Nairobi, Kenya

I have done my first bit of travel in East Africa; this past weekend I traveled to Nairobi, Kenya to visit my friend Patrick.  He and I worked together my first summer with PASSPORTkids! in the United States.  Nairobi is a 5 hour bus ride from Arusha, and it cost only about 25,000 TSH which is less than $15 dollars.  I left at 8:00 am on Friday morning and made it to Nairobi at around 1:30 pm (traffic in Nairobi, especially on a Friday is pretty terrible).  Patrick was there waiting for me, and I got the grand tour of Nairobi.  On Friday, we went and got hamburgers, fries, and milkshakes which was something I had been craving since I arrived in Africa.  Nairobi is a much bigger city than Arusha, so American-style options are a little safer and closer to what home "taste" like.  It was a delicious burger!  We also went to a supermarket.  I had been searching for floss since I arrived in Arusha, and it was nowhere to be found.  I found some in the supermarket, and bought a few spools to last the next few months.  The Arusha supermarkets are very limited in random things like that, so I was glad to finally find some in the "big-city."  Patrick and I just hung out at his apartment on Friday night.  We went to a local bar, had a drink, and watched some kind of Kenyan running meet on TV.  It was pretty fun to watch.  I was so exhausted, so I went to bed fairly early on Friday; I also knew we had a big day of exploring on Saturday, so I wanted to be well-rested.

On Saturday, we were the ultimate tourists.  First, we went to The David Sheldrick Foundation in Nairobi National Park.  It is a foundation created to take care of baby elephants whose parents have been killed by poachers.  These elephants are still milk-dependent; therefore, without the care of the Foundation, they would not have survived in the wild.  The elephants are taken care of by a wonderful, dedicated staff who literally do everything with the babies.  They feed them (special milk formula) from a bottle, play soccer with them, exercise with them, bathe them, and even sleep in the stalls with them every night.  Baby elephants need constant love and attention; it is definitely a full-time job for these dedicated staff members.  The elephants love these guys too.  While we were watching the elephants, a few of the staff were trying to explain what happens at the Foundation.  As they were speaking, the babies would come up and take their trunks and sort of "pet" the staff member.  They were hilarious to watch.  The baby elephants had so much personality.  They would blow bubbles in their water, play with the staff, play with each other.  It was a lot of fun to watch them.  I was most excited about visit this place!  Earlier this year, while visiting Eric in Omaha, we went to the Omaha Zoo and watched an IMAX movie called "Born Free" about the work the Foundation does as well as another Foundation working in Asia that does similar work with orangutans.  Eric and I both loved the movie; however, I had forgotten the Foundation was located in Nairobi until I started researching about activities I wanted to do on my visit.  It was my favorite thing I did all weekend! I was so excited to be so close and be able to pet a baby elephant, it was a pretty neat experience.

Bottle Feeding the Baby

So exciting!!!!! I was freaking out!

Heading back inside, following their leaders.

After the elephant orphanage, we went to the Giraffe Center.  It is an educational center set up to teach children in Kenya about the wildlife in their country.  While there, we got to feed giraffes and learn a little bit about the giraffe population of Kenya and East Africa.  We also made a stop at the animal orphanage (basically a zoo) at the Nairobi National Park.  We were there right at meal-time!  We then went into the city.  I had to climb to the second-highest building in Nairobi to see the view of the city.  I was pretty scared and stayed towards the middle of the building, but it was a fantastic place to see a great view of the city and beyond the city into the national park and mountains.  On the building, I spotted a huge market, so we decided to make a little stop there on our way back to the car.  It was souvenir central.  While there, I purchased two skirts made from traditional African kangas (what women wear, basically big pieces of fabric they tie into skirts, etc).  I purchased a purple print skirt, and a black and white zebra one.  They have actually been made into skirts, so they aren't just one big piece of fabric.  I am excited for it to warm up a little in Arusha, so I can wear them around.  I also purchased a woven bag; it is dyed blue and has some beautiful beads on it.  I forgot to bring a small bag to carry my gym clothes in, so I have been carrying an obnoxious "ShopRite" (local supermarket) bag, which is super huge and not comfortable to carry.  I love my souvenirs, and am glad we made a stop.

So much slobber....yuck.

...And visiting more animals, it was the theme of the day...

Second highest building in Nairobi...wasn't thrilled about being so high up, but I comfortably sat in the middle far from the edge....so I was pretty happy taking in the view.

After spending the day running around, we met up with two other interns who had traveled to Nairobi for the weekend.  One of the boys is Ethiopian, and had friends who lived in Nairobi; these family friends wanted to throw him a party so we were invited to stop by.  It was very fun; we got to mingle with Nairobi elite-including a celebrity who is very famous for being in music videos in Kenya and a few models.  They had lots of food, including some wonderful grilled meat.  It was a good time.  I went to bed very early on Saturday, I was exhausted and needed rest.

On Sunday, I ate a huge breakfast of eggs, potatoes, pancakes, toast, and fresh Passion fruit juice.  We went to Central Park (downtown Nairobi) and walked around for about an hour.  Then it was time for me to leave, so I was dropped off at the hotel where my bus departs.  I was early so I sent some postcards to some people back in the US, and then finished my book (entitled "Room", I recommend it, it's really good, but very weird).  After a 5 hour bus ride back home, the other two interns and I were starving so we ate at a fabulous Indian restaurant in a hotel in Arusha.  I finally made it back to the white house around 8:30-ish.  It felt like home, I was very relieved to be back in Arusha.  I was exhausted, and basically went straight to bed.  Very long weekend, but I did get to see a lot.  I doubt I will make it back to Nairobi again, but I was glad to see it!

In other news, last week was pretty great at work.  I finally got my own assignment which kept me very busy for the week.  I really love the work I am doing at the Tribunal.  I also am really enjoying the people I am meeting.  It has been a really great experience thus far.  I also started my Swahili class last week.  As an intern/UN staff, there are free language classes available to take here at the Tribunal.  I thought it would be a shame to not take advantage of such an awesome opportunity.  I decided to try Swahili; I figured I might be the most successful at it because I will be able to use it everyday here. 

My mom also booked her flight to come and visit.  She will be arriving the last weekend of October and staying through November 8th!  I cannot wait.  I am planning lots of fun stuff to do while she visits, specifically we are going to do a safari.  I think she will love seeing the National Parks here in Tanzania.  The wildlife is unbelieveable!  I am counting down the days till she gets here, it will be nice to have a little bit of home here in Africa. 

This weekend we girls at the white house are planning our first party!  We will be hosting a ton of people on Saturday night in our big, nice house.  We are excited about having people over and enjoying the company of our colleagues.  My roommates and I are also planning a dinner/movie night this week; the local movie theatre is playing "Bridemaids" in English, so we are excited to have a girls night out and enjoy a funny movie.  Overall, everything is going great.  I am slowly becoming comfortable with my new life here; however, I do miss people back home and will be excited to come home after this adventure!  Much love from Tanzania!