Arrived!

[elfy]

So, yes I landed safely yesterday. I just have a few minutes to catch up with my mails, it took me ages to find an open internet cafe here and I wanted to meet the others again in a few minutes. Will get a Kenyan sim-card, so I'm able to make cheap calls :)

First impressions and random things:

The landing was ugh. Not because the landing itself was bad, but I felt really sick. Bah!

They didn't want to let on of the the other students into the country, didn't want to grant him a visa. He is with us now, but only on monday it's decided if he can stay or not. Sooo stupid :-/ (He has a german passport, but is Ukranian and it seems they never saw something like this and don.t accept it.)

We do have single rooms, they are small, but okayish. Could need some renovation, but well ... it's okay, I can sleep there, that's all I need.

African food is - until now - not my thing. We were at two different restaurants yesterday, both were also okayish, but, well, just not my thing. But I don't give up, I guess I'll find something I really like sooner or later :)

The people from the Goethe Institute are great!

I saw giraffes! But only from afar, as we drove into the city from the airport.

We're really in the inner city here, so not much nature to see ... at least nothing more exotic than a gecko at the bathroom window or shiny colorful flowers.

Nairobians are nice people, very helpful, but my good, there are so many people who try to get something from you (money, most of all), by offering a ride or whatever. I mean it's like, whenever someone approaches *you* and is nice to you, you basically have to expect he will want money for his help afterwards. But that seems to be a very Nairobian thing, Mombasa for example it totally different.

Ah, so much more to tell, but I gotta leave :)
I'll probably write more the next days, not sure when pictures will follow.

Many greetings from faaaar away ;)

Comments

[rattenmaus.livejournal.com]

yaaaay
ich erwarte gespannt weitere berichte und fotos und elfy content. ^^

[fuchs.livejournal.com]

*hibbelwibbel* Du meine Güte, ist das spannend! Giraffen! O_*

[vout.livejournal.com]

Woah. Reading your entry feels exotic.^^
Have fun.

[dotintheshark.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you made it there safely! And I hope you'll find some food you like. Have a good time!

And sorry for mostly being a lurker on your LJ recently - I read all your entries, but somehow I never got around to saying anything. :(

[king-chiron.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a great adventure, have fun!

[majinaraparticl.livejournal.com]

Mehr Text, mehr Reiseberichte! :)

[cos]

Will you be able to text internationally from your SIM card?

East African food actually eaten by most people at home, IIRC, is mostly beans & rice (available cheap!), ugali (cornmeal mush used in place of bread), cooked greens, chapati bread. A lot of it (such as the chapati) comes from India, and the typical "eating out" food I remember in Nairobi is Indian food (though *so* spicy!!)

Oh, and as for giraffes: they're not scared of people at all. If you go somewhere where there are giraffes but no dangerous animals, so you can walk around, you can walk right up to the giraffes and they probably won't mind.

[vanita.livejournal.com]

Yay for immediately telling us your first impressions!
I'll be waiting for more.
Have fun!

[torn-tights.livejournal.com]

Oh mann, da keimt wieder der Wunsch auf, sich allen Verpflichtungen zu entziehen, um Raum für ein Abenteuer zu schaffen... Viel Spaß da unten!

(So eine dumme Visums-Geschichte hatten wir auch mal mit einer russisch-israelischen Austauschschülerin... haben sie auch erst am Flughafen gemerkt, dass sie nicht Ausreisen darf. Unglaublich was es da für unsinnige Restriktionen gibt)