Arrival in Africa

Jambo!

Just a quick note to let you know that I have arrived safely in Nairobi, Kenya. My main piece of luggage, however, did not make it until this morning. All is well- the people are extremely nice and cordial. My group is in good health and adjusting sleep-wise to the eight hour time difference (from CST). We are staying in a woman's house/bed'n'bfast for the next month until we start our jobs October 1st. From Friday to next Wednesday we'll be with a Kenyan family.

I have already seen amazing things here. Not five minutes from the airport last night we saw a large herd of impalas with a few zebras intermingled among them. Our site coordinator, Phyllis, joked that she had an elephant lined up for us as well but he charged too much this late at night. We are staying with a woman, Milka, whose house is rather nice but sparse on furniture. She said that it wasn't quite finished, and they are gratefuly just to have water and electricity (the power already went out this morning, as it frequently does in Nairobi). As we drove and walked around the city today, we saw many people on the streets. Kenya is a land of many peoples, and I've already begun to meet people from different tribes in Kenya. A white person, or mazunga I believe, is seen quite infrequently. Many people walking were also carrying all types of goods with them to sell along the street or in a market. We visited a produce market and I couldn't name even half the fruits. Right now I'm in the most modern mall in Kenya and probably Eastern/Central Africa- it's roughly comparable to malls in the States.

We begin orientation tomorrow, receiving our books and cell phones (primarily for emergency use, since the land lines don't always work). In the afternoon we'll be "baptized" by taking a matatu (community vans used for local transportation) to the village market and buying something there. Kenyan shillings are roughly 75 to the dollar, and I'm slowly learning how to quickly calculate in US dollars.

That's all for now- nothing particularly mind-blowing. I'm thoroughly enjoying the culture and the people here, and finding them to be very approachable. It's hard to believe I'm here, much less that I'll be here for nearly a year! Thank you for all of your kind notes. I hope to respond to each one individually.