Nairobi and other musings

Greetings! Another good day in Nairobi. I woke up at 6:30 this morning and attempted to charge my camera batttery with my solar charger. I had the best of intentions when I bought the charger - I made it compatible with my cell phone, my ipod and my camera. I did a number of test runs at home and felt pretty good - but of course the camera battery setup started to short out the solar charger. I was getting pretty frustrated and went to an electronics store where they helped me figure out how to adapt and make everything work. I was so relieved. It's amazing how hard it can be to do simple things here - but things are getting easier!.
This morning I had the pleasure of visiting the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. It's an organization started by a husband and wife and they rescue elephants and rhinos. The babies have typically been abandoned because their mothers were killed for ivory, they got lost from a herd, or they were left behind for some reason. The trust is only open to the public for one hour each day and they really try to limit the amount of human interaction. The babies are fed every three hours so the caretakes must sleep with them. I also was able to see a baby rhino this morning, which was super neat. The baby rhino was about 6 weeks ago and so tiny. Okay Maddy, this is the best I could do. Choose the elephant you want and

I'll try to smuggle it home for you!
I am set to leave Nairobi tomrorow and head to Madagascar. I think Madagascar is going to be amazing, but it's always a little nervous to have to start all over again - I feel like I just got started here and now I have to leave. The Chelangas called me last night to let me know how grateful they were that I spent time with them and that they will miss me. They passed the phone around and Diane, Eliud and George all paid me compliments. I am going to miss them.
So I wanted to remark on a few things I have noticed here: Clothing - it is hot as hell during the day, yet everyone wears pants, long sleeve shirts and sometimes sweaters. Of all the culture changes this one confuses me the most. Foreigners like myself are easily picked out because we wear capris and short-sleeve shirts. No one can really answer my questions about it and it drives me crazy. Driving - I can't tell if its worse to be a driver or a pedestrian. It's funny, from the view in my hotel the city street looks like almost any regular city - but when you get out on foot you notice how different it really is. The roads do not have lines and people fit as many cars as possible. In the US red traffic lights mean STOP but here I think they might mean PAUSE if you feel like it? People cross streets at their own risk and it can be a very chaotic scene. Everyone went back to work and school this week after the holiday so there are major traffic jams all the time. Food - I have not had too much experience with Kenyan food. There is a famous restaurant here called Carnivore and it serves up all types of game meat. I figure that I had the goat, the goat that I sat in front of and watched be strung up - so I kind of feel like I had a big dose of Kenyan food! Okay, more later. Take care everyone.