The first two weeks

So we've been in Kenya for two weeks now and it's high time I actually posted to our much promised blog. So where to start? At the beginning of our long journey I guess...

It was the end of a long, sleepless and stressful weekend of moving, packing and cleaning - Katy had got to the point of hysteria where she was singing at the top of her voice one minute and then in inconsolable tears the next. As the taxi arrived to take us to the airport we were still frantically scrubbing the kitchen!

We arrived at the airport to find that there was a surprise group there to meet us – Ben, Will, Phil, Rose and Nick. Such nice friends we have. After a bit of faffing at the check-in desk, we grabbed a quick G+T drink in the Airport’s ‘pub’ before sad farewells at the gate. We honestly wouldn’t have been able to sort everything out without their help with moving, storing, packing etc etc – and this final gesture to come to say goodbye was very touching. Thank you again.

The flight to Dubai was uneventful but on arrival at the airport I realised I had left my wallet on the plane, which led to a panicked hour of tracking down the right people to help me (at 4am UK time!). It was ok in the end though, thankfully. We had 8 hours to kill in Dubai, so we bought a digital camera in the duty-free shop and then passed out on a bench before finally catching our onward flight to Nairobi.

Lian and Nils were at Nairobi airport to meet us. It’s only been 5 months since we were here last but it was still a bit of a culture shock to be back again – the noises, the smells and the traffic - I’m just about getting used to Kenyan road etiquette now. We went for a swift Tusker (the standard Kenyan beer) before returning to Lian and Nil’s and passing out for 12 hours or so.

The next day we moved from the safety of Lian and Nil’s to our new home. Home is now a huge house situated halfway up a steep hill in Kitisuru in North West Nairobi. It’s a pretty posh area with equally large properties dotted all around amongst lush green trees and vegetation.

Security here is very tight – a large fence surrounds the compound of houses, we have bars on all the windows and guards with dogs to look after us day and night. It’s not specific to this house though, it’s the standard way (wealthy) people live in Nairobi and it takes a lot of getting used to. It’s not safe to walk on the street after dark, but taxis are relatively cheap.

On arrival here we met our housemates Tamara and Patricia. Tamara from England is currently living here and writing a book. Patricia is an Italian who spends most of her time working in Somalia – she happened to be back in Nairobi for a few days for R&R (rest and recuperation). We were warmly welcomed and made to feel at home immediately. Nate is our other house mate but he was (and still is) away in Sudan, working on their new constitution!. Our room is large but currently a little bare – our only piece of furniture is a sideboard that I’m using as a computer desk, but we also have a huge built-in wardrobe to store all our stuff. There is a definite 70s/80s feeling going on with the house, but it’s kinda cool – makes me want to make a film here!

Katy had just under a week before she started work, so we spent the first few days discovering the house, the garden (huge again!) and our surrounding area. The nearest shopping centre is the Sarit Center, a ten minute Matatu ride away. Matatus are private mini-buses that whiz around Nairobi in their apparent millions. They are staffed by a driver and a guy who takes the money (usually around 20 bob - about 15p) and tries to drum up business while driving along, usually by sticking his head out of the window or even hanging out of the door and shouting to pedestrians. The ride is usually a little hair-raising to say the least but it’s a good introduction to the Kenyan way of life.

In the evenings we went to people’s houses, bars and parties and met so many new people that I still struggle to put names to all the faces. On Friday night, there was a party at our house to celebrate Tamara’s birthday. Our house is apparently known for being the party house, and accordingly loads of people turned up. I was the resident DJ using my laptop, and although I tried a varied mix of tunes during the evening, it was Phil’s collection of power ballads that really got the party going…<sigh> At some point in the early hours of the morning Nils decided that I wasn’t drunk enough and proceeded to pour Tusker beer down my throat in the form of shotguns – where you punch a hole into the bottom of a can of beer, aim it roughly into your mouth and then pull the ring-pull at the top which results in the entire can being forcefully ejected into your mouth. After several of these delightful experiences, I…actually I can’t remember – but I’m sure it was amusing.

Monday saw Katy’s first day at work and having just about recovered from Friday’s excesses she bravely emerged from the warmth of the bed into the cold room. Strange as it may seem, Nairobi is bloody cold at the minute. We have arrived towards the end of winter where temperatures seem to average around 20º C during the day and get much colder at night. None of the houses have any sort of heating though, which is really needed in this big old house that just doesn’t seem to warm up. I’m sure it will be nice and cool in summer (which starts next month, I’m told) – but at the minute I tend to have to go outside to warm up a bit. Anyhow, I shall leave Katy to tell you about her work, as I’m sure I’ve already lost most readers by now due the length of this entry.

The last bit I want to talk about (honest) was the weekend just gone which we spent with some friends on the coast, about an hour’s south of Mombassa at a place called Diani. Katy and I got the night coach on Thursday evening whilst everybody else flew to Mombassa from Nairobi (hmmph). The coach was actually not too bad and comfortable enough to sleep for most of the journey. We arrived into Mombassa at about 6:30 in the morning. Immediately we could tell that we were in a much warmer place. Nairobi is cold because it’s at altitude, but here at sea level things were much nicer. We got a bus to the place we were staying arriving before any staff had arrived so we sat by the sea, feeling a bit groggy and in need of a shower. Finally we got into our lovely cottage – a cute three bedroom place overlooking the beach.

After a hearty breakfast we ventured to nearby shops for some more food and beer then returned and promptly passed out until Nils with two workmates – Cala and Ed arrived after a meeting they had attended in Mombassa. We sat and chatted on the patio and awaited the others to arrive – Lian, Emily, Leslie, James (another James – every other bloke in Kenya seems to be called James), Madeline and little Tola, just over a year old and very cute. By the time they got there we were starving, and went straight to the local Swahili restaurant for some delicious food.

The rest of the weekend was spent walking along the beach and stopping to eat or drink. Very relaxing. We had good weather on Saturday, but on Sunday it rained and we got soaked ending up in a restaurant to warm up with loads of pizza. All in all a lovely weekend with some lovely people and lovely food – what more can you ask for?!

So that about sums up what we’ve been up to so far. I’m about to start helping out with a film that’s being made here in Nairobi, but I’ll tell you more about that next time.