on the tennis court

To celebrate our friend Simon's birthday, and in honour of the Australian Open, we spent a lovely sunshiney Sunday afternoon out on the tennis court with friends. One thing we really miss from home is the abundance of wide open green spaces - it was so nice to have so much green grass to enjoy!

There was an elusive cardboard cup to win, so the stakes were, you know, really high. But the competition stayed friendly, with handshakes all round. In the end, we ran out of time to progress to round two, so we'll just have to find another nice Sunday to head back to the courts and enjoy this perfect Nairobi weather.

 

Christmas in Nairobi

 

It's Christmas time! We've been a little quiet on the blog because life has been busy with Christmas celebrations. We had a big Christmas dinner with the Aussie volunteers, complete with Secret Santa - I was given the gorgeous Christmas Angel from Amani Ya Juu. 

With our church, we had an outdoor evening Christmas Carols event at Karen Blixen House, a nyama choma lunch with the young adults and on Wednesday night we watched Elf on a big screen, under the Kenyan stars and snuggled up in Maasai blankets - it's cold!! We've been enjoying delicious mulled wine and the general Christmas cheer!

We didn't commit to a Christmas tree this year because we're away over Christmas, but we decorated our apartment with red Christmas candles, paper doily snowflakes, and Christmas carol lyrics. And of course, Green Bunny looks very festive in his green coat.

We're flying out tonight for ten days in Ethiopia, where we'll celebrate Christmas with an Australian friend from Kenya, an Ethiopian family and some Aussie expats living in Addis. We're also heading north to explore the ancient stone churches in Lalibela, and then south to Bale Mountains for a three-day horse trek. 

It's a bit of an understatement to say that we're very excited, and that Christmas this year will be very different from the usual!

you do the hokey pokey...

..and you turn around, and that's what it's all about!

Along with the other Aussie volunteers here in Nairobi, I spent Thursday painting, sweeping, cleaning, colouring and hokey-pokeying in a local school. Well actually, I spent the whole time taking photos, but everyone else did a lot of hokey-pokeying :) The day was a little different to my usual desk job, but a whole lot of fun!

in the matatu

Here we are crammed into the back of a matatu, on route to church. These public transport vans are supposed to seat 14 passengers, but have been known to squeeze in over 20. Last week I was very almost sitting on the lap of a rather elderly gentleman - there is certainly more physical contact with your fellow passengers than any public transport back home.



The matatu fare is usually no more than the equivalent of 60-70 cents, but can be as little as 15 cents. For that low, low price you get a unique travel experience that, on any given day, can vary from booming ghetto beats to Lionel Ritchie, flashing fairy lights to multicoloured vinyl roofing to random stickers, the scent of hot sweaty passengers to the almost overpowering exhaust fumes from a vehicle in front.

And if you're really lucky, you'll get to experience that life-flashing-before-your-eyes kind of fear that accompanies speeding down a hill, on the wrong side of the road, into oncoming traffic, or the equally frightening 'oh-look-at-that-the-roads-are-jammed-let's-use-the-side-walk-as-a-super-highway' ordeal.

On another note, you wouldn't believe how much our prayer lives have improved.

home sweet home

1. Our Catholic priest neighbours playing a lively game of volleyball.  2. Snapshots from home that make here feel more homely.  3. Beautiful natural light that streams into our bedroom.  4. The best map ever - have you seen that West Wing episode?  5. Looking out our kitchen window to a nearby school. I've counted ten blossoming jacarandas from that window.  6. Our dear Green Bunny, alive and well and still staring down all of our visitors.

the higher, the better

We watch with amazement as these four inch heels navigate pot holes, gravel, mud and broken pavement.

life in the big city

When friends have asked what life is like in Nairobi, I almost feel strange trying to explain to them just how comfortably we can live here. I'm sure images of mud huts, dirty water and bad roads are flashing through their minds, and while they are certainly part of the picture in Kenya, there's a whole other side to Nairobi / Kenya / Africa that perhaps we aren't so aware of in the West.

Nairobi is a big city. There are skyscrapers (best viewed from here). There are big shopping centres. There are restaurants from almost every corner of the earth. In rush hour, the streets are teeming with smartly dressed Kenyans, off to their office, to do the shopping, or to get to university. It's not so different from home.

There are small businesses on every second corner, selling electric goods, furniture, video and editing services, groceries, vehicles and so on. In the matatus, I've sat next people with vocations as diverse as a university lecturer, an IT officer, an NGO's driver, a school teacher, a young mum, and a lumberjack (with his chainsaw sitting awkwardly across his lap).



There's a growing middle class in Kenya and Nairobi caters well for them. Within 15-20 minutes of our apartment, you can find not one, but two, cinemas, hospitals, dentists and chemists, a golf course, a casino, an Irish pub, a horse racing track, a war memorial, a great green grocer, a fish market, a wine bar (which we just had to check out, see above) and a microbrewery bar with salsa dancing every week.

We've already tried out the local Ethiopian, Italian, joint Japanese/Lebanese, Chinese, American, Mediterranean, Brazillian, Swiss and Kenyan restaurants, and we certainly can't complain about the food. I'd even go as far to say that sometimes, we're eating much better than at home.

Nairobi feels surprisingly like our hometown, albeit a little more mud and far fewer blondes. Even the trees feel 'homely' at the moment - there are jacarandas in bloom throughout the city and I can't help but think of all the uni students studying for their final exams.

So when you're thinking of poor W + L in 'deepest darkest Africa', please imagine us eating delicious fresh sushi, heading out to see the latest Bond flick, or catching up with friends for a drink at the bar, because that might be just what we're up to!

obama fever

Spotted while driving out of Nairobi the other week, but certainly not our first sighting of Obama in Kenya. Like in many parts of the world, the US election is being closely followed here.

We've discovered very quickly that Kenyans love their politics and are well versed on their MPs, presidential candidates and the nitty gritty of electoral processes. The front page news story is almost always a political one and I've never met so many people who have not only read, but seemingly memorised, their country's Constitution.

Everyone from the taxi drivers, to fellow colleagues, to the guy that shines shoes down the street can and will give us their insight into the latest political happenings. It's fascinating!

this is street-side entertainment

 

As we wait for our bus to fill, we are thoroughly entertained - by street performers doing tricks on the footpath, and two little girls sneaking smiles at us from the seat in front.

big city livin'

The same day we stumbled across the market, we also visited the Kenyatta International Conference Centre to get a birds eye view of our new home. There's a viewing platform at the top of the building and we spent a good twenty minutes snapping photos and wondering where the strange twilight-zone haze came from. Nairobi can get pretty overcast / smoggy, but it really was a crazy hazy day.

We then discovered an opened door and narrow hallway around the back of the building, climbed up a few flights of stairs and found ourselves standing in the middle of a helipad and on top of the world!

Much like Brisbane, most of our day-to-day life is out in the 'burbs, where the highrises aren't so high, but the traffic is just as bad. But I wonder, does this large African city look like what you imagine Nairobi to be?