Let loose

Today was our annual fun run, a cross country event for all the children in the school. It usually goes for a few km outside the school grounds and around the various residential streets then back to the school. This year though it was held on the sports field, with the poor kids running round and round the track. A lioness escaped from the park a couple of days ago and is yet to be captured, so it was too dangerous to risk. A few of us thought that it may speed up the kids somewhat but probably best to be cautious. Kenya's on the news too much right now anyway!

Just finished teaching a lesson by candlelight. My poor students have been without power for 11 hours.

Just another day in Africa. 

Camel racing

The long awaited camel derby......

On Friday morning we set off, all rather excited and very unsure as to what we'd signed up for and why! I heard about the camel derby a year ago, when my friend Zoe took part, and I was desperate to go, so we organised a "coach" and about 25 of us, ranging in age up to 65! It took us nearly ten hours....the roads were incredible, the worst I've ever seen. Some had huge holes in the middle, you really have to see it to believe it!

I miss tarmac

 We only got stuck once, and so the journey was pretty good! A truck passed by soon after and kindly pulled us out.

Our "luxury" coach stuck in the mud!

On Saturday morning we all registered, I was thrilled to be 01!! Felt it would be the nearest to first I'd ever get!

Meredith and I sporting out gorgeous camel derby racing shirts and our "positions"

We then had the interesting task of choosing camels. Hmmm.... where to start? It was difficult to know whether to go for a feisty, spitting and growling camel, or a more placid one, and then is it best to go for a huge one or a smaller one?!

Cute camels....when they're not spitting!

 My friend decided to go for one with a good saddle, she is a genius!! I went for a camel with a wooden saddle with strong stirrups and fortunately have no cuts or scratches on my legs (the same cannot be said for most of the group!). We had to practice getting on and off and standing up whilst the camel was also standing. It was lovely to have camera crews filing during this! I got interviewed by two different TV channels, and was on TV on Sunday night!

The race began with a countdown and camels wandering round and bumping into each other.

I was shocked at how fast the camels set off. I had a camel leader and then 4 children with sticks willing the camel to go faster. I cannot describe the pain! My tail bone is so bruised! 11km of sitting/standing (it was a weigh up between aching legs in an uncomfortable position or bouncing hard on the camel) whilst gripping on, my hands soon blistered! I wanted to give up pretty much the whole time! We raced through small villages and across the area. There were lots of onlookers and crowds cheering us on.

Cute kids excitedly cheering us on

When the finish line came into view I thought it was a mirage, I cannot describe the happiness and relief.

Woohoo!!

 I came third out of the women and 7th out of 35 overall-completely shocking! I got a lovely medal, with a classic misspelling of derby as deby! I now have aching shoulders, sore legs, a very painful bottom and cut, blistered hands. Was it worth it? Yes. Would I do it again? No!

Meredith and I showing off our medals. Beer has never tasted so good!

We were on TV! Click to see!

In the evening there was an awards ceremony and a lot of speeches.....favourite quote: "Samburu (the county where the camel derby is held) is one of the most beautiful places on earth, but it does have its criminals." Ummmm.....ok.

One year post veggie

I ate eland yesterday and it was delicious!!!!!

YUMMY!!

Lake Baringo

My friend Sue and I went to Lake Baringo on the weekend, a few hours north of Nairobi. It was my first tented camp experience, and was wonderful! Waking up as the sun rose and seeing the view from your bed without having to go outside was amazing, especially as it was a proper bed and not a mat!

View from our tent

The lodge was lovely, and was on an island on the lake, so there was really nothing to do! It was amazing!! There were some lovely families there who had brought an array of fun inflatables so I enjoyed befriending the kids and playing with their toys in the pool whilst sipping on a chilled glass of wine! I couldn't believe how hot it was, absolutely scorching, a welcome change from cool Nairobi.

The lake has crocodiles and hippos so I was regularly checking and looking out, but sadly I never got a glimpse...everyone else did though. I did have crocodile dreams every night though so do feel I got my fair share of sightings! Poor Sue had to put up with my sleep talking....

There was limited power and no television on the island so I did disappointingly miss out on watching the Wales game (as SJ wasn't playing I was slightly less gutted), though I met another rugby fan and so we made the best of our resources and used his internet dongle to check the 2 minute updates on the BBC websites to see the scores.....not the same exciting adrenaline pumping experience but was definitely novel and fun!

Village trip

This weekend I went to visit a friend from the UK who is volunteering in Kisii, Western Kenya for the summer. My Swahili teacher, Jonah is from Kisii, so we decided to travel together for the weekend. We boarded a matatu from outside our house then got a coach for the 5 hour journey. I was pretty impressed with the comfort of the coach and the safe driving, until we decided to go off road, down a rather steep bank to avoid a hold up in the road......

Kisii is beautiful. It is so green and lush, especially as it generally receives daily rainfall. It is such a contrast to many parts of the country which are suffering terribly with drought and failed rains. We saw some amazing storms, with near constant lightning at times. It was actually really helpful as the town had a power cut, and the lightning really illuminated the place, though momentarily, which helped with finding the path when trying to get back to the hotel!

Jonah's family were so kind and welcoming. We prayed together a lot which was so nice. They all live in a village outside the town, and it was lovely how the extended family all live nearby. We met cousins and great uncles....the whole lot! They own quite a lot of land which they farm so we ate lots of lovely fresh produce and left with a rather heavy pumpkin which we had eaten the leaves from. They don't have electricity or running water yet, though there is hope that this will be set up soon. There were constant sounds of ring tones though (not mine!!!) They charge their phones at little dukas in the town, and just sit and wait until they're done. Jonah's dad asked me if there were any parts of the UK without electricity. Our worlds are so different.

One thing that is amazing about Kenyans is how friendly they are, and how much they smile...that is unless they are being photographed.

Jonah with some of his family members in their garden

We were served a huge amount of food. Tactical plate swapping had to occur at times! It was great to try some new traditional Kenyan dishes, though it made me realise just how different the British palate is. My favourite novelty drink was definitely the sour milk. I asked how it was prepared. The response was quite simply  pour milk into a bucket, cover it, leave it for a few days, then serve! Ooh lumpy! It really highlighted a big culture difference for me, in that if guests popped round to my house they would be lucky to get a cup of tea and possibly a biscuit, but here we were given hot meals irrelevant of the time of day. Some communication would have been appreciated as we would leave one house and promptly pop next door ready for round two!

Enjoying some delicious pumpkin in Jonah's house

On Saturday we went on a little trip to Tabaka, which is famous for soapstone carvings. We took a shared public car, there were 11 of us inside. 4 in the front (don't know how the driver managed to drive, as he was so pressed up to the window!), 4 in the back and 3 in the boot. Wow. Cosy! My shuttle bus home was the best though. It was quite smart, and we all had a seat each, well apart from the chicken that rather quietly sat underneath a seat.

Catching up

Wow, it has been a while. Life flies past at an incredible rate, and I find African time is on another level. Mid July already!!

So, the first year at school in Nairobi has finished. It has been brilliant. I have thoroughly enjoyed it. My class have been fantastic, such good fun, and through hard work there has been real progress. The school is amazing in its happiness and laid back approach. Sunny days definitely help, and there is real feeling of the children being children which is wonderful.

I moved house at the beginning of June. I feel so much happier. I now live more centrally, about a 30 minute commute to work (though it was 2 and a half hours for 3 days due to a Cow Show, only in Africa, or maybe rural Wales….). My cottage is sweet and quirky. It has been likened to a caravan as it is long and thin! Crazy big bedroom though with amazing storage, my shoes are now displayed as they always deserved to be! I feel very safe here and find the location very convenient. I have swapped the cockerel for yapping dogs. I stay sane and calm remembering that they are there to protect me, as opposed to just annoy as the cockerel did! My landlord is a dentist (and this week has transformed my black tooth, no more the daily question of, why do you have a black tooth Miss Gregor?!) and visitors to my house always ponder whether this house used to be a dental practice! There is a definite waiting area feel to the living room! But, it is mine, it is secure, private and I love it!

The last few days have been quite mixed. For the most part I love Africa, particularly Nairobi, but there are times when I desperately miss the safety, order and fairness of the UK. I had a bad experience yesterday at the garage whilst they were sorting something on my car. Being a female at the garage is intimidating enough anywhere in the world and their assumption that I am clueless when it comes to cars is perfectly correct. But being a white female here worsens things. Principles perhaps are difficult to develop when the leaders of a country don’t easily share them and corruption is all around. The droughts in the north of the country, the distrust of others that the majority of people share and propagate, the police force, the frightening stories, they are a daily challenge, and one that usually I can overcome without giving my notice and returning, most probably to London (still in my view, the most beautiful, fun and enchanting city in the world!). But there are many pulls here, and after nearly a year I feel settled and have made some fantastic friends to share the adventure and struggles with!

Yesterday I went hiking in the Ngong hills with some friends. The views were beautiful and it was a gorgeous day for walking. 

We had to take two armed guards with us-we asked why two and were told that they were there to also protect each other! Not so great when one of the guards was so unfit that they had to stop on the third out of 5 hills and wait for us to return! I was quite worried when the guard would rest his tummy on the gun point, and just hoped it wasn’t loaded at that point! How different to childhood walks with Dad as our guide, with not even a slingshot!

I am spending the long holidays (not the summer holidays as I keep saying, as it is of course winter here now, though I have tan lines from the hike yesterday, so define winter!) in Nairobi, working as a tutor and English language trainer. I have got some lovely students, and the first week has gone well. I’m hoping to do some weekend trips to see more of Kenya and stay quite flexible in my timetable. Looking forward to racing some camels at an international derby in August. Sure there’ll be lots of tales and mishaps! It’ll be an interesting month or two.

One of the great benefits to my new house is the lack of insects here. Not sure if it’s the change of weather the last few months, but I haven’t need mozzie spray or nets yet. I had a lovely friend staying with me last week, I now am for ever indebted to her! We had just come back from a lovely evening out, and were getting ready for bed when I spotted the biggest cockroach on the floor next to my bed. I tried to calmly call for her assistance. Practical as ever she came with a mug and a piece of paper, and through muffled screams and squeals we managed to get the cockroach outside with just a few slimy remains on my floor! I text her today, fondly calling her my brave cockroach fighter. Brave? she giggled, no, it was the G&T!! I am not sure what it is about Nairobi but everyone here loves G&T, except for me, but if it makes you brave, then I am a new convert! But, yes do not forget that Africa has changed and hardened me and I am less scared…..a spider walked across the kitchen cupboard today and I didn’t even bat an eyelid! You just have to remember where I came from-there has been definite and pronounced progress, it just may seem like none when compared to everyone else here!

Hitch hikers, sun cream and the fourth wheel

I have two Welsh friends staying for a few weeks, so we’re having fun exploring Kenya. Instead of flying to the coast we thought we’d drive so we could see more of the landscape and save a few pennies. The journey down was interesting…..a few challenges which make life exciting and a couple of wrong turns leading down to the ferry terminal all woke us up and made us giggle. So the return journey we reckoned would be the easier one. We were more confident with the route and knew where the petrol stations were (some are few and far between!). The weather wasn’t really on our side though with torrential rain in places which made driving very difficult as there was so little visibility, but again, Vixy proved herself as a wonder car as she waded through a foot’s water and battled the roads. When we stopped for lunch we were all pleased by how smoothly the journey was going. Hmmm….

If only it lasted….20 minutes on there was a big pothole, then a few shudders. I pulled over and we all got out to survey the damage. The front wheel wasn’t looking good so we unpacked the car and went to find the tools. Amazingly, a man was walking along the road past us and even without us asking he picked up the tools and began to jack the car up. There are so few pedestrians along this highway so it was incredible timing. Now I’m not saying that we would be unable to change the wheel but he definitely saved us a lot of time…well, until it came to the last wheel lock. It was just not shifting. He asked if we had any oil….hmmm, no, but the girls came up with the genius idea of using sun cream! The comical aspect of watching him squirt sun cream onto the wheel nut took away any desire to cry!! But it was Becci who really helped and pointed out that he was using the wrong wheel lock. We were so grateful to him, and so when he asked if he could have a lift we were happy to oblige (thinking he meant 20 minutes up the road). As we got into the car we then worked out what he said….he wanted a lift to Nairobi. How we howled!!! The poor man was walking back from Mombasa-it would take about 2 weeks! So we all clambered into the packed car with nervous giggles as we explained his responsibility of changing the CDs and teaching us various Swahili words for the next few hours. The spare tyre limited us to 50kmp/h, so progress was slow, but Wamboa, our new travelling companion was a massive help and showed us where we could get the wheel fixed at a Kenyan rate and then be on our way again…..at speed.

All the tools needed to change a wheel in Kenya

It took about 5 more hours and was a long journey, but was definitely unforgettable. The poor man could not remember Natalie’s name (many Africans struggle with it) so we wrote it down on some paper for him. Watching how he had to take a quick look at the paper ever time he addressed her was so funny. Driving in the dark was tough, I have never felt so grateful to see road markings, though sadly their presence wasn’t consistent. Two weeks previous a truck had collided with Vixy on the same highway…not sure she’ll be going down there again any time soon! The poor thing has had four new wheels in 6 months....the joys of Kenyan driving. 

Wamboa, our Kenyan angel