Arrival

Greetings to both of you who have read this blog! =)

Yes, this gregarious math teacher has arrived in Nairobi quite safely, happily, and without incident. As always, there are some unexpected events and circumstances, but overall moving in and meeting people has been pleasantly easy (guiltily easy?).

Compared to moving to Bangkok eight years ago, this move has been simple! All my bags arrived, there were no passport issues, my hosts found me and called me by name just outside customs, we loaded the school buses with luggage from the 24 new arrivals, drove across town, and were introduced to our new place. It was a cold night- everyone could see their breath as we stood outside trying to get the right trunks in the right places. I felt peaceful (detached?) as everything fell into place just like it has since I made the decision to come.

In my flat, my hosts Mel and Kerry let me in, handed me my keys, turned on my school-issued cell phone, put their numbers in, informed me they had put a little money on my phone card, showed me how to turn on outlets, invited me to lunch the next day, handed me an envelope with my first paycheck in it, encouraged me to come grocery shopping with them, demonstrated proper use of the water filtration system, and pointed out the cookies they made for me. I'm pretty sure I comprehended nothing but the cookies. Mm. I love ginger snaps.

The next few days were busy, looking back on it, but at the time everything just seemed too easy: coworkers spoke English (well, sort of- Arkansas accent), they were excited to meet me, the campus felt safe and easy to get around in, the grocery store had products I
recognized, I could ask questions in English of anyone and generally understand the answers I received, I was making friends with the other single girls who came in with me. I wanted to write a blog post but felt like I didn't have anything to say: people are nice? The place is pretty? I bought a toaster?

Now that my brain is defogging slightly, I'm able to recognize differences from my life in Los Alamos, but the sameness is certainly what struck me at first. I guess that shouldn't have surprised me as much as it did; this is an American school, it's a compound, people who would be willing to come here would probably be somewhat similar to me simply because we're all willing to come here. Because of my time in Thailand, I expected an overload of differences; the overload of comfort and convenience really threw me for a loop. I know there are changes worth noting, and I hope to keep my cultural radar on, but I worry that I'll blow past smaller yet important differences because I don't see the giant adjustments of language and lifestyle.

But for now I'm off to a cookout at the superintendent's house. Yay for burgers. =)

Blog Names and Low Expectations

To start us off on the right foot, here's a list of names for this blog that I rejected:

• iloveemus.blogspot.com (but I don't love emus; my friend Beth does).
• iloveemuswouldbeacoolblognameexceptIdont.blogspot.com (pretty self-explanatory but far too long)
• jessielynngac.blogspot.com (simply too simple)
• jessilynninkenya.blogspot.com (but what if I go somewhere else?)
• brisketjuice.blogspot.com (there was a lot of brisket in my recent past)
• mathisniceohsonice.blogspot.com (based on a song I have my students sing, but I don't expect to do much writing about math)
• imisszeke.blogspot.com (but I don't want to think about how much I'm going to miss my dog)
  
• ioverusesemicolons.blogspot.com (but it's a habit I hope to break)

Eventually, my brother's suggestion of afrigac won out, in part because it sounds funny if you say my last name how it's spelled, and partly because it could sound like "i forgot" in a southern accent if you say the name right. It seems appropriate; I forget lots of things.

The second place finisher, thegregariousimpala, gets to be the title. It deserves an explanation. You see, a neighbor here in Los Alamos gave me a guidebook about Kenya that seems to have been written by a stymied English major; the vocabulary is extravagant and a bit out of place, and all the descriptions are a touch melodramatic. For example, below a picture of some gazelle-looking creatures is the caption, "The gentle and gregarious impala". Who uses the word gregarious in casual writing? To describe a species? And who would worry about alliteration in such a context? Certainly not me.

And on that note, keep your expectations low for this blog. I don't know how often I'll post, I don't know how clever I'll be, and I'm certain to make at least one error per paragraph. So, as my friend Wes says, "I have underbid. Now it's time to overdeliver!"