Bowling, farewelling, racing and meeting the hood

We went to a 10 pin bowling fundraiser on friday evening. There were about 100000 yanks there... but it was seriously fun! We did meet a really cool kiwi girl who we will definitely see more of. Our bowling team of 12 did not exactly come away with any prizes.... but we had lots of laughs (and LOTS of wine) while tossing them balls down the lanes.
We had an early start on Saturday and took our neighbour for his first ride here in Kenya. He used to cycle loads so we are determined to get him back into it. We did an easy 30kms in the coffee farms nearby. Roland loved it!

Then we headed off to Kinjah's for the day. It was a kind of a farewell for Caterina, a really cool german girl, who has finished her stint here and was returning to deutschland. Caterina is our age and is an environmentalist and a biker, we REALLY got on well with her these last 2.5 months and will miss her. We spent the day in a forest, having an awesome picnic that Kinjah and his crew laid out for us. He has made a really awesome, twisty single track circuit through the forest where he takes his boys for some speedwork training - we tried it out a couple of times.

On Sunday we raced in the Ngong 50km that is held every year. It was really well organised, and well participated and well sponsored. All VERY impressive to us as we've realised how that level of organisation rarely happens here. It did start like an hour late though... but thats to be expected. Kenyan time is quite a joke.
Benedikt came 7th in the mens race... he rode REALLY well! His average heart rate for the race was 169!
I wasnt feeling too great and it felt like I rode like a tortoise... but apparently I wasnt so bad as I won the ladies race.
So between us we came home with 12000 kenyan shillings of prize money! Not bad huh!
Guess we will be doing ALL the races here :-)

On Sunday afternoon we headed off to our landlords house for a luncheon they put on especially for us. I had been asking for a get together so we could meet all the other residents in our 'compound' (SUCH an amercian word) so Lauren very kindly hosted one. There are 11 houses in total... and most of the tenants were present, and so it was good to meet everyone. There is a real mixture of people here (this country is THE place for mixtures after all), all different nationalities married to each other. I guess Benedikt and I are no exception.

So it was a real busy weekend. We left Mahindi alone alot. But she survived. And its REALLY cool to come home to an excited doggie.

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Beer. Shopping.

By special request I present to you our family beer:

And random dude drinking it:

I am FAMOUS in SO many ways uno.

Benedikt is a funny boy. He gets uber frustrated with the slack systems in this country. For example, the shops. Its always luck of the draw going shopping. One week they have a product you want, so you buy it, you finish it, so you go back for more the following week.... but its gone. The next week its also not there. And the next. And the next. Basically you never see it again. So now.... when he sees something on the shelves that he knows we eat... he buys ALL of it. Especially imported stuff.
We bought 15 boxes of jungle oats last week. And 21 jars of honey. And 50 bottles of tonic (Yay for the pantry). I suspect every ex pat here does the same thing and thats why all the nice products suddenly vamoose.
Last week he bought ALL the protein shake the store had:

So I started yoga last night. With this yank who talks too much. I can go 3 times a week if I want to... but once is enough with him. I'm glad I'm doing it again, I've missed it. It felt like I was ossifying.



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Yank evening and pomi Polo

So I went to a ladies wine evening on Thursday. It was 90% yanks. Then there were 2 japs (both are my neighbours - one lives above us, one lives below us), one Tanzanian, one awesome lady from Canada and one Kenyan lady. It was held at a lovely colonial restaurant (which Benedikt and I call Lord Groll) and I thouroughly enjoyed it. Which was surprising.
I don't like group things. And I don't like cold-calling making-friends do's. They can be so fake and forced. Like you meet someone and ask all the standard questions: who are you, what are you, why are you here, how long are you here for, what do you do, where do you live... that covers your first like 10 minutes. And then what? Unless you've just been introduced to a TALKER thats where the conversation starts stalling. So you grasp at straws trying to find a common interest...which often isnt there.
And besides, I don't need to make hundreds of friends.
Leanne (one of my best friends) and I used to call ourselves social-phobes. :-)

I much prefer meeting people via sport. Well, cycling to be specific. Like I know I can talk to another cyclist for DAYS... there is always so much to talk about.
Runners can be ok too. Usually. Although you do get some rather odd running folk. Especially in SA where it seems to attract the low income, low IQ, low morals kinda person :-)
In fact this morning I met up another runner (coincidently), we chatted so easily, and changed our respective routes so as to keep each other company a little longer.
Dana (from Minnesota) told me about a group of runners here thats meets on tues and thurs mornings. See now, I'm a bit apprehensive about meeting up with them... like I said, runners can be quite odd. I guess I will go once and see.

Anyway, back to the evening. It really took me out of my comfort zone. But I really enjoyed it. And chatted to some lovely and very interesting ladies. It was fun and easy. So much so that I got carried away and bought tickets for a bowling evening thats coming up and I committed to meet up with them all next month. Oh well. At least they drink wine.


The rest of our weekend was pretty chilled. Played with Mahindi lots. And we did an awesome 50km ride in the Ngong hills on Saturday with 2 great guys. And went out on our road bikes again yesterday - what a treat ;-)


And yesterday afternoon was the best of all. We went to watch a polo match. A (cycling) friend of ours' son had managed to get himself into the final of a prestigious tournament so Ashe invited us to come and watch. Neither of us had never been to one before so Ashe explained a lot of the rules to us... in between his nervous pacing and jumping around that is, while his son was thick in the action.
We dranks pims (of course) and sat really close to the field - it was SO exciting when the game came to our side - it was so loud with the horses running and turning so quickly and the knocking of the sticks, and the cheering of course.
We got caught up in things immediately and were jumping up and down when Ashes' sons team scored goals. After being behind in the first two chuckers (sp?) and tie in the third one, his team finally came through in the last one to score the winning goal... it was super exciting!






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Please help me with the ‘erbs in me veggie patch

So our internet connection has been down for a week (Gotta love africa). I feel very out of touch with everything. I REALLY depend on the net.
I have been walking to the nearest internet cafe to get my work done. Which is a pain cos then I have to leave Rock-Shitter in the kitchen.
Its still a bit slow so I'm a bit frustrated. But determined to update my blog as you all will have missing me I know.

On the plus side in the last week I have had time to do things around the house. One of them being the veggie patch. Which is brimming with goodies now. I did inherit quite a bit when we moved in I must confess. But I've had to nuture a lot of it back to life. And I've done lots of hacking and planting of my own. And guess what? I'm harvesting my crops for supper even!
Check my sliced finger from yesterday - I was attacking the sage bush with a bread knife ;-)

I’m quite proud of my collection. I have:
Fennel (yuk. And it re-grows into a giant bush overnight)
Mint (2 types nogal)
Parsley
Chives
Sage (thanks Nicola :-) - I didnt know what it was)
Basil (My FAV)
Rocket (My second FAV)
Rosemary (about a truck load)
Green peppers (although they look rather deformed and small)
Spring onions (not sure when to yank these out?)
Baby spinach (also grows really fast. But is really tasy, not too bitter)
Lavender
Kale
Asparagus (Dont know why I planted this. Its such an arb veg. And I dont even know if its the root one eats or what?)
Tomatoes

And then this unidentified bush with oniony smelling tall thin leaves which have white edges.

Any ideas?

I suspect I have Oregano & Thyme growing too. I’m not sure which is which.
These are the two bushes:

Click on them to zoom in

So please tell me what these are. NOW.

I went for a 20km run yesterday. Good hey! And 11km this morning...I am training for the Nairobi marathon now (end of October) so doing lotsa mileage. And I'm loving it - I dont know why.


Mahindi is still kinda cute. For a Labrador. She is really easy to look after. The biggest shlep is getting up in the night to let her out. We cant wait for her to sleep outside. She is getting really naughty though... she tries to chew everything. We are permanently shouting at her. Her sleepy puppy stage seems over.... So we only had a week of her being 100% cute. Now she is half terror half cute. Next week she will be a full blown terrorist I'm sure. Oh well. We can just give her back then.


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little MAHINDI

So now we are three.
Isnt she just SOooooooooooo cute?!!


And she is SO good already. She SITS. And she kinda listens to instructions. But cried like hell when we left her last night in the kitchen alone when it was bedtime. We just went upstairs and ignored her. Mean hey!
She had lots of visitors last night and handled the attention in a very civilised manner. Well, she just fell asleep on everyones laps ;-). We had our neighbours over – they are going to be chief dogsitters so we had to introduce them straight away. Naoko is even cancelling her holiday in September so that she is around to dogsit for us when we go to Germany. She really LOVES Mahindi!
Loopy was also here on another layover so she came with us to choose our puppy yesterday and give her expert opinion on things. She was very helpful all round, thanks tart. Its good having these Vet nurses around. All these photos are thanks to Loopy too.
Benedikt and I are determined to have to best behaved dog in the world - we are definitely going to take Mahindi for training. In fact, a trainer is coming around this weekend to spend time with us telling us what to do with her in these early weeks. What yuppies we are! But its worth it. Well behaved dog = happy dog = happy owners = happy dog = well behaved dog = happy owners ..... you get the picture.
Oh and Mahindi is the Swahili word for mielie. We figured that since she is yellow and sweet and this is all so corny that the name was fitting :-)

She is also going to be THE fittest dog ever. As from tomorrow, she is joining me on my 15km runs. :-)
I refuse to have a fat lazy sloppy Labrador. I don't even like Labradors.


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KillerBitcH. And Lake Magadi

Those of you who ever came to one of our get togethers in Bedfordview will be familiar with killerbitch (or however its is spelt) - Benedikt’s lethal cough mixture that he loves to whip out of the freezer and punish us with. Tot after tot after tot.
Well now he is driving KillerBitcH. And no, I don’t mean he is driving me, either. (Even though he does drive me mad. Often ;-))
This is our new car (well, Benedikt’s company car):
A brand new Toyota Prado. This was the only colour that it was available in... which has grown on us!
Its perfect for these roads - its nice and high, has GREAT suspension and its big and bullish. Although Benedikt really feels he should get a bull bar to have the full effect. (As our neighbour always says ‘Might is Right’ on these roads)
Our bikes fit in without even taking the wheels off. And there are two seats facing each other in the back for when my sister and colon come ;-)
It has a really cool sun roof... which Benedikt uses to pull zaps at every Matatu or car that pisses him off. Which is ALL the time.
So ja, we are very happy with it. (Even though its a bit pretentious)


This weekend we cycled to Lake Magadi which is a big salt lake south of Nairobi. Close to the Tanzanian border actually. It was supposed to be an organised race but it turned out to be a total shambles. There was no official start, no water points, no finish line, no marshalls, no announcements, no anything! A group of about 15 of us ended up bush camping on Saturday night at very cool spot next to some hot springs... man it was an awesome setting. Kinda like orange river surroundings... no soil or bush, just rocky earth, sparse dead looking vegetation and wide open water expanses. And add some salt. The salt was piled so high in places and it looked like snowy hill tops. Our bush camp was so simplistic (basically there was NOTHING) and awesome! We’d showered and gotten our evening meal at some dodgy swimming pool club (which was all we needed really) in the town of Magadi before going to the hot springs. So we just put up our tents and all sat around for the evening. Quite bizarre and totally unplanned. But really good fun. Sunday’s ride back to Nairobi was long and arduous – I was on my bike for 7 hours! So it was a very good training weekend – 250kms worth – but not such a good ‘race’!
Welcome to Africa :-)

By the way..... TODAY is D day!!! Our new addition is arriving!!
LOTS of photos coming I promise!! We are SOoooooooo excited!!

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Mzungu, Mzungu!

I find it REALLY hard to place people here. There are so many colours and so many different accents. And so many mixed colour marriages. And all of them are NORMAL people! There is no white hierarchy here. I love it.
It really is starting to make me oblivious of colour. For example, we (possibly) have a very cool white (and REALLY high up at the UN) swiss guy moving in opposite to us who has a ugandan wife (who is medium black) so their kids are even lighter black.... and they have been living in the states for the last few years...which is where the kids were born...and before that they were here in kenya for ages... So what the hell is the kid's nationality?!! And what colour race are they defined as? I’m sure it doesn’t bother them. Nor the parents. And perhaps in time it wont bother me. There are a LOT of families like that. And a lot of our new friends are black. Or half black. Or light Indian. Or just off white. We are going on a riding weekend this weekend with a good friend, Alex. He is very dark black. But he is the coolest, nicest guy. And his fiance is such an awesome girl. And you know when you can be good friends with a person when you dont have to make an effort? When it just comes naturally?

Anyway, I’m sure Benedikt and I are the only ones who notice colour still. But gradually I am noticing it less and less. I expect to be introduced to people of different colours all the time now. I just love the way there is no discrimination. And I guess we will get 100% used to it over time... and then boom, we’ll make a trip back to SA and we’ll get a fright!!
It's quite ironic that we go deeper in africa to become more liberal.
Although I do think this obliviousness (is that a word?!) to colour is more apparent amongst the higher income folk. The further down the ranks you go, the more colour represents a difference between people.
And something that I find REALLY REALLY REALLY funny is when we go cycling and pass through little rural villages... the kids run next to us screaming ‘Mzungu Mzungu’.... which means 'white person white person'! The one time a little girl touched me and then ran away shouting 'aaaah....' blah blah blah 'mzungu'! I can only imagine she was saying ‘I touched one I touched one’!!!! It was hilarious. One (white) guy we ride with answers them with ‘Where?’ in Swahili when they shout Mzungu!!!!

Another funny story... last Sunday 5 of us were coming towards the end of our ride. Some youths ahead of us saw us at the top of the hill so the one jumps on his bike, which was the standard black mamba, but he FACES US, and starts cycling up the next hill. We catch up to him and he rides with us up the hill, his bike facing forward his body facing backwards - so holding the handlebars behind his back. All his mates were cheering him on and lots of people stopped to watch and make noise. He rode up the whole hill, facing backwards, and KEEPING UP WITH US! And we weren't going slowly! He was a really skilled, fun guy. And fast!!

Kinjah, Kenya's top cyclist, who won a stage at the epic, and who I will stop introducing and just refer to as Kinjah from NOW on, is busy organising Kijiji races. They are going to be a series of races that are held on a circuit through a village and are targeted at these black mamba riders. Us rich folk on our fancy bikes are gonna get our asses kicked. I can't wait!!





Oh and we've got a surprise coming on Monday. SOoooooooooo excited!!

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Touriste de luxe

This last weekend we did soooooo many touristy things it felt like we were on a little holiday.
On Friday night Benedikt and I took Andrée out for dinner at Taramind which is a 5 star luxury restaurant in town. Andrée is in charge of insurance for Bayer for the African countries. She is French but lives in Germany. And she had to speak English for my sake. Hr accent was divine! The meal we had was sublime and the service was excellent and it was a very expensive evening. Thanks for that Bayer! Check our desert plates:On Saturday after our ride we picked up Andrée again and set off for the Karen Blixen Museum. I was a bit apprehensive to go there as I was saving it for my sister... she is Out of Africa befok afterall... but Andrée wanted to go there and we were her hosts, so that was that.
It was really interesting seeing how Karen Blixen lived, and seeing what her house was like and strolling around her huge garden. I promised myself though, that I will read her book before I go there again so I have a better feel for the place.
After that we went to the Giraffe centre which was really quite naf. The giraffes are so used to humans and are so tame and unperturbed. They eat right out of your hand and let you feel and stroke them. (Everyone stands on a balcony which is giraffe head height) I didn’t mind the lameness because I LOVE giraffes. They are so prehistoric looking and just so big and silent and bizarre. Like Nicola said when we were at the Nairobi national park – one feels like you are looking at a picture when looking at a giraffe... they are just so unreal.
After the giraffe centre we went to the Karen Blixen restaurant for a late lunch via a little unplanned trip through a forest, over a river and through a bustling village... like I’ve mentioned before things aren’t signposted very well here and its easy to take a wrong turn! Its never a scary thing though... we cycle through villages all the time... so driving through one is even better as you can look around even more. Its always VERY interesting. They are very organised little places... and usually quite neat.
In SA I would never choose to drive through a township. Let alone cycle through one. And if I got lost and landed up in one I’d be convinced that was the end of the road for me.
I LOVE how safe we feel here. SA is a scary place man! Its hardcore to live in Johannesburg. I think all of you that are reading this should seriously plan to get out of there. Even if its just to move elsewhere in SA. Get out while you are alive!!
The restaurant was worth the effort though as it was such a great setting – like an English tea garden. It had an indoor restaurant too and a very festive bar where the SA and all blacks game was being followed by some enthusiastic saffers.
We chilled there with ‘Mum’, as our waiter called Andrée, until it was time to take her to the airport for her flight to SA. We then got stuck in a horrendous traffic jam which definitely would have made Andrée miss her flight... so we did a u turn on the ‘highway’ and headed off down a dirt road... luckily Benedikt had travelled that way once before when his right hand man at work had taken him to customs. The road was abominable.... dongas that swallowed the car and ruts that shook us more than when we are on our mountain bikes. And just like the earlier detour, Andrée loved it! I think those were her favourite parts of the day.
I will be seeing Andrée again when I am in Koln in Germany.... Benedikt will be busy at his conference so I will go for lunch or dinner with her. She is such a nice lady.
Then on Sunday after our ride we picked up Rosie (the girl we met last week for dinner) and her friend Celia and Loopy... Loopy was here for another layover. So lucky Benedikt had 4 girls in the car with him for the afternoon!We went to Kiambethu Tea plantation where the lady there does tours of her tea farm and tells you all about it. And serves you tea of course. It was all very very interesting and very very pretty. Like I’ve said before tea is the prettiest crop to farm... wait until you all come for your visit here and we will show you!Next up was the Great Rift valley view point where unfortunately visibility was quite poor - there was a haze over the valley. Usually one can see forever and its quite spectacular. So instead we had some fun testing out the dodgy wobbly view point structures and trying on sheepskin hats. With random strangers. (Well I didn’t do that... YUK)
Dinner at our house afterwards was yummy and was followed by a game of 30 seconds. Of course. It was a tight game with Benedikt, Rosie and Celia beating Loopy and I by a whisker. Grrrr



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