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.