Metamorphosis from tourist to resident

"In the highlands you woke up in the morning and thought: Here I am, where I ought to be." (Karen Blixen)

Chatting with my Norwegian friend a while ago we came to the conclusion that living in Nairobi has been one of those precious times in life when we are not waiting for something to happen, we're just happy as we are now and enjoy all the fun as it is.

Since I moved to Westlands exactly two weeks ago, I have began to feel much more settled down in Nairobi than before. I am able to go out in the evenings more often, which partly explains why I haven't written anything for a while. Another reason is that there have been no mind-blowing experiences since then, just a smooth process of becoming a resident instead of a random visitor in Nairobi. The process includes such things as getting a gym membership, leaving the map at home and knowing lots of people in every meeting I go to at the UN. All these things make life a lot more comfortable, but on the other hand finding truly new experiences is now slightly more challenging than in the first weeks.

I am very happy with my new cosy flat and my extremely friendly and talkative flatmate. Despite a difference in age I think we have an excellent mutual understanding on how life in Nairobi is best enjoyed and have already started planning a big Mayday party together. Below are photos from our living room and my room mostly to demonstrate that there is in fact little exotics in how we live at home.

Now that Kenya is peaceful, it is beginning to feel more and more like a sunny holiday destination and much less like a politically complex hardship spot which it seemed at the outset. There is not much difference as to how we live, but the atmosphere has changed. I hope it will last. There seems to be much less talk about who's a Kikuyu and who's a Luja by tribal background than a month ago.

So at work we are back to normalcy if there ever is such a thing in diplomacy. That means more climate change and Somalia for me. I wish those matters could be tackled with the same efficiency as the Kenyan crisis was. It was actually quite an impressive tour de force from the international community. Many experts believe there might be now a momentum in Somalia to do the same, which could potentially make my job even more interesting than it is otherwise.