I saw my ovaries on TV!

Yip, thats right folks.... my ovaries are now famous.
Admittedly there was an audience count of 3... and the show probably wont be aired again... but while it was on it I found it 100% captivating! I don’t know why the nurse just sat in the corner looking bored... maybe because they weren’t her ovaries. The doctor/producer of the show had to concentrate so I understand why his expression didn’t change once during the whole broadcast. He was kind though, he gave my uterus a small part too. I think because he knew it wouldn’t steal the ovaries’s limelight.
I wont go into details as to how I saw them on tv... but I will tell you that I enjoyed it. The show that is. I LOVE seeing inside my body. Like when I had a camera up my nose, as uncomfortable as it was I made certain I watched the whole show then too. Eyes watering up a storm, nose bleeding and all.

Its just SOooooooooo interesting seeing whats going on inside you don’t you think? And there is just SO much going on. Like ALL the time. Ever since I saw the movie Innerspace I have wanted to explore the human body in a teeny capsule like that.
And I know I shouldn’t like having x rays done because they are cancer causing... but I like them too. I am slowly building an x ray man of myself. I just need my thighs and knees done and my right shoulder. Then he is complete.
But can you believe it, after ALL those x rays of my back, my hips, my ankles and wrists, my shoulder and my neck... (well, actually after ALL those crashes and falls in my life) that I have NEVER a broken bone. I have bones made of steel – I know that for sure. I’ve seen people have little baby crashes off bikes and they break all their ribs, their collar bone and both legs.... My spectacular monster crashes just result in skin loss... my steel bones never let me down. Even though I’d love to have an arm in a cast or a leg brace. But only for a couple of days.
By the way, the nose thing was worth it because the doc discovered my deviated septum. So I had to have an operation – yippee!! I was overjoyed! I got to hospital and have a general anaesthetic and everything. That was a real highlight of my life.

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The house has been warmed

We had 18 adults plus 7 kids over yesterday for our house warming. We’re like, SOoooo popular already. :-)
Ok, yes, I’ll admit that half of them were cyclists.
And the other half were the cyclists’ partners ;-)
It was a fun day though and it was fun to entertain again. I even did all the cooking (Benedikt did the easy peasy meat) and there were like 6 dishes – I impressed myself!
I did have a little help though...Lynette came for the day - because thats what you do here in colonial Kenya you know, what what – she was great.
Everyone also used it as an unofficial meeting to discuss Kinjah and his development program. Kinjah is an ex pro and is really really experienced in all things biking, and he is the top rider here in Kenya. He does the epic every year too and finishes like top 10. Anyway, everyone is helping him to formalise a funding program and to get him sponsorship for his team that he coaches and various other projects he has. Its quite exciting really. And it feels good to get involved. I’m going to be doing his web site.
On Friday evening we met up with a girl that my brother and Nicola know – Rosie. She is such a nice English girl - we had a fun evening. She’s here working for 3 months. We will definitely see her again.
Other than that we did 200kms of mountain biking this weekend – we got suckered into training for the Trans Rockies even though we aren’t doing it :-( We were exhausted both days after those long rides.
And we watched the TOUR! This year was the first time I’ve really watched it and followed it... even though we only had our tv for the 8 days of it, it was still exciting and thrilling to watch. I really want to watch it in person next year! Lets see, if we do the Trans Alps then we will be able watch a bit of it. I also miss my road bike more than ever now.

We are still on the hunt for a puppy. They sell them on the sides of the road here- its disgusting really. I hate seeing them. The hawkers traipse up and down with puppies, birds, kittens. One day we even saw them selling a giant tortoise. They just carry them all in their hands in the boiling sun and there is never any sign of food or water. Its very hard to resist buying each and every one of them.... to ‘save’ them. But its also hard because some of them look so cute and we really want one just like it. But we are being strict.... we know that by buying one you just encourage them in their sick ‘breeding programs’ and that they will just show up again with some more. They also aren’t vaccinated and are almost guaranteed to get parvo and die on you immediately.
So we are trying to get to the spca this week - its just hard because it is across town and its not open after hours.

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Benedikt rode over me!!!

Yip. Thats correct. I have the tyre marks on my thighs to prove it.
He actually CHOSE to ride over me, rather than my bike...

I was spreadeagled in the dirt after a mini wipe out and he was riding behind me. Like always of course. He's so slow :-). Anyway, it was very loose and rocky so he couldn't stop in time... and in the few split seconds that he had, he deduced that going over my bike would result in a) him falling b) damaging his bike c) just too risky. He also couldn't go around me as he had too much speed. So he RODE OVER ME.
At least he was kind enough to choose my thighs instead of my hips or shins or knees. So sweet.... thanks honey

My legs are also feeling a bit fragile due to our squash game on Monday. Well, my ass really. You do a LOT of lunges in that game....sjoe! It was fun though. Something Benedikt and I are going to do twice a week now.

And then to top it off I feel through a bin this morning!!
I was using it to stand on to access an outside storage area. It was obviously very thin plastic, nothing to do with my weight, I mean, the whole lid broke apart! I tumbled into the bin and together we rolled onto the flower bed...over the cement curb. EINA! The gardener came running and she couldn't help a little laugh. VERY comical for others. Not so funny for my for poor bruised body.

Last night we met up with Murray Stinking Carter. Bosch is opening a branch Nairobi so he comes here for business. It was good to see him again and listen to his cursing :-)

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Our container arrived - YAY!

We've been furiously unpacking the last 3 days after our goods finally made it here.
There are only 8 boxes left to unpack, out of about 150... not bad going hey? I've been in my element though....I do love sorting things :-)

There were only minimal damages to some items which is quite amazing... especially after the haphazard re-packing that went on at customs last week.

And guess what? It was really painless to get our dstv sorted... in fact, as soon as we plugged the decoder in once we were back from multichoice, we could watch The Tour! From the comfort of our couch. Aaah....bliss.
Our lounge is looking quite cool considering the furniture isnt ideal for the shape of the room.
So the curtains are all up... the bedrooms are full and ready for guests, the hammock is up... the dish washer is plugged in. The COFFEE machine is working overtime already.
Benedikt has been busy converting all the SA plugs to Kenyan style... there is no such thing as an adapter for SA plugs - they are a pain!

There are guys here today putting all the pictures and mirrors up etc. Cool - getting sorted!
We are even having a rack made for our bike room so we can hang wheels and helmets up. The bike room is really FULL now that all 6 bikes plus all our paraphernalia is in there.

I never thought I'd enjoy doing washing but it is great to have a washing machine again.... we have 6 weeks worth of washing to catch up on :-(

So now if feels like we live here for real. No more of that temporary feeling.
And I guess the novelty will wear off soon cos we are living 'normally' now.
AND.... I am officially working - I am re writing an online shopping web site. Its keeping me VERY busy. No more holidays. Boohoo

Just some dude we saw last week...(and no one even bats an eyelid):


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Lake Baringo and corrupt customs

So this last weekend we cycled to Lake Baringo... which is a really big, fresh water lake in the Great Rift Valley about 280kms north west of Nairobi. Ok ok... we didn’t cycle ALL the way there, we started 120kms away and traversed the Tugan hills (which felt like an alpine mountain range) to get to the lake. It meant we were on our bikes for 8 hours!! What a long day.
But what a great weekend. We were in a group of about 25 (about half of us did the whole 120km) and we had support cars for the ride. We stayed at a camp that night where there were bandas and tents and cottages. It was a very well organised and social weekend. We had plans to ride on Sunday but the temptation to sleep in was too much. I really took a knock from Saturdays ride, I couldn’t keep my eyes open in the evening and I’m still feel tired today, 3 days later!
Can’t believe I did that for 8 days at epic. Guess I used to be quite fit?!!
Benedikt also feels his fitness has deteriorated... so we are in Get-Fit-and-Strong-Again mode now. Enough lie ins and pansy rides!

Benedikt had the worst day ever on Friday at customs. They have this stoopid system here where your WHOLE container has to be unpacked and inspected before being delivered. It took the customs people 7 hours to do this and poor Benedikt had to hang around the entire day at the dismal dock style tar area that stores all the containers. He was parched and sunburnt and VERY grumpy by the time he got home around 9pm. And get this, they still won’t release our container. They want to SAMPLE wine from some of the bottles we are bringing in?? WTF?!!!
The container is all packed up again (albeit very badly this time) and locked – Benedikt took a BIG padlock with him ;-) - and the wine is goodness knows where in there. And why the hell do they want to taste our wine?!! The bottles are sealed. Benedikt has got the European move company involved again as this must be customs being their corrupt selves. It sounds very fishy. He was after all, asked about 5 times on Friday for bribes?!!
Corruption in this country is so blatant. We have been stopped at road blocks where the policemen don’t even try to disguise the fact that they are asking for a bribe. So far we have only paid one - 200Ksh which is R20.... so we’ve been lucky!
So we may get our container delivered this week, maybe next week...
Karibu Kenya where everything is SLOW. (Benedikt’s worst nightmare!!)
One benefit of having no TV is that we go to bed early. After we’ve had supper there isn’t much to do. So I read a bit (loving that John Irving you got me Vicks!) while Benedikt surfs the net a bit and we are in bed by like 9pm. And we only get up at 7am. Except for mornings when we get up at 5:30 to go for rides. I LOVE getting all this sleep!


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Loopy's flying visit

So Miss Dobree-Bell, who is a hostee for Qatar airways, came to stay last night. She worked on a flight into Nairobi yesterday afternoon and will fly out again this afternoon, back to KAKar.
She is a good friend (well, considering I inherited her from my sister) and a good laugh. We drank a fair amount of wine before going out...and then we drank some more :-)
Luckily Benedikt was responsible and drove us around safely. Good old Benny boo boo.

We went to one of our new mtb'er friend's fancy fancy apartment as there was a get together to discuss our upcoming ride this weekend. (Its a BIGGIE... and its a weekend away too). Daniel's apartment is really sjoosh and he was a superb host.
Loopy loves talking to foreigners as much as I do so we thoroughly enjoyed all the different people and their accents. There was a polo playing Kenyan, an american KD (k..f..r dog) owning couple, the token up-north pomi, germans (of course!!) and a large greek. Amongst others. And we certainly enjoyed the excellent sushi and meal that followed. It was a great mini-party! Loopy will be back she says.

So we've been here 5 weeks today. And still no furniture. Our container is in Nairobi apparently, goodness knows what the delay is and why it can't be delivered. We need our TV man... the Tour is about to hit the mountains

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Mombasa

SO my brother and his girlfriend, Nicola came to Nairobi with us after the wedding. Nicola had just 2 days here though- boohoo. She had just come off a 5 day yacht/marathon race and was about to do a 1000km odd adventure race in Sweden. So she was keen to rest!
We went for a very cool mtb ride on the first day, did lots of exploring and playing with Benedikt’s new garmin. We had our mad Jap neighbour over for dinner that evening. (See photos below of our self timer musical chairs game)
We went to the Nairobi National Game Park the next day – saw quite a lot including hippos, crocs, giraffe, lots of buck and zebra and a lion. And to the Carnivore on Nic’s last night - a vegetarian’s paradise....NOT :-)
Then my bro and I went to Mombasa for 3 days. He kite surfed and wind surfed every day- there was SUCH good wind the entire time which was a real bonus. I am definitely going to learn to kite next time I go. I was basically his bitch for 3 days :-) We ate and drank lots and went for cool runs along the beach. It was REALLY special to spend so much time with my brother. I miss the dude a lot.
Mombasa has an awesome beach and the hotel we stayed in was great. I can’t wait for my next visit!


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Ok...I've updated 'The Wedding' post...

Feast your eyes on my previous post!
Soon to come will be my Mombasa photos and stories :-)


This last weekend, Benedikt and I had to follow the tour de france via the Le Tour web site. The web site refreshes every 60 seconds. And yesterday evening we listened to the final Wimbledon match live on the radio via BBC world. Both were still pretty exciting... but WOW we miss our TV!!!! I thought I was a non TV person but I guess i am not. I REALLY miss it. I miss vegging in front of it on a Sunday evening after a busy weekend.
Our container is now in Nairobi so that is good news. It will be awesome if we can get it before our next visitor arrives – Loopy is coming on Wednesday, yippee!

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