Our first week in Nairobi!

Last Monday, we flew out of Toronto Pearson Airport, had a 4 hour layover in London England and arrived in Nairobi Kenya 19 hours later. We arrived safely, but were not impressed the inconsistent customer service from British Airways.  If you'd like to hear more about it, we'd be happy to tell you.

There was nothing but joy in my heart, when I, Karen, walked out of the John Kenyatta airport. Even though it was past 11pm, the car horns were music to my ears. Having grown up in a big city, I love noise and bustle. When the roosters crowed the next morning, I literally jumped out of bed, opened the windows and took a deep breath. I am thrilled to be in Kenya, the third African nation I have visited. Our family will be staying in the capital for three weeks as we receive orientation and purchase supplies, all in preparation for South Sudan. In our first week, we have done a bit of both while trying to cope with jet lag. I think we had acclimatized to the weather pretty quickly (27+ centigrade everyday!) and now our sleep patterns have adjusted to the time here.

I've really enjoyed watching Rachel taking everything in her stride. She did really well on the plane, even slept, ate well and was content playing peekaboo with passengers and reading her favourite books. It's been a treat to watch her run around, play with children unabashedly and waving to every passerby. Her outgoing personality has just exploded here and her senses are being excited with all the new sights and sounds.

Walking along a side road near the guesthouse

We're living in the SIM guesthouse.

the apartment building

   

  the living room

It's an apartment building with 4 floors. Each floor has 2 rooms, 2 bathrooms, a kitchen, a living room, a dining room and a laundry area. We're sharing the 3rd floor with a couple from Scotland, currently working in Doro, South Sudan in physiotherapy and midwifery. They are quite fun and have been very patient with Rachel as she forces them to read to her!

We are a few minutes walk away from 2 stores we have frequented. Uchumi is comparable to a grocery store like Fortinos or Metro, and Nakumat which I would compare to a Walmart.

shopping for pots & pans at Nakumat

We also visited a mall called the Yaya Centre, which is definitely catered to the expatriates here. Both Nakumat and the stores at the Yaya are overpriced but you can get everything you'd get in Canada.

Today we walked to a church and loved it. It was great trying to sing along in both English and Swahili. We were even treated to a delicious meal (Rachel ate more than half of my plate!). 

Right now, David is off swimming with Rachel, so I can get a few uninterrupted minutes to type this up!

This upcoming week is pretty full with orientation and our first meeting is tomorrow morning at 07:30 am. So it's an early bedtime for us tonight!