JAMBO!
After a solid one and a half days of flying, beginning at 9:15 PM on the 30th at Dulles and ending at 6:00 AM of the 1st in Nairobi, our trip has officially started! The entire group is gathed at the "Methodist Guest Huose" -- a rather upscale hotel in a suburb of Nairobi -- and we have the day to settle in, get our clocks readjusted, wander the streets around our area, sample some local food, and soak in -- unadulterated -- the vibes and street culture of this incredible city.
My dearest roommate, Anton, and I have been ambling around the streets in awe of the fact that ohmygoshyes we actually are in Africa.
First off, the flight on Virgin Airline here was out of control -- not only did every stewardess have the most endearing British accent I have ever heard, the plane food was magnificent. Dark chocolate pudding with rasberry compote, white wine, cup of tea after cup of tea.... splendid, to say the least. Anton and I spent the flight playing a silly (and incredibly difficult) British version of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" on our in-seat screen monitors, and talking about what we thought Nairobi would be like, what our first raw, visceral, non-politically correct thoughts would be as we stepped off the plane into a continent that we have only dreamed about.
Some questions:
- What would eating with our host families be like? What sort of intimate conventions would we become privy to as we shared food in this new world?
- How will the Africans percieve us? With scorn, contempt? Or with open arms and smiles?
- What sort of cars would there be, and how would people drive?
- And what will the standard of living look like?

We landed, got through customs (I became an honorary Kenyan citizen for a day, according to one of the customs officials who placed me in the "Kenyan Citizens Only" line), successfully found ALL of our bags, and met up with Ken, our trip leader, right outside of security.

Our drive to the Guest House took about an hour, and we got to witness what a Nairobi Rush Hour looks like. Absolutely insane. You have to have a lot of confidence to drive here, and not care if your car gets hit by someone else. And some people, many people actually, who do not have cars, have walk upwards of 7 miles to work everyday. Much to think abut already.

As we travelled in our white-skinned fishbowl of a bus, we were looked upon with a mixture of stares -- some were comic and slightly sardonic, some with disdainful, some were apathetic, and some were just curious. The whiteness of our group stands out here like no other. On our entire drive in I did not see a single white person on the streets. And as Anton and I have been walking around, we've found that we haven't even wanted to associate ourselves with the other white people we occasionally see walking around. Our goal is as best an assimilation as possible, and hopefully Swahili training will help with that. Without a doubt though, our skin color speaks wealth, no matter what we may do to try and hide that.

On another topic, the craze for Obama here is absolute. I see stickers everywhere, and many storefronts have huge poster-size pictures of him. What an incredible time to be over here, and I am eager to talk with some of the locals as to what they think of our president. To see firsthand that meaningful connection initiated by Obama between Africa and America gives me such hope, such great great hope. We're getting there.

It looks like I will hopefully have pretty solid internet for the next three weeks, so keep looking for more blog posts as the days go on. They will gradually contain more and more Swahili.

Here's to everyone back at Lewis & Clark starting classes, and to all other friends and family reading this blog. Thanks for giving me the encouragement and love that has allowed me to make this amazing expedition.

Love from Africa!

Zach