The actual journey was rather unremarkable, my flight left, more or less on time, and I spent the following eight hours,eating (several snacks, dinner, and breakfast) drinking free red wine (for all intents and purposes I am officially "of age" as of yesterday), watching Water for Elephants and trying my hardest to convince myself that if I just kept my eyes closed for long enough I'd eventually be asleep.
Perhaps the first thing that really let me know the magnitude of my travels was stepping off the plane in Amsterdam, and being confronted with signs primarily in Dutch, and advertisements with prices not in dollars. something about not really knowing how much the stroopiewaffles in the gift shop cost caused me to realize that this was a little different from anything I've done before.
After meeting up with the rest of my group next to gate A34, we had to be re-security screened, the candle in my backpack was thoroughly inspected ("smells very nice") I spent the next eight hours considering how very Dutch KLM is. I mean this in the best possible way, the flight attendants were incredibly friendly in every interaction I had with them, they gave out warm towelettes twice, two meals, and when I poked my head into the galley looking for water I was told to take my fill of Mentos and Mars Bars.
Compared with the Dutch-ness of my second flight today, my time in Kenya so far has been surprisingly normal. They drive on the other side of the road, and there is no real order to passing, but my host Mother, Freida is extremely nice, speaks English better than some of my friends, and just happened to have a vegetarian dinner on the table when we got back from the airport. Except for the slightly different light switches, plugs, and heavy duty water filters, my house would be perfectly at home in the states. My bedroom is all of two feet out of range of the wifi signal over which I am posting this. My house is literally walking distance from the Nairobi national park and Freida's cousin, actually works in the reservation giving game count tours. (I can hear the various animals in the distance out of my window)
Practically all of my apprehensions about being in Kenya have already been assuaged and I am really ready for an amazing six months. I just had my first cup of authentically Kenyan tea, had my first Kenyan meal and killed my first Kenyan mosquito. I believe I have truly arrived, and my body clock may even be on Kenyan time (it sure feels like 10:00pm), so tomorrow I will begin collecting pictures and crafting more thorough postings, but for now, it's bed time. Kwa heri, na lala unono! (goodbye and goodnight!)
