Time: 4:07pm EAT/ 10:07am EST
Date: Wednesday, 27th August 2008.
Location: Jomo Kenyatta International Airport
I love Kenya. I also love my iPod. Both have played a major role in my day. My flight took off just after 1am last night in Joburg and I forced myself to stay awake long enough to eat some bread. I had THREE whole seats to myself so I could lie down completely. I was so tired that I would have fallen asleep even if surrounded by people hogging the armrests and babies crying in my ear. I blinked and we were landing in Nairobi and it was 6am. First thing I did once I got off the plane was go to Java house. They didn’t have any ice so I had to settle for a $5 milkshake. It was SO hot and stuffy in there that I decided not to try and spend 12 hours in the airport and to pay for a transit visa. They filled another entire page of my passport. Charles the taxi driver drove me to Village Market where I was able to get some real chai from Dormans, shop (albeit unsuccessfully) for new bata bullets, a kenya rugby jersey, and a Kenyan nose stud (just for you Megan…no success though), reminisce about fun times there over alumni weekend just a few weeks ago, eat Prime Cuts for lunch, wander through the shops, avoid recognition by several RVA staff members (I think it was the red hair, because Mr. Peifer walked right past me), and get some time online to write a few emails. I came back to the airport with plenty of time to kill, wrote and posted some postcards and letters, bought an AWESOME pair of leather sandals, and have since then been doing everything possible to avoid having to read my scholarly journal articles for school. My iPod has provided a consistent soundtrack to the day. I can’t figure out how to pay for wireless so you won’t get to read this until I’m at my next destination. From here I’m flying to Entebbe, Uganda, for a few hours layover, then on to Amsterdam for another layover, then finally on to Paris tomorrow morning, to catch a taxi to the hotel and hopefully meet up with the rest of the people in my program. So now, to avoid my readings some more, I’m going to be a creepy stalker again. Enjoy.
Spotted in JKIA, Nairobi:
- Man who has the exact same shirt I do.
- What Hannah Lyon will look like when she grows up.
- Old lady with the most awesome white hair ever (I want white hair when I grow up-not gray)
- Kid wearing not one, but two hats à la the Man from Snowy River whose name I’ve just forgotten.
- Newspapers talking about the foiled Obama assassination plot.
- Obama and his family on the cover of almost every magazine.
- Tuskers.
- Mr. Myrick.
- Americans! Haha.
- Many people walking back and forth multiple times (the terminal is shaped like a concave lens and there are only 14 gates so it’s not hard to go all the way back and forth).
- A Daddy dancing with his daughter.
- A woman who must have been 6’2” and from Somalia.
- A look inside the business lounge for Air Qatar. The door was accidentally left open.
- A girl with some incredible henna on her hand.
- Someone wearing Skousers (that’s a skirt on top of trousers…I guess Americans would call them “Skants”???)
Also, being here reminds me of that one time when the Malawi/Zambia group was flying home at the same time as the Kigale group and Chris Vinton pretended to be handicapped so they could push her around in a wheelchair. And the other time when the Uganda group was with us and Pep and Pierce and Lowell got out their guitars and started playing and drew a slight crowd (it was big for 7am). And the time that Nathan sat down on the floor and played worms on his computer the whole time.
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Time: 7:48pm EAT/ 1:48pm EST
Date: Wednesday, 27th August, 2008
Location: Entebbe International Airport, Uganda
I cannot believe that I’ve seen people I knew at all 3 airports I’ve been to so far! I was standing at the transfer desk shortly after landing in Entebbe when I saw David Leber in the baggage claim. I actually laughed out loud. Multiple times. I could not believe it. I didn’t have the nerve to bang on the window and cause a scene so I didn’t get a chance to say hi, but it’s still made my day. Haha.
Other things I’ve seen in Uganda while waiting for my flight to Amsterdam:
- Cute Kenyan kid with so many clothes on he walks like a penguin and can’t put his arms down. He has no fears of strangers and is playing with everyone in the lounge willing to play with him.
- Cute little Dutch boy hitting the cute little Kenyan boy over the head with a galimoto (wire car).
- Group of Americans (mission team) conversing about something comical (I don’t know what exactly--may be creepy, but I’m not an eavesdropper. A girl’s gotta have her standards.)
- A girl wearing a “Life is Good” t-shirt.
- A sweet kikoy the colors of the Kenyan flag being worn as a scarf. I’m still trying not to covet it. I’ll have to find one the next time I’m in Kenya. Whenever that is…
- My dirty feet. One of which is asleep and tingly right now and it really hurts.
- Airport workers trying to match passports and boarding passes to faces. I don’t understand why they decided to make this transit so difficult. Maybe their computers are down or something.
- Man in orange flared capris that matched his backpack.
- Painting of crested cranes.
- A woman with a pink Hannah Montana roll on. (Not gonna lie, I’m kinda jealous of her self-confidence…although I would’ve picked Spiderman over HM).
Flight’s boarding so I’m off. I hope that cute Kenyan kid and cute Dutch kid sleep the whole flight. Talk at you from Europe next!
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Time: 7:24 am Holland time/1:24 am EST
Date: 28th August, 2008
Location: Schipol Airport, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
One flight left. And it's now boarding. So I'm gonna post this and sleep my way to Paris...
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