Nairobi photo tour

So in about an hour I'm taking the overnight train to Mombasa, and I'll fly back Sunday night. Let's hope I have better luck on this trip than last weekend. Computer problems at work continued today, only today the internet was only malfunctioning on the computer I was using, so basically I just had to deal with it. And by deal with it I mean stare at my blank screen for twenty minutes at a time waiting for a page to load. Yesterday I attended a Gender Forum in preparation for the Nairobi +21 Conference which will take place in late July. The forum wasn't too exciting but the conference looks like it will be really interesting, so I hope we get to go. I don't have much to say, so here are some pictures of downtown Nairobi:


Central Park--#2 most dangerous park in Nairobi


Sunday afternoon Maasai Market


Another view of Central Park and downtown Nairobi


Walking down Kenyatta Avenue into downtown Nairobi


Roundabout in downtown Nairobi

I'm not sure how this week could get worse, but I guess I have 2 days to find out

Good lord, where to start....

I'm still trying to figure out a way to put last weekend's safari into words. I just sent off an angry email to the company, so I don't think now's a good time to even try. I'll just say this for now: we saw a lot of elephants; there were also a lot of problems. Maybe I'll post that email later. Or maybe I'll get an attitude adjustment and write a glowing review tomorrow. We'll see.

I have had no free time--I guess it started Monday night when I thought I would get back from the Safari at around 2pm and didn't end up entering my apartment until almost 8pm. That killed any internet/grocery shopping time for Monday night because going out after dark = certain death, as I believe I've mentioned before. At least I got back in time for an Arrested Development rerun, I guess.

So, Tuesday morning at 6:30am I wake up, get ready, and scamper off on my 20 minute walk to work to get there by 8am. Our director got back Friday (while we were gone) and she immediately starts asking us about the Protocol campaign updates we've been compiling. I asked her when we should have the entire thing finished. Her reply--"yesterday." Oh. Fantastic. So I spent most of yesterday emailing people in places like Mozambique, The Gambia, Namibia, etc. While I'm typing these emails, the power goes out briefly. A normal event, only this time the back-up battery attached to mine and Mary Beth's computers has died, meaning the emails that we were in the process of sending (a 20min process in itself) were deleted and the computers restarted. Great. Then 30min later it happened again. Only no one in charge took it seriously because it didn't happen to their computers.

So the technician comes out anyway because for some reason none of the computers in the office are connected to the printer anymore. While he's there I ask him why our internet is slower than usual and keeps disconnecting, and he offers me two explanations:

1. "The longer your ethernet cord is, the slower your connection will be--you need a shorter cord." I glance at my 3 foot cord and want to kill him. If someone can provide me some evidence that this might be even slightly true I will be grateful.

2. "It's not a problem with your internet, the website's servers must be down." He gave me this explanation for Google, Yahoo, Symantec, the United Nations, and the African Union. I don't think so.

So after the useless technician leaves we go back to trying to do our work. Mary Beth and I had made plans to go into town and watch Ghana v. Brazil at 6pm, and go to the internet cafe before that. At 5:01 our director tells Mary Beth she needs to call Djibouti and get Protocol updates from them. She calls, the woman isn't there, so Mary Beth has to send an email. Forty minutes later, after the webpage has loaded, the email is written, and Mary Beth is typing in the address, the stupid power goes out AGAIN and everything is lost AGAIN. At that point, 5:45, we packed up our crap and left to watch the game. Then Ghana lost.

Today I wake up at 6:30am, scamper off on my 2omin walk to work, get there and realize we are having a total computer breakdown. No one's internet works, no one can print, the back up power is still broken, and we have to call idiot technician again. So he comes back out, finally, and replaces our "switch," and tapes it to the wall with masking tape because he doesn't have the proper tools to install it. That took one sentence to write, but took six hours to actually do. So basically we couldn't use any computers today and thus couldn't do any work. Don't forget that the campaign updates were due "yesterday." So I spent all day on the phone with places like Mozambique, The Gambia, and Namibia trying to get them to send all the crap they were supposed to send last week.

I can't wait till tomorrow.

Gone till Tuesday

So I leave tomorrow morning for Amboseli and Tsavo West, should be an exciting trip--hopefully I can find a fast internet connection when I get back so I can post more pictures (last time it took like an hour to post 3--not something I can do regularly at work, I guess).

The FGM advocacy reception last night was really good, and only slightly awkward when I got grilled by the hardcore activists and fell into their trap with my "typical" American viewpoints. Well excuuuuuuuuuse me. The UN report launch today was much more structured--lots of speeches and minimal mingling (though far fewer delicious treats). Hopefully we'll get to go to more events like that, it seems like Equality Now gets invitations to stuff all the time. I've started volunteering myself for everything. The other day Mary Beth took down a message from someone about visiting a Maasai girls camp (not "Messiah," mom...) and when we delivered the message I quickly volunteered myself to tag along. Then our office manager told me it's in like Tanzania or something--ha--so we'll see when our director gets back, but I doubt it.

Ok, I've got to run to Nakumatt and buy a flashlight for this weekend. I'm keeping a low profile tonight because the U.S. is playing Ghana in the World Cup. The paper this morning said "the entire continent is behind Ghana tonight." So, if they're all behind Ghana tonight, then no one's got my back. Good thing I didn't wear an American flag t-shirt today--though I did have a hotdog for lunch.

Time to unpack my safari hat, cargo vest, and binoculars

This weekend I may take Friday and Monday off from work and go on a four day safari to Amboseli and Tsavo West National Parks. I'm still working on the details, but hopefully the trip will work out. Tomorrow night Mary Beth (the other intern) and I are going to an FGM advocacy reception--supposedly a "sharing forum." Let's hope that I'm not asked to share anything. Let's also hope that there will be food. Thursday morning we're going to a UN report launch--"A Situation and Response Analysis of Violence Against Women and Girls in the Era of AIDS in Kenya." Again, not sure what to expect, and hoping for free food.

So this is a pretty full week as far as events go. My work is moving along slowly. Basically they asked me to research gender issues in the upcoming UN reforms. Also, I'm supposed to contact NGOs throughout Africa and compile their updates on the "Campaign on Ratification, Domestication and Popularization of the Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa" into one document that will be published later this summer. So, the work is interesting but it takes a while because of slow internet connections.

This past weekend was pretty boring. I stayed in Nairobi, saw "Poseidon" (which was terrible but the only new movie in the theaters), and spent a lot of time reading in Java House. Weekends in this city are always boring. I did manage to make the famous crazy man who always tries to rip off tourists scream incoherently at me for like 10 minutes. At the hostel I stayed at when I first got here, there was a sign hanging up about this guy, basically "Watch out for the really tall man with no front teeth. He is a criminal. He will come up to you on the street and pretend like he knows you from your hostel and works there." Then people had written down the dates on the sign when they'd encountered this guy. EVERY SINGLE TIME I go downtown this guy manages to find me and tries to pull the same stunt. So Sunday when he tried it I pulled off my headphones and yelled "I SEE YOU EVERY WEEK..." That's as far as I got before he went nuts and started screaming and running around like a maniac for a while. No one else on the street even turned around to look. Stupid city.

Give chance a chance

Recently I learned that one of the only items that thieves in Nairobi won't violently attack you for is an iPod or other portable music device. Apparently they have no resale value on the streets. I thought this was fantastic news. Now I can walk around the city without hearing: "TAXI?!?!?!?!?! TAXI?!?!??!?!" or "Safari? Masai Mara? What? You can't talk? You afraid of black people?"

....

and without worrying about getting my wrist sliced like if I wore a $5 gold-colored watch. Thanks Steve Jobs!


Me strolling down the streets of Nairobi, almost

Lake Naivasha and Hell's Gate

This past weekend I travelled to Lake Naivasha and Hell's Gate National Park. I left Nairobi around 7:30 Saturday morning and got to Fisherman's Camp, a campground right on the lake, at around 9:30. I rented a tent from the campground and after they pitched it for me (how nice), I dropped off some my stuff in it and got a taxi to take me about 3 miles down the road to Hell's Gate National Park.

Hell's Gate is cool because it's one of the only national parks in Kenya that you can walk or ride a bike through (you don't have to stay in your car). I rented a shiny new mountain bike for the day for about $6 and set off into the park. Once you enter the park it's about an 8km ride through on a really dusty road until you get to Hell's Gate Gorge. There are big rocky cliffs on either side of the park and i saw a ton of animals on the way: zebras, giraffes, antelopes, buffaloes, and baboons (not sure if some of those plural forms are correct). Some of the zebras were grazing really close to the side of the road, and after I determined they wouldn't attack or stampede me the ride was much more pleasant.

When i got to the Gorge, I parked my bike and hiked about a 1.5 hour loop through it, and got a little lost--I thought I was supposed to follow this path up a hill for a while, then realized I wasn't when the path was like 6 inches wide with a 200 foot drop to my right. I asked myself, "what would Macgyver do?" then slowly inched my way back down while holding onto roots and thick branches.

I gave both of my cameras to a sketchy stranger to take this picture

So, after I didn't die in/on the Gorge, I got back on my bike and rode back through the park. The whole trip was about 6 hours and I was exhausted and covered in dust when I got back. I watched some of the World Cup in the restaurant at the campsite (apparently I'm one of the few people here who couldn't care less about it) and met two Americans who were studying in Nairobi for the summer. They were planning to take a boat trip to Crater Lake Game Sanctuary the next morning, so i decided to do that with them. I went to bed pretty early because I didn't bring a flashlight and there were monkeys running around the campsite so I didn't want to stay out too late.

Our boat left at 8 the next morning so I got up pretty early. It was us 3 Americans, our guide, and someone running the little canoe/motorboat. The trip to Crater Lake took about 1.5 hours because our guide was showing us stuff along the way. We passed a family of hippos in the water and our boat got really close to them and was making them angry--they were jumping around and snarling and it was pretty scary--apparently hippos are the most deadly animals in kenya/africa/the world or something.

No hippos in this picture


When we got off the boat we walked to a lookout point over Crater Lake. On the way we saw tons of giraffes/zebras/monkeys/antelopes/etc. It was really cool, you could get as close to them as they would let you (unlike at hell's gate where you had to stay on the main path). That trip lasted until about 1pm, then we relaxed at the campsite for a while and I rode back with them in a car they had arranged earlier.

Giraffes are kinda cool

Hmmm...what else....Oh yeah. When I got to the campground I asked where the bathrooms were. They pointed to three small outhouse-type buildings lined up in a row. I went to use the first one but someone was cleaning it, and she told me to use the third one. When I got back from Hell's Gate, an enormous tree had fallen on the third bathroom and all that was left was tiny splinters of wood.

I almost forgot I was in Africa until I had to do laundry

Last night I had the wonderful experience of washing everything I own in my bathtub. After I determined that letting the hotel do a load of my laundry would cost about $36, and that laundry facilities are basically non-existent in Nairobi, I purchased a $0.35 bar of laundry soap (who would’ve thought laundry soap could be found in bar form—I guess I’m just sheltered) and decided to do it myself. I tried to remember how a real washing machine works. I think it goes something like this:

1. fill up with water
2. dump soap in
3. it swishes around for a while
4. water empties
5. new water pours in
6. more swishing
7. water empties
8. clothes spin really fast
9. done

So I did my best to mimic a real washing machine. I filled the bathtub up with water, applied bar soap to each item, swished it all around, emptied out the tub, put new water in and swished some more, then I added one final rinse.

The hard part is the final spin to get out the excess water. I obviously can’t create that kind of movement in an empty bathtub, and I didn’t want to twist my clothes too much because they’d stretch and I’d look awkward at work. So I just gave each item a quick squeeze. Now every available hanging space in my apartment has shirts/pants/socks hanging from it, with a cup/bowl/pot underneath to catch the dripping water (this second part wasn’t part of the original plan—I just realized what a huge mess I was making). The entire process took about three hours. Luckily I have no internet in my apartment to distract me, and I only get about 7 channels of hip-hop videos, televangelism, and mid-90’s Nickelodeon shows like “The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo” (actually that show’s pretty good).

In other news, this past weekend I tried nyama choma, Kenya’s unofficial national dish, which is basically just a barbequed goat leg. It was actually pretty good, but every bite took about 10 minutes to chew, seriously, which made dinner last forever. I also went to the Nairobi Java House three times this weekend—best coffee I’ve ever tasted, and delicious cinnamon ice cream too. Unfortunately I can’t go during the week after work because like 6 different people have told me that walking to/from City Center after dark = certain death. I’ll take their word for it, and taxis are too expensive. Ok, time to go do a safe activity in my apartment, like read a book or watch my clothes dry. L8r!

Nairobi is only as awkward as I make it

Fortunately I have mastered the art of turning everyday situations into uncomfortable events for everyone involved. Being a white kid in Nairobi presents countless opportunities for awkwardness because not only do I not know what to do most of the time, but also my every move is watched and it is clearly difficult to just blend in with the crowd.

I work in an office with only three other women. On the first day they had a few suggestions for "great" places to eat lunch, though it eventually became clear that we would not be dining together, and that I was on my own. They mentioned a place next door to the office, the ACK Guest House, so at lunch time I scampered over. Now, when I'm in downtown Nairobi, I just look like a tourist and people try to sell me safaris and stuff, but my presence isn't that strange. However, I work in the suburbs, and any walking I do in the area is met with confused stares--people generally just think I'm lost.

So, I arrive at ACK, which has outside seating, and immediately all eyes are on me. It's a buffet-style place, so for Ksh 120 (about $1.60) I get beef stew, rice, mixed vegetables, and a coke--not a bad deal. The entire time I'm ordering and shuffling through the line to get my food I'm pretending to be confident, like I go there everyday, but in reality I'm terrified because I have no idea where i'm going to sit. There are about 15 plastic tables with 4 chairs each--each table is covered by a straw roof and looks like it's inside a little hut or something--hard to explain, maybe one day I'll sneak and try to take a picture.

Anyway, each table of course has at least 2 people sitting at it, so i realize i'm going to have to awkwardly join someone's lunch date (getting the food to go is not an option). So i wander over to a table with two girls who look like they're about my age, and an older gentleman. I sit down and realize the man's eyes are completely white, and he's blind. The two girls have finished eating and are drinking sodas. No one talks. Everyone's plates are completely empty, and i wonder how they've managed to consume enough rice to feed a family of four during their lunch breaks. I realize that there's no way i'm going to be able to finish my food, which starts a new wave of panic. You know how when you're little your mom says "finish your food, there are starving people in africa/china/etc."? (Well, my mom never said this, but i've heard it said before--i think). Anyway, this takes on a whole new meaning when you actually ARE in Africa and there are starving people all around you--not at the restaurant, but you know what i mean.

So i finish all that i am physically capable of eating, meaning that there is enough for another entire meal left on my plate. i start praying that the people at my table will leave so they don't see me leave all of that food there. of course they don't--they just sit there in silence, alternating between staring at their sodas and at me, and taking the longest time ever to drink 300ml of fanta. After nibbling at the rice some more i look at my watch and decide I can't sit there any longer and just get up, grab my bag, and run away--like the selfish, horrible, neo-colonialist they all think that i am anyway. The great part about the whole situation is that i get to repeat it every single day--at least i know how that place works now, and i'm not adventurous enough to go somewhere new for lunch--at least not until the other intern gets here anyway.

In a few minutes I'm off to go see a movie. Movies here are a great way to fill the weekend--they show pretty recent stuff and they're only about $3. Last weekend I saw Mission Impossible 3. Before the movie started they had hardcore "gangsta" rap blasting over the loudspeaker in the theater. Then it got quiet and an image of the Kenyan flag blowing in the wind appeared on the screen, and the national anthem started playing. Everyone jumped to their feet (me too, of course, pretending like i saluted the Kenyan flag everyday) and stood quietly for about 3 minutes, until the previews started playing, then they all settled into their seats for the movie. Perhaps I'll jump up first and lead the salute this afternoon.