Another week has gone by and time is really flying! I have so much to talk about but not enough space or time, so I’m just going to ramble about what comes to mind.I can’t believe I have already been here for almost a month (and that Brandon will arrive next week)! I am really excited to have him come and experience what I have been experiencing.
This week my roommates Anne and Damian arrived and it was great to have some companions to head out and explore the city with. We are all living temporarily in the other apartment I mentioned last week until ours is done being fixed up. But, I am very hopeful that our place will be all ready for us to move into by the end of the next weekend.
Last weekend we did the Nairobi tourist activities of visiting the elephant orphanage and Giraffe center just outside of Nairobi. The elephants were so cute, and they came right up to you and let you pet them. There was also this adorable little baby rhino that came out to say hello to everyone. You can tell it is a total tourist attraction because it was the largest congregation of white people I’ve seen since I arrived. At the giraffe center they give you food so you can feed the giraffe’s, and the center guides told us that if you put it in your mouth, you get a nice kiss from the giraffe. So, of course, I had to try it (see picture above)! I discovered that giraffe tongues are huge and really rough! It was definitely something that everyone who’s coming to visit me this year can look forward to experiencing.
During our weekend outing we had lunch at this really cute restaurant in Karen where we got American style pizza, yum! It was amazing! They also had these cute little fire places and little coal buckets next to the tables to keep you warm. Yes, for those of you wondering, fires and coals are very necessary. It has actually been fairly cold here most of the time since I arrived. It’s been in the 60’s during the days and I’m not sure what temperature at night. The little thermometer on my alarm clock says that our house has been 67 or colder, and there is no heater. Of course I only brought a blanket and no comforter or anything to sleep with, so I’ve been decking out in my fleece pants, fleece socks, and sweatshirts. Not exactly what I thought I’d be having to wear when I was thinking about living in Africa.
It’s almost time for the small rainy season here, and today we got our first real rain. It reminds me of Seattle with the dark gray clouds and sprinkles happening throughout the day with no sun breaks, just your basic gray dreary day. The only difference is that the rain makes the sidewalks (which are really just dirt paths) muddy and definitely has the potential to make walking to work every day an adventure J I am debating buying a pair of these giant rubber boots from the store when the rains really kick in. I tried them on yesterday and I look really stylish in them, yeah right!
Yesterday was a holiday for Kenya so we had the day off. It was national census day, where they were coming around to everyone’s house to count people and get census data for their 10 year evaluation (last census was in 1999). The census was Monday night and all day yesterday, so there was a no movement order out for the city and many closed shops and businesses. I was really looking forward to participating but no one showed up to talk with us L Oh well, at least I can say I lived here when they gathered the data!
I am now eating my delicious lunch of chipatis and samosas from a local restaurant by the clinic I am working from today. It was less than 100 shillings, basically $1, for the entire meal. If you eat traditional Kenyan food or at local restaurants, food here is very cheap. But if you head out to the fancier tourist locations, food is much more expensive and fairly comparable to the US. Our power was out yesterday afternoon so we headed over to the hotel next door to eat lunch and one of the girls I was with got charged $9 for a plate of French fries!
It’s almost time for the small rainy season here, and today we got our first real rain. It reminds me of Seattle with the dark gray clouds and sprinkles happening throughout the day with no sun breaks, just your basic gray dreary day. The only difference is that the rain makes the sidewalks (which are really just dirt paths) muddy and definitely has the potential to make walking to work every day an adventure J I am debating buying a pair of these giant rubber boots from the store when the rains really kick in. I tried them on yesterday and I look really stylish in them, yeah right!
Yesterday was a holiday for Kenya so we had the day off. It was national census day, where they were coming around to everyone’s house to count people and get census data for their 10 year evaluation (last census was in 1999). The census was Monday night and all day yesterday, so there was a no movement order out for the city and many closed shops and businesses. I was really looking forward to participating but no one showed up to talk with us L Oh well, at least I can say I lived here when they gathered the data!
I am now eating my delicious lunch of chipatis and samosas from a local restaurant by the clinic I am working from today. It was less than 100 shillings, basically $1, for the entire meal. If you eat traditional Kenyan food or at local restaurants, food here is very cheap. But if you head out to the fancier tourist locations, food is much more expensive and fairly comparable to the US. Our power was out yesterday afternoon so we headed over to the hotel next door to eat lunch and one of the girls I was with got charged $9 for a plate of French fries!
Well, that’s if for now, I’ll try to be better about updating this more often in the future.
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