ONE MONTH ALREADY?

Man I have been in Kenya for a month already?!! 

Where has that time gone?

Considering I am in retirement and not really doing a hell of a lot, the time has definitely flown by.  I am happy to date with where I am living, my new place and certainly my choice of country.  People speaking English has just been an added blessing that I really had countered on with my lead up to my move as I was always going to be going to Ethiopia and I am just not sure how I would have coped in Addis had I stuck to my original plan, not knowing many people there and with not many people speaking English it certainly would have been a bigger challenge for me.  If I was to join a charity, have a job or a loved one there I think it would be a different story, as you have a backup crew but for me to just rock up on my own I think would have been a mistake.  And to think that it was a last minute change to my plans back in late December to stay in Kenya, it was the best thing that could have happened and for that I am very grateful.  I still LOVE Ethiopia, but at this point in time it is just not the right country for me to call home.

Still no news from the UN thing, but this could be a good thing or a bad thing.  I am just thankful I had the chance to send it to someone directly, where all the others I send will be a cold call email.  Rome wasn’t built in a day and I have all the time in the world to wait.  As it works out with all my travel plans in the pipeline does it sound crazy that I just may be too busy for a job anyway?  Well maybe that is an over-statement but I will feel bad if something comes up and I have to tell them about the trips I have planned/booked probably by the time I hear back from anyone.    

I decided to tackle my DStv dilemma and phoned the call centre to see why I was not getting 12 channels.  If they were daggy stations that were missing I wouldn’t worry so much, but they are good channels and when I am paying for 108 of them, I want to be able to watch 108 of them.  I pretty much got straight through and after the consultant walked me through a few options on the menu it came in conversation that I am on a share dish and that I don’t have a personal dish.  Initially this was a bonus as it saved me having to buy one and also the installation cost as the apartments had one.  Well this is the reason why I am not getting all the channels because of the share dish and I was told that I would need to get a personal one if I wanted to get all the channels.  It was going to cost 3500KSH for the dish (41AUD) and then a further 1100KSH (13AUD) to get it installed.  I may as well pay it, as I am missing the CSI, NCIS, Law and Order shows as well as 2 movie channels and a few other goodies for the sake of 50AUD I may as well just get it done.  I have to get permission from Charles, my caretaker, for them to install the dish and then I just need to phone them back and they will send some-one out to do the work.  Well that is another mystery solved as it was driving me nuts when I could see what should be on and I was unable to watch the show.

I NEEDED to sort out my internet situation.  I was just going to suck it up and pay the $40USD a week plan, even though it was a lot of money, I really do need internet at the end of the day.  After speaking to San on the week-end she mentioned that she just uses a USB modem and she finds that fast enough for Skype and Facebook and all her internet requirements.  So I figured I should at least try that option first as it was going to be a hell of a lot cheaper than the plan and if it does work then I have saved myself a tin load of money.  So on Tuesday (my shopping day) I went to Safaricom (a major communications company here) and I purchased the modem for 1000KSH ($11AUD) and then you purchase the data on top of that.  Well I have no idea on how much data an email uses, a Facebook page or a photo or blog upload takes, so I decided to just get a large package and then once I have used it for a week or so I will have a better idea on what my internet consumption is.  So I bought a 3GB package that I have 180 days to use for the total cost of 1999KSH ($23AUD).  So even if that gets me a week, the other plan was $43 a week, so I will still be in front, so I will see how it goes and it makes me feel better that I am not paying $172AUD a month for INTERNET!!!!  My rent for a month is only $294 for crying out loud!  

GG has been busy the last few weeks, but we have spoken on the phone several times.  He said he has been reading my blogs and updates, so feels like he is still in the loop but he feels bad that he hasn’t been around.  I told him that I didn’t expect him to babysit me, having him help me was an added bonus that I hadn’t counted on when I moved here, so when he has time we catch up and I always know that he is just a phone call away if I need anything.  So he popped over for a few hours this week and it was good to have a conversation, a laugh and a beer with someone.  The day he was over was the same day that I had bought the modem and it wasn’t working.  I am not a technical person, but I couldn’t imagine it was that hard to plug in a modem and hook up to the internet.  Well GG phoned the call centre and they said that when I bought the modem and sim card it wasn’t registered properly so when GG left, we walked to the nearest Safaricom outlet just down the road from my place and we got her to register me on the system, which they do via their mobile phones and she said within 15 minutes I would be good to go.  While I had GG, I wanted to get some bookcases made for my coming souvenirs from Australia.  I have been looking at the shops for some shelves, but due to the space I have they have to be a particular size and GG said I would just be better off getting them made.  So I measured up the 2 spots I wanted shelves, drew a picture with the measurements and how I wanted the shelves and we ducked across the road from the apartments to one of the wood makers/carpenters to get it all costed out.  GG knows his stuff and after we got the price he told us what the cost of the wood was and what he was charging for his time and it all looked legit to me.  I was happy as I was giving some business to the locals of my area and they are just across the road and getting them to my place will just involve walking them over.  When he asked when I wanted them, I said if I can get them Tuesday next week that would be fine and he is going to stain them the same colour as my tables I have.  So hopefully they will look good, going by the beds he had on display it looked like good workmanship so I am confident.    

While I was at the shops on Tuesday I decided to buy a bed for the spare room.  It really is quite ironic that I gave 2 beds away in Brisbane and now I have to buy 2 beds here.  My bed has been better than expected and I am finally sleeping through the night as the sounds and doors are slowly integrating into my subconscious.  As my FIRST guest arrives in 4 weeks it made me start to think about the spare bedroom and what I was going to do with it.  I have had a lot of people say that they will come to visit, and even if half of them do actually come I would need somewhere for them to sleep.  I thought about a single bed, a sofa couch and just decided to go the whole hog and get a proper bed.  I found a beautiful frame and a cheaper mattress (not postrapedic) and it also happened to be a queen size, which is bigger than my double that I have, but for the total package I was happy and with a fee of $5.88 for delivery it was at home and assembled that afternoon.  The Bernie Residences is now open for business and guests.  I have queen sheets coming in the Oz boxes, so I will just need to buy pillows on my next shop and then the spare room is ready for Cris at the end of March. 

Now that I had internet at home I was able to finally ‘surf’ the web for the first time in over 5 weeks.  I have had internet access twice a week at the computer shop at Village Market but it was with a purpose to get blogs uploaded, Facebook messages and emails and then I was off.  There was no time and the extra cost of ‘surfing’ the internet when you are paying per minute is just stressful and costly of course.  So now that I could surf the net I was able to catch up on my Facebook group NES (Nairobi Expat Social).  This group has over 2500 expats who all live and work in Nairobi and its basic function is to share and ask questions of people who are in the same boat, have seen it, done it or found it here in the city.  It was created by a lady who moved here 4 years ago and didn’t know anyone in the city and found it quite lonely and started the group as a way of meeting people and sharing experiences and it has now grown to the magnificent site that it is now.  Questions from recommended doctors, hair stylists, visa questions, accommodation referrals and enquiries, football teams, hiking partners, embassy updates, security situations, sharing of stories of current events-you name it, you can post just about anything on the page and you will generally always get a reply from someone.  I have only used it once to ask a question about squash courts here and I got 2 replies which was a good start (and I still need to act on).  So I was looking through what had been asked and answered the last few weeks and I was disappointed to see that I missed out on a ladies breakfast that had been held the weekend before-drats.  BUT there was a ‘coffee and conversation’ coming up this Saturday at 4.30pm.  Well I was really excited about the prospect of getting out and meeting some people, and I hadn’t heard from San about the house warming party, so I accepted the request and felt like I was walking on a cloud that I was going to get out and have a drink and a chat with people that were in the same boat as me.  Well as it worked out, San called Friday afternoon and said it was all go for the house warming party and with a cringe I asked what time it was and when she replied back 7.30pm I sighed with relief that I would be able to go to both.  As it worked out once San and I got a plan together, the NES get together, Sans place and the house warming were all in the same suburb (must be a sign) so it was all going to work out perfectly.  So I have waited for 4 weeks to be able to attend a meet up and then I have 2 on the same day.  When it rains it pours but I just cannot explain how good it felt to have a plan and to get out.  I had no idea where any of the events were, I didn’t know anybody at either of the events but I with all that aside I was looking forward to Saturday!!  This is what I have been waiting for………  

Now that I have internet, I started to look seriously at attending Amy’s wedding in Canada in August.  I had a figure in my head, that if I could get flights close to that figure then I would make the journey over to see one of my best Canadian friends get married.  I had was looking at planning a trip to Rome to see JG and her husband Massimo in July and figured if I could move my dates with them, I could combine the Canada trip with the Rome trip and then the whole trip would be more cost effective for me.  So with the cost of what the flight only to Rome was and then the add on to Canada it was only going to cost me 800AUD to get to Amy’s wedding and this was in my price range and as long as the dates work in for Italy and with Amy saying that she would have someone pick me up at the airport (they were around 2 hours away) and that I could stay with them during the wedding, so with the logistics all taken care of, then I was 95% certain I am going to attend.  The airfare I found is a real milk run going over with the flight travelling from Nairobi, Abu Dhabi, Milan, New York and then FINALLY into Toronto but going back was not as horrific travelling Toronto, Rome, Abu Dhabi, Nairobi.  Hopefully I will be able to book the flights in the coming weeks and then I have another trip that I can look forward to.  As all my trips I looked at doing a side trip to Chicago to see my United Hostees, but the flights were 400AUD return which is a little more than I wanted to pay, so I have emailed them to see if they can come to Toronto for a few days.  They can’t give an answer straight away as their routes can change at the drop of a hat, but I have planted a seed for them to work on. 

Ethiopia is all go.  I hadn’t heard from Zeme-he was supposed to get back to me re: tour dates in March so I phoned him back up and he said that he will be around.  I hate to say the calls are quite good and he slips back into calling me my nickname that he called me and the calls leave me in a good mood.  Don’t fear, I am not going back there, but if we can at least be on good terms I think it just helps me in my recovery process that I sometimes think I have a handle on and then I think of the bitter disappointment I felt and what I went through and then I come back out the other side again.  I can confidently say I am 93% on the road to recovery.  If I didn’t move on it would eat me up inside and it would turn me into a bitter, cynical woman and I don’t want to be like that, so what has passed has passed and I am moving forward and not looking back at the past.  If Zeme does get work then he will leave my things with either Minalu or at work and I will still be able to collect them on my trip up north in 3 weeks’ time.  So with all that said I messaged Minalu and he will book me into a guest house close to his home and he will be at the airport to collect me when I arrive which is re-assuring and I am thankful that Minalu will be there to help me.  I am thinking of getting another tattoo while I am in town.  I would like to get ‘Africa’ written in my wrist and I am thinking in Amharic but it is just a thought at this stage and I will see, I was going to see if ‘my’ tattoo guy could change my Zeme tattoo into something else so I will also see if we have time.  The other good thing about the trip is that when I return to Kenya, I will get another 3 month visa and then this will carry me over till May 5^th when I have my flight booked to London.   

   

So I have been in my new country, Kenya, for a month.  It doesn’t feel that long but at the same time it feels like it seems longer.  I am happy where I am at this point.  I am missing my friends back home which I think highlights my lack of people here that I can talk to and I DO need to remember that I have only been here for 4 weeks and I can’t expect to forge friends as quick as I can find a place to live and that it WILL come with time, and time I do have-so I will be patient and I KNOW that I will find people to call my friends in the coming months as I attend more meet ups and get out where I can this will just be an automatic nutrition.