(Written a week ago during my layover in Nairobi)
I find myself back in Nairobi having come full circle since the start of my trip 7.5 months ago. As I think back to when I first arrived, it is really funny to compare my state-of-mind now vs. then.
Man, talk about being nervous when I first set foot in Africa. I didn’t really know what it would be like but I was hoping all of the bad press I had heard about the place would just be your standard fear mongering. Even still, the fact that I was totally on my own and on the brink of a huge life undertaking was a daunting feeling. Walking to baggage claim was when I had the distinct “holy shit, this is it” feeling. There was no period of time when I was waiting for everything to sink in. It was immediate.
I won’t ever forget the entire series of events. Nearly missing my flight despite a 6-hour layover in London, my conversation with a Kenyan guy on the flight, the pilot alerting the passengers to a herd of giraffe upon our approach, walking past scattered men sleeping on prayer mats in the various prayer rooms at the airport, receiving my first African visa, fumbling around with my bags while cursing myself for packing too much, awing at the throngs of people walking along the streets on my way to my guesthouse, making mental comparisons of African things to things from home, the warm welcoming I received at my guesthouse and finally crashing into my bed to let my brain soak up and sort through all of the new information it was receiving. It was a lot to take in.
Now that I’m back, I find nothing to be really new or surprising. Well, except for maybe the lady blowing snot rockets into the sink in the bathroom. That was a new one. Anyway, I’m still fully aware that everything around me is very different from home but I’m used to it all now. Cows, goats, chickens, pigs, etc lining the streets? Hole-in-the-ground toilets? Bucket showers? Minibuses overflowing with people? Kids waving, yelling and swarming around me? Navigating jagged sidewalks amongst ladies with water jugs on their heads, vendors shoving things in my face, beggars crawling on their hands and vehicles careening around corners? Ending each day rinsing my dirt tan down the drain? Pfff no sweat. Bring it on. It’s funny how much my perspective has changed. Now that I’m officially seasoned I see, appreciate and interact with things here in a completely different way. It makes me a bit nervous about how I’ll view things when I get back home.
Anyway, I’m sitting here waiting on my flight to Ethiopia and slowly coming to terms with the fact that my time in Africa is more or less over. It’s a totally bittersweet feeling. Sweet in that there won’t be daily TIA* moments, but bitter in that it is these same TIA moments that invariably have led to some of the most memorable adventures I’ve had in life. They are what make Africa one of the toughest yet most memorable, interesting, inspiring, heart-breaking, heart-warming, amazing, mind-altering, lovely and life-changing places to travel.
So I have 3 weeks to go before I head to Asia. I’m off to Ethiopia for the remainder of my time in Africa where I expect much more Middle Eastern and Indian influences. It’s supposedly one of the most unique African countries in that it was never really colonized by the West so it has held on to most of its culture and traditions in a way many other African nations haven’t been able to. The food, music, time-keeping, calendar, language, alphabet, tribes and entire structure of the place is unique in its own right.
More on this later, gotta catch my flight. Here we go, Ethio!
*TIA = “This is Africa.” It is a term used regularly by travelers to explain away all of the ridiculous things that happen and stuff that doesn’t go your way. Examples: random power cuts, random water cuts, ferry brakedowns, cattle traffic-jams, sleeping donkey speedbumps, goat fights in the middle of the road, massive transportation delays, lady at the hotel wiping bed bugs & other creepy crawlies off the bed before looking at you like, “see, everything’s totally fine now”, getting super excited about a 3-page menu only to find out when you try to order that they only serve 2 things: rice or maize-meal, the ubiquitous public urination displays, cars driving around with loudspeakers strapped to the sides with a dude shouting about who-knows-what, something that sounds like midnight marching band practice, etc, etc, etc.
I find myself back in Nairobi having come full circle since the start of my trip 7.5 months ago. As I think back to when I first arrived, it is really funny to compare my state-of-mind now vs. then.
Man, talk about being nervous when I first set foot in Africa. I didn’t really know what it would be like but I was hoping all of the bad press I had heard about the place would just be your standard fear mongering. Even still, the fact that I was totally on my own and on the brink of a huge life undertaking was a daunting feeling. Walking to baggage claim was when I had the distinct “holy shit, this is it” feeling. There was no period of time when I was waiting for everything to sink in. It was immediate.
I won’t ever forget the entire series of events. Nearly missing my flight despite a 6-hour layover in London, my conversation with a Kenyan guy on the flight, the pilot alerting the passengers to a herd of giraffe upon our approach, walking past scattered men sleeping on prayer mats in the various prayer rooms at the airport, receiving my first African visa, fumbling around with my bags while cursing myself for packing too much, awing at the throngs of people walking along the streets on my way to my guesthouse, making mental comparisons of African things to things from home, the warm welcoming I received at my guesthouse and finally crashing into my bed to let my brain soak up and sort through all of the new information it was receiving. It was a lot to take in.
Now that I’m back, I find nothing to be really new or surprising. Well, except for maybe the lady blowing snot rockets into the sink in the bathroom. That was a new one. Anyway, I’m still fully aware that everything around me is very different from home but I’m used to it all now. Cows, goats, chickens, pigs, etc lining the streets? Hole-in-the-ground toilets? Bucket showers? Minibuses overflowing with people? Kids waving, yelling and swarming around me? Navigating jagged sidewalks amongst ladies with water jugs on their heads, vendors shoving things in my face, beggars crawling on their hands and vehicles careening around corners? Ending each day rinsing my dirt tan down the drain? Pfff no sweat. Bring it on. It’s funny how much my perspective has changed. Now that I’m officially seasoned I see, appreciate and interact with things here in a completely different way. It makes me a bit nervous about how I’ll view things when I get back home.
Anyway, I’m sitting here waiting on my flight to Ethiopia and slowly coming to terms with the fact that my time in Africa is more or less over. It’s a totally bittersweet feeling. Sweet in that there won’t be daily TIA* moments, but bitter in that it is these same TIA moments that invariably have led to some of the most memorable adventures I’ve had in life. They are what make Africa one of the toughest yet most memorable, interesting, inspiring, heart-breaking, heart-warming, amazing, mind-altering, lovely and life-changing places to travel.
So I have 3 weeks to go before I head to Asia. I’m off to Ethiopia for the remainder of my time in Africa where I expect much more Middle Eastern and Indian influences. It’s supposedly one of the most unique African countries in that it was never really colonized by the West so it has held on to most of its culture and traditions in a way many other African nations haven’t been able to. The food, music, time-keeping, calendar, language, alphabet, tribes and entire structure of the place is unique in its own right.
More on this later, gotta catch my flight. Here we go, Ethio!
*TIA = “This is Africa.” It is a term used regularly by travelers to explain away all of the ridiculous things that happen and stuff that doesn’t go your way. Examples: random power cuts, random water cuts, ferry brakedowns, cattle traffic-jams, sleeping donkey speedbumps, goat fights in the middle of the road, massive transportation delays, lady at the hotel wiping bed bugs & other creepy crawlies off the bed before looking at you like, “see, everything’s totally fine now”, getting super excited about a 3-page menu only to find out when you try to order that they only serve 2 things: rice or maize-meal, the ubiquitous public urination displays, cars driving around with loudspeakers strapped to the sides with a dude shouting about who-knows-what, something that sounds like midnight marching band practice, etc, etc, etc.
Can't wait to meet up with you in Thailand!! So glad i'll have you as my survival guide :)
ReplyDeletegirlie you rock, safe travels xo
ReplyDeleteSo people really use "TIA?" I thought it was a term created by Leonardo's character in Blood Diamond...
ReplyDeleteMatt, I cant wait!! Elise, thanks chick!! Rick, yes!!
ReplyDeleteDon't worry Nat Geo... when you come back, you will be the person you always were but hadn't yet discovered : ) and you will want to leave again in a matter of days...
ReplyDeleteHey, it's wade. Sorry I dropped off the face of the earth. Gracie and I have read your blog and watched your videos about a hundred times. I'm working at Georgia pacific as one of the three eCommerce ( yes, I have to capitalize the c per the Koch Brothers mandate). That means my new job is that I have to market toilet paper online. I can't think of a better example of the forces of the market economy more at odds with a girl who decided to leave it all to go hang out with monks- in-training in the east Asian mountains. My email is wade.whittington@gapac.com. Most people think that I work for a gay rights political action group when I give them this address. If only my real work was that important. But enough about me selling my soul in Georgia(where I currently live). Drop me your email and I will give you a proper update to my new life. Not to get too sappy...but, reading about what you did over that year was very inspiring to me and an example I posed for gracie as something to aspire to in her life. In our conversations in your office I was so hopeful that you would actually follow through and do it. I should have known ther was no doubt that you would.
ReplyDeleteSincerely
W