Today was an interesting day (I feel like I’ve said that a lot). I was able to experience some genuine culture shock, and had a good time doing it.
I spent about 11 hours today in a place called the Village Market. Emily had a meeting in a part of Nairobi called Kigeri. It is a really beautiful and green part of town, and it is where most of the foreign embassies are located, as long as an enormous UN compound. We wanted to check out Village Market so we figured that while in the area, it would be a good opportunity to do so (as it is kind of far, and expensive by cab to get to).
Emily went to her meeting nearby and I continued straight to the mall. When I got there, I became a little confused as to where I was. The place was absolutely ridiculous. There was a big waterfall nearby an outdoor food court. There were dozens of stores, carvings, more waterfalls, artwork, and art gallery, a water park, mini-golf, a movie theatre… the list goes on and on. It was massive.
The Village Market seems to be the place where the families of diplomats go for leisure. It was filled with foreigners from all over, and it seemed to be quite an affluent crowd. (There were many Kenyans there as well, though they were definitely upper class)
I went and sat in a café for a couple hours and finished a book (the 7th I’ve finished since getting here). Emily eventual came from her meeting and we explored a little more. Then Matt and Roy joined us and we played 18 holes of mini-golf (I won) before eating in the food court. We then sat at a bar with live music and killed some time until we went to the movies to see the 4th Pirates of the Caribbean (It was all that was planning).
The whole time, there were moments that I forgot that we were in Nairobi, Kenya. It felt a lot more like a tropical resort. It was bizarre, but a nice relaxing day that is sure to be a contrast with going back to Kibera tomorrow.
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