So my first impressions of Nairobi have held up during my first few days here. It is a really 
attractive city. It is remarkably green with an extraordinary number of trees for a city this size and a substantial park system. Traffic is an issue, we get stuck in gridlock on our way to and from the University each day, but it does not have the same frantic feel of an Asian city since I have not heard a horn honk since I have arrived[1]. The most striking physical feature of the city, however, is the abundance and quality of landscaping in public spaces. There are flowers everywhere. This might just be because we are approaching spring in the southern hemisphere, but extreme care has been taken everywhere we have gone to spruce up the major roads with flowering bushes and trees. Now, so far I have only really been downtown, to the embassy and to the university, but each of these routes have left the impression of an economically viable urban center that takes substantial pride in the aesthetics of the built environment. You could certainly make the case that they are more concerned with urban aesthetics than we are…or at least in a different way.
This strongly positive impression might have to do, however, with a strong class system that my Olympian student was telling us about yesterday. Apparently Nairobi has two major slums, and one of them is the largest in Africa. Apparently the police do not even go to these places. There may be a really dramatic spatial separation of prosperity and poverty. I can’t really comment because my driver has strict instructions about where I am and am not allowed to go. But as far as the economic, political and educational centers, Nairobi is much nicer than I expected based on my experiences in Nepal and Afghanistan.
The temperature was also surprising. The climate can only be described as San Diego-esque. Since we are so close to the equator there is very little seasonal variation in temperature. What is surprising is that the daily range, year round, falls between mid-50’s and mid-70’s. I can not really explain how an equatorial, inland city at the base of a mountain range has this kind of temperate climate. But it is really nice. Some of the green suits (who, once again, were not wearing green – which was a little disorienting because they talked like Army officers) commented on it yesterday saying “It is no wonder some people come here and never leave.”
Today Ken talked to me about the possibility of returning for another trip or longer, say a month to a year. They are looking for someone to coordinate the program in Djibouti which he says
really isn’t somewhere you would want to transplant a family, but they would consider someone in Nairobi since it is a regional position. It would be a promotion too. I honestly hadn’t given Africa much consideration long term but it could be an interesting opportunity. I applied for a 1 year position in Istanbul last year on the premise that Amanda and I wanted to get overseas with kids to evaluate if had potential as a longer term lifestyle for us. Something like this could serve the same basic purpose while being pretty useful to the water community in East Africa.
Matt and I are planning on having dinner with a UCD professor tonight. She is doing some waste water work here. We discovered the Tusker Malt last night. Great beer. Light, complex smell, almost like a wine. Not what either of us expected from a malt.
attractive city. It is remarkably green with an extraordinary number of trees for a city this size and a substantial park system. Traffic is an issue, we get stuck in gridlock on our way to and from the University each day, but it does not have the same frantic feel of an Asian city since I have not heard a horn honk since I have arrived[1]. The most striking physical feature of the city, however, is the abundance and quality of landscaping in public spaces. There are flowers everywhere. This might just be because we are approaching spring in the southern hemisphere, but extreme care has been taken everywhere we have gone to spruce up the major roads with flowering bushes and trees. Now, so far I have only really been downtown, to the embassy and to the university, but each of these routes have left the impression of an economically viable urban center that takes substantial pride in the aesthetics of the built environment. You could certainly make the case that they are more concerned with urban aesthetics than we are…or at least in a different way.
This strongly positive impression might have to do, however, with a strong class system that my Olympian student was telling us about yesterday. Apparently Nairobi has two major slums, and one of them is the largest in Africa. Apparently the police do not even go to these places. There may be a really dramatic spatial separation of prosperity and poverty. I can’t really comment because my driver has strict instructions about where I am and am not allowed to go. But as far as the economic, political and educational centers, Nairobi is much nicer than I expected based on my experiences in Nepal and Afghanistan.
The temperature was also surprising. The climate can only be described as San Diego-esque. Since we are so close to the equator there is very little seasonal variation in temperature. What is surprising is that the daily range, year round, falls between mid-50’s and mid-70’s. I can not really explain how an equatorial, inland city at the base of a mountain range has this kind of temperate climate. But it is really nice. Some of the green suits (who, once again, were not wearing green – which was a little disorienting because they talked like Army officers) commented on it yesterday saying “It is no wonder some people come here and never leave.”
Today Ken talked to me about the possibility of returning for another trip or longer, say a month to a year. They are looking for someone to coordinate the program in Djibouti which he says
really isn’t somewhere you would want to transplant a family, but they would consider someone in Nairobi since it is a regional position. It would be a promotion too. I honestly hadn’t given Africa much consideration long term but it could be an interesting opportunity. I applied for a 1 year position in Istanbul last year on the premise that Amanda and I wanted to get overseas with kids to evaluate if had potential as a longer term lifestyle for us. Something like this could serve the same basic purpose while being pretty useful to the water community in East Africa.Matt and I are planning on having dinner with a UCD professor tonight. She is doing some waste water work here. We discovered the Tusker Malt last night. Great beer. Light, complex smell, almost like a wine. Not what either of us expected from a malt.
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[1] Contrast to the 1 to 3 honks/minute per car in Kathmandu.
[1] Contrast to the 1 to 3 honks/minute per car in Kathmandu.
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