This is Not Kenya

This is a dream. And I am probably dreaming somewhere in California.

Nairobi reminds me of Los Angeles. The billboards are all in English, the streets have crazy drivers (though car steering wheel are on the right and cars drive on the left-hand side of the road), and the petrol converts to about $4.60 per gallon (95shillings per liter). At certain places, towering palm trees serve as a road divider, and advertisements for "Budget" rent-a-car and other familiar U.S. brands could be seen throughout the drive. Palm trees?? I thought i was in Kenya. Even other U.S. states don't have palm trees. So far, my experience of East Africa is more familiar to my California roots than visits to Texas.

I am currently in a hostel not far from Nairobi, where I have most all the amenities I could ask for: flushing toilets, hot showers, electricity, internet, Ice Cream?? I was not expecting ice cream for a couple of years but the small strawberry & vanilla scoops proved a pleasant surprise. Yesterday morning I experienced a sunrise that would move even Keanu Reeves to show some degree of emotion, and a magnificent sunset accompanied me during a game of ultimate frisbee on a small grass field with other peace corps trainees. Also, for those of you who have played Oregon Trail, I no longer have to live in fear of Typhoid, since the vaccine (along with others) is coursing through my body.

I absolutely love my fellow trainees thus far, and it is so exciting to continually find out their different life stories. I have found two other berkeley graduates in my training group: one that lived in Los Angeles, and the other that I have nicknamed Babu (meaning grandfather in kiswahili). The staff here is amazing as well. We began our first Kiswahili lesson yesterday, and it is slow going for most of us.

Our food situation is similar to what I would find back home. Breakfast yesterday was cornflakes with warm milk, eggs, sausage and wheat toast. Lunch and dinner most always have rice and beans, with a buttery "coleslaw" for vegetables. On another note, I've been wearing the same outfit each day, and i'm deathly afraid of hand-washing my clothes.

It's becoming ever so slightly more real each passing moment, but once I believe I am actually in Kenya, I will be sure make it known.