The great white north!
on A Serendipitous Journey (Kenya), 20/Dec/2009 20:23, 34 days ago
I can’t begin to express how nice it feels to be home! To be driving and spending virtualy no time at all in traffic, to be breathing in fresh air every single breath (sans diesel fumes) and to have anything I need within a 10 minute drive is such a nice, and well needed, break.Things that are standing out:- Even in the Christmas‘chaos’ crowds I still find myself wondering if it was always this quiet and where all the people are? I haven’t once even bumped shoulders with anyone since arriving home.- Turning on the taps and having a steady pressure of warm, clean water stream out - appropriate for drinking, cleaning vegetables and even just warming up cold hands.- Fast and reliable internet connections. It's such a treat to go online, knowing you are virtually guaranteed a connection, to download videos, pictures and music in mere seconds and not have to worry about the cost of every MB downloaded.- The selection of everything, from candy bars to clothing. And with Christmas shopping deals I cannot believe how cheap clothing is!- Being able to put my hand bag down in a store having confidence that it’ll still be there when I go to pick it up.- The lack of fences around private properties and lack of security guards at residences and commercial locations. (In virtually every store in Nairobi, there is usually at least one (usually several) formal or informal security personnel looking out for thieves; most houses are surrounded by fences with jagged class, barbed wire or electrical fencing; and almost all houses and apartments have security personnel 24 hours a day.)- Being able to go out at night and not worry about anything… car jackings and muggings are just something that are so unlikely here it wouldn’t cross your mind.I am looking forward to going back to Nairobi when the time comes, but for now I am soaking in every moment! (even shovelling snow)