Amboselli and Watamu holllleeeeday!

Two of Benedikt's friends from Germany, Michael and Ronald, just came to visit us for 8 days. So we took them to Amboseli National Park for 3 days of Safari first. The drive there was quite entertaining of course, with the usual crazy overtaking maneuvers, many crashed trucks, a national highway that is a joke and typical kenyan traffic jams. It was also Benedikt's and my first time venturing out on the Mombassa highway... it didn't exactly blow us away with its superb quality and safety.
Amboseli is an interesting place. Kilimanjaro's ever present huge figure next to it adds great value to the setting...it really is a magnificent mountain. We had clear views of the top of it while we were there which apparently is quite rare, and it even acquired a snow cap during one of the nights which made it look even more impressive.
Amboseli as a park has REALLY REALLY suffered in the last couple of years with drought. We saw many many many dead animals. Zebra, wildebeest, buck, and even elephant carcasses litter the place. It really was quite sad and depressing. The animals that have survived are forced to gather at the few swamps that remain and share each others space. So its great for safari makers as you get a full on show at every swamp. So we saw lots of live (!) stuff too...plenty of elephants (the park is renowned for them), zebra, wildebeest, impala, kudus, thompsons gazelles, reedbuck, eland, giraffes, hyenas, lions, warthogs and buffalo.
I even made a list of birds that we identified! Alot I recognized from SA parks, but there were some interesting new east african birds too. Like the African spoonbill, the grey crowned crane and the african green ibis. There... dont I sound like a birder!
The place we stayed at was really lovely. All made with trees and natural objects, it was not all at kitch and yet so special and african. I really liked it. We went on some great game drives with rangers from the lodge. And had sundowners on our last evening at a beautiful setting in the bush with Kili on our left, looming over us. It was a full moon and the weather was just perfect. Add some cocktails and champagne into the mix and we all agreed what a special night that was.
Next we headed to the coast, to a place north of Mombassa, Mida Creek, which is next to Watamu. We stayed at a place called ManFridays and it was a little piece of paradise! I just LOVED LOVED LOVED the warm ocean... I hardly ever swim in the sea in SA cos its usually so cold and rough... but there it was super warm and really gentle. I must have swum for like 3-4 hours every day. It was so SUPER hot the whole time. I didnt stop sweating for a minute.
So for the 4 days we slept, ate and drank alot, obviously. But also did alot: we water skied, snorkeled, swam, kayaked, walked, went for runs, did beach yoga, played an epic game of coinage, played 30 seconds, chess, we rock climbed :-), went sailing on a hobie, and we wind surfed (Ronald and I are now professionals). I even cycled a teeny bit - I'd taken my rollers with me like a wierdo :-)





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The veggie market

So every week I go to the veggie market. Its a big one, and its busy every day. Its VERY African though so you have to go with an open mind :-) And once the stall owners see a Muzungu (white person) they really can bombard you. I find it all quite fun and I enjoy the friendliness and interaction. Benedikt hates having things shoved in his face and being told to buy this and buy that. So its better when I go alone. I now know the difference for most things between the Muzungu price and the kenyan price... Although I find the bargaining process so tiresome each time!
I buy all our veggies and fruit for the week: Amazing big yummy avos (this country has SERIOUSLY good ones)
Sweet potatoes, Butternut, onions, peas, broccoli, kale, mushrooms, carrots, tomatoes, garlic....
Okra and coriander (this are VERY popular here and grown to love them both)
And then pineapple, melon, mangoes, bananas, apples, oranges, grapes, paw paw, watermelons, naartjies, lemons, tree tomatoes (an AMAZING fruit which I will get you to all to love when you come and visit) and passion fruit...
I make 2 big fruit salads for us each week... Benedikt takes some to work every day. Lucky him!
And whatever is left by the time the weekend comes, we shove into the juice machine and make divine fresh juice. And it all costs between 2000 and 3000 Ksh. So thats like R200 to R300. So quite cheap really... and thats all the food we need for the week. Well, besides the meat we have buy for the omnivore in this relationship.
Last Saturday night we went to the German beerfest which the German school nearby us was hosting. Bayer sponsored some tables and Benedikt invited some cool guests for our table – our landlords and a cycling friend and his wife who is German and some others. It was a very African version of a beer fest: we all sat at round tables with tablecloths instead of the rows of wooden benches that it should be... and it was a mission to get beer - it was a typically convoluted Kenyan system! Lufthansa had sponsored the flights for an entire Umpapa band to come over and play... they were really impressive. And there was a general fun atmosphere in a non-beer festival kind of way. Benedikt even donned his LEDERHOSEN! First time I’ve seen him wear them!! Hee hee
Mahindi ran 10kms with me this morning! She didn’t even slow down once. She kept running and running and running. She even pulls me up the hills! I’m so glad we picked a SuperDawg. I LOVE LOVE LOVE her running with me. Except when she cuts in front of me suddenly.
So 2 of Benedikt’s friends from Germany are arriving tomorrow morning and we are then taking them to Amboseli, which is a game reserve, and then to Watamu for 4 days at the coast. So we’ve got 8 days of holiday now – YIPPEEEE! Then I’m back for 4 days and then off to SA for 10 days! I love my life!!
Although I don’t suspect I’m gonna win the 94.7 again with this kind of preparation :-(

Work. Bleh

I haven't had a chance all week to post here because, get this, I've been WORKING! Work really gets in the way of things doesn't it? Its sux. Its made me all stressed out and everything!

We also had a mini break last weekend which is why I have been scarce. Tuesday was a public holiday so Benedikt had the Monday off...and we had 4 fantastic days of socialising, movie watching, eating and cycling...although not too much cycling - THE RAINS have come. Apparently El Nino is on its way. So Kenya is going from a severe drought to FLOODS. The drought has been so bad too... we see PILES of dead cattle on the road side. And people have been surviving on like a litre of water per week... for a whole family! Its horrific.
Luckily for us we live in a bubble where we have borehole water and a HUGE generator that supplies the whole compound.

I am no longer doing the Nairobi marathon... all that running was getting in the way of my cycling. I'll do it next year. I have to train for the 94.7 and the double Century which we are doing in SA next month. But training here is a joke! The cycling we're doing is all so social and relaxed... nothing like I was doing this time last year. Oh well. Will be a VERY cool 10 days in SA. Can't wait to see (most of) you all!
So I've been doing the odd short run now and then... and taking Mahindi too. She can run 6kms already and she's only 4 months old. SuperDawg!

We also had our friends Jen and Nick around last weekend... Nick's brother is married to Rosie's sister. Rosie is married to a friend of my brothers. Rosie has sadly returned to the UK... but she left us with Jen and Nick which was very kind of her.
Jen is now famous because her amusing story about travelling and paying your fare in a Matatu was broadcast on BBC radio. They are running a series called 'Only in Africa'. I am about to become famous too as I have just sent my Happy par cark story off!

Deutsch kurs

So.... my german lessons are in full swing. I go every day, driving into the city which in itself is a challenge – I cant go on about it enough how bad the driving and the traffic is here! It takes me about 40mins to get there and its like 11kms away.
I park at ‘Happy Car Park’ which is just opposite. Parking is another nightmare in the city. What isn’t!
Happy par cark is just the funniest place. There are 5 guys in action there... and one of them takes your vehicle over as you arrive. You just get out at the entrance and pay your 150Ksh at the little shack. There are no specific parking places... just 3 rows of cars parked bumper to bumper. No space between the cars! So you leave your keys with them and they find a spot to squash your vehicle into. This invariably means all 5 guys reversing various cars, jumping in and out and shouting to each other from across the parking lot, gradually making space for the new arrival and generally co-ordinating quite a lot. Kinda like playing a computer game. So my car sometimes lands up 3 cars deep in the back row.... parked in to the nines. Only in Africa can they run parking lots like this!!
Surprisingly it works quite well and they certainly utilize the space they have to the fullest. And I usually only have to wait a few minutes to get my car back, which entails x number of guys moving x number of cars to make a path to get mine out. And I have become buddies with all the guys... so they actually let me park my car and drive my car out myself now!

So each class is 2 hours long which is just the right amount of time I reckon. Any longer and I’d fall asleep. Its a 3 month course which will teach me entry level german. I intend doing the next level in January, another 3 month course, which will get me speaking it quite well. Lets see if I do the next level after that! No need to get too good at it :-)

There are 25 students and I am the only white face in the class! There used to be 2 but Joan left. Which is a good thing. She was a REAL pain. She a LOUD and slow 60 year old amercian who thought the class was all about her. ‘I’m sorry, can you repeat that?’ Or ‘I just don’t get it. Please can we go through those last 5 chapters again’ or ‘I’m totally lost. What page are we on?’ - The teachers speak german the entire time, so you have to pick up the instruction words really quickly! Since she left the pace of our classes has certainly picked up.
I have become friends with most of my classmates – they are a cool bunch. Young and fun. Most of them are learning german because they want to go and study in germany next year. Apparently it also makes getting a german visa easier.

We wrote our first test today. It was pretty easy. Although I don’t think everyone thought so...I think a lot of my fellow students are lost! It definitely helps to have Benedikt, and a german influence via our neighbours and others too. Benedikt often helps me with my homework and then my class gets irritated the next day cos I answer all the questions no problemo! But I do seem to be catching on quicker than everybody else... knowing Afrikaans has helped a lot. And my pronunciation is ok. I am definitely very vocal in class! I used to sit in the front too like a real nerd and teachers pet. And I've been elected as the class rep :-)

Some pics of our RockMonster:

Germany Part 3 - Koln and Belgium

So... we arrived in Köln on the Monday and Benedikt took me around to show me the train station and, heaven forbid, the main shopping streets. We stopped on the way to buy a new camera and a FAT lens with the insurance money - Benedikt’s camera went missing when we moved here.
Benedikts conference started on Tuesday so I was officially free for 4 days to shop and explore. I browsed a bit on Tuesday morning before being escorted around by Andrée in the afternoon. (I got to know Andrée when she came to Kenya for Bayer business a couple of months ago) She showed me Leverkusen which is basically BayerTown, and she showed me ALL of Köln which was very interesting. The fancy suburbs, the war relics, all the houses that survived the war, the cathedrals, the green belts around the city, the chocolate museum and of course, the Rhine river. We then went for a really yummy meal at a Morroccon restaurant.
On Wednesday I headed out to Belgium to visit a friend (well, he thinks he is a friend) in Gent. It took all afternoon to get there and 3 different trains, one of them being the Thalys which is one of those super duper fast ones, and it was worth it. Dieter took me to the Eddy Merckx Velodrome / indoor cycling track. It was my first time at a track and boy did the sides look steep! I was pretty anxious. Even with 2 chick beers inside me! And for those of you who don’t know, a track bike has no brakes and you can’t stop pedalling at any stage – the pedals keep going round and round non stop. All new to me. Anyway, Dieter was very patient and a very good teacher.... yelling at me to ‘pedal pedal’ around the corners where the banks are the steepest. I think I got the hang of it ok... Although I didn’t venture all the way to the top :-( and my line was as bit of a weave. Eddy Merckx’s fat brother ;-> was overseeing the track and he passed on a compliment to Dieter about my good cycling style so I was chuffed. That evening was a real highlight of my trip, I wish Kenya had an indoor track! As if! Thanks Dieter :-))
So I travelled back on Thursday morning, shopped a bit, went for a run along the river and then just chilled. I ventured into the sauna / steam baths at the hotel. And was SHOCKED!! There is no separation between men and women! And everyone just walks around naked! Apparently this is very normal in Germany and there are many many public baths centres like this where its all nude nude nude! I guess I have been sheltered in SA where men and women are always separate. Which is the way it should be. I don’t want to see ugly dirty old men naked and I don’t want them to see me either! I was in there for exactly 5 minutes... and kept my towel on the whole time!On Friday I shopped till I dropped. But didn’t buy much at all. Everything is so expensive in Germany man! There are great shops for sure.... but somehow I like shopping in SA more. Not that I’m a Saturday Mall rat by any means but I guess I have grown accustomed to malls where it is so easy to find any shop you need. I like to go in a buy my stuff and get out. Although its not like I had anywhere to be so spending an entire day walking around the city of Köln’s shops wasn’t so bad :-)
Oh and this was officially the first time I have ever lost weight on a holiday. It was all that walking I reckon. What with walking to and from the train station more than twice a day too... I estimate I did like 25kms per day! Friday evening we went to a very popular brewery in Köln, the Frűh, where we met up with a bunch of Benedikt’s friends... it was packed. We had a 2 kegs of beer dumped on our table from which we could all fill our beer glasses all evening. It was a fun evening.... the guys were all quite stoked when Sabine Schmitz came and sat at our table. She is a german race car driver who also hosts her own tv show (I think). She gave out tattoos and autographs and schnaps – she was a hit!

Another thing I found interesting about this trip was the number of people who read this blog! Benedikt would introduce to me people who I’d never even heard of and they’d say.... oh yes, I read your blog. How is your puppy? Or Nice car :-) So all of you secret readers out there.... I know who are now and I want to see your comments and see you under the ‘Followers’ list ok?!!!
On Saturday we flew back home and I got bumped up to business for the Frankfurt Dubai bit – woohoo! What luxury! I was like a little kid I was so excited.... Benedikt who is a seasoned business class traveller got very irritated :-)
Oh and Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher were on our Dubai Nairobi flight – in first class though so I didn’t see them. Benedikt did... he said Demi looked so old. And tiny. Apparently lots of celebrities come to Kenya and go to secret fancy lodges and things.
Coming home was cool too as we got to pick up Mahindi from her summer camp... she’d been back to the breeder where we’d bought her from and had been playing with her sister (and 13 other dogs) for 11 days... she was a real Dirty Dawg. We hardly recognised her! Sign of a good holiday for her too I guess.