Arriving in Kenya

Habari everyone, from Nairobi!
Mollie, my friend from the LSE MPA program who is researching with me, and I made it to Kenya, safe and sound!  No major hang ups or anything; all the bags arrived, no problems with the visas, the hostel met us at the airport, and we got our room just fine!
The hostel is in the affluent Karen suburbs, where all the foreigners and government officials live in big compounds with large grounds and guards, surrounded by high walls.  The land in between is just sort of rolling farm land and little shops and 3 story cement buildings that have everything from apartments to hair salons to auto part shops.
Thus far, Nairobi is a lot greener than I expected, lots of eucalyptus, palms, climbing flowers, and other things that I think of as house plants but would definitely not fit in a little pot any more.  Its very cool here right now, I am wearing a jacket, and overcast.
People seem very friendly, and there is a lot of security--gourds and army men around.  Apparently there was an attack on a church someplace close to Somali border while we were in flight, so I don't know if the security is because of that or just the normal state of things.  Everyone says Nairobi is much safer than it used to be and safer than the places attacked--our taxi driver said the politicians must be sure to protect themselves, and they all live here. 
Jet lag is not too bad, a bit sleepy but that could also be the altitude. No bad culture shock yet, but I have been in the country less than 24 hours.
Today we have been walking around--went to a grocery store to get local SIM cards (so now we have phones) and laundry soap and snacks, then walked to the SIT office where Mollie studied in 2007.  They were out, so we left our card with our new local number.  We tried to find her old home stay parents, but they had moved.
The Chinese are definitely in Kenya--we counted half a dozen billboards last night for Chinese companies on our way from the airport!  We saw a group of people at the grocery store who I thought were Chinese, so I went up and tried to chat with them in Mandarin.  Turns out they were Korean.  Very embarrassing, but saved the moment by apologizing in Korean and saying thank you and welcome, which they seemed to think was nice and funny.  They didn't know where the Chinese hang out, but I am sure we encounter them soon.   It sounds terrible, like I am searching for my white whale, but I am hoping that once we meet a few Chinese business men, we can get an sense of where the rest work and where the factories are. Feeling very good about the feasibility of the project right now!
More to come later!  Love to you all!