lives in Nairobi) and Jeffrey. David showed me around Nairobi. We first went to Yaya Center, where I exchanged money and bought a cell phone for my 2 months here. To enter, we had to go through 'security', basically two people with metal detector wands. It was interesting how they barely even checked me because I am white, more on that later. We both bought mango juice boxes and it was so good! Then we took a matatu (small buses that are a major means of transportation) downtown for 20 bobs (shillings). He showed me the major post office, shopping areas, hotels, monuments to their first president, independence (Uhuru) park etc, and I bought a SIM card and 400 minutes for my phone. 

Crossing the street in Kenya is like playing frogger. Cars won't stop for you (opposite of Boston where pedestrians rule the streets). There is no cross walks; you basically wait for an open space and then just run and hope you make it. Sidewalks are really thin, so cars fly by within inches of you. We took the #46 bus back to Yaya Center (for 50 shillings, thanks Colleen!), David walked me back to my home, and then left. In the city center, the air is awful - I felt like I could barely breathe the whole time (or shouldn't be breathing in that air). It smelt like exhaust basically everywhere, and buses would drive by puffing out black smoke. 

When I came back, my host mom put a mango, banana, apple, green orange, and knife on a plate and left it in my room - she knows me well already :). I asked her to show me how to cut the mango since I usually just guessed at home. One of her friends was there who is hosting missionaries from Texas and who has a son in San Francisco. Every time I meet someone they just say "welcome" (karibu) over and over and over. 

My host mom left to go visit her daughter (her son's wife) in the hospital. Apparently she was in an accident and was in ICU but is now doing better. She said she has three children, a son who is 33, a daughter who is 31, and the daughter who lives here who is 23. I stayed home, and took a nap, waking up to kids voices playing outside my window (with field hockey sticks!). I then tried to study some more swahili…I want to understand at least something when people are talking around me. I've got basic phrases down! Its funny when my host mom and dad talk around me, sometimes they talk quieter like they don't want me to hear, but it doesn't really matter, I can never understand anything they are saying. They usually only use english when talking to me. 

For dinner my host mom made me rice and cooked vegetables (mainly cabbage with zucchini, squash, carrots). It was good, but it had the same spice that Baker dining uses in all of their dishes/stir frys haha. The dad didn't eat dinner, apparently he only eats breakfast and lunch everyday. The mom cleaned most of the dishes and the whole kitchen, and then finally sat down to eat when I was pretty much finished. She works too much - she is always cleaning or cooking. She cleans my bathroom everyday, cleans my shoes for me when I come in…she even got up like 5 times while she was eating to do something she needed to do. I've offered to help plenty of times but she said I need 2 full days of rest after my flight, and then she will put me to work.