Back up and Running!!!

Ok... so my blog has been out of action for the last mmmm 3 months.... (can i use the excuse that I have just been too busy to update it or just pure lazy!!)... But its back up now and running now with a quick update and mainly some pics from Christmas, New Years and my birtday!! I had a fantastic Christmas in Zanzibar with other volunteers then on to Diani Beach for New Years, followed by a 3 day Safari in Tsavo National Park with Grainne and Kate and then finally to Watamu with my Dad to recover!! Pictures speak volumes so here is a selection from the hols!!!!!....

Happy Halloween!!!!

Thought I would get a quick very short post in before the month of October is gone....
I have just spent the past week with very good friends of mine Karen and Brendan from home. They flew into Nairobi on Sunday last and we headed out to the Karen Blixen Museum and coffee gardens for lunch and a wander. Then on Monday we flew down to Diani Beach where they had rented a lovely villa near the beach with a pool ... it has been pure paradise here and a welcome relief from noisy Nairobi!!!! We have had a great week catching up and relaxing, eating lots of fresh fish, beach walks, snorkelling and swimming in the warm Indian Ocean.
We spent a great morning today in Sand Island off Tiwi beach looking for starfish which was a real highlight. It was such a surprise to see how many different colours there are.... check out the pics of them... they are the real and not fake I promise.....Back to Nairobi tomorrow so heading out to a Halloween party now...
Said it would be a short post and it is..... Happy Halloween everyone!!!!

Blue Mountain..........

Forgive me folks but it has been 1 month since my last confession ... I mean update!!!!
It has been a busy few weeks leading up to the Annual Mount Longonot Schools Climb which is a big fundraising event for the Kenya Society for the Blind each year. So last Saturday it eventually happened with a lot of the usual last minute PANIC which I have become accustomed to here!!! Preparations were still going on the Friday evening in work... counting out all the T-shirts for the schools ... what is it about charity events revolving around T-shirts..... ????Been there done that and GOT THE T-SHIRT craze!!!!

But.... I have to say the day actually went off pretty well and we had about 500 students, parents, teachers and individuals taking part in the climb (including some VSO ers supporting a fellow volunteer and their fundraising attempts which was great).
Early start on Saturday when we met at 7am for the convoy of coaches to the Park about 1.5 hours north of Nairobi. Mount Longonot is an extinct volcano which makes it a tough, steep and dusty climb to the top but the views of the Rift Valley from the top are just amazing.
I had Henry Wanyoike on board as our guest of honour to flag off the event. Henry is a blind Kenyan marathon runner who runs mainly abroad with his co-runner guide Joseph in competitive events and he is the ambassador for the Standard Chartered Bank “Seeing is Believing” international campaign. He was a great guy to have at the event as all the kids wanted his autograph as he is very well known here and he is willing to work with us again to promote our organisation.... So I must be doing something right!!!

By 9.30am all the climbers were lined up and rearing to go but the speeches dragged on and on and on.... again what is it with speeches here.... everyone needs to say more than their fair share.... they certainly deviated from the speeches that I wrote out for them... (I know ME a speech writer.. what next!!)... So eventually the event had a green light and this mass of blue ascended on Mt Longonot..... snaking up to the top.

Needless to say a few well deserved Cosmos were consumed on Saturday night afterwards with the girls to de-stress from an eventful but succesful day...!!!!

Holiday Highlights!

l just had a great 2 week holiday with my sister Sarah taking in some of the sights of Kenya.... Not to bore everyone with every detail… BUT…
Here are some of the Highlights……
1. Viewing 5 Lion Cubs playing with lioness in Masai Mara Park.
2. Watching a Lion pride defend their Zebra kill from the hyenas and jackals.

3. Getting up close to the White Rhinos in the Rhino Sanctuary in Masai Mara

4. Chuckling at our fellow Safari camper German family man “Wolfgang” who headed out on the 6am game drives in his leather shorts and bow and arrow… (Mmm.. maybe not a highlight but certainly gave us a laugh)…

5. Travelling on the rickety slow 14 hour Train Ride to Mombasa from Nairobi and enjoying dinner and breakfast in the dining car.
6. Going on a Dhow Boat Trip with Sarah, Kelly and Colm around Lamu Island and fishing for our lunch and then eating our white snapper catch with Chapattis and salad on Mandera Island....!!!

7. Walking along the white sandy beach of Shela Beach and trying to fly Sarah’s foil kite.
8. Cycling around Hells Gate National Park in Naivasha and walking the Gorges there...!

Not so good but….
1. Missing the Wilder beast Migration by 1 week.... those stupid animals decided not to cross the river for us en masse… (Due to low rainfall in Masai Mara, deforestation of the Mau Forest... and the falling river levels of Mara River which is even killing off the crocs that used to devour them!!)
2. Unfortunately not being able to dive or snorkel in Lamu Island as the water is too murky this time of year.. .!
3. Stepping in lots of donkey S**t in the tiny Lamu streets… flip flops not advisable!
4. Getting a very sore arse from a days cycling in Hells Gate and severe case of lobsteritis from taking Doxycycline and also having the skin that simply does not tan.. (think that answers a couple of questions from people about whether I have a tan yet??)

Did I hear right ...??
1. Been asked in Lamu Island by a waiter in an empty restaurant “would we like to wait 30 mins or 40 mins for our food to be cooked”.... ??!!!
2. On the train to Mombasa... the waiter asked for us to pay for our drinks again after we had already paid... when we clarified this... he responded... “well all you foreigners look the same!!”
3. Trying to negotiate a good price for belts in Masai Market in Nairobi... The vendor told us that “I will give you a good discount if you buy more than One.. 400 Shillings for one.....and 800 shillings for 2”...... ??!!!

Golf and Geckos!!

I don’t know where the weeks are going since my last update so apologies as I have been pretty lazy. There are a new group of VSO volunteers just arrived in Kenya so I am not a newbie any more which is good..... But I am definitely going to get some Kiswahili lessons ASAP as I am still shocking !!!
I know I haven’t filled you in on my work situation (reasons for that)...BUT the famous Golf fundraising day for my organisation which I have been telling some people about eventually happened last Friday 10th July ...... Pretty interesting experience.... lets just paint a picture.... We had 70 golfers expected at a very fancy golf club for an afternoon of golf..... First Tee off scheduled for 12pm... so at 10.30 some of my KSB colleagues who were due to help out at the event congregated outside our office for the Hiace min van to depart to the venue so we could set up the registration table... well we waited as some people hopped into the van and then hopped out again... so as the time wore on and no sign of us departing any time soon..my blood pressure began to rise slowly……eventually at 11.30am we left the office to head to the golf club... needless to say at this stage my blood was boiling but I was taking lots of deep breaths..... it took us over 40 mins to get to the golf club because of Friday Nairobi traffic... so with tyres burning and brakes screeching we drove at top speed into the car park of the golf club and 6 of us proceeded to jump out of the van commando style and run to the registration table where there were already golfers waiting to register (ie. Bear in mind professional business men and ladies).......... So the excuses my colleagues were giving me all the way to the club “BUT Emma this is Africa .. this is Kenyan time ... this kind of set the tone for the day ... moving on to the fact that we had not organised all the prizes for the winners. So at 3 o clock three colleagues took off again in the hiace into town to buy some sports vouchers and trophies for the winners.... with the prize giving due to start at 6.30 they eventually got back to the club at 6.20pm again screeching tyres... the prize giving was an hour late starting what a surprise and then the MC who I harassed into doing the event for free mixed up all the names and order of the programme so it was all a bit embarrassing. Now you might think well why I hadn’t tried to help co-ordinate the event better... well it truly is NOT that easy to tell people what they should be doing when they think they know best....!!!!

Well, I eventually invested in some furniture for the sitting room in our flat which makes it far more sociable now that we can actually have visitors over without asking them do they mind sitting on the floor.... Then yesterday I came across the first gecko/lizard type thing in my bedroom, I had this clever plan to ambush him and toss him out the window ... so with the window open I chased him around the room with a sweeping brush and quick as I could trapped him in the dustpan and “gently” threw him out the window.... don’t worry I live on the ground floor... so do not... I repeat Do NOT report me to the KSPCA...(actually don’t think they have one here!!) Well at least it is not snakes I have to content with as a friend of mine says that her neighbours in Nairobi have had 3 snaked into their house in the last month.... !!!

Close Encounters with ... the Law..!!

I had 2 encounters with the Local Kenyan police force this week. Often this is not a very pleasant experience as they may not be your friends by any standards and are usually looking for a bribe… (I know.. sweeping statement but mostly true……).. On Monday night I was in a car with a Dutch friend who was driving 4 of us home from the cinema who a) wasn’t used to driving in Kenya and didn’t know her way round that well and b) didn’t like driving in the dark. So as we proceeded foolishly down a dark one way road unbeknown to any of us… Out of nowhere stepped 2 armed policemen who pulled us over and grilled us. First they told her it would be a court appearance and hefty fine and how could we have not seen the sign….what with no street lights.. Pretty easy to miss it…!! Although we were totally at fault.. I still do not know how we managed to pull it off but after us pleading our innocence and giving a good sob story they let us go without any charge or money changing hands…..???? (Note: No “girlie” tears were shed during this exchange!!!).

Then on Tuesday morning on my way to work in the matatu… we had just reached town and we were pulled over by 3 policeman. The matatu fare operator was a girl and they gave her a hard time about not wearing the proper uniform which is a maroon jacket and hers was slightly on the red side. The 3 cops then proceeded to get into the matatu and escort the matatu to the police station around the corner. We (all the passengers) were all told to get out and stand in a line outside the police station. I was waiting for my mug shot to be taken ….ANYWAY one of the cops proceeded to lecture us all in Kiswahili so I could only imagine was being said….. & after telling us we had been forgiven this time for not wearing seat belts he let us all go on our way BUT held onto the matatu driver and the fare operator… so who knows what happened to them!!!

Note to self: Dont go out after dark and remember to buckle up in a matatu... YEAH RIGHT!!!

A Time to Dance...

“Life is like dancing. If we have a big floor, many people will dance. Some will get angry when the rhythm changes. But life is changing all the time.” Don Miguel Ruiz.

Life here comes with its ups and downs so I am trying to find a happy balance and get into the rhythm of Kenyan life and accept that change really is a good thing .... just give me patience.... (Although, I am still trying to figure out how open my organisation is to “change”?)

On Saturday 16th May I helped out at a Children’s Party which was being organised by another volunteer friend for her organisation. The party was for 300 orphan kids from 5 different Children’s Homes in Nairobi. It was great to see all the kids showing off their dancing skills and performing songs on the stage in front of everyone. We also had sports organised (sack races, egg and spoon race etc) for the older kids and face painting and dancing games for the younger kids. I really showed how inept I am at dancing when it was my turn to show off my moves and all I could seem to come up with was my impression of a wannabe John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever... You should have seen the reaction on the kids faces...… Bewilderment!!

So with my lack of dancing skills very apparent I went along to an African Dance Class with some others last weekend... hoping I could I find my “mojo” … although lets be clear I am under no illusion that a person with zero co-ordination and absolutely no sense of rhythm will actually get it … but hopefully with a bit more practice I can master some of the foot moves if not the arm waving that accompanies the dancing!!!

From tribal dancing to Ballet dancing….. On Saturday night the Russian Ballet were in town performing so a couple of us decided to go along to the show as it would be rude to pass up an evening of staring at Russian men in “white tights”… It was highly amusing to see some of the Kenyans in the audience absolutely cracking up at the sight of the men frolicking around the stage… surely Not a very masculine thing to do!! Well as Brucie always says at the end of “Strictly”….. Keep Dancing…!!