Adventures Around Nairobi

Today is our last day in Nairobi as tomorrow at around 5 am we leave for our flight to Tanzania (yeah- should be fun:). We are then heading to a home stay with a local family for 2 weeks (we are not sure if we will have Internet at all- FYI). We are officially finished with our language class called Language Acquisition Made Practical so in one week I am pleased to announce my fluency in Kiswahili- yeah right! Although we do know about 10 helpful phrases now this week mostly focused on how best we can learn language in the context of relationships and living in a new place. We learned a ton of useful exercises to do later with language helpers and ways to note progress, establish accountability, battle the inevitable slumps, etc. It was actually better than expected and Annikah did awesome as she was in class with us each day. She was a bit distracting but it was a blessing that both our fearless leader Mary and the other gals going on to teach at HOPAC in Dar were so gracious (thanks ladies!). Another main goal of this week was to get us out and about and over our fear of making mistakes. I think this is one advantage I have over Jason is that I am quite used to sounding crazy, silly, or dumb and so I am eager and more willing to practice with just about everyone I meet. Jason really wants his phrases to be near perfect before trying them out. We were discussing our differences in learning styles last night on a walk home from the store (to buy some milk for Miss A). I think he will be way better at remembering more phrases and words and I will be better at getting out there to practice with people. We shall see.

We had numerous adventures around Nairobi over the last week. Even though the crime rate is higher here than Machakos I actually felt more at home here. Perhaps it is because I am indeed a city girl after living and loving Chicago life for the past 7 years. Added precautions were needed but we managed to get around a ton and see most of the city.

We went to Ya-Ya Center at the recommendation of some friends from training and we were shocked at how modern it is. Basically it was a mall you would see anywhere in the States, it even had an escalator that Annikah was excited to ride. Most of the shops were too pricey for us but before leaving we also had to stop in and grab an iced mocha at Java House. Java House is a super famous (especially among the M’zungu crowd) for being similar to a coffee house in the U.S and having Western style food (more later).

Annikah likes Java House too!

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Ya-Ya Center

On Sunday (our day off) after church at Nairobi Baptist (a very Western style mega church here that just happened to be a 2 minute walk from our guest house, very interesting) we went to another mall-ish place called the Junction. This place was very high end (read here we could not afford ANYTHING) so we mostly just looked around and talked with locals. We did treat ourselves to our long awaited anniversary meal out (thank JimRho for the treat). We had lunch at another Java House (mostly because I just had to have an educated opinion on the place so many people had recommended to us). My veggie burger was indeed yummy! Jason enjoyed a beef burrito and Anni gave 2 enthusiastic thumbs up for her chicken and fries. After trying the fries and ketchup (real Heinz:) she started yelling “asante(thank you)!” to every server that walked by. They loved it and would tickle her about every time they passed our table, in general people are very touchy-feely here with kids.After lunch we hopped a Citi Hoppa (bus) and headed back to Ya-Ya Center to see the Maasai Market. It was an open air air market set up in the parking lot with tons of craftsmen selling bowls, kangas, carvings, jewelry, and a ton of other African artifacts. We used the opportunity to practice our Kiswahili and bargain for a few things for our house. I talked with a woman named Ruth who happened to be from Machakos and after I told her I had been there for 3 weeks she was so happy to talk to me about her home. I brought a carved sugar bowl from her and she was very kind to let me fumble through all my phrases while she responded and corrected me. As we were leaving she held my hand and thanked me and gave Annikah a smaller bowl and spoon set that Anni had been playing with as a gift. It was so sweet of her and for me it was a reminder that learning this language; however tedious and difficult it may be at times, is not only important but it is necessary for me to connect and build relationships here. We also bargained for a handmade doll for Anni’s b-day coming up and a few other small things (we already think we are overweight for luggage on the plane- yikes!).