Nairobi, Day 1 : Giraffes & Masego

We woke up this morning and Nairobi National Park was outside our window. WAIT IS THAT A GIRAFFE?! Yes. Yes it is. This is going to be a great 3 months. 

We landed in Nairobi at 7 PM last night (1 PM back home), got through customs reeeal fast (turns out you don't actually have to do the visa ahead of time if you're pressed on time) and took a cab to the hotel my parents so generously paid for us in hotel points. We bought our SIM cards for our phones with data plans at the airport (TelKom cards) for 10 GB of data + 100 minutes + unlimited Whatsapp for $15 / month. What a relief! Now I can call my grandma from Kenya whenever I want. 

This morning we woke up at 11 AM (that jet lag tho) and went to the gym before packing up our stuff and heading out to find our AirBnB. We took a 45 minute Uber and it cost $6. I had a very preliminary conversation with the cab driver, Agnes, in kiswahili! She was impressed I knew the word for avocado. Little does she know that's one of the first words Duolingo taught me. I'll never find out what the Duolingo algorithm is for introducing vocabulary but I'm a fan. 

The VERY affordable apartment was beautiful. We went to a little quirky restaurant down the street called "Pots and Palms." It was cute and we watched people watching a soccer game on the screens. We went back to the AirBnb and I passed out for an hour. 

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Photo creds: Sasha

Sasha and Iris

Who is staying at the AirBnb? Good question! I'm doing my internship through McGill with 5 other interns also from McGill. I'll be with Sasha working at IMPACT (Indigenous Movement for Peace Advancement and Conflict Transformation--more info on that later) while Iris and Ottalia are working with ILEPA (Indigenous Livelihoods Enhancement Partner Association) and Victoria and Elizabeth are working with SORALO (South Rift Association of Landowners). 

We're getting ready to go to a Masego concert tonight because life is wild and why not go to a concert in Nariobi after your first full day here?