correction: nairobbery

nairobi has a distinct way of welcoming you. it's full of smiles and cheap soda and as soon as you assume you're comfortable it sneaks up on you, and steals your phone.

i should start with the fact that the past two days (read: my first two days in africa) have been problematic with electronics. yesterday i dropped my digital camera and the lens jammed = broken. so, i swallowed my wallet and went downtown to buy another one. $140 later i was relatively pleased and ready to continue documenting this adventure. then i got back and realized my memory card didn't fit in the camera. WTF?! the corporate man is trying to keep us down. so, i will soon wander back out into the concrete jungle in search of a memory card that will fit.

following the (expensive) camera purchase i went to catch the bus. i was proud of myself for finding the hilton and remembering the buses. after a little wait and reminiscing of fancy christmas dinners in the hilton, my bus came and about 40 or so kenyans all push to the door. as i'm getting on i feel someone tugging at my purse, so i turn around and catch a middle-aged man trying to get into my bag. he shrugs and grins and waves as i board the bus and i'm thinking "ha! i caught that sucker, thinks he can rob a mzungu, no way." then i sit down and it dawns on me that sonofabitch was grinning and waving in appreciation, he was now the proud owner of a cell phone. at least he didn't get my wallet (?!) i'm not going to buy a new phone (out of principle) until i get to eldoret this weekend.

i should share though that we went to walk through city market and spoke to people in broken swahili and one old woman saw me coming and yells "oh dear! i have been waiting for you my whole life! {holds my hands} now! come look in my shop" her name was pamela. her breath smelled of rum. she thought i was 18 (and was later appalled to discover i was 25 and unmarried without children). she had an obama bumper sticker on her shop and teared up when she spoke of him, since "he is her brother."

last night laura and i found a pool hall and heard inappropriate jokes from two kenyans while listening to beyonce and catching up. it was wonderful. and tonight i am going to dinner at the house of my former homestay. hense why i have to go find a memory card, because i'm sure the little boys have grown so much. i also came back to the hostel and found two large turtles mating as i went to take a shower. i would have taken a picture, but ya know...

{sigh} africa: the continent that will eat you alive without a sense of humor.