On the ground

We made it! We flew into Nairobi two nights ago, and already we are hard at work learning the language and cultural customs. We are stying in a protected compound for the time being, but will move to our host family homes tomorrow. For this afternoon we have ended classes and are wandering around a local mall, where I am using an Internet cafe to post. The city is amazing and alive with people. We rode a matatu to get here, which is essentially a bus with loud music and lots of people, a very fun way to travel, and as it turns out a great way to see some of the villages as you whizz by. And before I go any further, a little house cleaning..

For any concerned parties, this is not a Peace Corps affiliated web log, just simply a place for postings about our experience in Kenya as volunteers. Just so we have that straight...

So the flight in was amazing. We flew across Europe over the Swiss Alps, down the Italian peninsula, and across the Mediterranean. From there, well I was asleep. But I did wake in time to see the vast Sahara as we flew across Sudan. Now to put this into perspective, we crossed the enormous Swiss Alps in maybe 15 or so minutes. Sudan took up about 3 hours... unbelievable. Finally, we crossed into Kenyan air space and were treated to sights of Lake Turkana, and mount Kenya. Lake Turkana is of course where the Leakey's uncovered Turkana boy among many other highly important archaeological finds. The cloud cover was minimal, so the view was great. Mount Kenya is about 14K feet (that's my guess) and it does have a glacier, even though it lies directly at the equator, so that was certainly a sight to behold. The sun did go down before we reached Nairobi though, and we had a chance to see how dark the city limits are in contrast to European or American cities of similar size.

As for our time thus far, it has been amazing. On the ground we have made many friends already, and look forward to the months of training ahead with various parts of the entire Peace Corps crew that we came with. There are 48 of us in total, and we all seem to be getting along great. Yesterday we had a rather rousing soccer game, and Jennie didn't fail to disappoint. God bless her she has no soccer skill, but she doesn't lack for hustle and a really mean hip check. We also had our first introduction to high altitude sports as most of us were struggling to play for more than an hour with the noticeable lack of oxygen. Nairobi lies around 5300 feet above sea level. Well, there is so much more to say that I can't include here. We will post again when we get the chance and hopefully with pictures as I have taken quite a few of our training and the scenery. For now, we will just say Asante for checking in!

No, Thank You!

Jennie and I have happy feet, thanks to the people at Chaco footwear. First of all, they make some great sandals. Second, they give a 50% discount to Peace Corps volunteers on their entire line. Best of all, they are supportive and helpful. They shipped out the right sandals fast, followed by an email just to thank us for being volunteers. The sandals are made in the US in Paonia Colorado, and a portion of the proceeds go to supporting recycling and sustainable development. These people are so socially and environmentally conscious that it makes me want to assault some shrubbery. And their website is pretty nice too, check out chacousa.com.

We also recently came into a nice little solar charger called a solio - thanks here goes to Stan and Carol. This little sucker unfolds like a three paneled flower and stores those excited electrons all at the push of a button. It charges ipods and cell phones, and even AA batteries with the right hook-up and some unending solar glare. So while the equatorial sun might not play nice with my bald head, it will power up our little gizmo's. And that means plenty of music whilst I am running from the black mamba.