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I know I have been silent for this long, but it is said “sooner is better then never” I hope you are all well in your perspective locations. Since I did not report from the start, I will give you all a quick update. Well, as most of you recall we left on that cold, rainy day to London, via bus. That was an interesting trip, indeed. We (Natalia and I) had intended to sleep on the 13 hour ride, however to our surprise the bus was full of interesting (aka: crazy) people, it was like we had gypsies, the gang from the circus and a whole band all on board! After many laughs and lack of sleep we made it to London for our day and half there. It was nice to see friends and my brother and of course fit in a bit of shopping in Oxford St. We made to Heathrow fine and embarked on our Emirates flight to Dubai then to Nairobi. Of course, the flight to Dubai was delayed, so we had to run to catch our Nairobi flight. At the end, after going through security (twice) and sweating buckets we made our flight and we were Nairobi bound. Surprisingly our luggage made it to Kenya, but not in one piece

I was happy to be back to Africa, the weather in Nairobi is perfect, and I mean superbly nice. Not to hot, and not humid ! The only issue I have is the smog and fumes that come out of all the cars here !!! Sometimes I think about starting an car emission programme in this country. Well, maybe not Kenya alone but most of African cities suffer from this sort of pollution. My research kicked off well, I have been able to establish contact within my first 3 weeks here and all has gone well so far. Nairobi is a nice city to live in, but can also get boring at times. It is also one that is very comfortable…OK WAY too comfortable. We live in a very nice, and I mean very nice house with another awesome Canadian girl. We are surrounded by nice supermarkets, restaurants, cafes that offer wireless internet, shopping centers, etc….. I also enjoy riding the mataus that are equipped with flat screen TVs blasting with the latest rap music and a man dangling the side window screaming…TOWN TOWN (mini buses used for public transport…aka trotro in Ghana, taxis in South Africa, taka taka in Tanzania)!! After spending a month here, we decided it was time to hit the beaches, so we rented a house on Diani beach, south of Mombasa ! It was worth it after all the smog and hard work of course On Easter break we went back to Zanzibar for more quality beach time ! It was super nice to be back in Zanzibar ! But man, it was HOT!!  Then it was back to work on the research….But after a month, it was time to travel in country and see some of the main land. My local supervisor, who is super cool guy invited me to visit him in Eldoret for a couple of days and spend some time at Moi University ground. I have to say the drive over was stunning, the Rift Valley is quite beautiful, with gorgeous hills, wildlife and amazing views. While in Eldoret I managed to see Sana very quickly at a Somali restaurant and catch up quickly. A few days later, we were invited to Maru, a town 4 hours away to witness our Kenyan friend buy his bride !! A group of at least 30 friends cars packed themselves in matatus, cars,  and 100 family members in buses and made the trip to Maru, the land of mira (qaat)! This buy your wife event included negotiations with the family behind closed doors, plenty of food…more food….more food, lots of dancing and partying all night long!! Oh, the first instalment for the bride was 120,000 Kenyan shillings, which is about $1600 USD, which is about 1100 EURO….which is worth 5 cows !!

Natalia and I spent both our birthdays here in Kenya and had good times doing so. Last Saturday we throw Natalia a birthday party at our house and it was filled with good friends and many unknown people ( who played beer baseball in our kitchen…a very American thing to do….OK they were Americans)……but that was the plan, it was open for all kinda party !! After it was all over at 3 am we still felt we needed more partying, so we hit two clubs and finally returned home when dawn was about to break and the birds started to sing…….. So that is a very quick sum up of my time in Kenya !!! I leave here in two weeks to spend a week in Dubai and a few day in London, then back in Amsterdam. I am looking forward to seeing u all very soon and hearing all about your adventures during your fieldwork….Happy Researching……..YEAH RIGHT !

Edil

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