"Temporary Safari Citizens"

Greetings one and all--

Christina and I became "temporary safari citizens" yesterday as we ventured off on our very first safari through Nairobi National Park! The park huge--maybe 500 square miles--located in the south of the city. We traveled through the dusty, dirty roads (and made our own roads through the bush at some points too) via matatu, or mini-van. (Note: we were NOT driving ourselves, thank God!). We saw wild zebra, antelope, ostrich, water buffalo, monkeys, birds, giraffes, (but no lions :( ) all in the wild. The savannah was beautiful, as was the weather--the first sunny, blue day we've had since our arrival! It was an amazing experience and really made us feel like we were in Africa! It was also a little surreal at times because as we were bouncing through the trails, we were listening to modern hip hop and rap (always mixed in with the requisite celine dion and michael bolton). Tunes from Ludacris, P. Diddy and 50 cent and Mariah Carey provided a strange atmosphere against the savannah and African wildlife. Nevertheless, it was all an eye full that we fully captured on film and camera!

After four days of being in Kenya, we finally got to cheers our first Tusker ("my beer, my country")--the official Kenyan beer. Although we had been privy to this delicious libation in D.C., there was nothing quite like the sweet sweet taste of it in the off the beaten path Nairobi restaurant and bar. We even taught our Kenyan friends to "tap down" after the cheers, a traditional Christina Halstead drinking ritual. We drank and danced (yes, Kaitlyn danced...) and listened to some great live Kenyan music! Our, shall we say, gracious host Joseph definitely knows how to show us around!

Work at PPA has been very interesting, to say the least. As far as actual work goes, we could not really elaborate for you. While we are still trying to figure out what exactly they produce in term of tangible results, we have had our days full of meeting tons of people who are constantly dropping into the office. Kind of like a Peacebuilding Institute, for those who know. Tomorrow we are going into the slum Kiberia, the largest slum in Nairobi and possibly East Africa. We are going with a priest who does work with many of people there. We are excited about the opportunity, but it should definitely be a sobering experience.

We are learning our way around and even managed to figure out the chaotic bus system! We're picking up Swahili and are already planning several trips outside the city to Mombasa (on the coast) and Kisuma on Lake Victoria.

We also got a cell phone! It is a lot easier for YOU to call US. And would be much appreciated too! Our number is: 0725-798-992. If you're calling on your cell phone, make sure to dial +1 first and then the number. You can buy international calling cards for land lines. Make sure you look up the country code before you try to call. Between 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. YOUR TIME will be best. It's cheap for us to text, so if you want to post your cell phone numbers, we can also communicate that way.

We love you all! Thanks for all those we've heard from and we look forward to hearing more!
kwaheri (goodbye),
Kaitlyn & Christina