Chapati! maragwa! wali!

I've been in East Africa three days now, and what has struck me most is not how different things are, but how similar. When we get to more rural areas I may feel more of a difference, but here in Nariobi I've been surprisingly comfortable.

For these first few days our group is staying at the Kolping Guest House on the edge of the city- not downtown, but not quite in the suburbs either. It is in a neighborhood full of similar walled compounds- a mixture of guest houses, nice apartments, private schools and Bible societies. The buildings are fresh, whitewashed and maintained, but the tops of the walls are covered with glued down shards of glass to discourage thieves.

We haven't been out much yet- most of our time is spent in classes. In the morning we have four hours of Swahili, and in the afternoon two and a half hours of history- either of Islam in East Africa or modern politics. We're lucky that we are here in an interesting time- December is the presidential election.

We do have a chance to get out during our lunch and in the late afternoon before it gets dark. Instead of having all our meals provided for us, we have a neat system where we have a food allowance of 400 Kenyan shillings (Sh) pr meal. The exchange rate is about 65-67 Sh to the dollar, so that's about the price of a small dish at a western restaurant. However, if you eat at the road side kiosks, a full meal costs about 50Sh- for a large bowl of maragwa (beans), wali (cooked rice), cabbage and chapati- an amazingly delicious fried bread. All for less than a dollar. Living like a local here is incredibly cheap.