Acclimation

Ninakaa Karen. I stay in Karen, if you've been reading my blog, you probably already knew this, but I mention it because it's actually beginning to feel true and it leads me to an interesting point. Most Kenyans, especially those living in and around Nairobi make a sharp distinction between where they stay, and where they live. To this end there are actually three verbs to describe one's place of residence. When introducing myself I get to take full advantage of this nomenclature, Ninakaa Karen (i stay in Karen) lakini ninatoka Kalamazoo (but I come from Kalamazoo) na ninaishi Boston (and I live/my family comes from Boston).

At this point I'm actually beginning to feel as if I am no longer a tourist. Although most cab drivers start yelling at me to go home with them from twenty paces, (at 10-15 times the price of the matatu) the matatatus don't try to screw with me, and I know enough about prices to realize it. To a certain extent I recognize prices without having to recalculate into dollars (to a certain extent I do it automatically, 95:1 is easy to estimate) and I'm increasingly comfortable with Kenyan food, (to a certain extent I liked it from the start) and I know enough Swahili to say a little about myself and my day.

I titled this post Acclimation, because I realized during my run today, that I did the same 10K loop from my last mini-post in about 46min, and I realized that my cardiovascular systems had adjusted such that I am about back to where I was stateside. This revelation then morphed into: for only really having been here a week , I feel comfortable here. Certainly Kenya is not the same as the US, but Kenya is not entirely the worse for it, and in some aspects of everyday life, their standards make more sense. You don't tip wait staff implicitly, sure they'll accept a tip, but it's their job to bring you your food. Despite the local embrace of passive voice in English, their verb choice is anything but; you say "give me chips," not "I can I have some chips," nor are you expected to thank the Matatu driver for bringing you home, or anyone for doing any kind of business with you. The economist inside me appreciates all of this, to a certain extent everything is just a transaction to most people, but instead of making people calloused, it means that people actually hear you when you say "Asante sana" (thanks much) and people appreciate the gesture, instead of doubting it.

On a separate but related note, there is a lot to like about the Nairobi nightlife. People go to clubs to dance, which as obvious as it may sound, is a welcome change from K college parties (the majority of my basis for comparison) or concerts (the remainder of my basis), where it can often seem that dancing is just a byproduct of the nights other aims. To paraphrase my notes about Kenyan culture thus far I would say, (pardon my french) Kenyans cut through the bullshit, and as a result everyone seems more genuine.

Tomorrow, I leave for Mombasa till Thursday or Friday, for what we have been told will be Swahili boot camp, but also awesome, and beautiful in a couple different senses. Evidently the locals speak Swahili exclusively in Mombasa (in contrast to Nairobi, where you could speak none and get by fine). I have been informed that Mombasa has the second largest coral in the world, (after the Great Barrier Reef) and that we will be staying at an all inclusive resort, paid for by tuition as there was a little left over after the extremely exchange-ratey costs of tuition. Speaking of which, I count this not lightly amongst the reasons why Kenya has been a good choice, instead of scraping together money for food as some of my friends in Europe have been complaning about, we are all literally shillionares here (and that is just by converting our stipends). I'm having a great time and although it's certainly not home, I'm so very happy to be here.

Altitude

Today I went for a run and actually remembered to wear my watch. I did the Ndege loop again, -more or less 10K- and working pretty hard it still took me 1:05. Running at altitude is a whole different ballgame.

Day 1

For all intents and purposes, today was the start of study abroad.

Yesterday was Eid, a Muslim holiday, and due to the high Muslim population of Kenya, it was also a state holiday. As a result, yesterday was pretty mellow, I pretty much spent the day at home, getting to know the family. I went for a walk with my two host brothers to scout out a good running route (Karen Loop, See map for further references) and along the way we had a good conversation, I told Don about my family while refreshing my Kiswahili. My nightcap was watching a crude rip of the ABC Family Channel movie Teen Spirit kwa ndugu wangu (with my brothers) (american media, even our drivel is really big here).

Today started much earlier, we had to be on campus by 9am to meet our program director and get a tour of the campus. Although home is only about 18K from campus, it is necessary to budget the better part of two hours to drive in during rush hour. This wake up call was totally irrelevant, however, because I woke up at an ungodly hour thanks to my dear friend jet lag; as a result I am almost halfway through Again To Carthage. about 7, Emily and her host family showed up at my house so we could carpool to campus. Once there, we played some Icebreakers, even though we all at least kind of know each other (K is small). After a brief campus tour, we all went to the American Embassy to register. After spending an hour waiting to be received, and an hour of talking to the Director of Political Diplomacy, we discovered that registration has been entirely put online. The visit was far from a waste though, as it was a good primer on recent Kenyan history and USAID activities in the region. Finally, at four we were done for the day. Emily's host mother showed up on foot, and the three of us began walking through the city, Emily and I trying our best to follow her mom through the crowded sidewalks. Finally, Emily's mom pointed across the street and explained that we were headed for the Ambassadour hotel (actually the sidewalk in front of it) where we were catching the #26 bus back to Karen (the suburb where we live).

The public transit system in Nairobi is, oddly enough, entirely private. The two forms of public transit are buses, and Matatus. The buses really lack a good counterpoint in the states, you have to go up a flight of stairs to get in, and then once inside you are presented with essentially a dingy , old-skool charter bus with plastic windows that slide back and forth, and three bucket seats to a side. The Matatus (which service the areas between the bus routes) are run down 15 passenger minivans, occasionally tricked out in hilariously useless ways, but rarely with matching wheels. In both cases the drivers have no fear, and the price is pretty much determined on the spot. When asked today about our apprehensions and fears regarding the program, we mentioned traveling on the roads, to which Lillian (the program director) responded, "Our roads are very safe, but our drivers are not." All told it cost 90 shillings to get home today, basically $1. For reference, a sizeable and flavorful lunch at school was about 150 shillings (+50 for a bottle of water).

When I got home I went out for my first run at altitude, and due to the fading light, and my long-day/jet-lagged tiredness and the quickly fading light, I did the Ndege loop, which, as it turns out is about 30% longer than I thought it was, and now I am wiped. I'm about to sit down for dinner, after which I fully anticipate passing out, hopefully till almost 7am.