Routine is routine - even in Kenya

1/3 of the internship is done.
Two is the amount of months I've been in Nairobi.
Six is how it feels like.

First month in a nutshell:
- being sick
- being homesick
- trying to go out and meet new people, even if I've been dead tired
- figuring out my duties at work.

They say you can get used to almost anything in 30 days. I think that's true.

Second month = considerably easier.
Made new friends.

Went out more, and because I wanted to. 

Had more fun. 

Made great progress at work.

Established routine.

Routine is surprisingly comforting. My morning routines have become the same every day, the structure of my work days is fairly similar and during the weekends I go out and enjoy myself.

Occasionally I, of course, still miss home. In fact sometimes I miss the people back home so much it aches. Luckily those moments don't take over my life here (or do so only momentarily). I can think about my loved ones fondly, re-live a warm memory, and maybe send them a message on Whatsapp.

All in all I do like this place. Sure, I've complained my fair share (also in this blog) but I do enjoy the international atmosphere and the company of academic and driven people. I'm thankful for having a chance to learn so much and for continuously being impressed by my boss. I feel like my mind is blown by him on a weekly basis. This must be how the artists on the Voice feel like, when they're being mentored by a superstar.

I'm looking forward to this third month, which I expect to be all the more enjoyable than the second month. I'm going to the paradise island of ZANZIBAR over Easter and perhaps for a weekend trip to Kampala, Uganda at the end of the month!

Expat or immigrant?

The word expat has come up every once in awhile in my blog postings and for those of you not in the know, an expatriate  "is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country other than that of their citizenship. The word comes from the Latin terms ex ("out of") and patria ("country, fatherland"). In common usage, the term is often used in the context of professionals or skilled workers sent abroad by their companies."

But isn't that the same thing as an immigrant? It seems that this topic circulates among expats every once in a while, and when it does, it usually sparks up a heated argument, as it's done twice within a few months in the Facebook-group called Nairobi Expat Social (NES, closed group for expats/immigrants in Nairobi)... Some people think it's a racist term used by white people to describe themselves as they work abroad, as if to lift themselves up above the ordinary, the black, the poor immigrants. Sort of like: "When we Westerns go to another country, we're expats, but when other people come to our country, they're immigrants."

If you're interested to read more about the dilemma, you can check out this article in The Wall Street Journal, a commentary on it in the Guardian or in Finnish here.

I discussed this with my boss, who has spent the last 15 years away from Finland, working in China and Kenya. He thinks it's very simple: if you go somewhere to work, you're an expat. If you're staying in a country permanently, you're part of the society, you're maybe even applying for a citizenship there or planning to do so, you're an immigrant. No matter the skin color. So coming from the Western world, the columns state that I am then an expat and not an immigrant. However Koutonin urges people to fight the term, as it's racist, and "deny their privileges of a racist system".

I'm sorry, but I have to ask: doing a basically unpaid internship here, which privileges do I have in my everyday life here in Nairobi?
I can't wear shorts even if it's 30 degrees out.
 I can't go alone anywhere after dark.
I don't have my residency yet, so entrances to museums and national parks cost 2-10 times more for me.
People try to screw me over for money left, right and center - one of the most irritating ones being every bleeping morning when the matatu guy charges me another price than the local sitting next to me. Like, if you're going to do that, at least be discreet about it. If it's equality you want, it works both freakin ways.

PS. My boss feels that the term expat doesn't even apply to me, as I'm not really paid for my work and I'm here only for 6 months. He thinks I'm more like a visitor.

The most fun weekend so far

I finally had an awesome weekend!

On Saturday I went with Grace to listen to a classical concert, the first one in my life, which made Grace gasp: "Where on earth do you come from?!"

We heard four symphonies by Prokofiev, Elgar, Beethoven and Smetana. The experience was just lovely! 

Afterwards it was time for my first proper night of clubbing in Nairobi! Grace and I were joined by two locals, who drove us around and took us to all the most popular clubs in Westlands. We started from Havana, where they played the typical radio hits from the Western world.

At Tree House we enjoyed house music by a Swedish DJ, at Gypsies it was more reggae-styled music and at Black Diamond local radio hits and hip hop.

Biggest differences to clubbing in Finland: everyone drinks and drives, no cloak rooms, clubs are open until morning and you're allowed to smoke in-doors. 

On Sunday my "music weekend" continued with the Koroga Festival at Arboretum park.

It was very well organized and nice, which was good since entrance was 2000 bob! (20 € is a lot here...). 

Luckily the shows were in a tent, so we could stay for the whole day inspite of the heat.

I went with the intern at the embassy and her boyfriend.

There were three performers: Fena Gitu (Kenyan singer-songwriter), Nameless (one of the biggest hip hop artists in Kenya) and Yvonne Chaka Chaka (a South African singer). The picture here above shows the latter behind me - her show was amazing!

All in all, an excellent weekend music-wise!

Tan lines

Tove gave me a ring to use during my time here. Wearing a ring doesn't really mean anything to local guys, but I've liked wearing it as it makes me feel closer to L (and the guys really haven't bothered me anyway).

 Only once has someone asked about it and I answered: "No, I'm not actually married or even engaged but wearing a ring is closer to the truth than not wearing it!" 

Now it's starting to give me tan lines, though, and I've begunå to rethink it. 

Can you imagine how this will look like after 6 months under the African sun? L would HAVE to give me a real one just to cover it up! :D

Friday the 13th

Sitting on a terrace, with all kinds of expats, listening to the wildest stories of a Finnish expat, who's travelled in this part of the world a lot. Tusker, the local beer, tastes pretty good right about now. 

After dinner at this nice English (albeit somewhat colonialistic) restaurant we continued to an equally mzungu-favored place for drinks. 

It was a lovely night :) 

PS. We made plans for going horse-riding next Saturday, yey!

Lunch

A client took us to lunch today as a thank you for a job well done. 

The Chinese food was delicious and plentiful. According to the local custom, we flushed it down with some Tusker.

Top 10 things this week - and it's only Tuesday!

1. The "Great! Well done!" -e-mail I got from my boss today!
Something I've been preparing for the last couple of weeks is going well at work, so yey! :)

2. The job opportunities I found in Finland 
I'm looking for something part-time starting in August, that I can do without it disturbing my studies too much but is still interesting enough. I was worried I wouldn't find anything like that and even if I'm not sure if I'm the right fit for either of the jobs I found, knowing something like that exists gives me hope.

3. Putting in motion something that has been pending
I finally sent the insurance claim for my medical bills from February (380 €, thankyouverymuch). Those of you who don't know, I was pretty sick for a couple of weeks and had to go to the emergency room three times. Nothing serious, thankfully.

4. A new project!
I get to be a part of an interesting project at work because the person in charge of it quit a few weeks ago. Turns out that thanks to my work experience I even know something about it!

5. Advancing my studies in spite of this internship
 My professor gave me some online assignments, which helps me advance my studies even though I'm abroad. I was worrying about not getting enough credits this academic year but turns out teeny tiny faculties are willing to help in all ways to help their students graduate... ;)

6. Zanzibar!
Yesterday I bought tickets to Zanzibar over Easter! I'm going to travel with Grace (remember? The one from Singapore). You know that Finnish saying of going where the pepper grows? THAT'S ZANZIBAR. Google "Zanzibar beaches". Paradise awaits.

7. Relief from home-sickness
My home-sickness has reached the point where it's in the back of my mind all the time, but it doesn't make me cry every night. L is just starting to miss me, so that also feels good.

8. L
Distance really makes the heart grow fonder. We talk on Skype everyday and it makes all the difference.

9. Good food!
 I FINALLY managed to cook something decent - I even had a tasty lunch yesterday. Farewell, bad food karma!

10. Lovely news from home
It makes me extremely happy to hear when good things happen to good people. <3

Happy International Women's Day!

What better way to celebrate this day than dressing all girly and going to see the Vagina Monologues?

The show was at Alliance Française, where they also had an art exhibition, showing "wearable art":

Here's me with Milena the Columbian and Bernice the Kenyan, both of whom I'd met at an Internations-event on my first night in Nairobi:

I thought that the Vagina Monologues would be a bunch of angry, feminist lesbians talking badly about men. It wasn't like that, at least not for the most parts. 

The actresses were all Kenyan and the show had interesting bits written by a Kenyan women to give it the local flair and deal with important issues. Those had themes of rape and female genital mutilation. Surprisingly the show had a couple of monologues with a homosexual theme, something which is still illegal in Kenya...

HAPPY WOMEN'S DAY TO ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL LADIES OUT THERE!

SUN

Yesterday was the first day in my five weeks of being in Africa when I finally got to enjoy the sun! There's a hotel about 5 min. from our place that has a rooftop pool open to the public for the price of Sh 1000 (~10 €).

They also had a steam room and a SAUNA!

It was very relaxing and reminded me of home.

PS. They had this sign outside the sauna: 

I wonder how much spitting had to happen for them to put up that... 

Motobike

Yesterday I took the motobike for the first time! Maybe not the safest, but surely the fastest way to get home when you're in a hurry. Sh150, so ~1,50 €. 

Here's me with the driver Francis.

"Good morning, Maina"

Every morning I take the bus to work. While Finns would sit quietly by themselves, most likely with their phones or listening to music, in Kenya the public traffic is in fact a shared experience. Most buses and matatus play loud music which makes it difficult to listen to anything else (the music is mostly hip hop, random old r n' b-tunes or house music) and some have pimped their ride to the point where, like my ex-roomie, The Ugandan, said: it's amazing how Nairobians aren't severely hearing impaired. The inside of the bus is usually covered with posters of famous artists, or according to a theme, like religious quotes or pictures and quotes from their heroes like Martin Luther King or Malcolm X.

What's most amusing with these bus rides is the radio show that most buses I have been taking play in the mornings. Everyone seems to tune into Classic 105 while they're stuck in the morning traffic. Maina, the host, chooses topics that mostly have to do with relationships and sex and the craziest storytellers call in to contribute, which usually leads to Maina just saying, in disbelief, "Okay", sighing deeply and asking jokingly someone to bring him a whiskey even if it's only 8:30 am in the morning because he "can't handle this so early in the morning".

The first time the show caught my attention was when the topic was polygamy and why it's approved for men to have many mistresses but fround upon if women have several lovers. 

First a man calls in to tell that he has a wife, who is a great mother and takes care of the house well, but that she is so tired after taking care of everyone that she doesn't have the energy to take care of him, so he seeks the love from various women - the cleaning lady and her sister, the wive's cousins and so on. Maina seems understanding. 

Then a woman calls in to say pretty much the same thing - her husband is a great provider but a horrible lover, so she goes out to meet strange men, sometimes five times a week. This sparked a reaction in every passenger in the bus with me - people called "Ay!" disapprovingly, and shook their heads. Maina, of course, is shocked and wonders if she isn't worried about contracting HIV and other illnesses and how the woman has time for so many men. I turn to the lady next to me and say: "Probably the same way as the guy who had time for all those women, too" and the lady next to me laughs.

One funny episode was also the one before Valentine's Day, when Maina's question of the morning was how people are planning to spend the Day of Love. A lady called in and she said she's the second wife, but that she's planning to meet with her husband in the morning and take him out for the day, show him a great time with romance and drinks, so that by the time he makes it home in the evening to spend Valentine's with his first wife, he'll be tired and drunk.

 It only takes me about 5-10 min. to get to work, so I only hear tiny pieces of the show and as most of the scandalous callers mix Swahili and English (typical in Nairobi) I just understand half of what's said. Who's regretting slacking off in Swahili class now, huh?

How many Kenyans do you need to clean an aisle in the grocery store?

Answer: 6
1 wipes the floor
1 washes it with soap and water
1 wipes the floor
1 dries it
2 are blocking the aisle in both ends of the aisle, to make sure customers don't slip on the wet floor.

I witnessed something similar in the shopping center with stairs. Looked pretty funny. Then again, it'll certainly take a shorter time than having one dude do it.

Basically it seems that if you can hire someone to do the job in Kenya, you don't do it yourself. During my first days at work I was struggling to adjust my chair and my colleague advised me to call about it to the reception. "They probably have a chair guy, who is just waiting around for calls regarding any issues with chairs. It's almost rude to do it yourself."
(Btw, does "a chair guy" make you think of Barney Stinson, too?)

 Other examples of (almost unnecessary) employment of people include:
- you will find numerable people just standing around in the aisles of a grocery store, almost one for each aisle, ready to serve customers in need
- you won't have to pack your own groceries, someone's hired to do it
- any middle-income household will employ at least a cleaning lady and security guards (considered almost as a duty)
- any higher-income household will additionally employ one or all of the following: cook, driver, gardener

This kind of job creation is not a bad idea, but still there is a huge problem with unemployment in this country...

Pros and cons of having a cleaning lady

Pros
+ I can leave dirty clothes to be washed in the morning and slip into my clean pajamas same evening
+ if I leave clothes on a chair in the living room, I'll find them neatly folded and ironed when I come home from work
+ I have to tidy up every week before the room is going to be cleaned (those of you who know me well, knows how good this is for me)
+ I don't have to worry about the pile of dishes, it will be gone the next time I need them

Cons
- I can't be entirely sure she is fairly paid for her work (and when we tried to ask the land lord, we didn't get an answer)
- there have been times when small but noticeable food items (cloves of garlic, some potatoes) have been taken from the fridge
- my room mate noticed her brush has been used
- I can't help but think what else is used or taken while we are away

There are only two tragedies in life ....

'There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.' - Oscar Wilde

I remember discussing this quote with Sanna once - why would getting what one wants be a tragedy?

I thought: it's obvious. If you get everything you want in life, you will have everything to lose. That way when you lose what you have (which I believed to be inevitable, as nothing lasts forever), it would be so painful to go on, knowing what you have to live without.

 Sanna, however, thought it was because one wouldn't have anything to aspire to anymore and the biggest tragedy is to not have any reason to dream. One would lose the possibility of dreaming.

What do you think?

These thoughts have been on my mind lately a lot. Here I am in Nairobi, doing exactly what I wanted for such a long time. Nevertheless I find myself not able to enjoy it fully. My thoughts are already in fall of 2015 and what will happen after this internship. An extension of this 6 months is basically impossible, so what's next?

I could:
a) strike while the iron is hot: Try do everything I can to get employed by an international company based somewhere in East Africa.

b) apply for another internship, because guess what's better than 6 months of international work experience in East Africa? 12 months.

c) come home and focus on my studies, complete my Master's (finally!) and work half-time somewhere. But where? What work could be the logical continuation to this internship, not setting me back a few years on my resume?

My mother would say to all this: hey, be thankful. At least you have a choice. However I think the difference between my mother's generation and us Millennials is the attitude towards choices. The difference could be depicted by these two tweets:

I presume Sanna was closer to the truth: getting what you want could be a tragedy because you don't know what to want next! :D