You know you live in Africa when.......

Its an odd time of year in Nairobi just now. This is partly because its turned a bit grey and chilly as it does between mid June and August. Socks and fleeces have appeared from drawers, extra quilts are on beds and porridge is the breakfast food of choice. But its also that the wind down/up towards the end of term heralds lots of departures - some just for the "summer" but many for good as people coincide changing jobs with the school year and so we have all started saying goodbyes and going to farewell parties and farewell sleepovers and exchanging email and Skype addresses. It's an aspect of our lives here that's unlike life in London, where departures were really rare and although there was lots of chat about moving out at some point, people usually meant moving within a hundred miles, not crossing continents.

In a fortnight that has mainly been filled with the normality of life - work, end of season matches, parents evenings and school shows, going out with friends, having kids to stay, having friends for dinner, and weather more like London than living on the equator, I've been wondering what else about our life here reminds me I am in Africa.

There are the obvious things. The real focus on Mandela's condition in all the news and the interest in exactly where Obama is and isnt visiting. We have also had a couple of big power cuts which meant bedtime stories by head torch (and a rude awakening at 1am when the power and lights came back). Then there has been the water rationing which saw our storage tank empty out and a friend run out of water totally just as 10 people turned up for coffee. And the roadworks, which are almost entirely done by hand rather than heavy machinery and which meant it took me an hour and forty minutes to drive 3 miles the other day. Grrrrr.

And of course there are the perks - the laundry that is done almost as soon as the clothes hit the wash basket, the shopping that is bought and put away whilst I'm at work, the washing up that we rarely touch but is always done, the never empty cake tin, the very willing people who pack and carry heavy shopping to the car, the work trips that take us to all sorts of places - Tanzania for me this week, London for Tim last week and jo'burg next.

Then there are the African twists on things - the passion juice and samosa to keep parents going through chaotic parents evenings, the dog food and prawns given equal billing with chicken, mince and goat at the local butcher, the traditional African story of a hare who wanted to be king of animals turned into a musical (of sorts) performance by year 3 and 4 kids, the drive through coffee plants to reach a small fishing lake for a quiet Sunday trip with friends, the kites divebombing our picnic and the camel in the background (not quite near enough to be identifiable in this)

And this appearing as I washed my homegrown salad!

S is for Sevens, Socialising and School fairs

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We are in the midst of rugby season here and both boys had major sevens tournaments in the last couple of weeks. I still cant quite get used to watching rugby in shorts and suncream but they don't really know anything else and seem not to mind the hard ground which they regularly crash down on. I try and watch when i can and am torn between shouting at them to get stuck in and worrying that it looks painful when they do. But so far they have got away with only mild knocks to the head and big grazes on elbows. Matthew is now the proud owner of a winner's medal for his tournament and Jamie's team put in a valiant effort and were runners up in their's - Matthew is clearly (not so) secretly pleased to have a better medal than his big brother. Jamie is consoling himself with making the squad for the biggest local (2hours away) sevens event of the year and so far domestic tackling practice is being kept to a minimum.

As well as a major sporting week, we have had a busy social time since getting back from our half term break. Some good friends lefty Nairobi this week and there has been a stream of farewell parties for them which has been both lots of fun, whilst at the same time knowing that there will be a big hole in my mums net from next week. They are the first of the end of summer term exodus and a reminder of the constantly moving parts of expat life, with friendships sustained through Facebook and emails. I'm not very reliable with either form of electronic communication but I'm hoping we have enough shared experiences for that not to matter. Add to that a major work function, dinner with friends and our turn to host our bi-monthly neighbourhood lunch last Sunday and its been one big social whirl. One great thing about our life here is that the lovely people who help us run the house, keep the kids in cakes and cuddles and in the right place at the right time with kit, are almost always available to babysit and stay over if we will be late in or out early. So I never have that scramble to sort childcare at the last minute. And the kids know who is looking after them, even if that doesn't always stop the debate at bed time about whether it really is bedtime or just time for one more story.

And of course its also that time of year for school fairs and end of year shows and general winding down/up for long school holidays - not quite summer holidays here as its the coolest, greyest time of year but still long! Having played my part in many school fairs I took a back seat at he kids' one last week, baking meringues with Matthew and otherwise just providing a source of cash. The set up was pretty much like all school fairs I've been too - lots of sugar to eat and drink, buns to ice, wet sponges to throw, tattoos to apply and kids generally running round noisily. Jamie's class's addition of a car wash appeared to leave kids wetter than cars and the fact that the usual parking chaos (which school is far from immune to) limited his customers didn't seem to matter.

Each class had chosen a local good cause - elephants for Katie, a local slum school for Matthew and an orphanage for Jamie - and designed a stall to try and make the most money for their charity. They raised nearly half a million shillings (about £4000) which wasnt bad for an afternoon in the sun. Some of the charities came along to join in - one of our friends is a sports teacher and physio by training and now works with disabled children for an NGO in Nairobi and Dadaab, a huge IDP camp in NE kenya. His daughter's class had chosen this as their cause and the wheelchair bound kids with so little opportunity in life and lots of smiles as their wheelchairs were raced round a specially designed track were a very real reminder for us all of the range of lives here.


Anne

Self catering, Kenyan style

Like friends and family in other parts of the world, we headed to the beach this week to make the most of the kids' two day half term. I thought it was time to try something different from our favourite (and so far the kids only) beach place and booked a small self catering house on Diani beach, south of Mombasa. There was some suspicion of this decision as we definitely have three kids who know what they like and like what they know. But we all agreed that with access to the sea, a pool and our own mini plunge pool it wouldn't be too bad and there were no complaints as we boarded the small 18 seater plane for our flight here - and even the 6am start that is so much part of our routine now didn't cause the usual school day complaints of being too tired to get up, get dressed and get out.

I knew that the house came with people to look after it - pool guy, gardener, cleaner, night guard. But I had assumed they looked after all 8 houses on the compound. Turns out I was wrong. We have a cleaner all day, a chef and another man who generally helps the first 2, sorts taxis when we want to go off adventuring and makes coffee at just the right moment. Then there is the head chef for the compound who pops in to see what we would like the local fishermen to catch for dinner and to collect the cash for any other shopping we need. Plus of course the communal pool guy and gardener, who has been picking fresh coconuts for the kids to drink and then turn into toys for pool games.

On occasion it does feel a bit like Piccadilly Circus and I'm glad a packed lots of sarongs to wear over my swimwear - which is definitely in need of a major overhaul after a mix of high use, extreme laundry and strong chemicals have tested it to its limits. But it does mean we are all very relaxed and have plenty of time to go rockpooling, looking for crabs, snorkelling, swimming, reading and generally hanging out in the water.

And if that's not relaxing enough, the house comes with a massage bed in the garden and a lady called Rose who comes over to do nails, massage and a range of other beauty treatments. Tough life!

Katie has rarely been out of her new bikini, which she bought at H&M in london in the Easter snow and which Jamie and I deemed far too bling to be seen carrying round the shop until it was safely hidden in a plastic bag. Walking to the beach yesterday she wondered out loud why such things were sold in a country that is soooooo cold that she could never wear it there. I fear a lengthy process of rehab will be needed to ease her back to picnics and fish and chips on windy pebbly beaches in Sussex and Cornwall. She may not be the only one who needs it.



Jamie has had fun learning how to prepare crabs, reading and just relaxing.





Matthew has been torn between his Harry Potter book and the pool and has immersed himself in both in equal measure

And Tim and I have read lots, done a bit of running (Tim) and swimming (me) and just generally unwound. We are all agreed we love the beach. I'm already being asked when we will be back at the seaside, and fun as the "self catering" has been the consensus is that next time we will return to our usual haunt.

Anne

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