Glamping at Magadi

This past weekend some friends and I headed to Magadi- well specifically to Olorgesailie http://www.webkenya.com/eng/safari/magadi.php - to go camping, or as we like to call it "Glamping" (
http://www.moreintelligentlife.com/node/741) .

Magadi was beautiful but HOT. So hot that we hunkered together in shade, in Ian's trunk of his car, and in our nice little bandas, trying to keep cool. The first day we went in search of a pool, thinking that there must be a hotel nearby. We were wrong. There was no pool, but instead hot springs. We weren't too keen on the idea of going to the hot springs, as it was about 35 degrees outside, but we figured it was liquid so maybe it wouldn't be that bad. We were wrong. When we arrived the "hot springs" were like little puddles. We had a giggle, and then were directed to the deeper hot spring area. I went in first and it was boiling. I wouldn't even have a bath at the temperature. The springs were supposed to be therapeutic so I encouraged the rest of the group to give it a try. We all went in and emerged completely red- basically we were cooking in the hot springs. As we left the hot springs we were laughing pretty hard about our experience and as I said to everyone "Well at last we have a story!"

My banda for the weekend

Someone sent our friend Natalia a number of trashy magazines... we were addicted over the weekend!!

For more pics from the weekend go to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amandainkenya

I am off to the UK for 12 days of training as of Wednesday and then after that 2.5 weeks in Tampa and D.C.!! In Tampa, I will be the guest speaker at the Acadia Alumni event- eeks!!

A day at the Post Office "Going postal"

Have to admit that I am struggling lately with coming up with things to write about on the blog. So I thought I would share my post office experience from a week ago.

I had a parcel to pick up at the post office in town. I definitely took for granted how long the process would take and what would be involved. I left the office at 11:00 am, was dropped at the post office- which is the largest post office I have ever been to. I go to the first area I see where you can collect parcels, wait 10 minutes and because I have a yellow ticket I have to go to the 2^nd floor of the post office. I go to the 2^nd floor, walk down the steps into the wide open area where you are supposed to stand in “line” to wait for your parcel. I was completely floored when I got there. Parcels were EVERYWHERE- I have no idea how their system works or how they find things, but somehow they manage. So I wait in one “line” which is really a bunch of people crammed together with their hands in the air waving tickets. Luckily my little white hand stood out and I was finally attended to after 15 minutes. And… as luck would have it, I am in the wrong area AGAIN. I am then told to go over to the other waiting area, with the 20-30 odd people waiting for their parcels.

I decide to ask this time, “Am I in the right area?”

The attendant takes my yellow ticket and says “I’m going to the 5^th floor, go sit and wait.”

So I go sit and wait, he comes back 10 minutes later, no package.

“Wrong area” he says. He finally finds the package, and tells me to go over to the customs area.

I stand and wait for another 20 minutes and when I finally get to the attendant she says “Open the package”. I open the package for her and the package has been labelled “books” but there are a ton of DVDs in there. She is not too happy about this. She writes something down, tells me to go to room 113, “BUT leave the package”.

I go to room 113, get the paper stamped, walk back to the attendant, she fills out another piece of paper, tells me to go back to room 113,

“But this time tape up the package”.

I’m like “what??”

“Yes “re-package the package”…

ummm… ok.

So I do that, walk back to room 113. I start taking out my money to pay the people in 113 for the customs clearance

“Oh no, we don’t take cash.”

“Oh- well what DO you take?”

“Nothing”

“What do you mean nothing?”

“you have to go to the bank to pay for this.”

I was furious at this point. So far I had been there an hour and now I had to walk 3 blocks to the bank. So I start going back to the customs area to clarify this, as I start walking in, everyone starts leaving and doors start closing.

I said to the attendant “what is going on?”

“oh we are going to lunch, post closed”.

Gah-reat!

So I walk over to the customs lady and say “This is the most ridiculous system I have ever seen- can I speak to your supervisor.”

She smirks and says “Sure”.

So I say to the supervisor “This is sooo crazy- I have been here one hour, been to room 113 twice, stood in 4 different lines, and now have to go to the bank??”

His response “Yes, madam- this is the way it has always been.”

Yah… no kidding dude- this is the same system you had in place in 1800. Anyways, I leave the package and walk out in a huff. I get back to the office and find out that I, in fact, didn’t need to go to the post office at all- I could have gotten the office assistant to do it for me. So I sweetly ask him to complete the job, he goes to the bank for me, picks up the parcel, and 2 hours later I have the DVDs at my desk. Phew!

finally an update you say!

I have officially become slack in my blogging - 8 days since my last post- terrible! And I actually get annoyed with other people who don't update their blog, so here it goes :)

Things in Nairobi are calm but not peaceful as my friend Kevina puts it. I think that is an accurate way to describe the feeling in Kenya. Outside of Nairobi tensions are still very much visible and although Koffi Annan has been working with Kibaki and Raila to come to an agreement, I think that any agreement reached will still have underlying issues. We shall see. I'm embarrassed to say that I actually have been following the Democratic US primaries with more enthusiasm and interest than the issues right in the country I live in. Perhaps that has to do with the fact that I am not a citizen of Kenya.

The weekend was really nice. Met up with friends, went to the National Park, out to eat, ran (in preparation for a half marathon I am doing in the UK March 2)- aye ya ya !

Hard to believe that time is coming to end in Kenya, still awhile yet, but time does go by so quickly- have to make sure I get out and see more of Africa before heading back to Canada. So many places I would love to visit- South Africa, Morocco, Mozambique, Mali,... really anywhere!

1st weekend back in Nairobi

My first weekend back in Nairobi was just how I wanted it to be- enjoying time with friends, the sunshine, being at home, reading on my balcony, and eating great Indian food. It was really nice to catch up with friends. On Friday night I watched the greatest movie "Juno"... I just loved it!! If you haven't seen it, go see it. It is fabulous and the soundtrack is just as great as the movie.

Saturday night my friends Anne and Paul hosted a New Year's Party... on Feb 2 :) They weren't able to hose their party on New Years this year due to the violence so we brought in the New Year once again at their restaraunt Azalea. The theme was "Venetian Mask".