Arrival and such

I’ve meant to write sooner, but my apple computer was having trouble connecting to the internet (plus the internet was down for some time) and I’ve been pretty busy since arriving.

I arrived in Kenya on Thursday, June 18th around 7:15pm. After landing, I spent two frustrating hours waiting in line to receive a visa. I swear they were only getting 1 person through every 10 minutes, and when you have a plane with over 250 passengers, that takes a long time. I also knew that the people picking me up from the airport were going to be there by 7:15, so I was anxious to get through the line, pick up my baggage, and get out to them. This was a good lesson learned as next time I come to Kenya; I will make sure I get my visa prior to arriving. The two flights were fine…very long, but fine. I flew from Minneapolis to Amsterdam and then Amsterdam to Nairobi.

Peter (the Executive Director here) and Luke (the other intern) picked me up from the airport, and we went out for a beer at a local club. I was exhausted after being up for about 30 hours, but it was good to experience a little bit of the culture upon immediately arriving.

I will be living at Peter’s house, with his wife and children, until this coming Sunday then moving to another house. They have been extremely generous, making sure we have everything we need. The house is very simple with 3 small bedrooms (1 for Peter and his wife, 1 for his 4 children and livin worker, and 1 where Luke and I are staying), a small kitchen, bathroom, and living room. If one were to walk into a home like this in the United States, it's likely you would think that they lived below the poverty line. But in Kenya, this is middle class.

To talk more about the bathroom :), the toilet only flushes once in a while, so we dump a bucket of water in it to make things go down. And the shower doesn't have much pressure so we actually don't take showers, instead water is boiled, poured into a basin, and then I just splash myself down to get clean. It's a unique experience!

The first thing that hits you when you start traveling around Nairobi is the smells. The pollution and litter is out of control. As you move from one place to another you are engulfed by the smell of trash, sewage, exhaust, and sweat. All of which are overwhelming.

I have more to write, but I don't want these blogs to get out of control.

Peace!