well, here i am in kenya.

For a long time after coming to Kenya, when people asked me “How do you like living in Nairobi?”, I said things like: ….oh, well, you know, it’s very different from where I’ve ever lived before. Or: oh, well, Nairobi, you know, it’s not a very warm and welcoming city. Or: oh, well, it’s good, it’s good. I mean, it’s not an easy city to live in. You know. But, yeah, it’s fine.

Sometime in the last few months, I’m not even sure when, I started answering with: Oh, man! I love Nairobi! Nairobi is great!

Some of things I think have changed my mind:

- taking matatus isn’t a big stress or expenditure of energy any more
- passionfruit-avocado juice
- managing to make some friends
- at a bus rest stop in Nakuru at 1am in the morning during a trip up country by night bus, I ran into a group of hip hop musicians I know from working on a Stop EPAs concert
- when I came back from Kampala and Lusaka, I really thought everyone would be very cynical about the power-sharing deal between Kibaki and Raila. Instead, everyone is determined to be hopeful, to be joyful about this opportunity for peace in Kenya.
- yes, it takes a lot longer to navigate the sidewalks and streets of downtown since the hawkers took over in November. But if you aren’t in a huge hurry, it’s kind of nice to have anything you could possibly want there on the sidewalk and spilling into the streets – oranges and sweet potatoes, stuffed animals, bedding, books, plastic containers, underwear, jeans, plates, handkerchiefs, sweets, plastic bags, charcoal, bibles... They were supposed to be relocated to a new ‘market’ area 2 weeks ago, but they ain’t moving.
- the National Reference and Lending Library – I don’t know if I would have been able to make the move from Kahawa to Nairobi without the intervention of a public library in my life
- radio stations that play Kenyan hip hop