So it begins

The trip from Heathrow to Nairobi wasn't bad at all, watched Babel on the way, really sad movie;had a really nice conversation with a Norwegian gal who was going to work at the Embassy in Nairobi. Landed in Nairobi at 9:30 PM local time. Cherie, who is from the UK and has been working with ICROSS for 2 months now and Danny who is going to be my mentor and is the Manager at the base came to pick me up. It was a 45 minute drive to the base in Ngong, which lies on the southern outskirts of Nairobi. The drive back reminded me a lot of my country of origin, Pakistan. The same crazy driving on the pot hole filled roads. The same amazing smell of polutants in the air, the same gas stations (CALTEX) that I forgot existed since I've been in the US. Danny told me how just beyond the sides of the road was the safari where during the day time I would have seen Girraffes and Zebras. After getting back I was shown my room by Cherie who is extremely warm and loving. I like the room, its small, reminds me of a guest house room in the hilltop city of Murree in Pakistan. I finally got a chance to meet Mike Meegan, the guy who had started ICROSS almost 30 years ago. As expected Mike turned out to be a very very smart man, the kind of person you would gladly pay to listen too and never get bored. I had dinner during my conversation with mike and cherie and got in bed early so that I could start early the next day. The next morning I couldn't wake up till about 9:30, the jet lag had got to me, although I don't really believe in jet lags but still I was really tired. Took a hot shower, made an omelette and went over to the office with is right next door. Got a briefing from Cherie as to what she needed help with. Then she took me on the mini-bus to Karren which was a 10 min ride; the buses here are just like the "Hiace" in Pakistan. Karren's a place where all the white people live so there was a huge grocery store, kinda like Cub Foods where you could find anything and everything from the West. Went to the money exchange place to get some cash and took a bigger bus back to the base in Ngong.I have a meeting with Mike in a bit where he'll go over what i'm supposed to be doing here.