I am in a bad mood recently, maybe a low tide, a normal down time in the learning curve of someone experiencing a new culture (which we talked about so much in AIESEC during cultural preparation). I am sure I had those in Denmark and Germany as well, and I guess I survived them just fine, so I am certain that I can fight the blue here as well, some time soon.
caught a cold and felt sick a bit over the weekend, so now trying every means to at least have a warm shower instead of cold water at 7am 10-15 degree morning.
I know I can get pretty emotional in phase like this, so I better shut myself up or else words will appear in this blog that I might regret in the future. So allow my silence for a few days...
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Thursday, August 21, 2008
swahili
I am learning Swahili now with a teacher contracted to VSO, yesterday I had lesson of 2 hours so now I can greet people properly esp. reply to the typical tourist "jambo" shout in a more decent way (to show off that I know a little). Besides greeting, the only 2 things I really know are:
1, to say what is my name and quest about others
2, to ask do they have wife or husband and further on asking how many children do they have
the latter one has become the laugh of my office (I am happy to be the entertainer every now and then). Obviously you do not ask around people how many children do they have but this is the sentence that I really want to practice, so I chase people around with this silly question. "Una watoto wangapi?" I am not good at guessing people's age, and esp. not good at that in Africa. I think some africans are just having really perfect smooth skin that lasts long. My swahili teacher Mwalimu Charles has 5(!) and even one mjukuu (grandchild) which I could never tell - I thought he's only around his 40 or so. We practised my new acquired sentence to ask about how many children do his brothers and sisters have. It turned that he has 4 brothers and 2 sisters, and in total his parents have 27 grandchildren (not known number of grand grandchildren)! When he heard that my parents have me as the only kid, he said "pole" (sorry) in such a sentimental way that made me feel pity about this fact as well. Hmm, big family. I do not see yet what is so good to have a big family except for sports purpose, but maybe I will be enlightened someday...
oh how I enjoy learning swahili, it is a lovely and not very complicated language (compared to German).
on a different tone, a voluteer (Kenyan) in Achim's office was very curious about Germany and asked a lot of questions. Some interesting and some not. e.g. "do your people teach your girls that career and work are more important and that is why they do not marry and have kids?" well, I was never educated in Germany so I leave my judgement aside, but I thought what I've been taught was that I have my choices, just like the others.
1, to say what is my name and quest about others
2, to ask do they have wife or husband and further on asking how many children do they have
the latter one has become the laugh of my office (I am happy to be the entertainer every now and then). Obviously you do not ask around people how many children do they have but this is the sentence that I really want to practice, so I chase people around with this silly question. "Una watoto wangapi?" I am not good at guessing people's age, and esp. not good at that in Africa. I think some africans are just having really perfect smooth skin that lasts long. My swahili teacher Mwalimu Charles has 5(!) and even one mjukuu (grandchild) which I could never tell - I thought he's only around his 40 or so. We practised my new acquired sentence to ask about how many children do his brothers and sisters have. It turned that he has 4 brothers and 2 sisters, and in total his parents have 27 grandchildren (not known number of grand grandchildren)! When he heard that my parents have me as the only kid, he said "pole" (sorry) in such a sentimental way that made me feel pity about this fact as well. Hmm, big family. I do not see yet what is so good to have a big family except for sports purpose, but maybe I will be enlightened someday...
oh how I enjoy learning swahili, it is a lovely and not very complicated language (compared to German).
on a different tone, a voluteer (Kenyan) in Achim's office was very curious about Germany and asked a lot of questions. Some interesting and some not. e.g. "do your people teach your girls that career and work are more important and that is why they do not marry and have kids?" well, I was never educated in Germany so I leave my judgement aside, but I thought what I've been taught was that I have my choices, just like the others.
Friday, August 15, 2008
Kenya, Tourism and China
well, I have to say I haven't seen many Chinese tourists and businessman here yet although I have heard/read of many stories of them. But one significant difference I noticed here is - In Europe when I travelled, the local will always addressed me firstly as Japanese when failed usually tried Korean then probably Chinese. It was irritating but understandable. In Nairobi though, everyone is addressing me with "Ni hao" or "Chinese"!! So it seems that Asian are predominantly represented by Chinese here. Oh, how proud am I. Guess I will have a lot more to tell in topic of Africa and China, but later.
I have known tourism is an important money-making machine in Kenya, but not completely comprehend how crucial it is until I realized that there is always at least one page (most of the case a few) on both the top two daily newspaper here ("Nation Daily" and "Standard") every day. Current stories usually tune in to encourage domestic tourism, telling Kenyan that how cheap it is for them to visit their national park (which is not said, how ridiculously more a foreigner needs to pay though) and how wonderful their national parks are (which I'm truly bought in). In a sense, tourism is the only "business" that is mentioned daily on the news.
this blog entry has gone a bit random, but what I really want to share was a piece of news that I read a few days ago on Daily Nation which linked perfectly the two: Tourism for Kenya and China. The vice president of Kenya has visited BJ for her magnificent opening of the game with other 80 or so heads of state. In his meeting with some high officials in China (sorry I forgot which one) he enthusiastically expressed his wish, saying (in my own words) how Kenya is beautiful and more Chinese should visit this magical country. He has further detailed his expectation by saying "there should be 10 million Chinese visiting Kenya annually". I was shocked and literally stared at the number for a few seconds. 10 MILLION?! Annually?! I quickly did my simple math, we have 1,3 billion population in China so a bit over a century literally every Chinese would have visited Kenya! I googled some figure this morning, well last year the total number of Chinese visiting abroad were 40 million, more than 90% made their first trip oversea in SE Asia. Safari, mountain climbing or idling around the white sand beach are by all means luxury, even to quite some Europeans; and not to mention such a long journey require quite some days off for my fellow Chinese which is even a bigger luxury in workaholic China. How is the vice president exactly having in his mind that we can achieve this ambitious number of 10 million annually together? My big puzzle.
I have known tourism is an important money-making machine in Kenya, but not completely comprehend how crucial it is until I realized that there is always at least one page (most of the case a few) on both the top two daily newspaper here ("Nation Daily" and "Standard") every day. Current stories usually tune in to encourage domestic tourism, telling Kenyan that how cheap it is for them to visit their national park (which is not said, how ridiculously more a foreigner needs to pay though) and how wonderful their national parks are (which I'm truly bought in). In a sense, tourism is the only "business" that is mentioned daily on the news.
this blog entry has gone a bit random, but what I really want to share was a piece of news that I read a few days ago on Daily Nation which linked perfectly the two: Tourism for Kenya and China. The vice president of Kenya has visited BJ for her magnificent opening of the game with other 80 or so heads of state. In his meeting with some high officials in China (sorry I forgot which one) he enthusiastically expressed his wish, saying (in my own words) how Kenya is beautiful and more Chinese should visit this magical country. He has further detailed his expectation by saying "there should be 10 million Chinese visiting Kenya annually". I was shocked and literally stared at the number for a few seconds. 10 MILLION?! Annually?! I quickly did my simple math, we have 1,3 billion population in China so a bit over a century literally every Chinese would have visited Kenya! I googled some figure this morning, well last year the total number of Chinese visiting abroad were 40 million, more than 90% made their first trip oversea in SE Asia. Safari, mountain climbing or idling around the white sand beach are by all means luxury, even to quite some Europeans; and not to mention such a long journey require quite some days off for my fellow Chinese which is even a bigger luxury in workaholic China. How is the vice president exactly having in his mind that we can achieve this ambitious number of 10 million annually together? My big puzzle.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Alles in Ordnung?
Nicht ganz. But it is fine.
In Germany one of the most common way to ask “how are you” is to say “Alles in Ordnung?” which can be directly translated as “is everything in order?” which actually sound more like “everthing’s fine?”. You can tell how important “order” or “system” is for Germans. I have been told by many that I am “Germanized” or worse (!) people “praise” me by saying “hey Wing you are actually not Chinese but German.” I do NOT agree, I know I enjoy the comfort of knowing what is going on and where to find out if I am not and I am spoiled after all these years in Europe. However now I am coping Nairobi, I can be more than assured to say that I am still ok being non-German.
There is no system here or there is a secret one which you are only born to if you are lucky enough. Typical encounter is taking the buses. Actually I have never taken any official buses but all those more private and flexible “Matatus” (smaller or mini buses) that come to the corner of where we live way more often than those official buses. Matatu is one of the must see/try experience in Nairobi and they are famous for their individual colorful styling of the whole vehicle no matter how shabby the actually mechanic functionality of the car is, and second to none its often loud music (unfortunately for me mostly hip hop and rap, but I have also sampled one with more traditional type). I read that they are more regulated nowadays and at least they do take care of the actual capacity of seating in a single vehicle. Most of the time, you can find a number either on the side or in front of the car supposedly indicating its direction and route. But be warned, as someone just land in this city, there is almost no way to find out how many lines are there and where do they go (not on maps, no website, of course no online ticket system). There are official but more non-official getting on/off spots around the greater city, but there is never a number plate at the spot providing you with any info of which bus/matatu might stop there. So forget about a route map, lest a time table. Oh, and not even a fixed route. Of the same number of matatus, they can very well go on an different route (as compared to what you might just took the same morning) – depending on not so much about traffic but whether the machine can be filled up more quickly to ensure ends are met for this one journey. Not forgetting about the price - which by now you can certainly guess – that is also not fixed. The general guidance is 30 Ksh, but it fluctuates as how the market goes, the rule is the least traveled time/route the least a passenger pays, which is what market economics all about, isn’t is? So for going back and forth for work costs me 40 one way, but getting into town on Sunday morning (when everyone is with family and at church) will be just 20. So if you need to go somewhere unfamiliar and just like us can not afford taxi regularly then ask and ask again your informed local what the number of the matatu is and which part of the town you can hop on one. For the very first time, I do not blame those who can afford a car are actually driving one on the already completely crammed street, as taking matatu can be a real tiring experience if not yet a dangerous one considering how some crazy drivers “jumped” around in the city. But all our journeys so far have been task-completed and they stop just in front of our building if we manage to take the correct ones, so I am not complaining : ).
Oh since I mentioned transportation, air pollution can’t escape my mind. Nairobi unfortunately is still not a pedestrian city, not only for the crazy traffic and quite often uneven pave way, but most sadly because of its heavy street pollution. There are no heavy production at sight and during the weekend when you walk in city centre there can be actually beautiful blue sky, I conclude that the number 1 (if not the one and only) polluter is car emission. I am suspicious about the health (mind you not functionality) of most cars on the street, and they consistently pipe out ink black waste smoke. As some one who had lived 4 years in Beijing and love the city, I’d recommend the Beijing mayor, when facing pushy questions from foreign journalist about bad air in BJ, instead of defending and having the odd/even-number vehicle system, he can just direct people’s attention to Nairobi. I know this is a bad trick but every kid tends to use it when she is asked why such a low grade, I still remember vividly my response “XX scored even lower!”
Not walking around the chaotic city does not stop me from enjoying the lively street market. After all 4 years, I have fresh mango, papaya, pineapple and the much sweeter small banana again. And waking up to sweet-sour-all-mouth-watering passion fruit as breakfast daily: PRICELESS.
In Germany one of the most common way to ask “how are you” is to say “Alles in Ordnung?” which can be directly translated as “is everything in order?” which actually sound more like “everthing’s fine?”. You can tell how important “order” or “system” is for Germans. I have been told by many that I am “Germanized” or worse (!) people “praise” me by saying “hey Wing you are actually not Chinese but German.” I do NOT agree, I know I enjoy the comfort of knowing what is going on and where to find out if I am not and I am spoiled after all these years in Europe. However now I am coping Nairobi, I can be more than assured to say that I am still ok being non-German.
There is no system here or there is a secret one which you are only born to if you are lucky enough. Typical encounter is taking the buses. Actually I have never taken any official buses but all those more private and flexible “Matatus” (smaller or mini buses) that come to the corner of where we live way more often than those official buses. Matatu is one of the must see/try experience in Nairobi and they are famous for their individual colorful styling of the whole vehicle no matter how shabby the actually mechanic functionality of the car is, and second to none its often loud music (unfortunately for me mostly hip hop and rap, but I have also sampled one with more traditional type). I read that they are more regulated nowadays and at least they do take care of the actual capacity of seating in a single vehicle. Most of the time, you can find a number either on the side or in front of the car supposedly indicating its direction and route. But be warned, as someone just land in this city, there is almost no way to find out how many lines are there and where do they go (not on maps, no website, of course no online ticket system). There are official but more non-official getting on/off spots around the greater city, but there is never a number plate at the spot providing you with any info of which bus/matatu might stop there. So forget about a route map, lest a time table. Oh, and not even a fixed route. Of the same number of matatus, they can very well go on an different route (as compared to what you might just took the same morning) – depending on not so much about traffic but whether the machine can be filled up more quickly to ensure ends are met for this one journey. Not forgetting about the price - which by now you can certainly guess – that is also not fixed. The general guidance is 30 Ksh, but it fluctuates as how the market goes, the rule is the least traveled time/route the least a passenger pays, which is what market economics all about, isn’t is? So for going back and forth for work costs me 40 one way, but getting into town on Sunday morning (when everyone is with family and at church) will be just 20. So if you need to go somewhere unfamiliar and just like us can not afford taxi regularly then ask and ask again your informed local what the number of the matatu is and which part of the town you can hop on one. For the very first time, I do not blame those who can afford a car are actually driving one on the already completely crammed street, as taking matatu can be a real tiring experience if not yet a dangerous one considering how some crazy drivers “jumped” around in the city. But all our journeys so far have been task-completed and they stop just in front of our building if we manage to take the correct ones, so I am not complaining : ).
Oh since I mentioned transportation, air pollution can’t escape my mind. Nairobi unfortunately is still not a pedestrian city, not only for the crazy traffic and quite often uneven pave way, but most sadly because of its heavy street pollution. There are no heavy production at sight and during the weekend when you walk in city centre there can be actually beautiful blue sky, I conclude that the number 1 (if not the one and only) polluter is car emission. I am suspicious about the health (mind you not functionality) of most cars on the street, and they consistently pipe out ink black waste smoke. As some one who had lived 4 years in Beijing and love the city, I’d recommend the Beijing mayor, when facing pushy questions from foreign journalist about bad air in BJ, instead of defending and having the odd/even-number vehicle system, he can just direct people’s attention to Nairobi. I know this is a bad trick but every kid tends to use it when she is asked why such a low grade, I still remember vividly my response “XX scored even lower!”
Not walking around the chaotic city does not stop me from enjoying the lively street market. After all 4 years, I have fresh mango, papaya, pineapple and the much sweeter small banana again. And waking up to sweet-sour-all-mouth-watering passion fruit as breakfast daily: PRICELESS.
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