It’s been a while and I feel very guilty and neglectful – but I have been thinking about blogging. Just been busy doing other things and more to the point other stuff when I have been on the computer BUT have just completed a long list of computer tasks so I am back!!
The idea was to just type a small amount and regularly – so where did that resolution go?! Shameful – I did not manage even a month!!
I have had a bit of a movie fest of late – been to the cinema TWICE during the day with girlfriends – great fun – had the cinema to ourselves – saw Avatar and Invictus (the latter was hilarious as we had the main film and a private show from my neighbor who was sat with us and clapping, joining in, singing etc – half the time I was not sure where the best bit was – actually that day there was one other women in the auditorium – she must have thought we all should be in the funny farm!!
Have also seen Julie and Julia and District 9 (thought the latter was a load of old rubbish but I’m not into that Sci-Fi stuff really) Saw the Valentines’ Day chick flick with Anna while Steve was taxi driver to Luke who was invited to a party. Lots of stars in it – but very cheesy, still it was a good mother and daughter bonding exercise.
We are having more and more communal events here at out compound and using the facilities. I am trying to swim 1km as often as I can. The pool is lovely – sitting around 25 degrees. Occasionally the water is warmer than the air (not often, mainly only of if I swim early or late). The best time but not so convenient time, is to swim leading up to lunch, then shower and eat. On Mondays and Wednesdays we have an instructor who holds a body toning/aerobics type class and Tuesday and Thursday there is Pilates (this clashes with my yoga so I do not go to that). We have had salsa dancing – trying to find a dance instructor for us to do more regular classes. We have had ‘bring and braai’ by the pool where those participating invite a couple of families to join. Seems like we have got our regular invitees so they have been allocated no’s (there are only 9 houses in the compound numbered 1-9) so if we talk of no. 10 or no. 10A the residents know who is on the list!
The weather has been gorgeous lately – full-blown summer- in a way it is a pity the next rains should be just around the corner but we do need it – even after prolonged heavy ‘short rains’ we are still on water rationing. We had 2 incidences recently where the water was cut for several days due to major burst pipes – lucky it was restored apparently – have heard of areas which get a major burst, council cut the water and the repairs are left so they never have water restored. Once again we were very grateful that we had our big 5000l storage tank which was full and acted as a back-up when we were low – when the water came back we were able to fill from council water (cheaper than buying a tanker load) A couple of weeks ago or lawn was mown – we have slow growing grass and even after all the rain it was not grossly over grown. After 2 days it was starting to burn up in the sun and due to the dryness – we almost regretted cutting as it did not look like there was any prospect of rain. The following day Steve cycled to work for the first time (we have experienced really dreadful traffic in this area due to road works elsewhere in the city and traffic being channeled through our area) as the previous day it had taken him 50 minutes to get to the office which is about 3+ km away! That afternoon I could not believe it as the clouds built up and we got a major convectional storm – in fact I chuckled to myself that Steve had brought on the rain by cycling, in the same way, if I have my hair done rain is almost guaranteed!! Anyway a colleague kindly put his bike in the car and dropped him off. The next day he cycled again, and yes you guessed it – rain once again but this time he cycled back in it. The UN is NOT the place to drive to at rush hour which is why he did not ask me to go collect him. Anyway it was all great for the lawn which greened up immediately. After 3 days the clouds cleared and we have had settled conditions ever since- highs of around 27-30 degrees but the nights are always cool – this is why they say Nairobi has a perfect climate.
Last weekend we had lunch at the neighbors (an alcohol free one for me after the Danish lunch hangover a couple of weeks back) after lunch we made Ethiopian coffee, a real experience. We roasted the beans on a tiny braai, then ground them and made the coffee in an Ethiopian pot on the same tiny braai. It was more the anticipation and the process than the coffee at the end of it which was unusual. I was laughing as only in Africa would you roast your raw coffee beans!!
I have been trying to be disciplined about keeping my computer inbox cleared of out of date e mails so earlier in the week I had a clear out. There were so many messages about going out to lunch and co-coordinating lunch arrangements with various people I found myself blushing as I hit the delete button! BUT had a good lunch last week with 4 other ladies – went into the city to the Indian Street and found cheap cloth, kikoys, t-shirts and kangas (a particular style of Kenyan cloth) we then headed for the Alliance Francaise to an exhibition of newspaper cartoonists ( Mr Mugabe had made his way in there!!) and lunch – can you believe that in the middle of Nairobi CBD I bumped into someone I knew- x Zimbo! We then headed to the Goethe-Institut (German Cultural Centre) to an exhibition titled Á Black Man’s view, A White Man’s Taboo’ I seemed to miss the point on most of the exhibits even with the explanation apart from ‘Westernized Hand Print’ which showed a European white hand and a key surrounded by Black hands with one black hand chained (this poignantly depicted Africans who turn against their own people) – not clear if that was siding with the European or reflecting the text book African politician who stuffs his pocket at the expense of the masses. We were extremely fortunate with traffic so must have timed it just right both ways so intend to visit the city and these little exhibitions more often.
Happy Valentines
