Safe and Sound

Jambo everyone! I am writing you from the lovely Easy Surf internet store in the Westlands neighborhood of Nairobi. The plane rides were an adventure in themselves. Both my flight to Houston and my flight to Nairobi were delayed for 45 minutes so it actually took over 24 hours to ge here. Continental's planes were by far the best with their on demand movies. I watched Confessions of a Shopoholic, Bride Wars, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, and Mulan. The Amsterdam airport was very different. I wanted to take pictures of the giant cheese and liquor kiosks and their painted cows (like the turtles in St. Pete), but I think taking pictures in airports is still frowned upon. The flight to Nairobi was packed (over 400 people) and I got a middle seat next to a medical anthropologist from Washington University in St. Loius. He was going to do some archeological stuff with his wife in the northern deserts of Kenya, and was very helpful navigating through the Nairobi airport.

I was so excited to see someone holding a sign with my name on it at the baggage claim area! I waved to him to let him know I was still waiting on my bags (which, with 400 people stuff, took forever). Once I had everything, I met Peter and Ben from VICDA. Peter is very lively and shook my hand and wished me 'Karibu' or welcome. Ben, the driver, was a little more reserved but they both took me to the van outside where Matteo, another volunteer, was taking a nap. We then drove down Mombasa road, past the Nairobi City Center and into the Westlands neighborhood. Driving here is crazy! There isn't really a concept of lanes or right of way, but I've only seen one accident so far at a roundabout. Anyway, we were dropped off at a sort of hostel for volunteers who work in Nairobi at the children's home here until orientation starts. Everyone is vry nice, especially Charity the 'house mom.' There are 11 beds I believe (I got a top bunk!) and hot showers and food cooked for us. After eating some tasty veggie pasta, meeting a few of the other volunteers, and writing a bit, I finally fell asleep.

Jet lag hasn't been too bad today (yet) and I woke up to breakfast of egg, and pineapple, and fried sweet bread. Two of the girls had left to go home early in the morning, but we had two new arrivals, Jay and Lauren, for orientation tomorrow. All of us new people we so shocked to see a monkey outside the window of the lounge this morning. We went outside to take pictures (it's a little chilly and overcast) to find that there were 6 sitting on top of the roof! Apparently, this is pretty common and the trees outside giver the area a real jungle feel. We took the matatu to the Westgate shopping center around 11 this morning. The van had a "Pimp My Matatu" feel with a tv screen playing some MTV2 type music in the back, but then the assistant would slam open the sliding door and more people would cram in. The mall was very western (think International Plaza in Tampa) and the guy at the Forex Money Changer was kind of rude and I think ripped me off a little, but oh well. I think we'll continue to wander around this afternoon with the other volunteers, but I wanted to let everyone know that I am very safe and very excited! Much love.