NAIROBI’S HIDDEN GEM

Have I got your attention?

So what is Nairobi’s hidden gem?  Animals? A museum? A restaurant maybe?

No, none of the above-it is the good old fashion movie theatre.  Yep the cinema.  I had been at my apartment for nearly 2.5 months before I knew and found the cinema at my local shopping centre and it has always been at the back of my mind that I would go.  I have not been one of these people where I need someone to go with, I am quite content to go on my own.  My mum and I used to go the movies once a week and we could never decide on what movie to see together, so we always picked different movies and then would meet up again after the movie to go home.  Katie mentioned a home movie night with others last week and I mentioned that I couldn’t remember the last time I went to the movies and what I actually saw.  I have a feeling it may have been Magic Mike last August with my best friend Shelly when I was in Brisbane.  With a lot of good movies coming out, Katie and I decided to go to the movies, check it out and it just happened The Great Gatsby had been released and we arranged to meet at Westgate.  We had picked Westgate as it was a halfway point for Katie and I to meet, so I was saving some money on a taxi-which was a double bonus for me.  While we were waiting to purchase out tickets the power went off twice (typical Nairobi issue) but it didn’t stay off long as I assumed the power generator kicked in.  You can imagine our surprise after buying our tickets, a 375ml bottle of Coke and a medium popcorn the total cost per person came to 8AUD!!!  Yes EIGHT dollars!  You can’t even buy a ticket for that back in Brisbane for that let alone adding the drinks and food and that is even on tight arse Tuesdays.  So with smiles pasted on our dials knowing we had pretty much scored the sale of the century we enjoyed the 2 hour movie of The Great Gatsby.  I think I read the book at school (I may have used one of those cheat books and not read the whole novel) so the story wasn’t familiar to me, which isn’t sometimes a bad thing when books are turned into movies.  I knew that Baz (an Australian director) had directed the movie but it was really cool to see so many Australian actors in the cast.  Needless to say Katie and I have become movie buffs already and we have our sights set on Superman when she gets back from the UK.

So I have been here nearly 5 months now and I have yet to see a power bill, let alone pay for one.  There are 2 main ways that power is distributed to your household.  One is that you can pay as you go, and this is what Katie does.  There are special ‘meters’ for each apartment that has an electronic display and tells you how much electricity ‘credit’ you have left.  When you have to top up your electricity you can head to one of the selected Uchumi Supermarkets, purchase a prepaid voucher amount of your choosing and then like phone credit you punch in the voucher number into your meter and then your electricity has been topped up.  I think it is a great way to keep track of how much electricity you consume and paying as you go helps avoid the big bills at the end of the month.  We don’t have that system at my apartments.  My understanding is that we do have meters, along with our water meters, that we have easy access to and at the end of each month both meters are read and then we are charged a certain rate for the amount of electricity and water we have consumed.  The water bill is added onto our rent, garbage and security bill at the end of each month and it shows the breakup of water consumption of the meter.  The electricity bill I ‘think’ is read by a Kenya Power employee at the end of each month and then you are sent that bill to then pay at selected outlets.  As I have never received a bill I am not really sure how it works.  For my 2 months in my apartment I kept asking Charles (my building manager) about this elusive bill and he just kept saying not to worry, I will get some soon.  After I returned from London in May, Charles come down to see me and asked if I had yet paid a bill, to which I replied no.  He said he checked with the office and they had nothing for me and he would chase up Kenya Power.  Every time the power goes out at home, I check to see if it also the other apartments, or if it is just me and they have cottoned on and disconnected me.  The only other reason is that some-one else is getting charged for my usage.  As we are all the first tenants in a new building, no one knows what their bills should be as they don’t have any previous bills or tenants to compare with.  I know eventually that the bill will find its way. Nothing is ever for free, but 5 months on and I have had free electricity and will continue to do so until I get a billion schilling bill or they disconnect me…either way I will just enjoy the ride until then……

During the week I saw a post from an Aussie here in Nairobi (I am yet to actually meet another Australian here yet) and they were asking about some taxation advice, as the Australian tax year finishes on the 30^th June.  A bunch of Australians replied (there are more than just me I see) including myself, not that I am a taxation expert by any means, but I felt that I was able to answer the question which was nice.  I am finding the longer that I am in Kenya/Nairobi there are more and more questions on the NES Facebook page that I am able to answer and this is a good feeling that firstly I actually have an experience to share or know the answer and that I am getting to know more about my new city.  It is the first Aussie presence I have seen in Nairobi actually and one of the Aussie members asked the question if there are any Aussie groups that meet up.  There was a reply telling us that the Australian High Commission organise things once a month at the Australian High Commission and if you are registered on Smartraveller you should be getting the invites.  Well I am registered and I have yet to receive any correspondence and that seemed to be the general consensus across the board.  The good thing was there was an email address supplied, so I sent an email on Saturday asking to be added to their mail out list and I got a reply back during the week that I am now on the ‘list’.  So we will see if I get sent anything on the coming weeks, because even if you know about events at the High Commission, you can’t just rock up without being on the list.  I haven’t met a single Australian since I have been here, so it is nice to know there are some of them here in Nairobi, which I knew there was, and I look forward to attending the next function-hopefully. 

There is lot of information that pumps through the NES Facebook site and it makes for some interesting reading.  Something that caught my eye this week was an issue that a Kenyan had at a coffee establishment here in Nairobi.  I guess when mzungu’s move here (like myself), there are issues that we encounter as a foreigners in a new city, whether it be Africa or anywhere for that matter.  Living in a progressing continent you are also aware of the aid that pumps through the country, the NGO’s, the Embassy people, the Charity workers, the orphanages and the poverty, but I have never thought of the ‘other’ side of the coin of the ‘wealthy’ Kenyans that also live here.  The context of the messages and there were a hell of a lot of replies regarding the matter was that a Kenyan was eating at an upmarket coffee shop and the service they received (because of the colour of their skin) was less than respectable.  There were many more people who had also had similar experiences and it basically came down to tipping.  Yep.  The staff know that mzungu’s will tip and they seem to get served first even if they came in, sit down and order well and truly after the ‘African’ people have waited for even a menu to come.  There was one instance where the ‘African’ was asked to pay in advance before they were served their coffee and cake.  These same people have also gone to said coffee shop with mzungu’s and they said they have been treated so differently because they are with people with white skin.  To think that the Kenyan staff treat fellow countrymen this way for the cost of the buck and it I’m not sure if anyone realizes what a vicious circle it is.  The staff won’t wait on the Africans in a good and timely manner, they in turn will not tip and the cycle continues for all eternity.  Reading the posts, I was thinking that I have never had a problem at this particular chain of coffee shops but then the colour of my skin seems to give me a free pass to good service and smiles as they know that we will tip.  Racism is a serious issue. You do yourself no favours by being racist in return.  How does one try and turn the tide on this? 

Ever since I started moving my way around Nairobi I have taken in the landmarks, try and read some street signs (not always visible) and I have just trying to find my way around.  I think the thing that makes me the most nervous about getting a car is not knowing my way around.  So now when Steve and I go somewhere, I’m telling him the way we need to go to see if I actually know where we are.  It can be difficult at times, depending on traffic he may take us ways that we haven’t done or do very rarely and then I have no idea where we are.  But I am slowly getting to know our ‘routes’, which way to go when we are heading to Katie’s, which way to go if there is traffic on the way to Junction etc...  It is funny, besides the major arterials that have names, a lot of the directions I was give Steve are via landmarks, hotels and other signs or things that stand out on our drives and the hilarious thing is that we both know exactly where we were when I was explaining my way around.  I do believe that by the time I am back in January, I will be ready and confident to buy a car, and not just confident in driving-as I think I will be able to hold my own in this crazy traffic culture here, but confident on where I am going and confident I could handle a situation with a corrupt cop if I ever run into something like that.  Steve has pointed out the safest route for me to travel and we talk all the time on certain scenarios.  I also found out the process for getting a Kenyan driver’s license and after a few lessons, you HAVE to go to a ‘DMV’ (Department of Motor Vehicles) equivalent here in Nairobi and then you have to sit a driving test (behind the wheel) and then you are given a Kenyan license, no matter how old you are, how long you have had a foreign license, every single person has to sit an actual driving test.  This can all be avoided by having an international license, which I can get when I am back in Australia with a passport photo and 20 bucks.  Yes I think I will just drive around on that next year for now and look at the driver’s license later down the track.  I have more important things like visas and alien cards to tackle before I do that anyway.

I also squeezed in 2 coffee mornings this week.  The first one I was invited to Kelly’s birthday coffee and cakes at her place on Tuesday.  I met Kelly last week through Elsabe, well I did meet her initially through The Nest, but after dinner at Altu’s birthday I was given the invite which was really sweet and when Elsabe extended the invitation I felt like a million bucks and the best thing about it all was that I could get a lift with Elsabe and I didn’t have to pay 50 bucks to get there.  Kelly had put on a beautiful spread to rival any Australian morning tea and I met a bunch of nice ladies to boot.  Even though I am meeting a lot more people, they don’t seem to be inclined to swap numbers and keep in touch.  A lot of them are expat women that have moved with their husbands jobs, and a little older than me, but they seem really cool-but maybe they don’t like me with no success in number swapping with any of them.  I would like me…right?  The second coffee date of the week was on Thursday.  Kelly, Elsabe and a new person Renee met at Art Café for a morning tea.  It was nice to have a ladies morning, talking, gossiping and laughing the morning away.  I can’t really remember the last time I had a really good laugh and we all get along famously and it did remind me of home and the camaraderie of friends is a really good feeling.  It is also nice to be doing stuff my side of town and knowing people who live this side of town as well.  After the coffee Elsabe took me back to her place for me to meet the other half of her family, of the 4 legged variety.  Her and her family are heading to Mombasa on the weekend for a week and even though they have live in help, she asked if I could stop in and check on her furry family members in her absence.  I am a dog lover, so I am more than happy to oblige and they are great little dogs and makes me think of my Scooby that I left with Drew back in Australia.

I keep saying it, but I can’t believe just how quick the weeks and months are passing.  I will just be getting into my groove and then I will be leaving Kenya for 3 months and then I feel like I will have to start all over again…..  The good news is that Elsabe, Kelly and Katie are long termers-so at least they will be here when I get back in January and then the new year starts with new expats entering the country and new friendships to forge again.  At least I won’t be the newbie on the block this time; I’ll be an old hand expat and maybe be able to help mentor some of the non-suspecting expats that arrive in 6 months’ time.