So I recently read a blog from a woman who said that if a guy who is chatting up a woman has a significant other then they should take the responsibility to tell the chatee within 30 minutes. As someone who has spent entire evenings having nice conversation with gentlemen who proceed to flirt shamelessly but don't have any follow through I agree this is just the courteous thing to do. This is not to say that I wouldn't continue having an interesting conversation with said gentleman and am not even saying that it's not ok to be a flirt (as I'm usually attracted to guys who are more outgoing and flirtatious), but I do agree that it's in everyone's best interest to casually mention a girlfriend in the conversation. It doesn't have to be an awkward, "So, you know, I have a girlfriend" type thing. It could just be "Oh, yeah I really liked XYZ, I saw/did that/went there with my girlfriend." I'm certain that the girlfriend at home would greatly appreciate her existence being made known. As someone who experienced this occurrence rather recently, let's call him Nne Macho, it would have been nice to know that despite his flirtation and nonstop attentions he actually had a girlfriend. I would have been happy to conversate with this friend of a friend despite this fact, but would appreciate knowing that it had no potential to go anywhere.
The day the rose colored glasses came off
As this blog is intended to be about my life abroad, the good and the bad, I have decided to post about something that happened to me recently. As everyone who decides to move abroad knows, security is often a issue and of heightened concern. Nairobi, among many other cities around the world, has a very high crime rate. Most of this is petty crime (pickpocketing and cell phone theft) but there is also a level of violent crime as well (armed robberies and carjackings). I was fully aware of this when I decided to live here and am very conscious of day to day security concerns and I take my personal safety very seriously. (As some of you know, I left a position that required me to move to Juba, Southern Sudan because of a lack of security measures implemented by the organization I was working for, so I am not one to jump into a high risk situations without precautions in place.)
St. Patty's Day 2011: Nairobi Edition
I was a bit sad to think that I was going to miss one of my favorite events this year: Dallas' St. Patrick's parade down Greenville Ave. filled with floats, beads, live music, and green beer. So I went on a quest to find something St. Patty's-esque to participate in over here that evening. You wouldn't think that Nairobi would be a hot spot for Irish celebrations but happily some of my favorite restaurants embraced the western holiday and even indulged our happy American/British tradition of green beers. Of course no Kenyans I work with knew of this holiday nor did I see any non-Americans purposefully wearing green in honor of the day, but no matter, what do expats love more than celebrating and explaining holidays that are meaningless to other cultures? (Case and point: conversation at St. Patty's Day ball pre-party explaining to non-Americans why we celebrate Thanksgiving when we in turn wiped out the native population we were supposedly appreciating.) Sadly, even I have no idea what the significance is behind this boozy holiday, other than purportedly someone named Patrick was at some point sainted by the Catholic church. Would any Irish readers out there care to clarify for us the meaning of this green day?
World Water Day
While I can't stop thinking of World Water Day as Waterworld Day now (thanks a lot, Jon); it is actually a huge initiative to raise awareness about for improving water, sanitation and hygiene provision issues and highlights a specific aspect of freshwater each year. The UN adopted a resolution to create a world day for water beginning in 1993 with events to be held annually worldwide as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. You can click here to find out if there is something going on in your neck of the woods.
This year's theme is "Water and Urbanization" and the official event is being hosted in Cape Town, South Africa with a conference and side events. For those of you in Nairobi, the Kenya Museum Society is hosting a World Water Day celebration at the Louis Leakey Auditorium and the organization I work for, GHARP/KRA, will be in attendance to display information about our rainwater harvesting and management technologies. If you are interested in joining us for this evening to reflect on rural-urban water issues please contact the National Museum at:
info@kenyamuseumsociety.org
0724 255299, 2339158
www.kenyamuseumsociety.org
The evening will consist of a screening of the film, “Pumzi” directed by Wanuri Kahiu. It is the first sci-fi film from Kenya and winner of the Best Short Film award at the Cannes Independent Film Festival and was an official selection at Sundance and Pan African Film Festivals. "Pumzi" is set in futuristic Africa, 35 years after WWIII, “The Water War,” where nature is extinct and the outside is dead. The story is based around Asha, a museum curator, who lives and works in one of the indoor communities. When she receives a box in the mail containing soil, she plants an old seed in it. Seeing the seed germinating instantly, Asha breaks out of the inside community to go into the dead and derelict outside to plant the growing seedling and possibly find life in the dead world.
Pre-screening presentations will focus on emerging conflicts for rural-urban water use and demand management in Kenya by: Mr. Michael Thomas with Rural Focus and Mr. Kariuki Mugo with Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor.
Refreshments 6:15 pm, Doors open 7:00 pm
Non-Members Sh 500, Members Sh 400, Students Sh 200
Proceeds to fund the National Museums of Kenya
This year's theme is "Water and Urbanization" and the official event is being hosted in Cape Town, South Africa with a conference and side events. For those of you in Nairobi, the Kenya Museum Society is hosting a World Water Day celebration at the Louis Leakey Auditorium and the organization I work for, GHARP/KRA, will be in attendance to display information about our rainwater harvesting and management technologies. If you are interested in joining us for this evening to reflect on rural-urban water issues please contact the National Museum at:
info@kenyamuseumsociety.org
0724 255299, 2339158
www.kenyamuseumsociety.org
The evening will consist of a screening of the film, “Pumzi” directed by Wanuri Kahiu. It is the first sci-fi film from Kenya and winner of the Best Short Film award at the Cannes Independent Film Festival and was an official selection at Sundance and Pan African Film Festivals. "Pumzi" is set in futuristic Africa, 35 years after WWIII, “The Water War,” where nature is extinct and the outside is dead. The story is based around Asha, a museum curator, who lives and works in one of the indoor communities. When she receives a box in the mail containing soil, she plants an old seed in it. Seeing the seed germinating instantly, Asha breaks out of the inside community to go into the dead and derelict outside to plant the growing seedling and possibly find life in the dead world.
Pre-screening presentations will focus on emerging conflicts for rural-urban water use and demand management in Kenya by: Mr. Michael Thomas with Rural Focus and Mr. Kariuki Mugo with Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor.
Refreshments 6:15 pm, Doors open 7:00 pm
Non-Members Sh 500, Members Sh 400, Students Sh 200
Proceeds to fund the National Museums of Kenya
The Trials and Tribulations of Lent
As an evangelical Christian I have never participated in Lent as I have always thought of it as a Catholic holiday steeped in their church tradition. However, as one of the members of my church home group brought up, giving up something or starting a new habit during this time is a good way to remind ourselves daily of the sacrifices Christ made for us and to remind us of the importance of this time of year leading up to Easter.
With that said, this year for Lent I have decided to start saying no. Let me explain, I am a bit of a people pleaser and am also very social so when I get invitations for multiple events on the same night I will try to make everyone happy by accepting and then end up going to great lengths to attend multiple events at once. Therefore, I have decided to use my words and turn down some social invitations in order to stop stretching myself so thin. It's not that I will become a hermit during this time, it's just that, instead of trying to please everyone and saying yes to every invite, I will give myself more free time to devote to other things rather than socializing. (Yes, Mom and Dad, that does include finishing my paper.) So wish me luck and productivity for the 44 days (which by the way, can anyone explain to me why this year's Lent is 46 days instead of just 40?) and I'll see you all at the end of the tunnel with hopefully a more sane and less hectic schedule.
With that said, this year for Lent I have decided to start saying no. Let me explain, I am a bit of a people pleaser and am also very social so when I get invitations for multiple events on the same night I will try to make everyone happy by accepting and then end up going to great lengths to attend multiple events at once. Therefore, I have decided to use my words and turn down some social invitations in order to stop stretching myself so thin. It's not that I will become a hermit during this time, it's just that, instead of trying to please everyone and saying yes to every invite, I will give myself more free time to devote to other things rather than socializing. (Yes, Mom and Dad, that does include finishing my paper.) So wish me luck and productivity for the 44 days (which by the way, can anyone explain to me why this year's Lent is 46 days instead of just 40?) and I'll see you all at the end of the tunnel with hopefully a more sane and less hectic schedule.
Camping: Part 2
This weekend I went camping as part of a relay event with the Original Nairobi Hash House Harriers in Kedong, in the Rift Valley, south of Nairobi about an hour along Magadi road. I maintain this is some of the most beautiful countryside in the entire world. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I love living here and being able to hop in the car and be in the middle of this beautiful country, away from the stress and distractions of Nairobi.
A week in the life of Captain Awesome
Habari, my old friend, Weekend! So happy to finally see you. It's been a long but good week. Last weekend extended into Monday as I watched (sleepily and only 2 quarters or so) the Superbowl live at a friends house. I quickly discovered the commercials were cut and it was all infomercials specific to the Armed Forces station. I mean that's half the fun, why deprive our service men and women (and their friends) the joy of a mini-Darth Vader or Joan Rivers? As the game ended around 6 am Kenyan time and there were already traffic jams I ended up going straight to work sleep deprived. That's the ultimate walk of shame, turning up at work from a long night in the same clothes as the night before, isn't it? Or is it just called being a trooper?
Settling In
So a month into my move and resettlement in Nairobi and things are goin' well for the most part. I've gotten a quasi-schedule going in the mornings (those with no power outages) that now includes fresh ground coffee to wake me up for my 45+ minute walk to work. The bonus of which is a less pasty tint to my skin, learning the back roads of Nairobi, and lots of exercise. And on those days I'm running late I've discovered that the number 46 bus camps out in Jamhuri picking up the likes of me so that's a relief.
Top Ten Things I Miss About Dallas
Plus a special extra just because of the snow I'm missing this week:
11. Random Texas weather
10. my car
11. Random Texas weather
10. my car
9. drinking water from the tap
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| Photo credit: seanmunoz.wordpress.com |
8. being able to walk outside after dark
7. the lack of blood sucking mosquitoes
6. no rolling power outages
5. sidewalks
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| Photo credit: debateitout.com |
4. my condo
3. Mexican food
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| Photo credit: cndoscotland.com |
2. my cats
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| Wylie and Fleur |
1. my friends and family
Pants vs. Trousers
Colleague: You wore a dress today?
Me: No, I'm wearing pants.
Colleague: (smirk)
Me: (oblivious)
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| Photo credit: ck-blog.com |
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