Spot the difference

We have had a great first few days back in the UK, mainly in London so the kids could see lots of friends, go into school to tell former (and for Matthew and Katie, future) classmates all about their first five months in Africa and generally feel confident that they will be able to walk back into London life as and when we leave Africa.

Having spent a fair bit of the last five months talking about being back in England, Katie quickly decided that it's too cold here and not home and announced that she would like to be on the next plane back to Kenya. She's moderated her view with the arrival of summer this week but is still clear that Kenya is home for now.

As we travel round seeing people we have been chatting about the differences we each see. There are of course so many but some resonate more than others. We are all agreed that driving (having managed to get our car started after much teeth sucking from our friendly mechanic, a big boost to the battery and a new fuel pipe) is a completely different experience. But whilst the kids miss the 4x4, pot holes that add to the excitement of any journey, and crazy driving by others I don't! Shopping is also very different and the kids quickly settled back into hoodies and commercialisation in our local shopping centre.

But the two biggest differences I've enjoyed are walking lots (and not just because of the time it took to et the car started!) and long days - being on the equator the sun rises and sets around 630/7 everyday so there aren't long summer evenings. In fact, its so reliable that Swahili time telling is based on how many hours past sunrise/sunset it is with 1 being 7am/pm etc. it's added a whole new level of complexity to my timekeeping.


Anne

We're all going on a summer holiday....

When we came here in February we promised the kids we would be back in the UK over the summer so they could see friends and family, enjoy the Olympic vibe and have something familiar to look forward to if the move was all too much. And so I'm about to get on an overnight flight with three very excited children, plenty of ethnic tat to hand round as gifts, an empty bag to fill with summer sale shopping, a bag of wet weather gear and the beginnings of an itinerary which we hope will give us a holiday, a chance to catch up with loads of people and limited mileage/ time living out of suitcases. I suspect we will settle for the middle of those.


I could have done without realising at 7pm that I had left my passport in a colleague's locked cupboard in the locked High commission and without the last minute hiccup with our booking which now has us travelling back via Amsterdam - at least take off is a more civilised hour and the flight is on the day we wanted to travel rather than a date that has been and gone. The kids have been remarkably chilled about these changes in plan, confident it will all work out in the end - 5 months in Kenya is beginning to show. Tim is hanging on here for a bit as he's got work trips to do and the chaos of our departure to recover from (and a developing cricket net in the middle of our garden to tend to!).

We are all agreed that the thing we are most looking forward to is seeing friends and family. But there are other things on our lists too. Eating good quality cheese, bread and chocolate, reading newspapers and all those olympics sports stories, watching a few movies, some shopping for the things that are triple the price here, driving with clear traffic rules like stopping at red lights. Some of this will, I think, take a bit of adjustment - I'm fascinated to see how much for each of us.

And of course we are going to miss our lives here, the friends we have made, scrumping for bananas in the wilderness at the end of our garden, getting to know our newly arrived cats and of course the weather (from what we hear about the UK summer). But we will be back before we know it.


Anne

Say hello, wave goodbye....

There is an end of term feel to our lives here, partly because school finished on Friday and we are easing ourselves into a holiday pace of life with only Tim and me having places to be first thing. But the end of term has triggered lots of coming and going amongst our Nairobi friends. Some of it is just for the summer months as its increasingly grey and a bit chilly here and a good time to head to Europe to catch up with friends and family there. An example we plan to follow in the next couple of weeks. But some of it is more permanent as people time finishing their work here to coincide with school ending. And other people arrive to take their places so we are no longer the new kids on the block. In the last week we have waved goodbye to some great people who have really helped us settle here. Of course any goodbye feels a little sad but I'm sure we will stay in touch, not least because we have inherited their cats, who are slowly relaxing into their new home.



We have also had our first proper visitors this week, with my Aunt and Uncle and two of their granddaughters coming to stay on their way to a Safari in the Masai mara. We had a lovely day hanging out at our place in the morning and then heading off for a little exploring, lunch and giraffe feeding. Our kids were thrilled to be able to show their cousins around and there were some fascinating car discussions about poverty, corruption and pop music - its always good to get insights into exactly what is being absorbed.

Marathon weekend

Running is a big thing in Kenya with high hopes here for Olympic success in the distance events. There are loads of Marathons, half Marathons and triathlons organised across the country and this weekend saw the Lewa marathon in a nature conservancy about 270km from Nairobi. Tim was invited to join a team running the half marathon back in February and the quick email exchange we had at the time had great pictures and plenty of time to train for half of what is described as one of the toughest 10 marathons in the world. So of course he said yes. Amazing how time flies!

The race starts early on Saturday morning so people camp overnight on Friday. We duly packed up the car and set off towards mount Kenya

We haven't been this way before and it was fascinating to see the very different scenery, with large scale farming (rather than the more familiar small holdings), tea plantations and well maintained roads (allegedly because they are a major route for qaat, the favoured narcotic of the region). We arrived just in time to get our tent up before the sun set, with a little help from Tim's team mates and a very slickly organised registration process which took minutes rather than the hours that lots of admin can take. Matthew was thrilled that he didn't have to wait long before he could try out his various torches.

Whilst Tim and about 1000 others ran across the conservancy we drove to various water points along the route to look out for him and show our support. There was a large contingent of runners who we knew through school and work and just meeting people over the last few months. We had fun looking out for them and seeing friends amongst the spectators. Some of the runners seemed to have fun too, although I now know that a fair few were questioning what they were doing there. Tim survived - the run was possibly easier than the four hour car journey back to Nairobi with tired, scratchy kids- and was already looking up other similar events on Sunday morning. Next goal is the Masai Mara half marathon in September. Plenty of time to train again.....

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Anne