Fathers' day and more

19^th June 2011. Happy fathers’ day to all those of you who qualify, most especially to my Mark and to my Dad – my very favourite fathers in the whole world. We’ve had a great day here in Nairobi, even if it was a little chilly for the first half of the day. Mark got spoiled by Percy and Evan, he received a pictorial history of Kenya book to learn more about our current country of residence. He also got a trip to the spa this morning for a pedicure and massage – both of which he thoroughly enjoyed. After his morning of pampering (I so definitely married a meterosexual) we headed off to lunch at the same restaurant we went to last Sunday, the Talisman. It was doing a roaring trade today, but we still had super food and a great time with Evan in the playground.

Mark & Evan swing together

While we were sitting at our table, it struck me that despite its 3^rd world location and reputation, Nairobi is positively cosmopolitan. In just our small section of the restaurant I heard American English, UK English, Spanish, Swahili and French. While we were in the play area, a dad told us that his 20 month old son was speaking words in 4 languages – Italian from his dad, French from his mum, Swahili from his Ayah and English from his kindergarten! The only one word Evan can say is “Yay”, so we’re a long way from that kind of multilingual ability. I’m sure that during our time here, we are going to be fortunate enough to meet people of many nationalities and that our boy is going to get a very broad view of the world, even while living in a town in Africa.

After lunch we went to meet up with new friends; Brennen, Kate and their lovely son Thembi at a place we hadn’t yet been to called Mattbronze for afternoon tea. It is a gallery of bronze artwork ranging from sculpture to tableware to jewellery that has a small coffee shop attached. The work is amazing, but super expensive – there was a bronze bird piece that was going for USD40,000! I held onto Evan like my life depended on it when we were browsing, as I could only imagine what it would cost me if he grabbed something, as at times, he is truly a weapon of mass destruction.

The other thing I did this week was to start a vegetable garden. Actually when we moved in there was already a veggie patch that the gardener who was living here established. It had Sukuma Wiki (I kind of Kale that is a staple food here) and Spinach growing in it, quite abundantly. Our nanny picks her lunch from the patch almost daily – but still we had a heap that was just going to waste. I thought it would be far more productive if we grew a bigger variety of vegetables and of course, some things that we actually eat too.

The new veggie patch

I really like gardens, I love the thought of growing my own food – but I’ve yet to be convinced of the actual merits of doing the gardening itself, myself! So I called in the complex head gardener, Josphat, and struck a deal. If he and his crew planted, maintained and nurtured my veggie patch, they were welcome to share in the produce when they made their lunch every day – in return I would buy the seeds and pesticide that are needed. Obviously it was a very agreeable plan to him, as within the hour all the old plants had been removed, the soil tilled and the seeds planted! Apparently by next week there will be seedlings which can be planted out and then a couple of weeks after that our tomatoes, onions, chillies, coriander and basil will be ready for eating. I’ll definitely post pictures of how they turn out – be it good, bad or ugly.

I am so excited that this time next week we will be in South Africa catching up with friends and family before we head off to the UK.

Can’t wait xxx.