Movin' on Up (Jun 17/03)

Habari ya Kanada???

Nairobi ni mzuri sana... lakini ni baridi sasa!!!
Nairobi is very good... but it's cold now!!!

So I just have a (hopefully!) brief update this time - I've moved house, started a new job, and gotten a car! (note to the new readers... I'm NEVER brief!!! be warned... hehehe :)

Finished at VSFB on Friday May 30, ending it with a nice deck party at the office (ok, so it rained and was freezing!! but still lotsa beer :). Basic food -- chapati, goat, pilau, curried veg, bunny salad (ok, that's Mum's dish! but it was close :). Got a wonderful card spouting all kinds of good stuff about me (who woulda thunk it?!), a kikoi for a gift (that's a Kenyan wrap/skirt, sent one to Mum & Oma I believe), plus banana leaf art, and a new cell phone line (of course I ended up on the expensive cell company when I first got here, so they bought me the cheaper line!). 'Twas vewwy nice! I will miss my coworkers, but I know I'll be back to visit :)

It was Madaraka Day the following Sunday (another independence day) so we I hooked up with some fellow wazungu (white people) to check out the scene in downtown Nairobi. Went for a stroll along Tom Mboya St (usually dangerous, but not on a Sunday afternoon!) and stopped in for a bite. Now, when in a *true* Kenyan hoteli (restaurant), you must speak a few words of greeting, ask how the people are doing, let them ask you questions, etc. - basically take it slow and easy, and don't ask for anything they don't know how to make. But noooooo.... we were with this rude little chick from Finland who demanded menus, made complicated requests, freaked out when they didn't know how to make toast, and generally caused a bad scene. Now Kenyan restaurants aren't like ours - you don't order off the menu, you ask them what they have today. MY order was perfect - chicken stew, lovely rice, cabbage and sukuma wiki - nothing messed up, 'cause I ordered what they had! But this other chick waited, huffing and puffing, till we were almost finished before she got her poached eggs on toast... So since she was trying to ruin our pleasant meal, I told her right off..! Cultural understanding, treating people nicely, yada yada... so then she left and went home...! I'm sorry, but when in Rome....! The other wazungu weren't near as bad, and they said it wasn't my fault, that she's just like that, but I felt kinda bad. Did I mention it was her birthday??? But what was really surprising was that it was her 30th!! She acted about 12. First and last time I'll go out with a bunch of white people!! (though I must admit, Howard from Norway and Robert from Germany are pretty cool).

I moved on the following Monday...how's the new apartment you ask? Well, it's half the price of my last one (which VSFB paid for but not anymore!) so that makes it around $300/month. I'm staying at Bwana Mike's wife's place - Bwana Mike is the old cranky British guy at my last apt compound, Ratna - and his wife is head nurse in the King's hospital in Saudi Arabia. Why she keeps this apt I have no idea... I think it's just to store her ungodly amounts of stuff!! She even has two containers (shipping containers!) filled with stuff parked outside. Anyway, she's letting me stay here for about 2/3 of her rent... not bad! I think my last place was nicer (and less cluttered), but this place has a lot more character - used to be a colonial hotel! Two bathrooms since they just knocked out the wall between two single rooms -- but zero shower!! Me and water, seems to be a problem around here! Baths are going ok though... except today when there was no water!! ARGH!! But I'm up for a long soak tonight :) Also has a 29" TV plus a DVD player... not too shabby huh!! We won't mention the FREEZING cold temperatures around here - why should they have windows that shut in Africa anyways?? Well let me tell ya, even on the equator, 6000 feet above sea level gets pretty freakin' cold when the sun's not around!

So, you guessed it.... I escaped to Loki! I had planned the week off before my new job so I could move in, get some errands done, etc... but then I got to calculating how long it would take me to get to Loki. I figured 2 days by road.... a very crappy road... but I mentioned it to Anthony, and no sooner was the idea out of my mouth when I got an SMS telling me to get to the airport the next day at noon... UN maintenance flight, here I come! Cool plane, a caravan - not sure if that's the type or what, but I sat right behind the pilots... wicked view! Enough room for about 8 pax. It was strange being in Loki without having to work - hot as hell, so what can you do?? I slept a lot :) But I also got to be with my favourite honey (that's Anthony!) - he took care of everything - got me a room and all meals on the house! Even the first night he had pre-ordered a great lot of nyama choma (roasted meat, definitely goat) at our favourite Makuti Bar, got me settled in, and went back to work for an hour or so till he could join me.. of course before that happened I had a few Sudanese guys join me, asking if I could sponsor them to come to Canada! But they were good company... Sudanese are very friendly (the ones without the guns!) even if they do have horrendous buckteeth! hehehe (terrible I know :) OK, except there were about 200 Sudanese cattle raiders surrounding the town looking for the Kenyan Turkana tribe's cattle... but I don't think they would have mistaken me for a Turkana (or a cow), so I was feeling pretty safe!

The next adventure was the trip back... Couldn't get a flight to Nairobi in time for me to start my new job, so had to fly to Eldoret in a giant Buffalo -- another cool (Canadian!) flight! Eldoret is close to Anthony's home, so I knew the scene for getting a vehicle etc. This is the place where you end up in a station wagon with a seat where the trunk should be - 8 people in all! We bounced back to Nairobi - about 3 hours - and then I asked to be let off in Westlands, which is another sort of downtown but closer to my area. Got out, grabbed my backpack, and then someone tried to grab my pouch!! Basically I was mugged for the second time, but again they got nothing!! How are you gonna pull a fanny pack off of this big butt really??! But I had this HUGE backpack on my back, so he unbalanced me and knocked me over - I'm yelling and kicking - and then a bunch of people come running, grab the guy, and start pummeling him! I was pretty shaken, so I ordered someone to get me a cab, and took right off.... anyway, Mum, please don't worry, the worst they'd do is get my cell phone and maybe threaten me with a handful of poop - the street kids definitely don't have guns, and they don't want any violence, just cash, and quick! They might lean in your open car window while you're stuck at a light, prevent you from rolling it up, and threaten to spit on you unless you give them a few shillings... but I can recognize one a mile off now..! I'm pretty proud actually - being mugged twice and not losing anything either time!! It's no biggie.

OK.. haven't even gotten to the new job yet! I started at Express Automation last Monday - they mostly sell business machines like faxes, photocopiers, phone systems, CCTV - and now they want to get into networking! I've been talking with them off and on for the past couple of months, gone to a few meetings, etc., and I was really impressed with their business - about 170 employees, millions in turnover, and service level standards that are unheard of in Kenya! So I agreed to join them as ICT Consultant - basically I'm working there for about 6 weeks until I go back to Canada, and then there'll be a full time position for me as a fancy director or something for when I come back to Kenya... cool huh!! I'd show you their website but they don't have one....yet! First order of business... one page will be up on Thursday, with the rest of the site in a couple weeks - managed to get my friend Howard a sale, he's a sales guy at 3mice, a Kenyan web design company - check www.3mice.com for those that are interested! Anyways, I think they're pretty pleased with me (aw shucks) - I presented to all of their managers at a strategy meeting on Saturday, taught them about project management, fixed their email server, and reorganized their IT dept all the first week! Anyway, I'm thrilled to be in the business/technical world again, and now I get to experience working with Mhindi - Indians I mean - they're notorious for working hard, and it's true! Hafta be there at 7:30am tomorrow (sure THAT'S a good time for a meeting!), I haven't left before 6:30pm yet - and that includes Saturdays!!!! ARGH!! But so far I'm loving it, and some of you know what hours I can put in at the office - I guess it's ok for now :) Plus I get a company car!!!! woo hoooo!!!!!

OK, final story..... On my third day of work, I thought I should drop down to the Canadian High Commission and get Anthony's visa. Booked a driver for a half-hour max, dropped off the app to the woman behind bullet-proof glass who spoke to me over a microphone, and waited.... and waited... for almost 3 hours! Postponed a meeting (luckily it was with Howard, my Norwegian friend), my driver left, and eventually got I was called to another bullet-proof window.... REJECTED! *Not* what I was prepared for! I promptly burst into tears (I'm soooo professional!) and managed to discern that it was because he's essentially a third-worlder - a risk for staying in Canada! They wouldn't let me speak to anyone ("Just reapply dear") so I ran out, grabbed another app along the way, and furiously pounded the elevator button.... The security guards were concerned, asked me what was going on, tried to comfort me, etc., and then told me to get the hell upstairs to the consular section and demand to speak to someone... So I did! The receptionist hooked me up with a counsellor (guess it was the tears!) and then I pleaded with her to find someone I could talk to. She agreed! So this man came to talk to me (through bullet-proof glass). Once I explained that we were planning to marry, he asked me all kinds of questions - who mailed the invitations, who's performing the ceremony, what my credentials are, if I love Anthony's kids, where we will live... and on and on for about an hour! I didn't realize it was going anywhere -- basically, I'm still bawling! -- but he finally stopped me and said, "OK, everything seems to check out, I'll reverse the decision!" IMAGINE!!! I was thrilled!! I had visions of cancelling the whole wedding, or getting Anthony out of South Sudan early so we could run to the court, get married, then reapply for the visa... terrible! But this man really did me a great favour... I think I'll send him an invitation!! heheeh... Anthony says I'm unbwogable!!! (that's a Kenyan thing - check it on google :)

YAY!! WE'RE COMING FOR SURE!!! We'll be in Sackville, NS around August 1st... hmm, that's a Friday night! Anyone got plans??? You do now!!

Thanks for the photos, people - got Aliya and Li'l John plastered all over my new apt! And my contacts haven't changed - I still get mail through VSFB... though I'll soon be home so we can forget the snail mail thing for a while! My camera's still on the fritz... I hope to god I can get it fixed as soon as I get home... I need it!!!

Aww, just talked to my sweetie, he says "hellos" to all!

Catch ya SOON,
jo

 

 

Copyright Johanna Voerman Khisa, 2002-03. Reprinting or reposting without permission is prohibited.