Una Noche a la Instituto Italiano

There are many ways of finding out about events in Nairobi- you can check out the newspaper, ask around, or my favorite- read the posters outside of the supermarket. So, last night I gathered Tia, Sandra, and Dana to attend the kick-off to the start of Italian week, hosted by the Italian Cultural Institute. (http://www.iicnairobi.org/ ) I had read about this on a poster and noticed the words "Free", "Food", and "Wine"... so I knew that this event could not be missed!

We arrived about 15 minutes late (thank God), as there was an extremely boring lecture on the process of "Slow food"... basically slow food is all about savoring your meal, enjoying the occassion of eating, and cooking food that isn't processed. Once the lecture was over it was a mad scramble to the tables where there was Italian food laid out- mix of meats, pizzas, cheeses, breads, etc. Plus, there was great Italian red wine and the beauty of it all- it was FREE!! After we gorged on the free food and wine we then walked over to a nice outdoor pub for one last drink before calling it an evening. It was a great, spontaneous way to spend an evening in Nairobi.

I was actually thinking of maybe enrolling in an Italian class, since it is so similar to Spanish- so I might do that depending on the timing of the classes, etc. We also managed to snag some brochures for Italian cooking classes which would be great fun!

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This weekend I am playing in my first softball game for the Canadian team. We are playing against the Japanese team- makes me feel like I am playing softball for the Olympics. Should be a good time and am looking forward to meeting some other people around town. After the softball game I am heading to a Halloween party. The theme of the party is "Attack of the Killer_________" and then you have to fill in the blank. I believe I will go as "attack of the killer shark"- so we will see how that turns out. I plan to take my camera to the pre-party at Ben and Tia's house so hopefully will have some pictures posted of the festivities.

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One aspect of my life that I tend to not discuss very much is my work! I realised this after reading through past entries and thought that people must think all I do is socialise and take pictures. Work has been extremely rewarding this week. I am chair of the Web and Media Group for the project I am working on and had to host my first meeting this week. Doesn't sound that bad- until you have to teleconference with members of the group from - London, Milton-Keynes UK, Sudan, and Italy (guy is on vacation). It went very well and the project that I am working on seems to be progressing. Next week members from the BBC will be coming down to Nairobi for meetings with myself and another project manager to discuss the process of development for the web portal we are building for Open Educational Resources (OERs). That will be an exciting week as actual timeframes, development, and design considerations will finally be discussed and confirmed. Here is the website for the project I am working on for those interested: http://www.tessaprogramme.org.uk/ .