Casualties in the night

We have been here for a week now and I've still not gotten used the rock hard bed (I've gotten used to the pool), I try to convince myself it's good for me..but right now I am feeling quite stiff.

Like most expat wives, I have spent the last few days in the shopping mall, shopping for food, food and more food. Our driver must think we are crazy bringing back bag after bag,I tried to cover it up by adding that we came with nothing..

When telling friends and family that we were moving to Kenya I guess many of them imagined us living in a mud hut in an underdeveloped country with no western goods. It's really not like that at all, you actually find everything here. The food stores for example are as large as any food store back home and have everything that you might need but maybe not WHEN you need it. I've learned that what's available in the store today may be gone tomorrow. It is not as cheap as I expected it to be but then I suppose most Kenyans do not do their grocery shopping at the malls.

Local fruit and vegetables are very cheap though, you can buy a kilo of mangoes for an equivalent of 7 SEK, now that's cheap! You'll find avocados the size of water melons and they'll cost you nothing. Why are avocados back home so small and always the same size I am asking myself? There are so many type of fruits and vegetables that I have no idea what they are or how to use them but I am really eager to find out.

Along the roads you find all kind of vendors that sell anything from fruit and vegetables to furniture, mobile phones and flowers. I would love to buy fruit and veggies here, from the locals, but unfortunately I am not a big fan of pollution which is why I choose the mall alternative. The fresh flowers however are hard to resist, so I bought a large bouquet today and payed something like 32 SEK, the driver said it was a bit overpriced but it does not matter,the vendor fooled me but I was quite happy to pay.

Now to a complete different matter, how come there's no malaria in Nairobi when the rest of the country is plagued by the disease? They say it is because the malaria mosquito doesn't like high altitudes (Nairobi is situated 1600 m above sea level). Even if there's no malaria there sure are other type of mosquitoes here!

The other afternoon, Mats had just arrived home and we decided to take Noah for a walk around the pool. It was still daylight so I left the balcony door wide open, we were only gone for about 5-10 minutes. I forgot that the sun sets very quickly here and by the time we got back inside it was almost dark. I did not only leave the balcony door wide open I also left the lights on inside..lesson number three NEVER,EVER leave a door open after dark in Kenya. The apartment was swarming with a million mosquitoes, I kid you not! We turned the lights off inside and turned it on outside with the hope of luring the mosquitoes out again, that didn't work very well. I guess they would have flown out eventually but we didn't have the whole night. So we went berserk with the broom,which Noah found very amusing. You can still see the casualties smashed on the wall.

No more Kenyan hassles

I was so tired on the way from the bank to the apartment that I actually could not take in the view of our new home town, I fell asleep. The apartment lies in a nice area and is like most apartments around here, a gated block. This means that there is a large gate with armed guards, high walls that are wired with an electric fence and 24 -hour security, many may think this would make you feel like a prisoner, but actually for some reason is doesn't. I guess it is because this part of town is safe to walk around in "outside the fence", oh how terrible did that not sound?

Of course there are areas in Nairobi where one should not walk around alone and definitely not after dark but there are also places in London, New York, Sydney or Stockholm where I would not go either. One has to remember that this is Africa and that crime is fueled by poverty, I mean what would you not do in order to feed your starving family? If a muzungu (white man in Swahili) passes by flashing his Rolex, I guess he is more than likely to loose it to someone who is in better need of it.

Thankfully, Kenya is better off than most nations in Africa. It may be an exaggeration to say that the future looks bright, let's say that the future looks more positive than ever before but it will take time for change to take place and before its benefits reaches the whole population. Having that said, I almost feel embarrassed by telling you how we live. However, I have decided not to but rather let it remind me of being grateful and try and find a way to give something back to Kenya and it's people.

Within the fortification;) you find 3 blocks of apartments surrounded by a beautifully catered garden and pool. I am still amazed at how green and lush it is here, flowers of all kinds and colors. Could green possibly be greener in Kenya than back home?

The apartment itself is large, completely new and has an outdoor area where Noah loves hanging out, saying hello to anyone happening to pass by. This is the place we will live until we receive our residency, god knows how long that will take.