Check out my moves:
Maasai men seem to do a lot of jumping when they dance:
Actually not bad for a mzungo:
Friday, 18 March 2011
Maasai
This somewhat scary maasai lady was amongst a group at the entrance to the Masai Mara park that were selling jewellery and crafts:
Check out my moves:
Maasai men seem to do a lot of jumping when they dance:
Actually not bad for a mzungo:
Check out my moves:
Maasai men seem to do a lot of jumping when they dance:
Actually not bad for a mzungo:
And the rest...
So other stuff that has happened....
Work is pretty crazy busy. Workshops have started which was weird experience. ‘Madame Director’ opened with a prayer (??!!) and made us all do coconut where we had to stand up and spell out coconut YMCA style getting faster until we were falling about laughing , 2 truths and a lie and ali baba and the forty thieves (i’d have to demonstrate that one) – all aimed at encouraging participation and energising the room.
Culturally it’s very interesting. Nothing seems to start on time which was half expected. There’s a pedantry about vocabulary which leads to a lot of confusion. Email is really there for show – no one seems to use it. Meetings have to be set up through a series of memos which have to be signed by just about everybody then physically given to people to request attendance. Everyone is super friendly and we've had lots of recommendations of where to go/what to do while in Kenya.
There’s a lot of excitement generally about what we are doing at the moment from our more senior stakeholders but think the user base is still unclear what’s going on but that should start to change over the next few weeks as we ramp up workshops. Interestingly our most senior stakeholder is being called to the Hague on a charge of war crimes.
Had my first Keswahili lesson this week so am now able to introduce myself properly at the start of my workshops :)
The rain has started here and is pretty bloody impressive. It just suddenly opens up and buckets down for a couple of hours in the afternoon/evening and everything literally grinds to a halt. The traffic is shocking anyway but when it rains you can’t get anywhere. We got a taxi back from lunch today – about a 10 minute walk – but in the pissing rain it took half an hour in the car. Last night we thought we wanted to go into town and our trusty driver, Peter, was just like “No”. Took me a while to get my head around the idea that we just couldn’t go because of the rain!!! Very funny scenes though, particularly a truck crammed full of people because all the matatus (little buses) were too full.
Have had a couple of good nights out, dinner at fogo gaucho (or frodo graucho) which is basically a churrascaria. Carnivore is the better known restaurant like that in Nairobi but apparently Fogos is better. A bit of No Woman No Cry Karaoke last week at Black Diamond (they didn’t have any Mr Cash), Kengeles for Paddy's Day last night which had a good band and AMAZING HEAVENLY meatballs and a couple of poker nights – sadly unsuccessful so far.
Taking it fairly quiet in Nairobi this weekend. Pool lounging tomorrow before the rugby, then Sunday think we’re headed to the national park before somewhere called bomas or something which was recommended to us for food and ‘cultural’ (?) dancing.
Next weekend is another big one – off to Rwanda on Friday with a few other folk to go GORILLA trekking!
T.I.A
Well quite a lot has happened since my last blog so just gonna start with last weekend when I went to Maasai Mara Safariing. Animals were awesome – the pics speak for themselves if i can get the bloody things uploaded on my royal mail calibre internet. The journey itself was pretty epic. We set off early last Friday morning, 6 of us in a van with a guy named Ben who described himself as a ‘modern masaai’. He was very knowledgeable and talked a lot which was good and bad. Everyone fell asleep in the car except for me so had to keep talking to him and he had a tendency to just stop mid sentence and just pause for effect before finishing which made it hard to stop trying to finish his sentences for him. A lot of people here do that – i think they must teach it in school. Anyhoo it was all good as he seemed to know his shit so that kept me entertained.
The scenery was pretty awesome, changing from green, the dusty, back to green again, hilly, to flat etc. We passed Longuenot which is a dormant/extinct (one of those) volcano that you can go climb so put that on the list of things to do. We stopped at a gas station in Karok about 2 hours into hour roughly 4 hour journey to get fuel for the van and for ourselves when we had flat tyre Numero Uno.
No. 1
Front left tyre literally just deflated before our eyes whilst parked. Very odd. Though if we were gonna get a flat it was a good place to get one. So we popped for a coffee and a little later we were off again.
We continued on our journey with much chat about how lucky we were that our flat had happened there yada yada when i peered out my window only to notice a rather unhealthy looking front right tyre. Ben, clearly an optimist, assured me it was fine but within half an hour we were struck by flat tyre number 2. I’d just like to say at this point that although we had previously stopped at a ‘town’ we were basically in the middle of nowhere and by this time it was pretty much dirt track, potholes and a whole lot of nothing.
No. 2
Fortunately there appears to be some sort of mara version of twitter where by within minutes of anything happening you are surrounded by maasai and the potential for help. Also, given the vulnerability of anyone broken down in the middle of nowhere passersby always stop to check you’re ok. We stopped several times for people broken down/flat tyres/overheated engines etc.
Flat tyre number 2 was slightly more problematic given our location however thanks to the maasai twitter a moped showed up and we were able to send for a new tyre. Whilst we were waiting for Ben to sort everything out we were entertained by a scary maasai lady with a machete (who had clearly never seen a packet of crisps before given her struggle to open them until she resorted to her deadly weapon) and a load of kids who were awesome fun.
Whilst we were waiting there was a saloon car which came speeding past us then pulled back and stopped to check we were ok before shooting off again (this is important for the next bit of this story). Once we were up and running again, about 2 hours delayed by this point, our spirits were high as surely that was our bad luck done for the day. Sadly, this was not to be. Some way further down the road we came across the saloon car again and it was not in a good shape at all. To start it was the wrong way up. As we approached we saw a girl peering in to it and we were worried there was someone trapped in there but when we stopped we found that by some miracle everyone had had to crawl out and seemed to be physically unscathed but in considerable shock. It was 3 Finnish girls and their driver who had basically just been driving too fast showing off. We rolled the car back over which was actually quite fun and hung around a bit to check they were ok before heading off again even more delayed, and very hungry.
Ben then made the fatal error or jinxing our tyre situation and suddenly there were some crunching popping noises and we came to stop thanks to flat tyre number 3. This was the worst one – the tyre was literally torn to shreds. I’ve never seen anything like it.
No. 3:
Anyhoo – was definitely an adventure and we did finally make it and had an amazing weekend full of good food, lions, elephants, cheetah, rhino, warthog, zebra, giraffes, hippos, hyenas, baboons, eagles, vultures, cobras, buffalo and more.
I also learnt a knew phrase at work in the week running up to our masai trip which i think is pretty fitting. Sam, this guy in the office helped me sort some things out so i wouldn’t have to pay the muzunga price and in conversation he said “T.I.A”. I was like – TIA? What does that stand for? He just smiled and laughed before answering “This Is Africa. Anything can happen” :)
The scenery was pretty awesome, changing from green, the dusty, back to green again, hilly, to flat etc. We passed Longuenot which is a dormant/extinct (one of those) volcano that you can go climb so put that on the list of things to do. We stopped at a gas station in Karok about 2 hours into hour roughly 4 hour journey to get fuel for the van and for ourselves when we had flat tyre Numero Uno.
No. 1
Front left tyre literally just deflated before our eyes whilst parked. Very odd. Though if we were gonna get a flat it was a good place to get one. So we popped for a coffee and a little later we were off again.
We continued on our journey with much chat about how lucky we were that our flat had happened there yada yada when i peered out my window only to notice a rather unhealthy looking front right tyre. Ben, clearly an optimist, assured me it was fine but within half an hour we were struck by flat tyre number 2. I’d just like to say at this point that although we had previously stopped at a ‘town’ we were basically in the middle of nowhere and by this time it was pretty much dirt track, potholes and a whole lot of nothing.
No. 2
Fortunately there appears to be some sort of mara version of twitter where by within minutes of anything happening you are surrounded by maasai and the potential for help. Also, given the vulnerability of anyone broken down in the middle of nowhere passersby always stop to check you’re ok. We stopped several times for people broken down/flat tyres/overheated engines etc.
Flat tyre number 2 was slightly more problematic given our location however thanks to the maasai twitter a moped showed up and we were able to send for a new tyre. Whilst we were waiting for Ben to sort everything out we were entertained by a scary maasai lady with a machete (who had clearly never seen a packet of crisps before given her struggle to open them until she resorted to her deadly weapon) and a load of kids who were awesome fun.
Whilst we were waiting there was a saloon car which came speeding past us then pulled back and stopped to check we were ok before shooting off again (this is important for the next bit of this story). Once we were up and running again, about 2 hours delayed by this point, our spirits were high as surely that was our bad luck done for the day. Sadly, this was not to be. Some way further down the road we came across the saloon car again and it was not in a good shape at all. To start it was the wrong way up. As we approached we saw a girl peering in to it and we were worried there was someone trapped in there but when we stopped we found that by some miracle everyone had had to crawl out and seemed to be physically unscathed but in considerable shock. It was 3 Finnish girls and their driver who had basically just been driving too fast showing off. We rolled the car back over which was actually quite fun and hung around a bit to check they were ok before heading off again even more delayed, and very hungry.
Ben then made the fatal error or jinxing our tyre situation and suddenly there were some crunching popping noises and we came to stop thanks to flat tyre number 3. This was the worst one – the tyre was literally torn to shreds. I’ve never seen anything like it.
No. 3:
Anyhoo – was definitely an adventure and we did finally make it and had an amazing weekend full of good food, lions, elephants, cheetah, rhino, warthog, zebra, giraffes, hippos, hyenas, baboons, eagles, vultures, cobras, buffalo and more.
I also learnt a knew phrase at work in the week running up to our masai trip which i think is pretty fitting. Sam, this guy in the office helped me sort some things out so i wouldn’t have to pay the muzunga price and in conversation he said “T.I.A”. I was like – TIA? What does that stand for? He just smiled and laughed before answering “This Is Africa. Anything can happen” :)
Monday, 7 March 2011
Hash
Ran about 10k today with a Nairobi Hash. For those of you who don't know this is the history: Hash House Harriers - British colonial officials and expatriates who would meet to follow a paper trail started the Hash originally in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1938. A “hare” was given a lead and had to run ahead dropping a paper trail, trying to create false trails to confuse the “harriers” who were chasing behind. Only the hare knew where he was going. Apart from the excitement of the chase, the runners were rewarded at the end of their run with a tub of iced beer.
Sounds fine in principle but in reality it's completely looney. As far as I can tell it's like a kind of freshers week for old people who live in a weird expat bubble, have terrible crude jokes and act a bit like a cult. Needless to say I won't be going back but who knew i'd be able to manage 10k in the nairobi sun after a days work? Somebody stop me!
Sounds fine in principle but in reality it's completely looney. As far as I can tell it's like a kind of freshers week for old people who live in a weird expat bubble, have terrible crude jokes and act a bit like a cult. Needless to say I won't be going back but who knew i'd be able to manage 10k in the nairobi sun after a days work? Somebody stop me!
First weekend in Nairobi - more pics
Blankets and wine - mini festival:
Madskillz...apprently:
Gado Gado salad at Brew Bistro - taste sensation:
OK check out the van in the distance if you can. He's been hurtling down the pavement veering off and on to dodge the traffic:
Madskillz...apprently:
Gado Gado salad at Brew Bistro - taste sensation:
OK check out the van in the distance if you can. He's been hurtling down the pavement veering off and on to dodge the traffic:
First weekend in Nairobi
Well the weekend started off somewhat shakily after thursday's outing. We were all feeling very delicate so friday was pretty quiet. Saturday was straight back on it though with a trip to an elephant orphanage which was pretty cool but doesn't really compare to seeing them in the wild and then a giraffe sactuary where people kiss the giraffes. I absteined from this with the comment that i generally don't kiss animals and am even pretty picky about the humans i kiss these days (no laughing!!).
Lunch with Patrick, Jamie, Aras and Julia at Brew Bistro:
We then met up with some other guys at a restaurant called The Rusty Nail for lunch - v nice setting with a little organic market down the side with some fruit that i wanted to take pictures of so i could send them to Tesco as a lesson to them.
Lunch at The Rusty Nail in Karen:
I cooked dinner for a few of us in the evening before we headed out on a very good but also quite bizarre evening. Better not go into too much details but Eastern European and Kenyan mafia looking after us was not quite wat i'd expected!! We went to a really cool bar called Casablanca and some guys we'd met previously came and joined us there. Everyone dancing round the dancefloor at one point doing the conga was quite a sight.
Sunday we went to masai markets where i was introduced to real haggling. Rob - nothing like we came accross in SA. This is crazy and in hindsight not a good idea with a hangover in the blaring midday sun. I bought some funky hippo plates and had a fun time haggling with this guy david who basically wrote down 4 lines and told me we were gonna start at the chinese price and work our way to the local price. 'i give you good price good price'.
Julia at the Masai Market at YaYa towers:
Lunch with Patrick, Jamie, Aras and Julia at Brew Bistro:
After that we met up with some other guys for lunch then headed to 'Blankets and wine' which apart from sounding awesome anyway is a mini music festival held monthly. A bit like a mini field day but with more local music. v cool and basically the best way to spend a sunday. The evening was rounded off with a few of us cooking at a friends and then me getting my ass kicked at poker but hey ho. Next time....
Blankets and wine:
Friday, 4 March 2011
A couple more pics
View from the office:
View from the office:
Not so much the scaffolding supporting the building as the building supporting the scaffolding:
LUNCH:
Random amusing sign:
View from the office:
Not so much the scaffolding supporting the building as the building supporting the scaffolding:
LUNCH:
Random amusing sign:
To blog or not to blog
Ok so i hate blogging but somehow since everyone else seems to do it i feel like maybe a i should. Don’t worry the fact that i hate this means each time it will be short and is really just to upload pictures. Just completed Nairobi day 4 and feel like i’ve been here forever. Work has actually been pretty good. The project is very high profile to the extent that there are posters and banners round town advertising what i’m doing over the next few months which is a first. Great team – interesting mix with my boss being British, 2 Americans, Julia and Patrick, although Julia is London-based (and sounds like elmo when she’s drunk :) ), and Katya from Moscow who puts my whisky-drinking abilities to shame. Conor is also arriving from Ireland next week. Haven’t been sick yet which is great – well except from my own doing – how we all got through today is a miracle although we did leave the office at half 12 to go sit on a terrace for the rest of the day. Tough times i tell thee. Actually walked around a bit this afternoon and got my bearings a bit better. Looking forward to the my first weekend which will consist of giraffes and elephants – some of which are orphaned so thinking of adopting – preferably an elephant in order to come up with some sort of ‘power shower’ rental payments deal to address the dribble in the bathroom. Then lunch at somewhere called the rusty nail in Karen (which is near the Oluocholunyas – spoke to Garnette and may meet up with them this weekend). Then some cliff jumping on Sunday which sounds ridiculously dangerous so can’t wait – glad i didn’t watch 127 hours on the plane now. Next up is planning trips for next weekend and the weekend after. The ideas being tossed around at the moment are Lamu (beach!), Mount Kenya and gorilla expedition in Rwanda all of which sound awesome so am feeling jammy as f*ck and suitably smug. I can hear you all cursing me mwhahaha! Anyhoo said I wouldn’t write much and already have so just going to abruptly stop there.
Lunch at Ranalla, Nairobi:
Walking to lunch:
Glad i'm not waiting for the bus:
Julia, Me and Katya at Black Diamond:
On route to the office:
Lunch at Ranalla, Nairobi:
Walking to lunch:
Glad i'm not waiting for the bus:
Julia, Me and Katya at Black Diamond:
On route to the office:
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