Karibu Africa!

8/28

Just dropped off my bags in my little hostel room in Nairobi! This has already been the best day of my life, probably. I met up with about 8 SIT kids in the Amsterdam airport, and I’m really excited to get to know them. They seem like cool kids : ) The flights went seamlessly, I got my visa, my bag wasn’t stolen or lost (although it was the third-to-last bag to be unloaded from the plane, so I was on the edge of panic watching the bags circle around the carousel…) Miltone, Jamal and Mary were there to welcome us. We hopped on a big bus with all our bags strapped to the top (precipitous!) and headed down bumpy Kenyan roads to a small Catholic church compound/ hostel. I was smiling out the window the whole way – it’s so hard to believe I’m actually here, after all the planning and anticipation! We ate a bit of dinner and then called it a night. My room is small, but I get my own bed complete with mosquito net above it! We’ll be staying at this hostel for a few days of our orientation.

8/29

Today:

Woke up and ate breakfast

Visited a GIRAFFE PRESERVE WHAT!?!?! I even got to French-kiss a giraffe (twigga, in Swahili.) Don’t worry, mom, giraffe saliva is antiseptic. Wikipedia that shit.

Came back and took a nap, but I woke up freezing because it’s so cold here! I’m wearing a sweatshirt over my fleece. It’s certainly not “Africa hot” here quite yet, which is kind of surprising.

Went to an orientation meeting and learned more about the classes: Health and Community Development seminar, Kiswahili instruction, Field Study Seminar and our final month-long independent study project. I can handle all this, but when they told us about THE DROP-OFF tomorrow, I kind of stopped breathing.

THE DROP-OFF. In itself, not so scary. In relation to me, an extreme reason for concern. In every SIT program, they drop off kids in groups of three all around the city. They then have to find their way back to the bus pick-up site. Not so hard, right? Hapana, bwana! (NO SIR!) I have absolutely zero zilch nada sense of direction. I always budget an extra 15 minutes driving time to account for the 3 U-turns I inevitably end up making. I hope my group-mates are more savvy than I.

I’ll just practice my Swahili with randos on the street. “Gina langu ni Hannah!” I’ll say. My name is Hannah! And they will reply, “Una toka wapi?” Where are you from? And I’ll say “Nina toka America!” And we will smile in mutual understanding.

Or, more likely, they’ll just say, “I speak English, stupid.”