14th June 2011. We would like to join the local golf and country club, not only because Mark is having intense withdrawal from his weekly game of golf, but because it is a great place to meet people and become part of the community. I naively thought this would mean that you just paid up your joining and annual membership fees completed a few forms and there you go. In practice however, it is quite a process. First we had to be introduced by a standing member of the club, and seconded by another – which luckily we managed to get done. Then our application was scrutinized (and apparently, sometimes even investigated) by the committee before we made it to the balloting phase. I know I mentioned this in my last blog, but really not being very experienced at the whole country club thing, I didn’t actually know what balloting was. On Thursday evening we got all dressed up and headed off to the club to meet the balloting committee. Effectively, it’s a bit of an impromptu interview – you have to meet the members on the committee, tell them a bit about yourself etc. and then get them to sign your ballot paper. There are 12 people on the committee and you need 10 of them to sign your paper before you are admitted to the club. Only 6 members were at Thursday night’s meeting, so we met them all, repeated our story and smiled a lot, thankfully receiving all 6 signatures. We now go back this Thursday to do it all again, hoping that more members come through and we get the final 4 that we need to join. I cant wait for it all to be finalized as the club has great facilities (not just a golf course) that we can use – I’m planning to frequent the gym and take Evan swimming as they have a heated pool and perhaps even take up some tennis lessons. Yup, it’s expat living at its finest really.
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| Karen Club |
On Sunday we discovered an awesome restaurant not far from us at all called the Talisman. Since having Evan, and more specifically since he became a toddler and is as busy as a proverbial bee – our restaurant criteria has changed significantly. Luckily in Nairobi, this doesn’t limit us to the Spur (although there is one in another suburb called Westlands), but does definitely affect our selection. The food at the Talisman was amazing – we feasted on a wide array of starters, ranging from tempura sushi rolls to pork belly medallions while sitting outside enjoying a great afternoon of sunshine. Evan particularly enjoyed the Feta and Coriander samoosas and garlic prawns. The garden is big and very kid friendly with swings and slides and climbing frames, keeping him happy and making sure all of us had a good time. So good in fact, that we are going back this Sunday for Father’s Day lunch.
Evan had his 3rd day at school yesterday and he’s doing better and better. No tears, although he’s still clings to Grace’s legs a lot of the time. He even played with some kids yesterday for a while, so we are making progress. He has 2 more days this week and 3 more days next week before the holidays start, so hopefully when we begin the new school year in September he will be completely comfortable in that environment and start participating and enjoying it more. I’m not sure exactly how we’re going to fill our days in the very long 2-month holiday, but we’ll work that out as we go.
The very best new development is that Mark has finally got his proper work permit for Kenya. Only took 4 months, a mountain of documentation and reels of red tape to achieve. So finally, our container and my car can ship from South Africa. Our container is due to sail on the 20th of this month and my car shortly afterwards. So at best, our worldly goods will be here in mid July, at worst, mid August. It is going to be like Christmas unpacking our stuff and making the house our own. Evan is going to be thrilled to have all of his toys and books back too. Although I have to say that it is amazing how little you can make do with when you have to. We’ve actually managed pretty well with a mostly empty house, minimal kitchen equipment, only one room with curtains and just one small TV.
When we arrived in Nairobi at the beginning of May I knew that we’d be returning to Jo’burg at the end of June en route to the UK for a holiday that we planned ages back. Knowing that I only had to manage an 8-week stint before I could go home and see my friends and family made the initial move seem a little easier in my mind. But 6 weeks into our lives here, I think we’ve accomplished a lot and come a long way to settling in. We have a house, we have a great nanny for Evan, we have started making friends, we’re 4 signatures away from being members of the club, Evan has started nursery school and Percy is completely comfortable. So even though I’m still very much looking forward to my few days in Jo’burg and our trip to the UK (especially as it includes tickets to one of my all time favourite bands, the Foo Fighters, concert), I think we’ve definitely ticked more boxes than I’d anticipated and that we are going to make Nairobi work for us even more when we get back from our break.
Look forward to chatting with you again soon xxx .
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