My Kenyan culture shock: “Stuff,” Mt. Kili prep, amazing youth activists, and reflecting on Ethiopia

Kenya is amazing and I can’t believe how much culture shock I’m having here. It may be because I had 6 hours sleep in the past two days, but the second I walked off the plane, I was like “WOAH… stuff!” I was so excited to see books, magnets, and tourist stuff—hats with brims, t-shirts with multiple designs, bottle openers, etc. I couldn’t believe the size of the airport, with 6 turn-styles for luggage, Vodafone SIM card counters, and ATMs! No way- ATMS!

This abundance was even more pronounced when two “Cassie Gardener” signs greeted me, one from Milimani Backpackers that I booked through hostelworld.com at midnight last night before leaving the office at 3am, and the other from the tourist company I’ve been communicating with, Lucy from Shelter Tours. I know it’s the tourism industry, but I seriously love Lucy and her colleagues! They picked a wonderful hostel for me, the YMCA walking distance from the city center and the University, and took care of EVERYTHING for my safari and Mt. Kilimanjaro hike. Though I hate being a “tourist,” I’ve decided to just go with the flow with my Kenyan vacation, since I only have 2.5 weeks and want to relax and have fun here. It’s a damn expensive vacation, haha, but I guess I just have to accept that.

So after going over the details of my itinerary and safari, they took me to the Shelter Tours Office and walked me through the WHOLE climb. OHMIFREAKINLORD I am SOOO excited! The climb seems crazy challenging, since I’ll start at 1,800 meters or 5,905 feet, and over 7 days ascend to 5,895 meters or 19,340 feet! Holy sh*t!!! The hike is actually higher in elevation than the hike to the Everest Base Camp in Nepal, which Lonely Planet says people take about 12 days to reach. And while doctors say you should sleep about 300 meters more each night when doing a hike like this, I’ll be ascending at about three times that rate. The worst is that on the last day, I’ll go to sleep at 6pm, then wake up at MIDNIGHT to climb to the Summit for a photo of the sun rise! AHHHH! I told them that I’m worried about making it since although I’m in decent shape, a) I haven’t been actively training, and b) I don’t have any proper gear. They totally assuaged my fears, saying mental toughness is the most important thing… THAT I have without a doubt! So yeah, I’m really excited, but crazy nervous and scared—it will certainly be the experience of a lifetime!

After talking about the Kili climb, it was 4pm and I was ready to fall over from lack of food, so Eric with the company took me to dinner, and later walked me back to my hostel. I was dumbstruck at all of the modern streets and businesses, and surprised myself to be thinking in Amharic! Who knew I learned so much in my short 2 months, haha. We had great conversations about Kenya’s economic development and environment, and it was so fascinating to compare Kenya to Ethiopia. Eric thinks Kenya is more developed than Ethiopia because “the people aren’t stuck in old ways… even rural farmers have a phone and a bank account.” It’s true that Kenya has much more education than Ethiopia, and they also have a much better geographic location, with the Mombassa port greatly helping trade with Europe and Asia. It’s interesting that Kenya’s English colonization probably “helped” its economy, because they invested in infrastructure and international trade, whereas Ethiopia’s independent communist rule in the 20^th century probably hindered it quite a bit. You can also tell that Kenya’s profiting much more off of its coffee trade—while Ethiopian coffee is the best I’ve had in my life, Kenyan coffee sucks, apparently because they export all of the best stuff. Sooo interesting.

After a decent 10 hours catch-up sleep, today was so much fun! My day started by Shelter Tours visiting me and providing me with all the equipment I’ll need to hike Mt. Kili-- $150 for everything which isn’t cheap, but better than buying it in the states and shipping it to myself. It’s also cheaper than ski rentals, so I guess it’s just what my dad always says—“the cost of running a railroad.” At 11:30am I met up with about 40 youth climate activists that my Ethiopian friends Tinbeb and Liyunesh introduced me to, about 6 of whom attended the Climate Change Negotiations—Grace, George, Winnie, Kevin, Sylvia, and Megh. They were doing a clean-up at the Chiromo River, part of the Nairobi River, right by the University of Nairobi in celebration of Earth Day. It was really fun! I interviewed an amazing young woman named Mercy about her environmental activism, and then participated in a bunch of “get to know you” games and a “flash mob dance” with them under the blazing sun. They gave me a t-shirt, and all wanted a picture with me and my email so we can be facebook friends!

After the event, I got to chat with some of them one-on-one and it was sooo interesting to get a better sense of Kenyan culture and perceptions of Ethiopia. With their wide bright smiles, big lips, full cheeks, round laughing eyes, and darker skin, they really look like my beautiful Kenyan friends I’ve met before, and different from the Ethiopian look I’ve gotten used to. Yet they’re exactly the same in terms of being ridiculously warm and friendly! Kevin has been to Ethiopia before, and we had a really interesting conversation about how he also felt like “the other” as a foreigner there. He said it’s a very deep, proud and close-knit culture, and I totally agreed. Then, I talked with Megh and Winnie about their experiences in Copenhagen. Apparently they were told to be quiet on a bus, so they “pulled a Swahili” and pretended like they didn’t understand what was asked of them. ;) It was really interesting to hear them praise Denmark’s socialist government and provision of health care and education, and how shocked they were at $30 standard meals that are equivalent to 20,000 Kenyan shillings. They told me all about Kenya’s corruption, and how “change has to come from the top and the bottom. It’s not like we’re expecting one individual to rise up, like an Obama thing—everyone needs to want change.” WOAH. Damn I love how Obama is seen as a hero here… I just wish he was doing a bit more to really warrant everyone’s devotion!

After our meal (which they insisted on paying for, saying “it’s a Kenyan thing”), George, Megh, his cousin Jemina, and her friend Anne and I went to a bar till about midnight. It was super fun, and the malt lager beer was pretty tasty. We ended up getting in a pretty lengthy conversation about dating and sexuality in Kenya, and I was really pleased to learn a ton more from them in a few hours than I did from my somewhat conservative Ethiopian friends during my two months there. Again, I think it’s evidence that Nairobi is a modern city, whereas Addis Ababa still has a pretty far ways to go. Or maybe just that George’s friends were trying to hit on me, haha. Either way, my first few days in Kenya have been incredibly fun and packed… and I can’t wait for my safari that begins tomorrow! Let’s hope I see the big 5… and remember what they are! ;)