*There was much more of a Muslim influence in Nairobi than I expected – it was pretty common to see women wearing a hijab. We expected this on the coast and found that it is indeed very Muslim – in fact, now that it is Ramadan we discovered it difficult to find an open restaurant during the day in Mombasa.
*Driving in Nairobi is as crazy as they say … there are roundabouts instead of large intersections, and many rules of the road are taken as suggestions. If you have a big vehicle or big wallet, you can take the rules lightly. Even when traffic is non-stop at a side road intersection, they just inch their way out until the traffic can no longer swerve around them and lets them in. Mombasa is a little chaotic, but covers a much smaller area and is generally a tad more relaxed. However, there is some large truck traffic between Mombasa and Ribe, and the matatus (minibuses) will often drive onto the gravel shoulder of the roads to either pass the trucks or avoid badly pot-holed areas of the road.
picture: Matatu in Nairobi
*Despite the name of this matatu, Nairobi did not feel as dangerous as they say … probably because we stuck to safe areas and were hosted, but we drove with windows down and walked around quite a bit during the day and were fine. We have generally felt very safe in Kenya but there are times when I realize that I would feel much more vulnerable if I was here as a woman alone.
*English and Kiswahili are both used in Kenya, but it seems expected that the population knows BOTH - it is hard to get by knowing only one language. Signs in Nairobi were often in “sheng” – their slang with a combination of a couple English words and a couple Swahili words, but it was rare to see something translated to include both languages on one sign (such as you sometimes see with English/Spanish in the US). In the urban areas, it is fairly safe to assume that everyone speaks at least some English (our hosts told us it would be rude to ask if someone spoke English). However, in the rural areas this is NOT the case. We have met a number of people whose only English is “hello, how are you” and “I am fine.” Unfortunately our Kiswahili so far consists mainly of the same phrases: “jambo, habari gani” and “nzuri,” so after we exchange greetings clearly we realize that we have no means of further communication.
*There are not many white people in Nairobi, and almost none near the coast. It didn’t seem like anyone was staring at us in Nairobi, but when I saw another mzungu (white person) it definitely caught my eye! In the rural coast towns we are more of a curiosity and children will yell “mazungu! mazungu!”
*How cell phones work in Kenya: you purchase a cell phone (from anywhere), you purchase a SIM card (for about $1), and you purchase “credit.” With your credit you can make calls and send texts, and when you get low you simply “top up” by purchasing more credit at any little store. No contracts, no overage charges, just a sinking fund on your phone. Internet works similarly, and is run by the same company. You purchase a modem, SIM card, and credit, but the interesting thing is that credit buys you megabytes, not minutes. So the more uploading/downloading/streaming you do, the less credit you have left.
*In comparison to Kenyans, Americans are very focused on time as a valuable quantity. We have heard jokes about Kenya time running late, but it is more a shift in focus that is at heart. American cell phones and internet give you “minutes” (as opposed to credit in Kenya, which is not directly translatable to minutes) and when asked how far something is in the US, we would reply in the number of hours and minutes rather than actual distance. Americans seem willing to pay good money for the convenience of finding a product easily (such as online or even at the first place you look), whereas so far we have seen Kenyans look far and wide for a good deal, no matter how long it takes. It’s probably not fair to generalize this to everyone in both countries, but so far it is a striking difference.
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