Different

Lots of people have asked me about what's different here, so I present you with 5 noticeable differences in my routine and surroundings. No particular order, obviously...

Driving on the other side of the road is different, though honestly not as hard to get used to as I expected. I'm still working on mastering roundabouts instead of stoplights. I don't have a car yet, but I've borrowed others' and given driving a shot. It's strange to me that right turns are difficult and left are easy. Shifting with my left hand isn't that hard, but I have occasionally turned on the windshield wipers instead of the turn signal. A little embarrassing, but not disastrous. It's just like I'm waving at oncoming traffic. :)

Almost no one smokes here- it's illegal to smoke in public in Nairobi, so even when I'm walking through a group of people or waiting at a bus stop, I don't smell smoke. Nairobi is famous for its lightning-fast passage of laws- when I first got here, a city ordinance was passed that made it illegal to carry plastic bags on the street. You could, in theory, be arrested for carrying your groceries home in a plastic sack. The reasons behind the law weren't all bad- decrease littering and use of resources, encourage folks to transport supplies in reusable baskets. A police crackdown on plastic-bag-carrying might do that. But it was impractical, and the law was repealed within the same week. Fortunately, the smoking ban has been a bit longer lasting.

I've been drinking my coffee black. Usually I put some milk or cream in it, but the flavor of the coffee here is so good (and I haven't quite gotten used to the dairy products), so black is the new brown...

I have no sense for weather prediction. I know this is typical when moving to a new place- I remember looking out the window during the first week of my freshman year at Wheaton, seeing a cloudy sky, and putting on jeans and a sweatshirt. Not appropriate for August in Chicago. In Los Alamos, cloudy means cold and sunny means warm. Not so in the Midwest, and apparently not so in Kenya. It's not as cold as when I first got here, so I no longer deeply regret leaving my down comforter at home, but I still am clueless as to when it will rain, how warm it's likely to get, and whether I'll freeze in a skirt or boil in a long sleeved shirt. Time will tell; experience is a powerful teacher.

My eye meets hundreds of shades of green whenever I look outside. Here's the view out the front door of my apartment: This morning one of my friends joked that things grow so well here that she's considering planting a sneaker to save some money on shoes. I'm fascinated by the flame tree between the two apartment buildings (below- see the big orange flowers at the top?), and I'm lucky to have a garden that stays beautiful with just weekly attention from Kennedy the groundskeeper. Perhaps even I could keep a plant alive for more than 3 days here...
So there's a quick glimpse into a few changes I've experienced in this move to Nairobi. I'm at a whiny point in my culture shock right now (i miss green chile... i can't find cold medicine... i want a 3 day weekend for labor day...), so I've tried to mention things I can be positive about. Please pray that God will give me "a willing spirit to sustain me." (Ps. 51) I know He is faithful.