Saved by a Nun

When I first went to Rome I was very excited about the prospect of seeing a nun, and found the whole thing very amusing but also super cool! In Nairobi you often see nuns out and about (I do still get the giggles when I see them driving or shopping which is absolutely ridiculous as they are of course humans!) but the novelty has not worn off, and they still make me smile.

As my car is in the garage I have taken to walking a lot more in daylight. The pavements here don't always exist, and so it does get a bit uneven, muddy and rocky. But still, I am enjoying walking and realising how lazy my legs have become as they ache after some quite short walks. I definitely don't live in London anymore!

Last weekend Kelly and I decided to walk to a shopping centre about 45 minutes away. After 15 minutes my  flip flop snapped! Tricky! After a lot of giggling, we managed to walk/skate on the flip flop to a shoe shop that was tucked away nearby-wasn't too far, we were lucky!

I mourned my flip flop but didn't think too much of it.

Until yesterday. After work I rang Kelly and suggested a Planet Yogurt Friday afternoon trip. Planet Yogurt is really one of the best things about Nairobi. It's frozen yogurt with a variety of toppings and is so yummy and addictive, it takes great self control not to go there daily. So, off we walked.....this time quite a short walk but uphill, and due to the recent matatu strikes, the 'pavements' were rather busy as public transport is greatly reduced. So, it was quite difficult to walk and the road was of course Kenyan style, particularly uneven and rocky. And, it happened again! But this time I couldn't even skate on the flip flop! The ground was uphill and not at all smooth. The only option was barefoot.

We were perhaps 15 minutes from our destination so giggled along. What else could you do?! But then a nun stopped, and asked if she could give us a lift as had seen that my shoe had broken. I thought this was hilarious! Loved it! So yes, it isn't good to get into cars with strangers but I thought a nun would fall into the same category as policemen, so in we jumped. She dropped us right outside the shopping centre and I decided to buy a pretty pair of wedges as opposed to flip flops (not sure I trust them) for the walk home, and of course a rather delicious Planet Yogurt!

We have planned a mission of a walk today to go to a craft fair....am debating whether to bring a spare pair of shoes. Twice in a week already!!

Akon

Finally, Akon came to Nairobi!!! I was ridiculously excited. My friend Kelly and I both share a lifelong, well, ambition really, to dress as bumble bees, so we thought that this was the perfect opportunity to achieve the dream. We rather excitedly bumbled up, but decided to leave our wings at home for fear that they would be crushed.

Sadly, as we left the house, the heavens opened.....but when dressed as a bee it would take more than rain to ruin the mood! Walking into the festival grounds though and seeing everyone dressed as if they were going for a day at the races was a lil embarrassing! Some people even wore hats! Fortunately after a couple of minutes the requests for photos started coming in and we felt more relaxed and fun! There were a few questions as to why.....because Akon's favourite animal is a bee of course (hehehe)!! People seemed to buy it, especially as our wristbands were black and yellow striped-matched perfectly! I cannot say how many photos we were in.....we made a lot of new friends!

Due perhaps to the rain, and the fact that the tickets were open for two days so you could go on either, there weren't that many people there. I took this as a great opportunity to get right down to the front! Poor Kelly wasn't feeling up to standing in the rain, so we sadly separated. I got escorted over under a parasol with a security guard (I was still concerned about my hair at the point so begged for him to take me over!). I asked him to find me a tall (my antennae and heels made me pretty tall!), friendly companion with whom to share an umbrella! He succeeded! It was a bit strange being a solo bee, but as the minutes turned to hours (!!) waiting for the man himself I cared less as was just too excited! Akon did not disappoint! It was an amazing show, very energetic. The umbrellas came down almost immediately and we all got totally drenched but it didn't matter (Don't Matter) at all.

Thought this one captured the rain pretty well!

Akon did a lot of crowd surfing so I got to touch him! Very exciting! Was very pleased to see my fellow bee who had somehow pushed her way in and joined me about halfway through. Hanging out in the dry VIP area just wasn't as fun as being cold and wet and close to Akon!

Absolutely soaked at the end of the concert but very happy!

Paradise Lost

This half term was an ever changing one. Had a million plans, but what with hospital visits and generally being exhausted I ended up staying in Nairobi and actually had an awesome week. My friend Kelly and I did a few trips and enjoyed watching friends play Touch Rugby, exploring forests and going to Paradise Lost.

I have been meaning to go for ages and can't even remember how I heard about it as don't actually know anyone who has been. It is about 45 minutes north from me (though 2.5 hours on the way back when we got seriously lost and ended up downtown with people taking photos of us through the windows, cringe!) and is a huge picnic area. It was great to walk around and picnic, though we did turn down the offer of buying a live goat to then bbq! The waterfall was beautiful  and we could walk behind it and explore the series of caves which the Mau Mau actually lived in during the resistance to the British.

The highlight though was seeing a church choir shooting a music video. We thought we'd sunbathe and watch but were almost immediately accosted (we didn't see any other wazungu so were a bit of a novelty) and invited to join them in the dancing. We refused, many times, and told them we were very happy to watch. When you travel by local transport here you often see these videos playing and they are hilarious! Interesting dance moves, and generally poor quality and pretty cringeworthy!

Well, to our delight, an Indian man happily obliged and joined in. We found the whole thing pure comedy as the poor guy had no clue and so was always out of time. I took many pics but didn't manage a video of him as was shaking with the giggles but did get a few pics.

Incredible dance moves. Classic!

Love it!!