Well, 24 hours after leaving home, I’m in Nairobi! After a short stop in Zurich (lessons learned: German Vogue is far more risqué than the US version and the Zurich International Airport is a “marvelous local tourist destination thanks to its nature preserve and behind-the-scenes tours”) and a long plane ride replete with screaming babies and malfunctioning entertainment systems, I navigated the visa line and customs. The first thing that I saw upon stepping out of the airport was a trio of Masaai women in traditional warrior clothing stepping out of a matatu, the local bus/van. I then spent the next hour on Mombasa Road with a lovely driver who took me to Salma’s, where I will be spending the next two days. Her house is beautiful, the dogs are friendly, and her daughter is possibly looking at W&M. If you have any suggestions for selling points on a small state school to an international student, leave them in the comments and I’ll get them to her.
Words added to my Swahili vocabulary (some of them are identical/similar to Arabic, all thanks to the drive from the airport):
Asante sana: thank you very much
Matatu: bus/van
Piki piki: motorbike
Shukrun: thank you
Safri: travel
15 years ago
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