Surviving Nairobi

Here at the compound we have a adviser/liaison named Warimu, who schedules our day and is essentially our "mom" for the next four months. She was born and raised in Kenya but moved to Philadelphia to study and finish her schooling, therefore she is fluent in Kiswahili and English. She has been with the program for a very long time so she is really in touch with how we are feeling, and what is going through our minds. Today Warimu split our group of 22 into small groups of 4 and 5 and set us on our way to navigate through Nairobi, Kenya's cosmopolitan capital. As our group was looking at the map, Warimu came around to see our plan of action. Our task was to navigate to Nairobi's Java Cafe to have lunch, and then to the National Museum of Kenya at 2:30 where we would meet with the rest of the groups. Each group was given a map and directed to a different Java Cafe in Nairobi- there are about 6 or 7 of these Cafes stationed around Nairobi. As Warimu was floating around, she noticed me looking very anxious and overwhelmed just simply looking at the map.  She was laughing a little and told me that everything would work out. She didn't describe what we would expect out of this excursion at all- she wanted us to find out for ourselves and processes it our own way. We were each given 1,000 shillings or 10 USD to buy lunch, ice cream, coffee, etc, and most importantly our bus fare to Nairobi.  At 10:30 our sent off from Karen and entered into a different world, with no one to guide us but our own senses.
          The walk from the compound to the bus stop took about 10ish minutes.  Mohammad, our guard who was dressed in combat boots and a gray ski mask let us out of our gated "dorm area." During the ten minute walk we were able to see our neighbors- our white, rich neighbors I might add. The whole street we live on is populated with affluent Westerners who drive Land Rovers and live in gated areas who's elaborately decorated fence probably costs more than my house.  To give you a sense of how rich this neighborhood is- the neighbor to the left of us collects vintage cars, and has a 25 yard lap pool in his back yard. It was when we got to the bus stop was when we really woke up and realized we were in Africa.
        Landen, Kirsten, Courtney, and myself stood under a tree, shaded from the heat- so hot that 5 minutes in its rays would cause my back to become soaked in sweat.  As we stood, various buses would fly by and come to a screeching halt in the orange dust.  A man would bust out of the door waving bills between his fingers yelling something in Swahili to accost us to come onto the bus.  Then noticing we were English, would try to dance and convince us come on to this particular line of buses. After noticing we weren't interested, he's bang on the side of the bus and it would take off, the man still hanging off the door waving bills and yelling.  We were instructed to take any line of buses that led to Nairobi except Compliant Moa. Apparently this line of buses is very dangerous and drives recklessly- ha everyone in Kenya drives recklessly! I am always so nervous when I am in a vehicle, as I said before there are NO rules for driving in Kenya! Anyway, our group had some trouble getting a bus, they would drive up so fast and yell so we were scared to approach them. Eventually, a bus that had some other white people on it came speeding up.  After waiting a half an hour we were all becoming impatient and decided to buck up and take this bus (also the presence of white people looked promising). We took a seat on the bus and after about 20 minutes of a very bump fast ride, a little girl sat down next to us before she went off and handed our group a note that said "There are pick-pocketers on this bus, inform your group." I was so impressed that this little girl new English and would actually be looking out for us, it was very sweet.
         Getting around Nairobi wasn't very hard.  Surprisingly it is not that big of a city as I was expecting. There are not any tall sky scrapers, just old looking buildings and dirt roads combined with cement side walks. We were advised not to take any pictures today because it was our first day here the "natives" of the city could see by the looks on our faces that we were new and anxious. The city wasn't very busy because it was a Sunday, and seeing that most of the population is Christian, they were all at church. Despite this, there were still a fair amount of people in the city who would look us up and down as we passed by, or would say hello! or welcome! It was refreshing to see how friendly and nice everyone was- all they wanted to do was talk and shake our hand. However, I do realize that some people's friendless have a purpose behind it- usually money. People here are very poor and do not have the luxury of eating every day, alot of people asked me for money but I politely said no.
         Many people gave us Safari information cards or wanted to take our pictures.  Our group was pretty nervous so whenever someone would try to talk to us we would anxiously keep walking and guard our purses.  But once we actually stopped because we were at a stop light and someone came up to us to talk about Obama. Then once others saw us talking to a Kenyan others came to talk too. Pretty soon we were surrounded and being followed by 6 Kenyans. I felt very fortunate to have Landen in the group because he was taller than all of them and would politely tell them that we are students and we didn't want to buy anything or give any donations. It was as if they had to "go through" Landen in order to talk to us, since he was the male of the group and kind of presided over us.
        After exploring and walking around, we sat down for lunch at Java and no problem finding it. Java was a Western-style lunch area that served traditional western food. I had a chicken panini that was served with a fruit cup and a mango smoothie. It was delicious!!! Warimu didn't want us going to traditional Kenyan restaurants or cafes because she wanted us to ease our stomachs into a new environment. After lunch we went to a park and saw tons of people taking naps under the shade of many "lion king" trees.  Lion King trees are the trees in background of this blog. Among the business of the city, the park is a perfect place to relax and eat ice cream and escape the hot sun.  People looked like they were literally passed out spread eagle on the open grass! I actually wanted to do the same thing, I am still pretty tired and jet lagged.  As we sat relaxing in the park- the only white people in the whole park I might add, a little girl with face paint on came up to us. We looked at me and said "What is my name?" I assumed she meant what is your name. She was adorable!!! She was so young, probably about 4 years old and already knew some phrases in English. I asked her Hibari gate? which translates to how are you? She responded mizouri meaning good and then blushed and ran away. I could see her parents in the distance laughing and waving at us. I could tell that this little girl was so intrigued by our presence- about how differently we dressed and looked. Nairobi, out of all African cities, has the most white tourists but little children are still very intrigued, and adults are always friendly and questioning toward us.
        After relaxing we went to the National Museum of Kenya where we looked at how Kenya is depicted through art.  There were alot of traditional images of women in Kangas carrying babies with pottery on their head, or communities dancing around tribes wearing lavish jewelry. There was also an exhibit that showed the native Kenyan animals, and the evolution of mankind. The best part of this museum was the snake exhibit. I got to be only inches away from King Cobras, Pythons, and Black Mambas. There was even a space where they put a group of snakes, geckos, and turtles- the walls of this space were so low that I could reach down and touch a turtle. At one point, a turtle came right up against the wall, I was only inches away but I didn't want it to bite me so I didn't touch it.  Later on, a guide told me they don't bite... oh well. I did however get to hold a chameleon!!! It's eyes were spinning around its head and as it walked across my hand, it seemed very anxious, feeling around my hand before it stepped. When it was comfortable it wrapped its tail around my finger and clamped its hands around the tip of my finger. It's hands and feet felt like sand paper, probably useful for hanging onto trees, and my hand! After walking around the museum we listened to drummers for a bit then Njoa our chauffeur for our SLU bus took us back to the compound.  It was again, a very bumpy ride but surprisingly I fell asleep.
       Back at the compound we ate beans, stew, green potatoes, chipati (Kenyan flat bread), and mango salsa. Everything was delicious- I can really get used to Isaah cooking for us! I am so tired, gonna hit the hay and run with the xc kids tomorrow morning!