(Photos, starting upper left and working clockwise: cutting machine, myself lining up the columns, jason and Duan working on the foundation, Alex and Mark putting the inner tower together, a building being errected)
Trip to Kenya
430am, May 22nd, mama hall drove me to the pittburgh airport.
830am, I arrived at JFK in NYC and began my 12 hr Journey to Dubai, with a little company called Emirates.
Then a second flight was taken from Dubai to Nairobi. Finally arriving in Kenya at 2pm on May 23rd (Kenyan time – which is 8am NY time…7 hrs ahead).
Note to everyone: if you ever have the chance to fly Emirates, DO IT. It was by far the best airline I’ve ever taken. Over 360 movies/tv shows on demand, hot towels before and after meals, meals that taste LIKE REAL FOOD. REAL silverware!! No joke, no plastic for Emirates. Free alcoholic beverages. Free candy bar by request, and I’m not talking the fun size, I’m talking full blown Snickers my friend. I must be honest, I can not WAIT to fly home!
Nairobi
Ah, Nairobi. The largest city in Kenya. Nairobi was largely what I expected it to be like. All of the cars appear to have at least 10 yrs on me. The roads are worn down, and even though there are lines painted to separate the lanes, it’s really every car for themselves; if there’s a 3ft wide space, then one will find room to squeeze his 5ft wide car into it. There are some nicer buildings that would blend into the US without question (mostly the Sheraton hotels and business headquarters), but then there will be a building next to it being constructed, with only pieces of tree logs about 3 to 4 inches in diameter being used to support the concrete during construction. It is then that I remember---I’m in Kenya…
Oh, quick character review, below is a list of who was involved in this project and a brief description so when I talk about them later you know who I’m referring.
There were 5 penn state students (including myself) that mainly worked on this project (other’s were involved but only 4 of them I knew directly)
Alex & Mark – both of these guys came to Kenya with me. Alex is a 6’6” electrical engineer. Mark is an mechanical engineer. Both also just graduated from Penn State.
Josh and Anthony – These guys we’re not able to make the trip due to Penn State restrictions on undergraduates traveling to countries with travel warnings. They are both Architectural engineers (though I won’t hold that against them). The three of us designed the tower with help/guidance of a few of our professors.
Khanjan Mheta – The man. He is an instructor and researcher at Penn State, as well as the head of this project.
I flew into Nairobi with two other students, Mark and Alex. Already in Nairobi was our professor—Khanjan, Jason and Duan (pronounced Ju-an). Jason is American that was traveling Europe, somehow got involved with Penn State ESW and has been in Nairobi for two months helping us get affairs in orders over here. Duan is an Australian, friend’s with Jason, who just happened to also be traveling and thought this was a neat project so he stuck around Nairobi with Jason. (Little did he know what he really signed up for…)
Anyways,
So Mark, Alex and myself arrive into Nairobi after our over 24 hr journey. The Nairobi airport is in the largest in Kenya---about ¼ of the size of Pittsburgh Airport. Security went much like this:
We fill out a form and pay $50 for our visas. Our passports are stamped. No questions asked. So much for customs? We head out of the airport, but then a woman at a desk stops me and asks me what is in a box I had. I look up and realize that custom inspection is after passport approval. Just books, I tell her. “Oh ok, see you.” And the three of us head out to the parking lot. Again, so much for customs?
We get picked up from the airport by men from the University and they take us to the hotel where we meet Khanjan, Jason, and Duan. Now, I’ve actually been up for almost 48 hrs at this point because I was up the entire night BEFORE I left to travel, double checking all the drawings/construction plans etc. We meet Khanjan and he says, “Right, let’s pop over to the University, look at what’s done and meet with some people from the University.
So much for a nap. Don’t worry Khanjan, we’re not jetlagged at all.
Now, I had sent over a bill of materials a few days prior so that the steel could be bought and cut before our arrival. We get to the workshop and there lies the steel. In the bill of materials, I had made a point to say that we needed 2 ½” x 2 ½” angles as a MINIMUM size for each section of the tower to be 8ft. There in front of me laid a pile of 2 x 2 inch angles….
2 ½ didn’t exist and 3 inch was too expensive. Right, we’ll just have to decrease the sections to four 6ft sections instead of three 8ft sections. Glad I spent the whole night up making sure all the drawings were accurate.
After we were shown around the shop (details on that tomorrow), a man named Mr. Misango met up with us and we all sat down for a beer. Note to everyone: one beer when lacking 48hrs of sleep gets to one REAL fast.
By now it’s about 9pm.
Khanjan, can we just get something to eat and go to bed? “Oh right, I bet you guys are tired,” he replies. Ya think?
So we go to a place call the Java house (more on this place later). I had an amazing burrito---in Kenya—so much for authentic food. I still have 32 more days in this country. So as the Kenyans would say : Hakuna Matata!
430am, May 22nd, mama hall drove me to the pittburgh airport.
830am, I arrived at JFK in NYC and began my 12 hr Journey to Dubai, with a little company called Emirates.
Then a second flight was taken from Dubai to Nairobi. Finally arriving in Kenya at 2pm on May 23rd (Kenyan time – which is 8am NY time…7 hrs ahead).
Note to everyone: if you ever have the chance to fly Emirates, DO IT. It was by far the best airline I’ve ever taken. Over 360 movies/tv shows on demand, hot towels before and after meals, meals that taste LIKE REAL FOOD. REAL silverware!! No joke, no plastic for Emirates. Free alcoholic beverages. Free candy bar by request, and I’m not talking the fun size, I’m talking full blown Snickers my friend. I must be honest, I can not WAIT to fly home!
Nairobi
Ah, Nairobi. The largest city in Kenya. Nairobi was largely what I expected it to be like. All of the cars appear to have at least 10 yrs on me. The roads are worn down, and even though there are lines painted to separate the lanes, it’s really every car for themselves; if there’s a 3ft wide space, then one will find room to squeeze his 5ft wide car into it. There are some nicer buildings that would blend into the US without question (mostly the Sheraton hotels and business headquarters), but then there will be a building next to it being constructed, with only pieces of tree logs about 3 to 4 inches in diameter being used to support the concrete during construction. It is then that I remember---I’m in Kenya…
Oh, quick character review, below is a list of who was involved in this project and a brief description so when I talk about them later you know who I’m referring.
There were 5 penn state students (including myself) that mainly worked on this project (other’s were involved but only 4 of them I knew directly)
Alex & Mark – both of these guys came to Kenya with me. Alex is a 6’6” electrical engineer. Mark is an mechanical engineer. Both also just graduated from Penn State.
Josh and Anthony – These guys we’re not able to make the trip due to Penn State restrictions on undergraduates traveling to countries with travel warnings. They are both Architectural engineers (though I won’t hold that against them). The three of us designed the tower with help/guidance of a few of our professors.
Khanjan Mheta – The man. He is an instructor and researcher at Penn State, as well as the head of this project.
I flew into Nairobi with two other students, Mark and Alex. Already in Nairobi was our professor—Khanjan, Jason and Duan (pronounced Ju-an). Jason is American that was traveling Europe, somehow got involved with Penn State ESW and has been in Nairobi for two months helping us get affairs in orders over here. Duan is an Australian, friend’s with Jason, who just happened to also be traveling and thought this was a neat project so he stuck around Nairobi with Jason. (Little did he know what he really signed up for…)
Anyways,
So Mark, Alex and myself arrive into Nairobi after our over 24 hr journey. The Nairobi airport is in the largest in Kenya---about ¼ of the size of Pittsburgh Airport. Security went much like this:
We fill out a form and pay $50 for our visas. Our passports are stamped. No questions asked. So much for customs? We head out of the airport, but then a woman at a desk stops me and asks me what is in a box I had. I look up and realize that custom inspection is after passport approval. Just books, I tell her. “Oh ok, see you.” And the three of us head out to the parking lot. Again, so much for customs?
We get picked up from the airport by men from the University and they take us to the hotel where we meet Khanjan, Jason, and Duan. Now, I’ve actually been up for almost 48 hrs at this point because I was up the entire night BEFORE I left to travel, double checking all the drawings/construction plans etc. We meet Khanjan and he says, “Right, let’s pop over to the University, look at what’s done and meet with some people from the University.
So much for a nap. Don’t worry Khanjan, we’re not jetlagged at all.
Now, I had sent over a bill of materials a few days prior so that the steel could be bought and cut before our arrival. We get to the workshop and there lies the steel. In the bill of materials, I had made a point to say that we needed 2 ½” x 2 ½” angles as a MINIMUM size for each section of the tower to be 8ft. There in front of me laid a pile of 2 x 2 inch angles….
2 ½ didn’t exist and 3 inch was too expensive. Right, we’ll just have to decrease the sections to four 6ft sections instead of three 8ft sections. Glad I spent the whole night up making sure all the drawings were accurate.
After we were shown around the shop (details on that tomorrow), a man named Mr. Misango met up with us and we all sat down for a beer. Note to everyone: one beer when lacking 48hrs of sleep gets to one REAL fast.
By now it’s about 9pm.
Khanjan, can we just get something to eat and go to bed? “Oh right, I bet you guys are tired,” he replies. Ya think?
So we go to a place call the Java house (more on this place later). I had an amazing burrito---in Kenya—so much for authentic food. I still have 32 more days in this country. So as the Kenyans would say : Hakuna Matata!
