Thursday, July 9, 8AM

Yesterday I went into Nairobi with Tiffany, another volunteer, to book a safari for this weekend. Nairobi is really a nice city. There are a lot of trees and flowers everywhere, and its very clean. The buildings are not very tall, and they are all stone, so rather than everything being silver when I look up, its tan, brown, green and pink from the flowers. Its not dusty like it is outside the city, and the shops and restaurants seem decent. People don't look at me like I'm a complete alien, because there are a few other whites roaming around as well.

While I was in the city, I treated myself to some pampering: 2 beers, butter, more cold water, and a John Grisham novel!

My friend Scott from NYC had dinner with us. He has a few nonprofits, one of which is training Kenyans to run marathons so they can get scholarships in the states. The others are geared towards building schools in Kenya and Uganda. He's in town at the moment to work on a school outside of Nairobi. I can't describe the admiration I have for him: his life goal is to give away 1 million dollars by the time he's 30; he's only about 60k away, and he's my age.

Tiffany and I went to the airport next and met a colleague from IAVI, Prince, who was bringing me some things I needed from the states. It was a totally bizarre experience to see my American friends in Nairobi.

Prince brought me a Neti pot (props to Sara Jane for getting it for me!), which normally I just use when I have bad allergies, because it flushes the pollen out. But when I used it here, actual grains of dust and black particles came out of my nose, along with some greenish slime. I slept better, and when I woke up, my tear ducts were blocked up as well with brown crust that had formed from whatever discharged during the night. This morning I breathed clearly for the first time; it was glorious. The downside is that I will be more sensitive to the pungent odors the day will bring my way...