Day 1

We made it. After a SUPER long trip, we're finally here. That was by far the longest plane rideS (plural) of my life. But thankfully it went smoothly. None of our flights were delayed, all of our bags made it, we sped quickly through the visa line and customs, and safely arrived to our apartment. British Airways has a special place in my heart.

Leaving the Nashville airport was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. I knew it was going to be hard saying goodbye to Andrew but I didn't realize it would be that difficult. But somehow I was able to let go and walk through security with tears streaming down my face. I guess the security people felt sorry for me because they offered me tissues and asked if there was anything else they could do. I think the reason why it was so hard was the massive amount of unknown that laid before me. Unfamiliar country, unfamiliar people, and oh yeah the fact that no one is in charge of me keeping me on my toes.

We flew to New York and then to London. It's amazing what buying some Maltese candy, listening to the British accents and walking around Heathrow airport smiling at the places I used to see everyday while studying abroad in London- Boots, Harrods, Pret- will do for a person when they're 16 hours into a trip. All I wanted to do was jump on the tube and go take a vist to Earl's Court. A few hours later we boarded the flight to Nairobi and the nervousness really began to set in. I tried to preoccupy myself by sleeping and taking advantage of the countless movies and TV shows British Airways offers.

Then at 8:45 PM, we landed in Nairobi. As we were walking off the plane, Michael leaned over to me and said "that dude is John Legend". He was on our flight- I'm assuming sitting in First Class that's why we didn't see him before- but I got a good glance at him. We proceeded to the visa line which only had a few people in front of us. After answering a few short questions, my passport was stamped and I was granted a 3 month stay in Kenya. We walked down to the baggage claim as I crossed my fingers that all of our bags made it and sure enough they had. We walked out the sliding doors to a greeting area where we were bombarded with probably 50+ Kenyans holding up signs in our faces seeing if we were the individuals they were supposed to pick up, asking us if we needed a taxi or help with our bags. My eyes searched the crowd for a sign saying "Jennifer Price". A few moments later, I felt a tap on my shoulder and Muthoga (a friend of a friend of a friend) appeared ready to take our bags and escort us to his car.

Muthoga and his brother drove us to our apartment which was about a 30 minute drive from the airport. Muthoga is a very welcoming, cheerful man who was so happy to have us there. We had a conversation about Kenya politics because his brother works for the governemnt. It's an interesting time for Kenya politics because there is an election scheduled for December. But the word "scheduled" is an interesting topic. I learned that no Kenyans know when the election will be because the current president (President Mwai Kibaki) decides when the election will be. So technically, President Kibaki could wake up any day in December and announce that "today is the election" giving the citizens no prior warning or preparation. The last election in 2002 was a monumental moment for Kenya. It was the first mostly free election in Kenya. Past president Daniel Moi was pushed out of power by an amendment to the constitution creating term limits. The upcoming election this year is proving to be a controversial topic. Since I've been here, several people have told me people are scared to talk about their political views because if they say they suport the current president in power, it could hurt them come December when a new president possibly comes into power.

Anyway- enough about politics for now- our apartment is small but safe and safety is the most important thing. When I say small, its about 150 square feet. Our bed comes out of the wall and is set in between 2 walls. And since I'm so tall, my head touches one end and my feet touch the other. But the people here running the apartment complex are nice and helpful. Michael forced me to get up this morning- although I could have stayed in bed all day due to the jetlag. We called Kaylo- who will be our driver while we're in Narobi- and he took us to get groceries, a cell phone, the bank, etc. We went to the city center to get the cell phone. I noticed several things instantly as I stepped out of the car.
1) Michael and I were the only white people on the street for miles.
2) Everyone (men and women) were really dressed up- coat, tie, suits. I had been warned about this before and brought nice pants, shirts, blouses but I definitely do not have nice enough shoes so I'm going to have to do something about it. Americans stand out quickly because they are always dressed down compared to Kenyans.
3) People drive crazy here. There are no stop signs, no right of ways. People just go and I guess trust the other car stops when they see that they will be hit if they go any further.

When we went into this shopping center, the trunk of our cab driver's car was searched. And in the shopping center, there are police officers everywhere patroling with machine guns!! And I learned that basically anything you can get in the U.S., you can get in Nairobi. We went on a walk later around our community and talked to some school children, watched the "matutu system" and attempted to blend in as much as we could.

The other thing that's been constant on my mind today is how to prevent traveler's diarrhea. Call me gross but seriously you want to prevent this. We have to use bottled water to drink, brush our teeth, etc. When grocery shopping, you have to think "I can eat it if I can peel it or boil it." We bought some fruit juice but later realized that it had water added to it and it was made in Kenya so that was off our list of things we can consume.

Going to call this blog post a quit since I'm been rambling on now for some time. But all in all- I'm having a great time so far.