ANOTHER holiday

So. We got back on Sunday from a 10 day holiday. Wow I have a nice life here. Although I have been working hard ever since then... I have 2 web sites going live this week – kak timing. But at least I work my own hours, from the comfort of my home and all the money I make is mine – yippee. So ja, life is GOOD.
Benedikt’s parents arrived on the 10th of feb and we set off for the beach on the 12th. Windsurfer, dog and all. It was Mahindi’s first beach holiday and boy did she love it! We spent a week at an awesome spot just south of Kilifi, doing absolutely bugger all. I read 3 books! There was only a little wind but Benedikt tried his luck wind surfing daily, it was more frustrating for him than anything. It was boiling hot too, but cool in the mornings. We went on glorious beach walks when the tide was out, exploring our surroundings and picking up shells. And guess what? I didn’t even burn, not once! And thats with spending 6 full days in the blazing tropical sun. Think I’ve finally cottoned on to this sunblock thing. Mahindi was in the pool and in the sea about 1000 times per day. She ran riot on the beach needless to say, chasing crabs and birds and chewing coconuts. She would pass out dead every evening at about 6 and would only wake again at 7am... and then she would go straight to the pool for a dip. Her swimming skills improved dramatically. She can now dive in and swim a length and keep up with us! Having Mahindi with us was a real highlight of the holiday.... she was the centre of attention and provided us with many many many laughs. I suspect no one else would find our dog as cute and as amusing as we do. But ja, lets hope there is space for Cecil in our lives when he arrives.Benedikts parents are lovely. Super chilled and so easy to please and interested in everything. (Although I can only say nice things cos they read this blog too :->)Irene helped me so much with my German. I am now SO fluent. She is also working on her English so it was good practise for both of us. We all loved the meals we were served, breakfast lunch and supper. We’d play poker until about 8:30pm then we’d go to bed... so we averaged about 11 hours sleep a night! What BLISS. I’m pretty sure thats the last time I’ll get that kind of sleep for YEARS.
Once back from the beach, we did a quick turn around at home before heading off for Timau, which is on the northern side of Mt Kenya where we were doing the 10 to 4 mtb race. Its a big race, well for Kenya its big. About 400 cyclists. Riders even come from around the world! I only did the 50km and I rode with 2 other ladies who NEVER ride. So I didn’t even break a sweat the whole ride, and there was ZERO risk of me falling which was everyones main concern. I thoroughly enjoyed it though, taking photos, helping some kids who had no water, chatting to everyone and anyone, taking in the BEAUTIFUL scenery and chatting to my ‘team’ mates, Catherine and Sabine.Benedikt rode in the main event, the 70km, and finished 12th. Which is an excellent result although if he hadn’t of cramped and bombed he would have finished top 10 easily. Too much holidaying for him I guess! After the race was really social, we chatted to all our friends and met new people. I was even introduced to Paul Sherwin (TDF and the likes commentator) and we chatted for a while. Did you cycling buffs know he lives in Uganda? He was born there. He was funny, he asked me if I’d had 6 beers for lunch! He’d correctly assumed I was pregnant... he would have been in trouble if he’d been wrong!
But really, the race was merely an excuse to stay in the Borana Lodge, a 5 star exclusive lodge which our friends organised at a fraction of the cost. Our room was AMAZING. There was a whole room carved out the rock that was our shower. And the separate bathroom bit was about 20m wide! It had couches in it even and a beautiful claw bath which we luxuriated in while staring out the huge windows at the ellies and buffaloes. We went on 2 game drives, where we saw black backed jackals, giraffes, zebras, buffs and ellies and lions: 4 lionesses with 11 cubs! SOooooooooooooooooooooooo dam cute!! They were so noisy! The lodge also has a pet oryx which would spend lunch with us. And some semi tame Genets (small cats with v impressive tails) which would sit on the beams above us while we had dinner. Obviously the food was superb as was the service. SO much attention to detail. Our wake up all would be a pleasant knock and a (rooibos) tea delivery by a cheerful staff member, Charity. Charity would also put hot water bottles in our bed in the evening and light our fire place. NOT that it was cold at all, but it just made things SO cosy! Definitely the best place we’ve stayed at so far in Kenya.
I had my monthly check up with my gynie on Monday. She said said I’m showing signs of being 20 weeks instead of the 18 that I actually am. She could pick up the heartbeat through a handheld ultra sound device which usually only works after 20 weeks. And my belly is high and hard already at the top. And measuring this and that also showed that I am more advanced than what I should be. So either she has messed up all the date calculations, or I just have such an amazingly fit and strong body that our baby is on natural steroids.... OR we are having twins. We can safely rule out the latter unless there was a second baby very well hidden during the last 2 scans. I think its really a combination. My awesomely healthy body and the german half of the baby being fast and efficient.
Tomorrow is quite a big day though – we’re going for a scan to find out if I’m carrying a Cecil or a Cecelia.

AND my pops is now BIONIC! He had a hip replacement one week ago - and its all looking good. Maybe he will run comrades now in his old age

Kenyan News

So Benedikt and I made the news on TV Monday night...On 3 different channels nogal! We took place in a race on Sunday that had good media coverage. We were one of a handful of mazungus that took part, and they really sensationalised the whole event and our presence there. 'There were participants from far and wide including Germany and South Africa'. And apparently 'Sarah Wilopska' is the 'Former South African mountain bike lady champion'.
Read the delightful article that was in the newspapers the next day... the distance of the race was actually about 75kms and ALL the names are spelt wrong and he isnt even consistent with the spelling of the sponsor's name - Sossi! Great journalists here huh

I am pregnant!

Woohoo!!
16 weeks already. So thats like 4 months. So I'm almost half way. I have a belly...but I dont look properly pregnant yet...it really just looks like I ate 5 burgers for lunch.
We've had 2 scans and all seems good with little Cecil. He is the size of my hand now... quite big really. And apparently my uterus is the size of a melon! Its all SO alien to me. I don't actually believe there is something else living inside of me... its just so weird!
I'm gonna have the baby here in Nairobi... at the Aga Khan hospital which is very good and has an excellent maternity ward. Its called the 'Princess Zara' ward - how bloody appropriate!
So.... how we we found out I was preggers....
If some of you (diligent ones) will remember I mentioned a while back (beginning of December) that I had been bitten by a dog... well, that whole episode was a HUGE palaver! At the hospital where I went for my rabies vaccination, the very alert doctor noticed that I should have a pregnancy test before administering the vaccination. We agreed, although very grudgingly, as it would mean a further delay of 2-3 hours and we'd already been there ALL evening. Benedikt didn't want to have the test at all!
In the end, the kind doctor took my number and said she's sms me the result. We were grateful to her, but mostly just irritated not to get the vaccination over and done with as we were certain it wouldn't be positive... time was of the essence after all.
So at 1am the following morning, we got a call from the doctor, waking us up, informing us that I was pregnant! It was a lot to take in in our sleepy confused state!
The next morning I phoned my gynie to ask if I should still have the vaccination, she was adamant that I shouldn't as there is a chance it could harm the baby... and the dog was a low risk case, it wasn't a stray and it had owners with a decent income etc etc.
Still not 100% convinced, Benedikt and I both did some googling and found out more about rabies in general and how the rabies vac can damage the baby. There were no real cases where a baby was proved to be abnormal via a rabies shot, and nor was there hard evidence that taking the rabies vaccine damages an unborn baby. The rabies vaccine pamphlet merely warned to take precautions if pregnant - not very helpful!
It seemed like there hadnt been enough research on this topic at all really.
But, seeing as rabies would kill me within 2 weeks if i got it, it almost felt like we had to choose between our baby or me! Quite dramatic!

So we decided the best way to make up our minds was to establish if the dog had rabies or not. So I went back to the house where the dog was... but the askari (the guard) had instructions to not let me see the dog and to not let me see the vaccination books. So then we got suspicious... why were they hiding things all of a sudden? It made us worry that the dog was rabid. The owners would get into trouble of course if this was found out. So I spoke to the owner by cell phone and she agreed that I could bring our vet around to inspect the dog. Our vet said he could make a fairly good assessment as to whether the dog was rabid or not. BUT when we went round again, it was the same story, we weren't allowed to see the dogs. Nor their vaccination booklets.
We had initially asked the dog owners to pay for the vet fees, hospital fees and vaccination fees, but when they were giving us so much trouble in just seeing the dogs... we gave up trying to claim money back from them. The most important issue was to see and asses the dog. The owners got increasingly rude with us and hung up all the time and refused our calls. They were 100% uncooperative. Even though we were begging them to just see the dog, and we told them we would not lay any charges, and we wouldn't get any officials involved... we pleaded with them over and over... and told them that it was a matter of life and death. But all to no avail. They just wouldn't let us see the bloody dog. SO infuriating!!

So the vet and I went off the police station to see what they could do. After many (arb) formalities, they came back to the house with me and spoke to the askari and the owners (by cell phone only) but also made no progress. In fact, I think the fat useless sergeant was just using the case to get out of being in his office. He really wasnt at all helpful and just bullied the other policemen around and acted like he was King of the world. He was rude and obnoxious and I seriously disliked him!
So we gave up on the police.

In the mean time, I had let my parents know, and my sister and Vicky, my best friend.
Benedikt had let his folks know too.
In turn, all of them did their own research. My sister spoke to several vets at her hospital and a doctor, Vicky spoke to 2 doctors and friends in the know and a psychic! My folks contacted a vet and a doctor in cape town and sought their friend's advice. Benedikt's parents spoke to professionals at a hospital in Germany that specialises in diseases like rabies... and they put us on to a German doctor here in Nairobi. We called him for advice, we went to our local GP for advice, we called my gynie again and asked my vets opinion on things. So we got ALOT of help and advice. About 70% of the advice we received was to not have the vaccination.

So thats what we decided in the end. And we've been past the house many times to see if the dog is still alive... and it is. And so am I!
So... lesson learnt... as soon as I hatch Cecil I am going to have EVERY vaccination under the sun. I advise all you girls do too!

Marvellous mini break

So the first hotel we stayed in was HILARIOUS. Its a german run hotel, graced by German tourists only and is totally german befok. We had won the 2 nights’ accommodation at the German Business Association lunch last year after all, so we should have known what we were in for!
We could not believe the guests at the hotel. They spoke ONLY german to anyone and everyone. Even the tradesmen selling their crafts on the beach outside the hotel have learnt pigeon german. ALL the staff spoke a version of German and all the signs and brochures and door labels and announcements and and and were in German. But, it gets WORSE. The TV stations in our room were all german. And Benedikt witnessed about 20 guests watching a German SOAP one afternoon in the communal TV room!
Then comes the dining area: People bought their OWN CONDIMENTS from Germany and left them on their reserved table for their week’s stay.
Also, early every morning, even before breakfast, they would go and bag a deck chair by lying a towel down and putting a magazine or something on it. So we couldn’t resist of course and swapped things around when we walked past.
It turned out too, that the guests come back every year! They greet each other like old friends and know the staff by name. It’s unbelievable really. Their idea of Kenya must be 100% warped. All they experience is Little Germany!
We managed to get away with Loopy staying in our room for the 2 nights... we planned to keep a low key while we were there but that was impossible. We stood out like sore thumbs, speaking English and not being on time for meals and trying to rip the waiters off amongst other things! We paid a whopping total of 1500Ksh (R150) for 3 people for 2 nights, and 3 days of entertainment!
We escaped ze Germans and went to a hotel in Kilifi for the next night. It was also full of tourists, obviously, but a complete mixture thank goodness. Although ironically, we made friends with 2 great guys when we forced them to play Marco Polo with us, and they were bloody German!
Besides vegging at the pool reading our books while Benedikt got some great windsurfing done, we had massages, went swimming in the sea (yay, no big waves) and swam in the pool for ages. We even played a little beach volleyball. But with the temperature between 32 and 35 each day exercise was a strain! And of course there was one big drinking game evening!

So it was a pretty normal, fun beach holiday. We were even getting used to seeing the young black men on the arm of a European older (overweight) lady. And vice versa. Pretty black young ladies with yukky old shrivelled white men! We saw about 20 of these kinds of couples. Europeans do love the Kenyans it seems!


Next up was Tsavo. We stayed there for just one night, in Tsavo East. A very big National Park. Aruba lodge was very cool, great food and nice enough rooms. We saw hokol pokol animals though. We even did a dawn drive with no luck. Oh well, will make it more exciting the next time as Loopy pointed out.