Kenya; Summer 2012: Nairobi

Today was our last day of really getting to know the area before our actual field work starts, so Njau took us into the heart of Nairobi. We stopped at an overlook point where we could see all of the major government buildings (which was actually really cool because you could hear the congregation in the Nairobi Chapel singing from a mile away) and then went right into the city. There were no lines on the streets, and where there were, they were completely disregarded; people literally drove wherever they wanted, whenever they wanted. However, we haven't seen an accident yet, and apparently, the accident rate is very low. I found this to be surprising considering that driving in Nairobi makes NYC traffic look like a freaking fairy tale. Anyway, we drove by all the government buildings and national banks and then to the Nairobi National Museum. After walking around the museum, we went to a Maasai Market where we were bombarded from the second we walked until the second we left (and even when we were getting into the car!) I have never seen such persistence, and within the first 5 minutes, we were completely overwhelmed by it all. People shouting, "my sister, come!" "you are beautiful, come let's talk" "I give you very good deal" "excuse me miss, step over here for minute" "you must have this, come take a look", not to mention the pulling from every direction. Shortly after, we learned to simply ignore them or smile, shake our heads no, and say "sante" (thank you). They all wanted to tell us a some story about their items. For example, one I heard several times was their mother made the jewelry and then proceed to point at a woman who looked like she had absolutely no idea who her "son" was. As overwhelming as it was, it was really exciting and I can't wait to go back now that I understand how it works. After the market, we went to "The Junction" (which is like their mall) and ate lunch and shopped around for a bit and then came back to the compound to hang out until dinner.