God bless the rains down in Africa

I've always wanted to sing that cheesey Toto song while traveling in Africa, I just thought of it now, luckily I still have some weeks to go. Clearly, I made it to Nairobi. My body is so confused about sleep, but I've had such sleeping difficulties the past year and a half that jet lag doesn't seem too noticeable or time changes. I suppose that's ironic or something like that. I worked this morning on a report for my boss and then we spent the afternoon walking around South Nairobi where we're staying at a church guest house, which is a nice little hostel of sorts. We went to a walking Safari where we got to see Kenyan animals, which was sweet. Rhinos are always my favorite, of course. There are lots of cool animal statues and artwork all over. I think an actual safari would be crazy, but I'm not sure if it will happen b/c my boss is going to Cairo for a few days this week.

The walking safari had rickety wooden boardwalks elevated 15-20 feet above the ground and you got to walk over different animals and habitats. Many zebras are orange from rolling around in the clay of the ground, I never really thought about that before and found that really cool. There were giant open spaces with ostriches, wildebeast, gazelles, zebras, tortoises and other creatures cohabitating. All of the big game animals had their own habitats; it was somewhat like a zoo but definitely had a more organic and natural feel. We went to a restaurant that was in the trees, they actually had an Octoberfest there which was amusing to me. The big Kenyan beer is called "Tusker" and it's pretty good. They have the history of the beer on the label and I was quite surprised to find out that it's named for the rogue elephant who trampled and killed one of the founding brewers of the beer. That is bizarre. So we sipped a Tusker during our meal in the tree house that overlooked a waterhole with a herd of those funny looking red bottomed baboons. An interesting setting to say the least.

Kenya reminds me of Jamaica a bit, but is very different, i keep reminding myself i'm in Africa. I had to wait in line to purchase a visa and it took forever and there was no airconditioning at the airport. It's spring here and it's really quite reasonable, 60-70's, but the airport was steaming hot and the immigrations lady moved methodically slow. Anyhow, I am chastising myself for grumbling shortly after I gathered my bags and we're walking and the airport all of a sudden transitions from an indoor lobby to a patio and you're outside before you know it and I'm like, "Oh my goodness, I'm in Africa!" The thrill of africa was temporarily overtaken by the thrill of getting in a car with the steering wheel on the right for the first time. Waking up this morning and seeing the city in daylight quickly replaced that thrill.

Walking around the markets was so much fun. You can learn so much about a culture by their food, how they sell it and how things smell. Most people speak some English if not fluently, so people enjoyed coming up to us and starting conversations, half looking for handouts, but that comes with the territory. My boss knows a handful of people in Nairobi and we actually ran into one of them at the market, which was quite remarkable. Walking through a strange city in a foreign culture is a good way to get to know someone and I'm glad I get to know my boss this way. He has been here several times, which even though it takes a bit away from the adventure, is comforting.

Downtown Nairobi looks like the 1970's. It's pretty nice and we checked out the parliament buildings and other state buildings. There are some nice looking buildings too, but i wasn't blown away by any of the buildings. I asked the taxi driver about the upcoming elections after a moto bike passed us with a couple Obama stickers on the back. I saw someone wearing an Obama shirt yesterday walking in the market and the cabbie said that people are really excited about the elections, but he thinks that the CIA controls everything, elections included, in the U.S. and that we don't have true democracy. I laughed and told him I couldn't completely disagree with his theory(I believe that statement was more true up until the late 80's, can't say for sure now). Anywho, that's a whole different can of worms that I'm not opening.

Tomorrow we are going to church with our main research coordinator, named Peterson. My boss, who has has a doctorate of divinity is preaching. Today when we were out and about we saw signs stating that many of the streets are going to be closed for a race tomorrow. Turns out there is a Nairobi Marathon running tomorrow and it's going to go right past where we are staying. I so wish I hadn't stopped running when I moved to Florida. There's a 10K and I'm half tempted to jump in it even though I'm in god-awful shape right now and Nairobi has a good bit of altitude. When do you get to run a race in Kenya? There's a half marathon too that I could have done if this were a month ago, oh well.

Well, I'd post pictures, but I'm on a suspect internet connection. I'm very grateful for it though, don't get it twisted! My room surprisingly has a tv and I turned it on and TBN was on. I was not pleased to say the least, of all the media and culture we export to the world, why TBN? Oh well, not my battle. More to come.