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Well, I'm beginning to settle in here - finding my way around town, getting used to the crazy driving and meeting a few people (annoyingly, often just as they are about to leave Kenya, but I'm starting to find a few locals & long-termers).
I have made it out of town a couple of times now. Two weekends ago we went out to a friend's place for lunch - great BBQ, wonderful setting in the middle of nowhere with a view of Kili from the garden, and a fantastic reminder that most of Kenya's wildlife still lives outside of the National Parks - driving back home we passed giraffes, zebras, hartebeest and gazelle, all just alongside the main road. Then last weekend, courtesy of Arthur White's parents, I found myself roped into dinghy (Fireball) racing at the Lake Naivasha Yacht Club. What a great place! As we drove the last few 100m to the club house we were surrounded by wildebeest, zebras, waterbuck and to my amazement even a hippo pottering around. I was assured that there had never been any incidents involving hippos and sailors, but that they did from time to time leave tokens of their presence on the boats during the night. Sure enough, when we arrived, our boat had been duly annointed - good luck apparently! We were certainly going to need it given that I had never raced or crewed small boats before, and was a little concerned about the prospect of having to do useful things with the spinnaker and the trapeze. Amazingly all went reasonably smoothly, no doubt thanks to the skill and patience of my expert helm and tutor, and we even managed to win one race. I'm going back in a couple of weeks time - this time in addition to the racing it's the annual club dinner & dance... And then the following weekend I am off to watch an open air performance of Don Giovanni at Hell's Gate National Park... it all seems just slightly surreal at times!
Back in town, I am obviously checking out all the local eating establishments, and so far have managed to sample several great Italian restaurants, an Ethiopian, a Japanese, and most recently the (in)famous Carnivore. A word more on the latter... How on earth the place managed to make it into an oft-quoted 'Top 50 restaurants of the world' ranking is quite beyond me. Since some local legislation changed, the most exotic meats they are able to offer are ostrich (nice, but I had better in Switzerland), crocodile (grim) and camel (why on earth would anyone want to eat that?!). The remaining options were dry and over-cooked lamb, beef and chicken. Factor in the clientele (minibus-loads of Abercrombie & Kent package tourists just back from safari) and the price (2-3 times what you pay for top notch food anywhere else here), and you can imagine I'm in no great hurry to return... Having said that, we were in a big group and had a great laugh, particularly once we had moved nextdoor to dance. It was apparently 'rock night' though the rather liberal interpretation of 'rock' included everything from Wham to techno. Grandma here (everyone I was with turned out to be in their early 20's) bailed out at about 2am - probably a good thing given that it was a Wednesday night. And running out of cash due to the exorbitant cost of the meal did at least help avoid a stinking hangover the next day.
Now running, as most of you know, is an activity that I tend to try my best to avoid. However, on Monday nights our office goes out 'en masse' with the Hash House Harriers, so I figured I had better join them. Fortunately the Nairobi Hash is not the stereotypical crowd of ageing, beer-guzzling ex-pats found in many former colonial outposts. I reckon it's about 80:20 African:European, and while they do have a few silly songs, games and names, we tend to keep a low profile and sneak off before the worst of it gets going. It's actually a great incentive to run regularly, it's fun and motivating to be with a big crowd of people, and you get to see parts of town you wouldn't otherwise dream of visiting, not to mention the excuse to get out of the office early! Quite what the residents of some of the slums we've run past think of us is another matter. Running in a long crocodile along the railway line last week was also interesting - I was assured that the trains are much slower than the runners so there'd be plenty of time to get out of the way if one were to come along. Anyway, it's probably good for me - although there is a serious trade-off between fitness and excercise vs inhaling the noxious mix of dust and exhaust fumes that passes for air here.
That's more than enough for now - well done if you've got this far! More to come when I have more to report...
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The CDC team - modelling our new shirts!
Lunchtime at the office
A typical day - fixing cars
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