Arrived

Ah, Kenya. Land of the cheerful people and the dusty and rattling cars. There is such a distinct smell to Nairobi - unlike anything I have experienced before. It smells spicy and earthy and like a burning campfire, and it hit me the second I walked off the plane. I made it to Nairobi okay but unfortunately one of my pieces of luggage has not. By sheer dumb luck the checked piece that did arrive had the most important stuff in it - toiletries, socks and underwear and the food that I had packed for the night I arrived. Good reminder to pack more carefully next time. I got in late on Sunday night after 19 hours on three different planes with next to no sleep and no food (I'd rather starve than eat most airplane food). So I got to my apartment, had a little food and a quick shower, and had to be up 8 hours later to go to the museum. I woke up feeling not so great, undoubtedly due to the lack of food and sleep, but still trudged to the museum to meet with the department heads and get everything organized. I was there for a few hours and started to feel worse and worse, attempted to go to a restaurant for some food (long and bad story), and by the time I got home was massively sick. But I took a bunch of pills, slept all afternoon, went out for dinner and made it to the grocery store so things should run a bit more smoothly now.

I'm staying in a great apartment and should be set up with an office in the museum tomorrow. Today I found about 3/4 of the fossils that I need to study, which is an exceptionally good start to my time here.