Traveling to Nairobi

I made it! I'm here! I haven't slept more than maybe 2 hours since I left but I need to write things down before I forget. Sleep shmeep.

Let's see. Mom and pop dropped me off at the airport in Boston and I was all sad and weepy so they parked the car and held my hand while I waited to go through security for an hour. I'm not sure why I was being so weird, but I really appreciated it.

The flight to Amsterdam was pretty standard. I stayed up all night and watched movies (the night was only about 4.5 hours long) and interacted minimally with the man next to me. All the trees are in lines in Amsterdam and there are little fields with white cows and waterways between everything. It reminded me of a board game (enchanted forest anyone?).

Then I got on the biggest plane ever and despite my reservation of a window seat found myself wedged between two much larger adults in the center isle. And no personal TV! It was not high tech at all. I thought it was going to be terrible but the company made up for it.

On my left was Patricia, a 59 year old Kenyan woman who now lives in Nashua, NH and is a nurse (like one of my aunts), and a masseuse (like my other aunt!). I know how old she is because I had to fill out all her forms for her when we arrived. We talked about all sorts of things. Her job (loves it), my dogs (her eyes popped out when I told her they slept in my bed), the apparently culture transcending fact that I have the same name as one 'Julia Gulia' in The Wedding Singer, and knitting (she grabbed my project on a number of occasions and worked on it for me). She also gave me her sister in law's cell phone number here in Nairobi and told me to ask for Auntie Sweety when I called. And her number in NH. No email address. I think she just wants me to call and chat.

On my right was a man whose daughter just graduated from Trinity College and is now doing Teach for America in Hartford. He was en route to Rawanda for his job as an economist (?) so needless to say we had a few things to talk about. But I did not get his phone number.

When I got off the plane I waited in line to get through immigration. When the man in front of me was at the head of our line the officer got up and left for no obvious reason. And never came back. When we asked the other attendanant what was going on he told us to "have patience!". Eventually another woman strolling around decided to take his spot and we got through.

After I grabbed my bag, I walked through the doors to a line of men holding signs. After a moment, I saw it! My name! Spelled right and everything. The Kenyan man holding the sign smiled, grabbed my bag, took me out to the curb and told me to wait while he got the car. He was back in 5 minutes and we were off. His name was Joseph and he worked for a transport service that ILRI hires. He works 24 hour shifts at $3/shift. He was a good driver and he told me all about the animals in Kenya. His favorite is the cheetah and we compared notes about deer vs. zeebras running out in the road in front of you. Let's just say it is a good thing deer don't travel in large herds and stampede accross wherever their leader has chosen to take them, even if it is the major highway.

As we were driving along talking about his 4 kids and my 3 siblings, we came upon a traffic jam. The traffic on the other side of the median was stopped. As we got closer Joseph exclamed "see this is the probloem! Kenyan drivers have no patience!" and sure enough cars had started to just drive accross the median and use our side of the highway. Oncoming traffic? Who cares! So for the next 5 miles we were relegated to the outside one of three lanes that were supposed to all be going the same direction. But Joseph handeled it like a pro and soon I was delivered safely through the iron gates of the ILRI compound to my private apartment. Where I am now. Really roughing it.

I haven't met anyone here except the security guard who gave me my key and I have no idea where to go tomorrow or when I am supposed to be there. But trust me, I will keep you posted. Right now, my bed is calling.