Family time

I've just been in the UK again, having left Tim and the kids enjoying Nairobi life after the rains. I spent last Sunday mucking around in the garden with the kids - is it wrong to relish the moment where your nerf gun bullet hits your 9 year old firmly on the bum and you finally win the war? Tim went for a gentle 15km run and I took the kids for a swim - well I swam, Jamie read his book which had been in his hand since he woke up and Katie and Matthew made a camp from the sun loungers and dive bombed me from it. A gentle family day, rounded off with Sunday roast, hair washing, premiership footie and bed time stories. Some things aren't altered much by geography. And It's great to be able to do all that, tuck the kids into bed and then head out to the airport to arrive in central London by 8am on a Monday for a full week of work.

This trip was for a residential course so I didn't get to catch up with friends as much as I would have liked but I squeezed in some lovely time with mum, a dose of theatre, some shopping (including for a new raincoat - the lightweight one I brought from kenya just wasn't up to the job) and my usual supermarket sweep. And much as I like London (even this week when its been wet and cold and the scene of a terrible murder) it was even better to be able to leave at 5pm and be home in time for Saturday breakfast, change from jeans and fleece into shorts and t-shirt and repeat last weekend.

The kids were really excited to see me - it's not entirely clear if that is about me or the shopping I've returned with or the fact they prefer my packed lunches to their dad's but I'm not going to ask. Katie had made me a special welcome home cupcake (rapidly eaten).

And she spent the day in her ballet dress as part of testing the new ballet shoes I'd bought her - she insisted it was the perfect outfit for picking more guava.

Meanwhile Matthew put the tent up (with a little help) as the only way to test the new sleeping bag and Jamie took his new books off to his bedroom to continue with his mammoth read.

And I relaxed in the garden feeling very good to be home.

Anne

When we were young

One of the great things about our lives here is the amount of time we get to spend together as a family. Of course weekends are filled with sports events and kids parties and seeing our mates and the occasional grown up evening out just as they were in London. We enjoy hanging out at home and doing the things we have always done - garden football, tree climbing, bug hunting (although when Katie called me to come quickly the other day because she'd found a snake in the garden I did wonder about the wisdom of this. - luckily it was just a little one!) cooking, reading, lego and lots of screen time.

We are also all still in exploring mood and know how important it is for our sanity to get out of Nairobi from time to time so we have lots of fun eating out together, checking out our adopted elephant and going away to Naivasha or the beach every so often. And we have found some good places for the kids to go horse riding and for Sunday walks and swims.

We see lots more of each other in the week too. Being able to be outside most days and having help with the domestics is great and leaves more time for doing things we enjoy, individually or together. Tim's working day is still long but he's generally home by 7 and sometimes much earlier to miss the traffic and finish his working day at home. Work travel for both of us is mainly in the region so means relatively short periods away, and even if some of the flight times leave us a little wiped out, we are at least home for the kids more than we were. And I am lucky enough to be able to manage my working day so I get to watch some rugby and hockey and cricket and football matches and sit and do homework sometimes with Katie on the terrace outside the school cafe whilst the boys train. Of course this does mean lots more time for rows about homework, the screen (often connected) and the general petty bickering of family life. But it also means we know more about what everyone is up to, and on balance that's definitely a plus.

Anne

So much to learn......

I have now been living in Africa for just over a year. Of course thats no time at all. But the arrival of a bunch of new people to coincide with the school term in September and the sad departure of some older hands means I am seen by some (in the very transient school community at least) as close to being a relatively established Nairobi inhabitant. I don't feel like that at all and whilst I've learnt lots - like how to tell when bananas are ready to pick, how to tuck the kids up at night under a mosquito net, that Nairobi is Massai for "very cold", not to be surprised by cars coming straight at you on the wrong side of the road and that an irregular power supply seriously reduces rows over screen time - each day I realise that I still have so much to learn about life in Nairobi, Kenya and the wider region.

Picking up the car from a service a few months ago. I checked that they had given me a full invoice. I checked that they had dealt with the overheating engine and slow puncture - yes, with the old, broken bit of the radiator as proof and no, with the flakey tyre just repumped and the bulge still obvious but no charge on the invoice. But I didn't check whether they had decided to take apart the rear door and then not to put it back together. I realised my mistake when I came to put a bit of shopping in the boot an hour later and found the inner bit of the door taking up the space. Turns out they were planning to fix our window but didn't have the part so just left it till they could get the part. Fair enough. But next time I will look more closely both at the things I've asked for and then at all the things I haven't and try and avoid the extra journey back to get it sorted - an early lesson here was that things just take longer and more attempts to get done.

I'm also learning lots at work, about working across multiple cultures, about how to make sure my home working time is productive despite occasionally being without power or Internet coverage - I keep my laptop charged and have found a few good coffee shops between home and school with wifi and power sockets (and good latte). And about the politics, opportunities and challenges for Kenya and the wider region. I'm getting to travel round a bit and have met some fascinating people from all walks of life with lots of interesting things to say - and alongside some of these people I've learnt that its unwise to base a pitch for funding solely on a power point presentation and a projector when your office has a very unreliable electricity supply.

I think we are all also learning to be more adaptable here whether it's changing our shopping list because the thing that's wanted isn't on the shelf, or changing our plans because some unexpected traffic makes them unrealistic, or changing the evening meal because there is no power, or understanding that cafes don't always have everything that's on their menu - although it was a bit surprising to find one the other day that didn't have anything on its extensive menu unless you wanted a burger with coffee. I can see why long term planning isn't really a feature of life here. As a good friend observed its more a case of learning that if you plan early you plan twice. And as someone who has tended to rely on a fair bit of careful planning to juggle the various things in my life that has taken a little bit of adjustment.



Anne

Supermarket sweep

Having made 2 visits to the UK in April, and with a trip later this month I thought I'd share a little insight into the oddities of my UK shopping lists. Play ground chats with other UK mums here and the various postings on work's social network page show I'm not alone in cramming bags with a few home treats and things that are hard to get here (at affordable prices at least). And all of us have received odd looks at the till as we make our last minute purchases of strong wood glue, cheddar cheese and chocolate chips.
We are very lucky and can shop on line for books and toys and new scaletrix control handles (clearly an essential item, not a toy) and get them delivered through my work but there are restrictions - no food, no liquids and no nerf guns. It takes a bit of time to arrive, which makes it hard to return clothes that don't fit quite the way the picture suggested they would. And also means the kids don't get the immediacy of shopping they enjoy. So I have a running list which everyone adds to between visits (ours to the UK and those of our visitors who we think we can prevail upon to stock up ). On my last trip I had 20 minutes at Tesco express on my way to Heathrow and got pretty much everything I needed apart from the wood glue or match attax cards and then had a productive tube journey trying to pack it all into my bag which I think kept my fellow passengers amused.
Along with the above items, my usual list includes strong sun cream, jelly, ant powder to deal with the thousands of ants and termites who seek to move in whenever they spot a chance, good quality chocolate, European wine, Parmesan, chorizo, nerf guns and bullets, lunch box snacks, wine gums, angel delights, mango pickle (which is madness when we have so many fresh mangos but there is a particular brand the kids like), good shampoo, toothpaste and bubble bath, swimming stuff as ours gets worn through at a fair rate, footballs, rugby balls, shoes of all varieties, marmite and some magazines and newspapers. No wonder I get funny looks!

Anne

Clocking up the air miles

After my flying visit to London in early February for work and Tim's trip back in March the kids have been really keen to cross continents and spend a little time with friends and family. So on Monday night I found myself sitting at JKIA in Nairobi with three kids waiting for a late night flight back to the UK. Tim is staying put - he has read the weather reports from the UK (and has work to do).
Just over 2 Years ago we went to a family wedding in India. I flew first with the kids and I remember being a little daunted at the prospect of a long haul over night flight navigating 3 small people, our bags, their travel sickness, our arrival in the early hours etc. I was struck on Monday by how much more straightforward this now feels. Of course they are a couple of years older and we are now mainly flying between known destinations. But we are all just much more familiar with the whole experience and it is much calmer all round. I've managed to reduce hand luggage to passports, a pen for the endless form filling and electronic goods too precious and tempting for others to go in the hold. The kids pack their own bags (with a quick once over from Tim or me to check underwear quantities, shoes and appropriate clothing and so we know what must not be left behind in the return pack). And they know what to expect at the airport so take the searches and queues in their stride (with the occasional bickering and assault on each other when it takes too long).
Now they confidently tell the driver taking us to the airport which airline we are taking and the benefits of BA over KQ. They ask for the bill at the airport coffee shop, knowing that it takes a while to appear at this particular cafe.

And they fall asleep when they can rather than try and keep awake for the movies and plane food - helped on this flight by a busy afternoon of egg hunting and swimming with some families from work.

Cool as they are about international travel, I am still not quite ready for them to be Flying alone so after quality time with family, celebrating turning 7 and spotting a few signs of English spring from behind the snow we are heading home together on Thursday for the start of school and I then pop back to the UK for a 2 day course the following week. I tried to combine it more efficiently but in the end decided that an extra 17 hours flying time for me, with movie watching and book reading was the best option domestically if not in carbon offsetting.

Happy Easter

The rains are back, the may flies are out in force - apparently they are a tasty snack when fried but we are yet to test that - and the weather is distinctly cooler (although not a patch on the near freezing temperatures the kids and I are going to find in the UK next week when we pop back to see friends and family for the school holidays). The kids have had a very mellow start to the holidays, hanging out at home, playing a little cricket and badminton (only 2 shuttlecocks stuck in the mango tree just now), having an occasional swim and creating lots of mess with Lego and creative play - an erratic power supply has curtailed their efforts to sit in front of various screens.

We have had fun getting ready for Easter by dying eggs and then searching high and low for them in the garden today - swapping them for mini chocolate eggs with lots of heated debate about who should get most.....





Peter, our great eskari looked on in bewildered amusement as the kids raced round the garden in pyjamas this morning but took it all in and happily hid a second batch of eggs for an afternoon hunt with friends who came to lunch. And we have a third hunt at friends tomorrow afternoon, assuming my emergency supply of mini eggs holds out. It was hastily requisitioned from a friend who was back in the UK last week after Matthew and I failed in our attempts to find an adequate, affordable alternative here - I'm keeping quite about the carbon footprint of these particular chocolates.

Anne

F is for fire lighters, friends and fathers

When I started blogging I wasn't sure where it would take me, how long I would stick at it and how often I'd have something that I thought was interesting enough to write about. A year on I realise that I really enjoy some quiet time reflecting on what's happening in and around our lives. Jotting my thoughts and observations down in a blog has proved to be a good way of keeping our memories and of sharing news with friends, family and a few random strangers who (according to the blog stats) dip into my meanderings. As for wondering if I would have things to write about......I had obviously never lived in Africa.

This week is a great example. Nothing particular planned. Kids are back at school after half term and have final hockey matches of the term, homework and already looking forward to the Easter holidays in their minds. I have work to get on with and the traffic to re-acclimatise to after a week of election fuelled empty streets. The rains are on their way - a few weeks earlier than last year which may avoid milk and butter shortages and any last minute post election hot tempers. So a pretty normal week. And with Tim away I thought it the perfect time to catch up with some of my good female friends here (and ensure at least one evening of adult company). Nothing fancy, just some simple food, plenty of wine and good company with a mix of people I know through school playground, work, meeting on holiday, friends of friends etc.

It was all going really well. I'd planned the food, accepted very generous offers by a couple of people to sort puddings, commissioned the shopping and food preparation (some bits of my life are just soooo simple here), put the wine in the fridge, got the kids off to school and gone to work. I didn't really worry that there wasn't any power when I got home and that it had been off all day - our fridge is pretty insulated and stuff stays cold for a while and the power is often off in the day whilst Kenya power do something that looks lethal with electric cables along the roads near us. And its generally back on by about 530 when the guys pack up.

Anyway, all I had to do was make a white sauce, put the constituent parts of my friend Pat's entirely reliable moussaka recipe together, mix a salad, steam a few veg and we'd be there. So I placed candles and torches around the garden to look pretty, set a fire ready to light outside, sat down and did homework with Matthew, chatted to Jamie and watched Katie cut paper into tiny bits. By about 630, with increasingly hungry and grumpy kids and no sign of power I was a little less relaxed. The kids fished out more candles and spread them round the house for me to light. I changed my plan for a starter to guacamole (fresh from the tree in our garden) and crackers and decided that now was the time to find out quite how impressive my dad's old, huge, American gas BBQ is.





By the time people turned up just before 8 I was rummaging for a clean shirt that didn't smell of smoke with a head torch, had the boys in their pj's (and element as no hot water meant no showers) helping our guard on the gate and Katie trying to read by candlelight. My friends were a little perplexed by my choice of very low lighting but quickly took the lack of power in their stride. The apple pie arrived warm from the oven and we popped it into my Wonderbagto keep it that way. I opened lots of wine (most still chilled) and kept my fingers crossed.



It was a really fun evening, with some great friends - when we came inside to eat all 3 kids complained and asked us to keep the noise down (I'm recording that for future use). And I know that with this group of people it would have been like that whatever food I had served up. I also know that if my dad were still around he would have been thrilled to discover that you can of course bake moussaka on a BBQ, even if it has a certain smokey flavour and cleaning the dishes afterwards requires some pretty major effort (if not, on this occasion, by me).

Anne