Nicole and I flew into Nairobi last night from Amsterdam. It was a long flight (8.5 hours) but it was direct and I got some sleeping done. The airport in Nairobi is plush compared with the ones I've been to in West Africa! It was all very organized with lighted signs and stuff. Nicole had been sitting next to some Kenyans on the plane and they helped us get a taxi out to the guesthouse we are staying at. One of them even rode with us in the taxi to make sure we got there ok!. So nice!! We got to the guesthouse about 10 pm and met up with another UPENN student here, Rebecca, who's going to be working with the same organization as Nicole. It was great to talk to her too cos the people here knew we were coming (we weren't sure cos they never communicated!) and have Nicole all set up with stuff to do and an office downtown. Wow!

Today, we thought we'd save downtown for a bit later and instead came to this mall, the Sarit center, near our guesthouse. It's great, they have a health food store, a big grocery, a huge bookstore, and of course, this internet cafe - with fairly fast connections. Ibought a pocket guide (published by rough guide) for the world cup 2002 - with all the teams' info and venue info and a tentative schedule. hurray! Soccer fever is on in full force here - all the Coca-Cola billboards are world cup related and I even saw some spray paint cans with a soccer player and soccer ball on them. Last night when we were driving home in the taxi, I was talking to Eric (the guy who accompanied us) about the upcoming matches and he
asked me who my favorite team was (hey, "rockit" is on the radio right now...) and I said without hesitation, Cameroon, and he put his hand out for me to slap and exclaimed, "alright! they're my favorite too!!" he went on to tell me that the Cameroon team wanted their uniforms to have sleeveless shirts during the world cup but the FIFA people wouldn't let them. What are FIFA thinking???

Ireland vs. Cameroon should be a good match.

Our visit to the Netherlands was wonderful. Sigh. I love it there...a country full of bikes and bike riders. Both Nicole and I had been to Amsterdam before and we actually stayed in a hotel in Zandvoort Aan Zee, which is on the coast about a 1/2 hour from Amsterdam, so we didn't do any Amsterdam sightseeing. We did do some shopping though and came across my-new-favorite-store, HEMA. It's like a Target, but so much better!










We walked alot through Amsterdam and also explored Zandvoort, which is just a small town on the coast (but they had a little Leonidas Cafe, Karen!).

Sunday we took the train down to Delft to see Karen's sister Deborah and brother-in-law Laurens and 2-year-old nephew Timo AND four-month-old niece, Astrid! Delft is just a picture perfect dutch town and when we arrived grandpa Lau (sp?) was visiting and helping to paint the window trim on the house and Timo was helping him by talking up a storm and keeping him company. They have a wonderful row house on a very quiet street where there are a lot of young families.

We had a quick lunch at home (Leonidas was closed on Sunday!) and then Nicole and I went to the Hague to check out the dutch masters museum, Mauritshuis. (I highly recommend it) I took the tram back to Delft and we all ate dinner and then took a bicycle tour of Delft (the kids went along in a baby wagon behind one of the bikes - Timo was screaming with delight). It was so nice to see them - and see Deborah in that context, SPEAKING DUTCH! wow.


I got back to Zandvoort just in time to pack up my stuff, catch some sleep, and get ready for our morning flight to Africa from Schiphol airport.

more soon...

- Marta

May 28, 2002 • Nairobi, Kenya