Sunday, November 29, 2009
Egypt then Paris and now heading home
Wow, when did we leave Kenya? I guess it was the 22nd of November but it feels like it could have been a month ago. It's been a great trip which we plan to blog about (thereby closing the blog loop) after we return to the states. In the meantime, here are a couple of pictures (if I can squeak them out with the remaining battery power). See you soon!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
On Safari in Tsavo West National Park
We'll write a longer blog about our adventures in Tsavo this weekend (actually Ben will because he is the master blog writer) but I thought it would be nice to post some pictures. In short...the landscape was stunning, the Kilaguni Lodge was an oasis (especially after the drive from Nairobi), the animals were fun to watch (you can watch
zebra, gazelles, and baboon at the water hole from your breakfast table), the game drives were fun - we saw elephant, kudu, dik-dik, zebra, giraffe, waterbuck, hippos, crocs, impala, oryx, and a tortoise), the meals were extravagant - especially dinner by candlelight with the waterhole slightly lit up so you can watch zebra wander in for a drink, our driver was pretty funny and a great guide for the park even though he reminded us every hour that we would have seen more animals in the Mara, the drive from Nairobi was scary and dirty (though better than most drives I've done in Kenya). Here are a few pictures.
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Thoughts, happenings, and notes in no particular order and perhaps missing some punctuation
The kids are down for an afternoon nap, simultaneously (!). Erica is at work. I’ve been thinking about our temporary life in Nairobi, Kenya. Me and the kids spend most of our weekdays now generally inhabiting the triangle between the Gigiri Homestead, the UN complex, and the Village Market. Dylan typically takes a 1-2 hour nap in the morning while Grayson and I play some pretend game or watch cartoons or help the gardener (Mbito) with weeding or watering the plants. I tack on to this drinking multiple cups of coffee. Grayson is fond of taking guests’ breakfast orders and then reporting them to Rosa and Faith, who are usually the staff people doing the morning cooking. Rosa and Faith laugh and participate in Grayson’s play as he rushes between the dining room and the kitchen taking orders from the guests and delivering them to the cooks. The dining room and kitchen are connected by a large opening cut in the wall where there is also a countertop with coffee, mugs, cereals, milk, and juice. Often Grayson doesn’t remember the whole breakfast order so he shouts back to the guests from the kitchen, “Pancakes, bacon, …and what else?” Rosa and Faith seem to enjoy Grayson’s play which I think makes the whole thing work for everyone. Or, they are just putting up with it and looking longingly forward to the day we leave. Nah, they love it! After Dylan wakes up, generally around 10 am, we load up the stroller—-swim suits, diapers, wipes, extra clothes for Dylan, soccer ball, jump rope, gym clothes, room key, cell phone,…oh, and some baby food and a spoon—-and walk toward the locked gate to the compound. This is where Grayson usually gets to get off the stroller again and run inside to ask someone to unlock the gate for us. They are gracious about it and unlock the gate but I’m guessing that they sometimes wished we’d leave in the morning with everyone else. Walking down the lane (Gigiri Court?) we pass a number of large homes situated behind 10 foot plus tall hedges and big locked gates. Most are probably owned by foreigners. Guards stand out front and cheerfully greet us-—“Hello”, “Hi”—-as we pass. Grayson has gotten considerably less shy as time has gone by and as he stands up at the back of the stroller will greet these people in Swahili—“Jambo!”, “Habari!”. They always (I can’t think of an exception) respond with a smile and in kind they’ll say “Jambo sana”, “nzuri sana”. He did this once with a group of about 10 men that were gathered across the street we were walking along and they burst out with surprised laughter and responded “nzuri sana!” He’s made a good impression on people here. From the lane we veer right down a short street with a UN office (?) of some sort on one side and more large houses and compounds on the other. The end of this short street marks the beginning of a much busier street where we pick up the pace. On the busy streets we move as fast as we can to minimize the amount of time we are exposed to traffic, which is often not the friendliest. Though, I have noticed that most drivers are more than willing to provide a wide berth for pedestrians, especially those with children. At this point on our walk (in this case I’m taking you from the Gigiri Homestead to the UN complex) we’ve probably encountered about 20-30 people, many of them security guards but also some other people out on walks or commuting between home and work (I presume). We’ve done this enough now that I’m sure everyone knows us and as time has gone on people have gotten more willing to interact with us as we walk along our way. I can’t help but wonder what the rumors are about me or generally what people think. Perhaps I’ll ask someone before we leave. It can’t be that unusual? Can it? A white man, taking care of two small children, always on the same walk to mom’s office or to Village Market while not common place I’m sure has been observed around here many times before? While people have generally been enamored of Grayson and more than willing to be friendly and play with him they have been most verbal about their admiration for the blue-eyed chubby little baby looking so serious grasping his play keys and then once spoken too giving out a giggle. It appears that all kids hold a special place for people (men and women) here but babies are apparently the ultimate. We’re clearly biased toward our children (shouldn’t all parents be?). It would be difficult to persuade us otherwise, and it has been fun to have people react to our kids almost as if they were their own. Even the Kenyan soldiers, stationed at intervals outside the US Embassy automatic rifles hanging from their shoulders, will from time to time stop and peer in at Dylan under the stroller hood and grasp his little hand and say “Sasa! Sasa!” (to be pronounced in a slightly high pitched baby talk like way). Grayson from the beginning has referred to the soldiers (and any armed security guards) as “gun guys” often exclaiming such (easily within earshot) and pointing when we walk by. We’ve recently dissuaded him from doing this (he still does it quietly and without pointing), though these people never seemed to mind terribly. He met one soldier the other day (Kevin) who was very friendly and when Grayson asked what the gun was for he said “to shoot bad guys”. We’d told him that the guns were in case of lions. Or, actually he decided himself that that’s what the guns were for and we never suggested otherwise. I think that perhaps one of the ways I am now known around here is that white guy with the big black and yellow stroller with the adorable fat baby in the front and the cute kid in back that likes to greet people in the local language and sometimes verbally acknowledge when someone is packing heat.
Tuesday, November 10, 2009
Lazy weekend
After our expensive weekend around town last week, we elected to hang out at the pool at the UN complex and relax at the house this past weekend. It was a really hard weekend.
Baby wearing
Dylan may be too big for the Baby Bjorn but the ladies here helped me figure out how to 'wear' Dylan the Kenyan way. It is actually pretty comfortable and is a good use of all those sarongs I bought in Australia years ago.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Halloween
We ate candy. Grayson and Dylan dressed in their Halloween costumes. We ate very high priced vegetarian sushi. And, we watched Scooby Doo. We even went to the local shopping center and observed the local teenagers pouring in for a party till midnight event. The only thing missing from our Halloween was the trick-or-treating (though we did do some reverse trick-or-treating with one of the folks who works at the place we're staying).
Saturday, October 31, 2009
A Saturday out and about
Our driver arrived early to pick us up for a trip through Nairobi National Park. After a brief stop for coffee (there are some pretty good coffee shops around with to go coffee, as it turns out) we hit the road toward the park. While we made the park gates in plenty of time for lots of wildlife viewing it certainly wasn't a speedy trip from door to gate. The Saturday traffic in the city was worse than most rush hour traffic in and around Salt Lake City. The best part about sitting in traffic here is the tasty black smoke you get to inhale while waiting. Yum!
In the National Park we got some great close up views of giraffe, zebra, impala, wildebeest, buffalo, eland, warthogs, ostrich, gazelle, and baboons. Amongst our last sitings before leaving the park there was a group of warthogs with a little baby--ugly yet cuddle-up-with-it cute at the same time. Here's a good place to interject that while there would have been a number of great opportunities for photos throughout the day (not just at the park, but elsewhere as well) we did not get a single one. Being highly organized and forward thinking about our day we choose to leave the camera's memory card in our room. However, being conscientious of wanting to take some photos we remembered to bring the--useless without the memory card--camera. Brilliant! Hence, no photos to accompany this post (which you, the reader, may actually be relieved by because most of the photos would have undoubtedly been of our adorable children which you, the reader, may already be sick of because most of the photos we are taking are of the kids--as evidenced by nearly all previous posts and nearly all future posts).
We had some time to spend between an afternoon play date for Grayson and our trip through the park so our driver took us to a place called Mamba Village for lunch. I assume Mamba Village has a website but I've chosen not to view it because I prefer to make up what Mamba Village is in my own mind (it's more fun for me that way). So, the following description is accurate in terms of what we observed but may not be endorsed by the proprietors of Mamba Village.
At the entrance three Maasai warriors greeted us with chanting and dance. We first went to the restaurant which looks out on a grassy area and a water impoundment of some sort (including paddle boats!) across which there was a camel and a horse for kids to ride, a bouncy castle, and a few odd amusement rides. Lunch was soup and a buffet style selection of chicken, fish, potatoes, vegetables, and the like. While lunch was good we are fairly certain that for the four of us (Erica, Ben, Grayson, and our driver) Mamba Village was kind enough to give us a special tourist price. That is, the highest price they felt they could reasonably charge and avoid a scene at checkout. It’s interesting to note that most of the people eating at Mamba Village and enjoying the attractions were locals. Perhaps they were from Nairobi and surroundings, or perhaps they were from elsewhere, but they were definitely Kenyan. So, it is not as if this place (Was it an amusement park? Was it a permanent sort of fair? Was it the Kenyan version of Chuck E. Cheese?) was intended for or necessarily frequented by large numbers of foreigners, at least not that we observed. Frank, have you ever heard of it? Have you been there?
Moving along, Grayson desperately wanted to investigate the horse and camel, bouncy castle, and amusement rides across the water. Also, there was a crocodile “zoo” consisting of three enclosures, each with Crocodiles one on top of another. Altogether, access to the amusements across the water and the crocodile “zoo”, the cost was $5 for Grayson and $10 for Ben. Let’s just say this was an expensive price. The main thing about the crocodile zoo was that the fences between the crocodiles and the people were extremely short at maybe 4 feet or less. The other thing was that while we were there we observed two people actively trying to agitate the crocodiles closest to the fence. One person was successful at eliciting multiple hisses from one crocodile that we could swear could easily have relieved this person of his annoying arm. In the amusement “area” Grayson decided he wanted to take a horse ride (no matter what I came up with I could not persuade him to try out the camel). The horse’s name was John (which I think the horse keeper might have made up on the spot as the first English name that came to mind) and Grayson bravely got on the saddle, requested that the horse keeper hold on to the horse so it would not run, and rode it one way about 30 feet before asking to get off. Apparently, you can also ride ostriches at Mamba Village and while we observed that there were indeed caged ostriches present we decided not to attempt a ride. We left through the front gate with the Maasai warriors dancing and chanting. They were enamored of Dylan so we let one of them hold him for a moment. When the Maasai warrior pretended to run off with him, Dylan lost his marbles screaming for mom. I guess we’ve hit the separation anxiety stage. This same person wanted to hold Grayson as well, but Grayson would have none of it. Eh, maybe next time.
Our driver (I keep saying “our driver”, whose name is Evans) dropped Erica, Grayson, and Dylan off at Grayson’s play date and then drove Ben home. That is to say, the driver sat in traffic with Ben while they inched home. During the ride home Ben learned that taxis are rarely used by Kenyans due to the high cost. For example a cab ride between the UN Campus and the Gigiri Homestead (about half a mile) where we are staying is 200 Kenyan Shillings (just shy of $3). This is a short ride and a nominal fee by US standards. A mtatu (minibus) ride nearly anywhere in the city is about 10 Shillings or about 20 cents. The choice is obvious when one is trying to conserve cash.
In the National Park we got some great close up views of giraffe, zebra, impala, wildebeest, buffalo, eland, warthogs, ostrich, gazelle, and baboons. Amongst our last sitings before leaving the park there was a group of warthogs with a little baby--ugly yet cuddle-up-with-it cute at the same time. Here's a good place to interject that while there would have been a number of great opportunities for photos throughout the day (not just at the park, but elsewhere as well) we did not get a single one. Being highly organized and forward thinking about our day we choose to leave the camera's memory card in our room. However, being conscientious of wanting to take some photos we remembered to bring the--useless without the memory card--camera. Brilliant! Hence, no photos to accompany this post (which you, the reader, may actually be relieved by because most of the photos would have undoubtedly been of our adorable children which you, the reader, may already be sick of because most of the photos we are taking are of the kids--as evidenced by nearly all previous posts and nearly all future posts).
We had some time to spend between an afternoon play date for Grayson and our trip through the park so our driver took us to a place called Mamba Village for lunch. I assume Mamba Village has a website but I've chosen not to view it because I prefer to make up what Mamba Village is in my own mind (it's more fun for me that way). So, the following description is accurate in terms of what we observed but may not be endorsed by the proprietors of Mamba Village.
At the entrance three Maasai warriors greeted us with chanting and dance. We first went to the restaurant which looks out on a grassy area and a water impoundment of some sort (including paddle boats!) across which there was a camel and a horse for kids to ride, a bouncy castle, and a few odd amusement rides. Lunch was soup and a buffet style selection of chicken, fish, potatoes, vegetables, and the like. While lunch was good we are fairly certain that for the four of us (Erica, Ben, Grayson, and our driver) Mamba Village was kind enough to give us a special tourist price. That is, the highest price they felt they could reasonably charge and avoid a scene at checkout. It’s interesting to note that most of the people eating at Mamba Village and enjoying the attractions were locals. Perhaps they were from Nairobi and surroundings, or perhaps they were from elsewhere, but they were definitely Kenyan. So, it is not as if this place (Was it an amusement park? Was it a permanent sort of fair? Was it the Kenyan version of Chuck E. Cheese?) was intended for or necessarily frequented by large numbers of foreigners, at least not that we observed. Frank, have you ever heard of it? Have you been there?
Moving along, Grayson desperately wanted to investigate the horse and camel, bouncy castle, and amusement rides across the water. Also, there was a crocodile “zoo” consisting of three enclosures, each with Crocodiles one on top of another. Altogether, access to the amusements across the water and the crocodile “zoo”, the cost was $5 for Grayson and $10 for Ben. Let’s just say this was an expensive price. The main thing about the crocodile zoo was that the fences between the crocodiles and the people were extremely short at maybe 4 feet or less. The other thing was that while we were there we observed two people actively trying to agitate the crocodiles closest to the fence. One person was successful at eliciting multiple hisses from one crocodile that we could swear could easily have relieved this person of his annoying arm. In the amusement “area” Grayson decided he wanted to take a horse ride (no matter what I came up with I could not persuade him to try out the camel). The horse’s name was John (which I think the horse keeper might have made up on the spot as the first English name that came to mind) and Grayson bravely got on the saddle, requested that the horse keeper hold on to the horse so it would not run, and rode it one way about 30 feet before asking to get off. Apparently, you can also ride ostriches at Mamba Village and while we observed that there were indeed caged ostriches present we decided not to attempt a ride. We left through the front gate with the Maasai warriors dancing and chanting. They were enamored of Dylan so we let one of them hold him for a moment. When the Maasai warrior pretended to run off with him, Dylan lost his marbles screaming for mom. I guess we’ve hit the separation anxiety stage. This same person wanted to hold Grayson as well, but Grayson would have none of it. Eh, maybe next time.
Our driver (I keep saying “our driver”, whose name is Evans) dropped Erica, Grayson, and Dylan off at Grayson’s play date and then drove Ben home. That is to say, the driver sat in traffic with Ben while they inched home. During the ride home Ben learned that taxis are rarely used by Kenyans due to the high cost. For example a cab ride between the UN Campus and the Gigiri Homestead (about half a mile) where we are staying is 200 Kenyan Shillings (just shy of $3). This is a short ride and a nominal fee by US standards. A mtatu (minibus) ride nearly anywhere in the city is about 10 Shillings or about 20 cents. The choice is obvious when one is trying to conserve cash.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Ben
One more thought before bed tonight. I am astounded by how lucky I am to have such wonderful kids and an AMAZING husband. Ben has been spending 8+ hours a day with both kids in a foreign country and pulling it off with grace, calm, and maybe even some fun. I know it is hard for him to get everything together each day, load the carseats in taxis, deal with a jet-lagged teething monster and an older brother full of 3-year old energy. At the end of the day, Ben then starts work for the evening staying up late to keep his SWCA projects on track. I am so grateful for him and the support he is giving me. Without him and his commitment to happiness and fulfillment in others (yay for landmark!), this experience could be a disaster or this opportunity for me could have fallen through the cracks. Thank you Ben - I love you!
Our days at the UN
I (Erica) am spending most of my time at the UN complex (check out the walkway of country flags - I love it). It takes me about 15 or 20 minutes to get from the entrance gate to my office! I'm working on project development for Global Environmental Outlook 5 (for those that are interested.....http://www.unep.org/geo/). I am also supposed to help develop 3 other projects while I'm here (one on thematic assessments for regions, one on hazardous substances, and one on resource efficiency). I am working with people from all over the place which is really fun. I love walking down halls and looking at all the different names on people's doors. Of course, as with any place, there is too much to do, not enough time or resources and plenty of internal personality struggles but I find the whole thing to be fascinating. I've figured out (I think) what exactly my assignment is and am making slow but steady progress.
The kids and Ben hang out there a lot too. There is a nice cafe that overlooks the pool and makes great coffee drinks. No swimming yet but we'll try this weekend. There are lots of fishponds, lawns, and walkways on campus and Ben is quickly learning the compound and all of its fun little places. They went on a flower hunt a few days ago and have also had fun checking out birds, monkeys and fish around the campus. Tomorrow is Halloween but we are going to go to the Nairobi Game Park and see animals in the 'wild'. No one really celebrates Halloween here but I've got Grayson's dragon costume and Dylan's skeleton onesie just in case!
Day at the Museum
Thursday...Oct 29....Ben, Grayson and Dylan took a taxi to the National Museum of Kenya where Grandpa Brown has lots of colleagues - we look forward to Challo's return so we can get a tour of the fossil room. The museum as has been significantly revamped since we were here in 2005. They also visited the snake park next door which was pretty exciting. Lots of snakes and snapping turtles. A black mamba was edging itself up to the ceiling in the middle of the cage - it looked almost like it was standing up. Ben suggested that they feed Dylan to the snakes and Grayson was pretty protective - very cute. Crocodile was hanging out with his mouth open - that was cool. Grayson has been playing cab driver a lot since that is pretty much how we get around now.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Giraffe Park
Today the boys went to the Giraffe house and fed giraffes and saw warthogs. Grayson thought the tongues were cool. Erica learned about Logical Frameworks and the contribution of Black Carbon on climate change. I hear it is snowing in Salt Lake - it was sort of snowing purple flowers (sorry Dad I don't know what they are called in English or Latin) on the walk home today. Grayson smothered Dylan with a pillow at bed time - we are struggling to keep our cool and maintain consistent discipline.
Monday, October 26, 2009
First day on the job
Today we started our 'new routine' in Nairobi - Erica as a UN 'consultant' and Ben as a stay at home dad. I have a cubicle, a computer, and soon will have an email address and phone number. I'm in Block X on the UN compound with about 100 other people which gives you an idea of how many people work there (X is the last block). It is pretty cool to arrive to the 'delegates pathway' which has all of the countries flags along a 1/4 mile walk. My work is quickly becoming more clear and I'm excited to get started in earnest with my first meeting tomorrow morning. I'm working with people from all over the place - no other Americans yet...which is kind of fun. But it is a massive bureaucracy. I went to the 'commissary' today to buy an adapter for my computer only to be sent to Block D, then to the security gate to have my card 'activated' only to be told that 'consultants' don't have access to the commissary. An hour later I returned with no adapter (though someone found one for me pretty quickly). I had a nice lunch with my family at the rec center complete with a cappacino (don't worry Laura we're able to maintain our coffee habit without too much trouble here). Can't do that everyday though!
Ben had a good day. He is an oddity around here - a white man pushing a bright yellow double stroller around streets with sidewalks that are only kind of sidewalks with 2 kids and no wife in sight. No one gets the car seat thing either. When Ben hailed a cab today to take him back from the UN to our place (only 1/2 mile but still sort of a rocky walk) the cab drivers instincts were to throw the car seats in the trunk as luggage. No one understand why we use these seats for such short drives but we are sticking to our guns on that one.
We had a challenging evening (and night last night) as Dylan is really really really getting a tooth this time. Grayson has had a hard time adjusting and goes easily between the sweet, cute little boy you all know to relativley out-of-control. We've done some reading and think we have a plan to help him adjust better.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
Successful arrival in Nairobi
10/24/2009It was a long haul to get here. It was a slog, if you will. But, we successfully made the trip from Salt Lake City, Utah to Nairobi, Kenya over a three day period from the evening of October 21 (departure date) to the very early morning of October 24 (arrival). Our one day layover in Cairo was a relief from the trials of international travel. It was, in fact, quite relaxing to lounge around the hotel gardens, swim, and observe a very extravagant birthday for one Musstaffa (sp?). Our internet phone should be set up tomorrow. In Nairobi today we walked to the local "mall" for odds and ends and enjoyed playing around the hotel with the kids. Our hosts here are fantastic.
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