First Post

Jambo!

We got in to the Jomo Kenyatta airport on Sunday after 22 hours of travel.  Miraculously, all ten of our bags got there on time, and there wasn't a single problem with the flights.  In true third world style however, our van got a flat tire on the ride home.  We had two spares, but of course they were both flat as well.  We waited about an 45 minutes for somebody to deliver a functional spare, and we went on our merry way.

The first morning we dropped Ben off at the International School of Kenya (ISK).  It was hard to tell which was more beautiful - the school campus, or it's female students.  Either way, both passed our tests with flying colors. Ben, although jealous of our total freedom, seems to be having a fine time. 

We spent that afternoon and most of the next morning shopping for basic household necessities at a nearby mall. Transportation seems to be the biggest riddle at this point-a personal driver and even taxis are too expensive and there's no sense in getting our own car for such a short stay. We've been trying to work the matatus (small buses), which are cheap and fun. If you can manage to evade the pickpockets, the matatus brilliantly offer the exhilaration of a roller-coaster and a peek into the daily grind of the locals. Yesterday we rode back to Westlands, the shopping district containing the aforementioned mall, to haggle with the street vendors for a birthday present for Will's mom. Today we went into downtown Nairobi to explore the city center and check out the sites. We had a nice uneventful day besides being harangued by beggars and getting yelled at by guards for illegally taking pictures of government buildings. We did have some trouble getting home during rush hour and we ended up walking quite far before finding a matatu with space for us. 

The craziness of the city ends abruptly at the ILRI gate. Once inside the guarded compound everything is quiet and calm, and life is easy. We have a housekeeper who cleans and shops for groceries. There's a pool, soccer field, squash courts, beach volleyball court, and a restaurant and bar all within a minute's walk from our house. Everyone is super friendly and outgoing, although I predict the Kenyan construction workers will be more fun than the other expats living here. As a generalization, Kenyans all seem to be exuberantly nice and good-humored, which has definitely put us in high spirits. 

Anyway, that's pretty much all for now. Hopefully the pictures will load, the internet is pretty crappy here. Please comment and let us know how life is back home!