Back in town

It was nice coming back to Nairobi where the temperature is just like a perfect Nordic summer day. Noah has started kindergarten and friends back home have asked - So what are you going to do with all your free time? Free time?? Noah starts kindergarten at 8.30 so we leave home 7.45 in the morning, it is not very far but traffic in the morning is more or less a chaos. The Mutatu drivers drive against the traffic to get through with no fear for their or anyone else's life. Sabua, our driver told me he used to drive the ambulance in Nairobi and I finally understood how he knows all the short cuts that he takes. I am really happy we have him because if comparing the time it takes to go to kindergarten between us and our neighbors leaving at the same time, we are always there first. Mind you we take a few dirt roads and it's sometimes a bit bumpy but we get to see many interesting things on our way.

Anyhow after leaving Noah I sometimes go back home which normally gets me there by 9.45 am. I then have to get ready at 11.45 to go and pick him up again at 12.30, they only offer half days and only 4 days per week. During the time left I try and do the luxurious expat wife things such as having breakfast and coffee :). (I hope you guys get the humorous undertone when I am rambling about)


Talking about time, two days ago Mats received his working visa, Hurray, it was about time! This means we can get serious about looking for a house. A friend of mine told me she looked at 50 houses before she found what she wanted, sigh, I have probably had a look at 20 already with varying standards. There seem to be 3 group of houses within the budget span we are looking at; 1. newly built houses with nice interior but with a tiny, tiny garden, 2. houses from the 70's or 80's with terrible interior and a fantastic large garden including pool and 3. newly built houses with nice interior, nice garden and pool but on the outskirts of Nairobi meaning lots of time spent in traffic. A nice 4 bedroom house with good Western standards cost about 2000 Euros per month in rent, so it is not cheap!

I have called many real estate agents here but they seem a bit lazy and they NEVER call you back so now I have included a little "reward" for the person who finds us a house that we'll move into, the Kenyan way, we'll see if that works better.

Now to a complete different matter, it's interesting how people here really believe in myths and rumors here, I then realize how hard it must be to educate people about HIV and things alike. For example our driver thought that in a cold climate, alcohol doesn't affect you in the same way and you can drink more without getting drunk.
(well I am sure this goes for some Northerners as well)

Our friend's driver told her about a certain mango that if you eat it you could catch malaria...

and lastly the ANZ leader Jacob Zuma said he showered after sex with an HIV-positive woman, thinking this would reduce his risk of being infected...


TIA - This Is Africa