Hujambo!

I’ve been visiting the USA for a few weeks now. Home is San Diego, California, but my twin sister Randi lives in Portland, Oregon. I have a bunch of old friends strewn along the California coast, so it seemed like a good idea to drive up to Oregon instead of flying. California and Oregon are both beautiful states, so the 1,095 mile (1,762 kilometers) drive is quite enjoyable. The weather was great, so we could see Mount Shasta, Mount Hood, and Mount St. Helens very clearly.  It kinda reminded me of all the times I’ve seen mountains in East Africa, but without the annoying tour guides!

I think Portland (and Oregon as a whole) really has their stuff together; recycling is easy and efficient, public transit is pervasive and cheap (sometimes free), bicycle commuting is encouraged and bikers have lanes all over the city. Portland’s motto is, after all, “the city that works” (a google search for that reveals that Chicago is too…).  Social services for the unemployed seem to be pretty good too: I hear it’s pretty easy to get on food stamps, and the state does fairly intuitive things to give people work.  For instance, you’re not allowed to pump your own gas in Oregon.

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Here’s a bit of funny trivia for you: what language is the funny co-pilot speaking in this Star Wars clip?

Surprise!! It’s Kikuyu, a language spoken in Kenya. I don’t understand what he’s saying, but after living in Kenya for a few years you can eventually distinguish between lots of languages… he apparently says something like, “Tell those guys over there to come over here.”

I was in Tanzania for a few days over the Easter holiday. I always figure, living in Kenya, it’s the closest I can get to being in San Diego and hopping over the border to Mexico to eat a few tacos. It’s only a 5 hour bus ride to the decently-sized town of Arusha, and once you’re there the going is cheap and easy. My favorite part is the street food at night; people set up grills and sell all sorts of great finger foods for just a few shillings. Even better, I’ve never felt unsafe in Arusha.

After a great weekend wandering around Arusha and Moshi (the town just below Mt. Kilimanjaro), I came back to the Kenyan border and waited in line to be interrogated by the customs agents. I have a valid Tanzanian visa, and a valid Kenyan work permit, but for some reason the lady decided to be difficult. When she asked me “Where are you going?” I told her “Westlands,” which was apparently the wrong answer, because she asked me “Where is Westlands?” After a few more rounds of me hearing her incorrectly and giving more “wrong” answers, I finally told her, “Nairobi” and she let me go.

I don’t know if she was trying to catch me in a lie… or maybe she decided that, because Westlands is a suburb of Nairobi, the correct answer should be “Nairobi?” What if I wasn’t going to Nairobi? Would Nairobi still be the correct answer? We will never know…

Something is seriously wrong in Kenya. I rarely have problems with people over charging me or being abusive to me, but lately I’ve noticed that if I’m with black Kenyans those problems occur more often than when I’m by myself. A few examples…

There’s a great second-hand, open-air market just outside of Nairobi’s business district, Kikomba. You can get good shoes, shirts, bed sheets, pants, etc for really cheap in Gikosh! Remember the gay marriage hat I saw there one time? I spotted that when I was there with my Dutch friend Renske. I’ve been with all sorts of people, and the experience is always different:

• With white girl: People generally impressed by our Swahili; a man even told me, “Swahili yako imenibamba” (your Swahili made me happy, or “jazzed” him).
• With black girl: Someone yells, “Umeshika mzungu!” (you’ve “caught” a white guy) to my friend.
• With black guy: Someone asked him if he was my tour guide…

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There’s something with Mormons in Kenya that I haven’t quite figured out. I don’t know how big their following is in Kenya, but I always see them walking around Uthiru where I work. Maybe it’s an isolated thing… The funny thing isn’t the Mormons really, it’s the fact that there is always a balance between black dudes and white dudes; yesterday, after the drunkard on the bus incident, I saw four of them walking, two black and two white.

There’s no mistaking them, they wear the suit and tie just like the ones you see in the United States. My buddies and I always laugh because we wonder why they are always together like that. Is it because the black dudes are Kenyans and they can protect the white boys? Or is it because the Mormons wanna show everyone they’re “equal opportunity” employers? I’ll never know because that’s not really the kind of thing you can ask someone (but you can ask them how the heck Jesus visited America… look it up, I’m not joking).

If you’re privy to that info please give me the low down!