We've been here over a year now

I year 1 month 2 weeks to be exact.

What we like
- Our friends. We have a GREAT bunch of friends here. Its easy to get close too as everyone is in the same boat: away from home and family and looking for a social life! Cycling was our initial way of making friends but we've made a fair amount from just going to parties etc. Its been easy! Everybody loves us of course.

- The weather. Nairobi has SUCH a fantastic climate. It never gets cold. And it doesnt get too hot. It rains enough for everywhere to be green and lush and pretty all the time.

- Our Lifestyle. We live in a great big house in a really nice area, we eat out a lot, we go on holidays a lot, we buy things for ourselves when we like, we've picked up some great furniture, we go for massages and pedicures when we like, we go to lotsa parties and entertain a lot. Life is good here!

- Help in house. Lynette, our housekeeper is GREAT. She works really hard and really well. And does so many extra little things. Its such a pleasure to never wash dishes or do ironing (not that I ever have!) and to always have a house that is spic and span.

- Help in shops. When I go to the green grocers I dont even push my own trolley. You get a prsonal helper! He packs everything for you and puts it in your trolley. You just wave your diamond encrusted hand around and tell him you'll have that strawberry and that aubergine. He then does everything at the teller for you. Waits while you pop into another shop and then carries all your the car where he ties the bags and packs them nicely. Very often in nakumatt as you arrive at the till with your full trolley, a guy will just come and unpack it all for you. And of course pack it and push it to your car car. Then once I am home, the askari unpacks my car and Lynette packs it all away. AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH, now that is the life!!!

- Help in garden. Well, not exactly help, I do nothing and Josephine does everything! She fills up the bird feeder, picks up the dog poop, washes our cars and plays with the dogs. Plus all the gardening work of course. She even waters and weeds my veggie patch for me.

- Help with our baby. We dont have a nanny yet obviously. But we will soon! After my parents have been here and I sit with the baby alone for a week or two, then she will start. I will NEED her! I will need to go out for a run each day and nip out to the shops and meet my friends for coffee and I will need to SLEEP!!! Nannies here are SO cheap. And there is an abundance of them. Good ones too. So ja, life is gonna be easy with the baby man! She will live in the SQ so she will be able to babysit at night too. YAY!!

- Cycling here is excellent. Even though I am obviously out of it right now... I do miss it. There is amazing scenery and never ending unexplored routes. There are very few fences up between farms so its easy to ride where you like.
And we have made some awesome friends via our cycling of course.

- The view from our house. I will never get tired of it. We look into a valley which is ALWAYS green and lush and full of trees and birds. Even the swamp at the bottom is pretty.

- Vanilla yoghurt. They have the BEST vanilla yoghurt here. We eat a tub a day, its divine! And tree tomatoes. A fruit I was never familiar with until I came here. Its so tasty. We drink fresh tree tomato juice alot

- Our dogs! And the forest that I take them too daily. I enjoy it as much as the dogs do. We always see plenty of moneys (colobus and sykes) and dik diks and deer and ducks and lots birds and spiders. And Mahindi just LOVES to swim in all the little lakes. Our dogs have a fantastic lifestyle here too. They have friends where they go on play dates. And there is always someone here to play with them. If its not me then the guards or the gardener.



What we dont like.
- The roads.

- The driving.

- The traffic.

- The car fumes.

- The lack of safety on the roads.

- The lack of rules on the roads.

- No signs, no traffic lights, no control!!

- The potholes and disintegrating roads

- The abundance of dodgy trucks and lorries that are 100 years old taking up the roads

I know we go on about the roads.... but they really are that bad. You seriously risk your life each time you go out by car or by bike.

- Benedikt battles working with kenyans. In general he finds they lack initiative and drive and they need ALOT of hand holding and checking up on. Work is not Benedikts favourite place.

- Missing our family. I have REALLY been missing my sister and my mum lately. It would have been so nice to have seen them during my pregnancy... its such a unique time. At least they are coming once cecil is out. My parents for a whole month. Yay, help with the baby! But I do get envious of our fiends who have their family here too. Families are irreplaceable!

- Cycling. As great as the cycling is here it also has big drawbacks. Safety is a big factor, cos of the roads (even the off road tracks have bad drivers on them!) but also cos of the lurkers out there who want to rob you.
Also what is sad is the way the environment is not respected. Trees are cut down willy nilly, rubbish is tossed everywhere and anywhere, water is polluted and foul and fires are made wherever and whenever. Uno, after our recent reminder of the amazing green thick lush forests and the beautiful alps and the general respect that cyclists get in Europe - even though its a lot less off the beaten track, the quality of cycling is much better there.

- Cycling training. There are SO few cyclists here that to get decent training rides done is hard. Yes, there is a cool group of guys that we go with on weekends that do decent mileage. But none of them push Benedikt and none of the cycling is particularly hard and fast. We were totally spoilt in SA the way we could pick and choose who to train with DAILY. The places and routes we could choose were endless and of course the race calendar is so jam packed that you can get a lot of excellent training done at races far and wide.

- Getting stuff. This isnt such a big problem, its just frustrating. Nakumatt (the supermarket chain) is great and we would be totally stuffed without it.... but boy are they bad at restocking their shelves. They run out of things ALL the time! And generally when nakumatt doesnt have something, neither do the little stores, so for example there has been a shortage of sparkling water, gelatin, condensed milk and cinnamon in nairobi of late! Nothing life stopping but still... you know the stuff is not there cos someone hasn't done their job properly and the systems in place are weak.

- Getting baby stuff. Fair enough Nakumatt has a whole row of baby goodies and you can get all the essentials you need. And there is one baby store about 10kms from us. So 2 hours driving :) And there is a street in town apparently which sells lots of chinese imported baby stuff.... but wow, when we compare whats available in Germany and south africa.... there is just nothing here! And whatever is available here is SO expensive its ridiculous. Thank goodness we were able to baby shop in germany and that my parents are coming next month from SA!



All in all I love it here. I dont have to spend much time on the roads at all. And I have a cushy life working from home and doing what I like. For the next week or so anyway! Benedikt loves weekends here... but his weekday life is a strain. So in general he is not so happy here. Good job we aren't here forever!