Thursday, October 1, 2009

A New Continent!


Dear Friends,

I left Seattle on Tuesday September 29, 2009, 7:27 a.m. Pacific Time. I arrived in Nairobi at around 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday September 30, 2009, local African time. 5 hour plane trip to Washington D.C. from Seattle -- 5 or 6 hours across the Atlantic ocean to Zurich, Switzerland. 7 hours to Nairobi. After approximately 30 hours I was so thrilled to arrive at nearly bedtime in Nairobi!

Today I have done alright except for a brief nap this afternoon. After a good night's sleep I was taken cell phone shopping and a trip to the Sudanese Embassy to find out that it was already closed for visas to Khartoum, will try again tomorrow.

Memories from the journey: The Swiss were reserved and not overly friendly. The airport was compact and clean. Zurich must be the German speaking part of Switzerland as all of the signs were in German. The airport in Nairobi is well organized. The people spoke English, the signs were in English, and people were friendly and helpful.

Nairobi reminds me of the Philippines. There is color, amazing overgrown foliage, and the slums. My kind man who picked me up at the airport and brought me to the house where I am staying drove me to my destinations today. He drove me through one of the Nairobi slums so that I could see the contrast between the rich and the poor here. The slums are regular self-functioning cities, people are busy, have places to go and do a brisk business in their ventures within the slum. My guide told me that many people leave the slum each day to go to work in other areas of the city. They choose to live in the slum because it is easier to live a more comfortable life there on $3.00 a day than in other places in the city. They live in structures that are made of cardboard or boxes or corrugated tin.

I bought a cell phone today and a wireless internet device that goes in the UBS on my computer. All of Kenya is on wireless that is accessible with this small tool. So I am sitting in the guest apartment of my host familie's home using wireless with it.

I am being encouraged to visit a Game Reserve. This sounds like a really huge adventure for little ole' me, but I may give it the good old college try and expand my comfort zone! I will find out more about this tomorrow.

Signing off for now, more news to come in the very near future.

2 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you're there, or mostly there. Right continent, at least. And I'm so glad that I can comment on your blog in English again! :)

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  2. Boy oh boy, me too! On both counts! What a relief to be able to navigate the blog cuz it is in English! :)

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