Back in routine

29^th July 2011.  I can hardly believe that on Sunday we’ll have already been back in Nairobi for 3 weeks. Proof that time flies even when you’re not so busy!

When the summer holidays hit (which is now in Nairobi as most of the schools operate on the UK calendar) it is so obvious that we are living in an expat environment with everyone packing up and heading abroad for their holidays. Almost all the people that we’d met prior to our leaving for the UK are out of town, most of them until late August. So it feels a bit like the beginning again, with nothing going on socially. We have however made it as members into the Karen Club, so hopefully soon that will allow us to develop some new friendships too. 

Mark is currently in Nigeria on a two-week trip, but before he left he played a couple of rounds of golf, so he’s starting to feel more at home now that he can swing his clubs again. The club also has a pool with a little play area, so Evan and I have been visiting regularly to burn off some his extreme energy and get a change of scenery too. Yesterday we had lunch there too and Evan discovered the joys of tomato sauce – it was so funny watching him aim his chips at the pool of sauce and then get them into his mouth, very messy but very funny.

One of our friends, Clare, headed back to South Africa last week for a month and very very kindly has allowed me to use her car while she’s away. I cannot even begin to describe the feeling of freedom when I get behind the wheel. Actually, just knowing it is parked outside and ready for me when I want to use it makes me happy. Although our driver Dun is great, the ability to be spontaneous and just do what we want to do, is amazing.

So obviously, from the above paragraph you’ll have worked out that my car is still not here. And neither is our container. The container is apparently in the process of clearing customs (has been for nearly 3 weeks now), so I live in hope that one day I’ll see it parked outside our house waiting to be unpacked. My car has apparently set sail for Kenya, but it’s anyone’s guess to when I will actually have it again. The whole business is so far out of my control that it is impossible to get stressed about it, as there is absolutely nothing I can do to change the situation – just got to go with the flow.

When we got back from our trip I had Evan in a Summer School programme at the Waldorf school just down the road twice a week. I thought it was running throughout the holidays, but when I walked him there on Monday morning with Grace, I found it was closed and was only a 2-week programme. Such a shame as Evan was loving it as they did heaps of singing and dancing (his favourite things) and they have the best playground and swings. So he’s back to only having Grace and I for company for a while! He has started saying a new word – ‘no’. Usually in the sentence ‘oh, no, no’ when he doesn’t want to do something, eat something or doesn’t get his own way. And when he’s really frustrated, it comes out as ‘oh, no, no, NOT.’ Very cute but also proving again how stubborn he can be … which of course, he can’t get from me, can he?

Our veggie patch is absolutely blooming. We have so much delicious coriander and basil I’ll need to start bottling pesto next week to make sure we use most of it up. The tomatoes and onions are doing well too, it’s just the habaneros that are taking quite a bit of time to sprout. I was even thinking of making it a little bigger so we can add baby marrows and peppers going forward. Will have to speak to Josphat the gardener and find out what we can do.

Before I leave you, I just want to send heaps of love to my friend Shanda who is going in to have her little boy on Monday morning. I wish I was in Jo’burg to help her do everything she needs to in the next 48 hours to prepare for his slightly early arrival and to be there when the blessed bundle arrives. You’ll be in my thoughts S, I am so excited and happy for you.

Have a super weekend all xxx.

Catching up

14^th July 2011. It’s been ages since my last blog. I just didn’t find the time (and probably, the inclination) to write everything up while we were away on holiday. The result however, is that this is an epic blog – so happy reading & give yourself a gold star if you make it to the very end.

Part 1: Cotton wool

Even when I lived abroad before, I always felt that a trip back home was like landing in a big mound of cotton wool. Complete comfort in the familiar. You know where you are, how to get where you’re going and where to go to get what you want. On top of that luxury, you are surrounded by people who have known you forever and have a lifetime of history shared with you. So landing in Jo’burg was just that – a cotton wool experience, it was just amazing to see our families and catch a few moments with friends.

The weather however, was not quite as kind. I’m pretty sure that we may have picked the coldest weekend of the winter to visit and we stayed at my parents’ house which is cold even on a warm day. Evan was dressed in layer upon layer of clothing including gloves and a beanie to keep warm. He was in great form though, full of beans and loving being the centre of attention with both his grannies and his grandpa in attendance.

Evan and I also got to spend a little time with friends and it was so awesome to see him reconnect with his best buddy Liam. With only 6 weeks difference in their ages, they had pretty much seen each other 3 times a week or more since birth, so really they are brothers in every way but biological. I also got to have a wonderful sushi dinner with my special schoolgirl friends – I believe I had fantastic people judgment in my teens, as more than 20 years later they are all still amazing and I couldn’t possibly have picked better friends. Unfortunately we didn’t get to see everyone we would have liked to, we couldn’t get hold of some people and some weren’t available, but that just leaves more things to do on our next visit back.

We also made some time to visit our kitties, Thandi and Billy, at Viv’s place while she was away in the US. Billy was super friendly, sitting on my lap purring up a storm and even allowing Evan to poke him from time to time. Thandi is obviously still highly upset with me – she deigned to rub herself against my legs a few times, but bolted every time I tried to give her a pat or pick her up. They are both a bit chunkier than when I left them (thanks Viv for feeding them so well) but super happy and settling into their new home well.

Then quick as that, it was time to pack our bags, jump on another plane and head off for the UK.

Part 2: A cousin, a concert and London as never before

Mark’s brother Lloyd and his daughter Kaela picked us up at Heathrow when we arrived and drove us back to their home in Milton Keynes. The last time Evan and Kaela saw each other was in August last year when Evan was just 5 months old – so it really like the first meeting of the cousins on this trip. Once Evan woke up from his post flight nap – the two of them were inseparable. They played and played and played, it was really nice to see them interact so well despite a 7 year age difference. One of the best things ever is that Kaela has a kid’s motor car, a red jeep. She drove Evan around the garden tirelessly even though her legs are way too long to comfortably drive it anymore. Lloyd offered the car to us for Evan, and we would love to have it but still haven’t figured out how to get it from the UK to Kenya without it costing the price of a new one. Any suggestions would be most welcome!

We spent the next few days just relaxing with Lloyd, Dasi & Kaela, doing a fair bit of shopping (those UK sales are really exceptional) and playing with the kids. On Friday afternoon, we headed up to Woburn Abbey to take Evan and Kaela to watch ‘In the Night Garden Live’ – a theatre styled adaptation of the CBeebies television show, which Evan loves to watch. It was excellent and although Kaela is a few years to old to really enjoy it, Evan thought it was amazing, dancing in the aisles to the songs and clapping for his hero, Iggle Piggle. Very cute indeed.

Then on Sunday afternoon we headed off to the Milton Keynes Bowl to the concert of concerts – The Foo Fighters! They played two shows in Milton Keynes, the Saturday and the Sunday that we went, both were sold out with a crowd of 65,000 people at both concerts. It was absolutely packed, and with every shape, size and type of person you could imagine – they clearly have a very diverse fan base. I hadn’t heard of any of the support bands before but one called Biffy Clyro had a huge following in the audience. The Foo’s where simply amazing. They played 3 solid hours of rock at full throttle and I loved all 180 minutes of it – what an absolute treat, I am so lucky to have been there. I have to also say a big thank you to my husband Mark who really doesn’t have any taste for rock music and who really doesn’t like the Foo Fighters much, for hanging out with me at the concert and not moaning his way through it. If you ever have the opportunity to watch them live, I would highly recommend that you do – simply great, raw entertainment.

On the Monday morning after the concert; Mark, Evan and I headed off by train to take on London. By now on our holiday, Evan had taken a plane, been in a car, taken a bus and gone by taxi, we just had the tube left to conquer once we reached London. I absolutely love London – but this was my first time with a toddler in tow – so my usual haunts of the Tate Modern, the West End and hours cruising Oxford Street were not on the agenda. We got to our hotel (just 3 minutes from the Baker Street tube station), settled ourselves in and headed off to see the city through the eyes of a 16 month old. Despite appearances, London is really child friendly (with the exception of the tube stations, which rarely ever have lifts for prams) with so much for the little ones to do. We started off at the Museum of Modern Science and headed straight to the basement which has been transformed into a sensory wonderland for littlies. Evan had a ball, especially with the water canal activity, he splashed and splashed, sent boats down the river and more. He also played with giant lego blocks and enjoyed the wall of wellies and springs. We also had a good time even though we never made it upstairs to see the more educational part of the museum …

The next day we headed off to Hamley’s and it’s 5 floors of toys. Evan is still a little young to understand the magnitude of it all, but he had a good enough time checking out the toys and watching all the demonstrations. We bought him an Iggle  Piggle toy (from ‘In the Night Garden’) at the store, because no child should go to Hamley’s and not come out with something special for themselves.  Mark and I enjoyed the store too, that many toys will bring out the kid in anyone! After Hamley’s, Evan had to endure a couple of hours with us traipsing up Oxford Street, but soon we had our picnic lunch bought and we headed for Kensington Gardens. With the fabulous summery weather on our side, we sat on the grass and had lunch before making our way to the Princess Diana memorial playground. Another highly recommended spot if you’re in London with young ones, the playground is beautifully maintained with a large pirate ship at the centre and plenty of sand, grass and other toys to enjoy too. Evan soon found the water section and was sopping within minutes, but happy as can be nonetheless.

We also took a ferry down the Thames to see London from the water, embarking at Westminster and floating all the way down to the Tower of London before returning to Westminster. Evan had a snooze through most of the boat trip, but Mark and I enjoyed seeing all the sights again, as once you’ve seen Big Ben and the Tower etc., you hardly ever go back to see them on subsequent trips, so it was great to see it all again. The ferry is reasonably priced and very relaxing too.

With sights seen and some shopping done, we made our way back to Milton Keynes for our last few days in the UK and to celebrate Lloyd’s birthday with him, a rarity for any of the three brothers as they all live on different continents. Then we started our shopping in earnest, making our way around the MK Centre with true purpose. We all got new clothes and shoes, some DVDs and more. Packing up was quite a job – luckily Mark is very good at it – as we put all our purchases plus the awesome gifts that Evan received from the family into our cases, weighing in at almost 70kg by the time we checked in! Luckily we weren’t asked to pay any additional baggage fees. Then we were on the plane again for the long haul flight back to Jo’burg.

Part 3: Over and out

We had less than 24 hours in Jo’burg on our way back home to Nairobi. Just enough time to celebrate Mark’s mum’s birthday with her (a few days late) and enjoy her delicious prawn curry and chicken for lunch. Then off to visit our friends, the Utermöhlens, who just had a brand new baby girl. It was lovely to hold a newborn (2 weeks old) again and Madison Gin is a beauty – congrats guys!

Louise kindly let us use her home as our hotel for the night while she was away and we were in bed and wrapped up warmly soon after we got in that evening as we had to make an early morning run to the airport for our fight to Kenya.

Part 4: Home sweet home

Well perhaps not quite as our house still needs our furniture and bits before it will really become home, but we made it back to Nairobi with our luggage and sanity intact. It was fantastic to see Percy, who I always miss terribly when we’re away, and of course he was doubly delighted to have us back.

Our container is in the country, so hold thumbs that by the end of next week, we’ll have taken delivery of it and unpacked and sorted out the bulk of our stuff. I can’t wait to settle in properly now – just need my car, which as of now, still has no ETA … but I am hoping it won’t be too much longer.

So after a wonderful family holiday it is back to life as usual and I am determined to make it a good one.

Catch up soon with more news from Nairobi xxx.

Bags are packed

 

24^th June 2011. WooHoo, the day has arrived & we’re headed off ‘down South’ to Jo’burg late this afternoon for a few days before our holiday in the UK.

I will do my best to blog a few times while we are away and update you with what we’re doing, but overall – I expect to be quite quiet for the next two weeks.

Wherever you are, enjoy yourself & we’ll chat again soon xxx.

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.

Ticking Boxes

14^th 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.

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 3^rd 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 20^th 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 .

Tough day for Evan

8^th June 2011.  We were up and dressed early this morning (the being dressed early part is very unusual for us), ready for Dun to fetch us for Evan’s first day at school. Evan was very excited to be going out in the car and full of smiles, singing away in his car seat. He got even happier when we picked up Grace - his nanny, or ayah as she’s called here - at the top of the road to the school, as here in Kenya, kids of his age are accompanied to nursery school by their ayah so that they have a personal carer with them at all times.

Evan & Grace start school

 Then we got to school, and more specifically to his class – the Dudus. He met his new teacher Sara and all of a sudden, he was stuck to my knee like super glue. It took some serious work to distract him with some of the many toys that were around to a point that he disengaged himself from my leg.

Meeting his teacher, Sara

When I said good-bye, he burst into a torrent of tears. Grace quickly picked him up and the teacher said I should leave a.s.a.p. I could hear him crying all the way as I walked back up to the car park. Needless to say, my heart was busy breaking into little pieces and I had to remind myself how badly he needs interaction with kids his age and that this will be good for him in the long run.

I then went to a shopping centre called the Junction in Lavington for the morning. I haven’t had 2.5 hours to cruise a mall by myself in forever. Unfortunately it’s not a very big mall – but I had breakfast, read the paper from cover to cover and browsed a lot. I had to find a pair of trousers as well as I only packed jeans in our luggage (didn’t think I’d have much call for smart clothes) and tomorrow we are being balloted into the Country Club and jeans aren’t allowed. They have Woolworths here, but oh my goodness, the import mark-up is extreme – there is no way I could pay that much for a pair of Woollies pants. In the end I got a pair at Mr. Price, also at a largely inflated price, but at least I got them.

After my morning out, we went back to the school to fetch Evan. I walked down to the Dudu’s class and Evan was sitting with Grace while all the other kids had their lunch. He blanked me completely for the first few minutes (like he was angry that I’d left him behind) then came running to me and once again, glued himself to my knee. He hadn’t had the best morning, the poor boy. He pretty much stayed stuck to Grace all day and although he played with her and the toys, he didn’t play with the other kids at all. He only took part in one of the activities and painted a fish, but other than that, he was Mr. Loner today. 

Evan's orange fish

He fell asleep in the car on the way home and proceeded to have a 3 hour nap. This school stuff is obviously tough on a little boy! He has a day’s respite tomorrow, then back to school on Friday again. With any luck, it’ll get better and better and maybe soon he’ll be crying to stay when I go to fetch him.

The week that was

6^th June 2011. The last week has been pretty busy really. It seems that after a month in Nairobi, we are definitely starting to settle here and create a life for ourselves.

Last Monday we were kindly invited to a birthday party for a 4 year old girl at her home here in Karen. Evan and I went off and had a great time. I met quite a few new people and after clinging to my knee for the first 2 hours, Evan also had a blast. He spent time on the jumping castle, in the swing and playing on the grass. But most of all, he spent time eating. Since we’ve been here, he’s been a bit of a fussy eater (to say the least) preferring cereal and yoghurt to all else offered. But not at Tori’s party. He ate 9 of pork sausages (the cocktail/chipolata ones), a heap of pineapple slices, chips, popcorn and then to finish up, chocolate birthday cake. After all that food and playing, he was no trouble at all to put to sleep that evening.

On Wednesday the 1^st June, it was a public holiday here – Madaraka day - which celebrates Kenya’s self-rule and independence from the UK in 1963. It was great to have Mark at home with us and we gave the driver the day off and just literally hung out together.  Even better actually was that Mark took over morning Evan duty and for the first time in 15 months, I got to sleep in! I’ve been up by 5.30 (often earlier) for so long, it was bliss to stay in bed until after 9.00am.

Evan’s hair grows like a weed, and it was getting more and more evident every day that it was once again time for a haircut. He was pretty well behaved when he started going to the hairdressers at about 6 months of age, but he has regressed rather badly as he’s got older with the previous two trips being screamathons. So off we went on Thursday morning to a random hairdresser that we saw advertised by signboard on the road, Salon Jaqi’s. I think Evan may be the first child that they’ve had as a customer, but they welcomed us none the less. A young guy came over and we put Evan on my lap, tied on the apron goody and all went well for the first three snips of the scissors. Then Evan realized what was going down and he cried like he was being beaten. Gut wrenching sobs and screams of agony filled up the salon. The poor hairdresser, he didn’t know what to do and I could see him get more nervous and uptight with every scream but I made him push on. We left there with the most diabolical haircut – but at least it was shorter. I had to do some trimming and fixing up while he slept later that afternoon to bring it back to some sort of okay-ish-ness. Needless to say, we won’t be heading back to Salon Jaqi any time soon … and I don’t think they’ll be at all sad about that.

Evan's bad hair day

 On Saturday, some new friends invited us to join them for a tea / light meal at the Muthaiga Country Club before going to the Soko Soko fair where they had a booth promoting the magazine that they publish. The Muthaiga Club is beyond colonial – it’s so on point in terms of it’s décor and ambience, it really could be a set for a movie set back in the fifties or sixties when colonial Africa was de jour here in Kenya. Kids are pretty much not allowed anywhere except the pool area – which is currently closed for renovation, so we were very quickly moved to a small garden area adjoining the ballroom where a table was set up for us – and there is even a bar that women are not allowed to enter. It apparently takes about 18 months to go through the process to join up, providing you meet the club’s requisite standards of course. We then drove a few minutes away to the Soko Soko fair. I love Arts and Crafts, so browsing for me is a pleasure, but Mark not so much. So after speeding around the different stalls and buying some quilts (we so needed some extra blankets) at one of the booths, we spent some time with Evan in the kids’ play area before heading back home.

Riding a sheep

Enjoying the slide

 And something else great happened on Saturday, our new bedroom furniture was delivered. And some study furniture. It has been great to sleep on a good bed again and I’m typing this seated at a desk rather than on a couch – so all round, a much better environment for my back! Now just 8 weeks or so to go before our container arrives and we get our earthly goods back; then we’ll be truly at home.

Yesterday started out super lazy, we were still lounging around in our pyjamas at 11.00am – the only thing missing was the Sunday Times really! Then in the afternoon we headed out to another new friend’s house (the same people from Monday’s birthday party) and just hung out at the pool, in the garden and trying to watch some of the Roland Garros final on TV. Evan didn’t want to swim, but had a blast playing with their two labradors and even more – being the centre of attention with their two daughters who kept him busy and running for a lot of the afternoon. All in all, a great weekend really.

On to other things, I have discovered a delicious new fruit. I’d seen them in every fruit/veg shop I’d been in and eventually asked the counter lady at Karen Provision Store what they were. She said it was a tree tomato & very kindly gave me one to taste – yum, yum, yum! Apparently they are also called Tamarillos elsewhere in the world and even more interestingly, apparently they are grown in South Africa. Well, I’d certainly never had once before, but now I’m a huge fan. They are great as they are, but also outstanding in a smoothie mix with pineapple and passion fruit. I think I’m going to buy something new that I’ve never tasted every time I go shopping and see if it leads to more great food discoveries.

Yummy tree friut

Mark is away again this week, but we’ve got some stuff planned so we’ll keep ourselves busy quite easily I think. Evan starts his nursery school on Wednesday, so hold thumbs that he takes to it like a duck to water – but I’ll update the blog with pictures and news of that later this week.

Take care & love from Nairobi xxx.