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.