February 6th, 2009

Hello everyone! It has not even been a whole week since I’ve been gone…but it feels like I have been in Nairobi for a month. Everyday we learn so much about Kenyan culture and customs, like traditional food and how to wear a Kamba, which is somewhat of a bathrobe, and how to barter in the local open markets. Yesterday we visited Kibera, the world’s biggest slum, and it was very exciting to be able to walk around and talk with the people. It was a place I would have NEVER gone to before, the slums are by far the worst living conditions that I have ever seen. But you learn how to interact with the people, and knowing Kiswahili helps a lot. The biggest difference about living here so far is getting used to everything being so dirt cheap! Fruits like mangos, pineapple, passion fruit, and papaya…everything that back in the U.S. is very expensive here is only the equivalent of about 10 cents. We went out to a bar nearby the other night, beers are about $1 and mixed drinks are about $1.20. We took a Matatu the other day with one of our Swahili teachers, which is basically a van that crams people into and drives extremely fast! It’s much cheaper than a taxi, but you have to know how to use them. It seemed confusing…hopefully I’ll get the hang of it in a few days. Tomorrow we are going to meet our host families. The areas that we are living are all very close to the school and very close to this internet café where I am writing this blog right now. P.S. I know I promised pictures in the last blog but it took too long to load so I abandoned it!!! I promise I will get around to it once I have a more permanent setting and I feel comfortable going to the internet café alone, as of now I’m with two other people and it is time for us to head out, so I will check back soon I hope everyone is doing well!! I miss you all so much!!!