15 months ago, I embarked on a new adventure. I picked up my life in Washington DC and decided to move to a country and a continent I had only read or watched movies about. When I first arrived, I thought I would blog monthly if not weekly during my time here in Nairobi, Kenya but life got in the way.
It’s been one hell of an adventure. I rafted the Nile; have grey hair; was stuck in a jam for four, yes, four hours of pure, mind-numbing traffic; climbed Kilimanjaro; splurged on safaris in Tsavo, Masai Mara, Nakuru, and Naivasha; spent weekends swimming along the shores of Zanzibar, Mombasa, Diani, Lamu, and Watamu; moved seven times; learned how to cook Thai and Vietnamese food; was asked if I was already married to determine whether or not I would make a good wife number two; got robbed; hiked volcanoes; raced a camel; have been mistaken for being Somali, Indian-Kenyan, Filipino, and ‘some interesting place on some island’; and am now engaged to marry by best friend.
I’ve traveled to Djibouti [insert high school “booty” joke here] and Somalia. Who would have ever thought, I would have those stamps in my passport?!
15 months ago, I always stopped to ask for directions; never looked over my shoulder at the ATM; was never mistaken for a muzungu [white person]; and never rolled up my window in a traffic jam. I never had a driver or a housekeeper, and I walked everywhere. I never carried money with me in case I had to pay a bribe.
These 15 months have included a lot of firsts and most if not all of them would have been impossible without a community of people that had my back. My new found friends from South Africa, Ecuador, Canada, Kenya, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, and the United States made the impossible, possible in Kenya. There is something truly amazing about making friends abroad, they share the same wanderlust as you do and you share experiences with them that can never been replicated. Nairobi is a very transient city [I thought DC was bad] so it’s difficult to reach a level of comfort [lets sit around in our PJs eat and watch bad movies on a Saturday afternoon, comfort] that makes you feel at home. I was so incredibly lucky to spend many a Saturday afternoons in my PJs and to share all my TIA [This is Africa] moments with fun loving, genuinely good people. I hope I cross paths with them again, sooner than later.
I am stronger, more resilient, less trusting of others but more trusting of myself. I had awesome adventures and made amazing friends, I couldn’t be more grateful for this experience. Life really does begin at the end of your comfort zone. I am looking forward to the next adventure, knowing for the first time, that I can handle it.
Before I head off to the next thing though…I cannot wait to spend some quality time with all the incredible people waiting to welcome me home! Chris, sidewalks, Thai take out, falafel, snow, pumpkin spice latte, customer service, pollution control, public transportation, family, dinner club, happy hour… oh how I’ve missed you so!
No comments:
Post a Comment