It's been another week and I am now in my apartment/guesthouse.
It's been a good week work wise as things are stepping up. Rachel, the marketing manager who I will be working closely with is back from her visit to Capetown and is great and very friendly. She is Kenyan, but was in Uganda for three years and says she knows what it is like to be in a new city on your own, so to just pick up the phone if I ever feel lonely - so I will have to make sure I do this. We are working on how we set up a FT label in Kenya and set up a marketing organisation to do this - and although I didn't think it was a priority before I came, I do think there is potential here and if it can be done without huge cost and we can engage some good partners that are in real growth here, it could be very exciting. The atmosphere in the office is very heads down - I must admit you get a lot done, but not a lot of banter or discussion among the teams. Rachel and I did escape for most of the day to go round stores around the city. I also did do a presentation on me which went down well and I am doing a follow up next week.
The walk to work is absolutely fine -just over 20 mins and usually quicker than the traffic is flowing. It's also ok in the rain as long as you are prepared - umbrella and walking shoes that you don't mind getting wet as you wade through puddles and mud. When it rains the roads just flood. So I now have shoes in the office and change into them when I get to work - very London like! There are a lot of people walking, again I am the only Mzungu I have seen - and get no special attention, just part of the throng walking. The biggest things as well as the water and mud are the vehicles. The buses and matatus choke out gooodness knows what - so probably knocking a few years off my life span. And I have to cross a roundabout and main road which is a all a bit scary - no such thing as zebra crossings or traffic lights (that work). Coming home yesterday after a massive storm, on a two lane road, cars heading out of town were three lanes packed and not moving totally grid locked, with cars on the pavement. It's actually easier walking when the traffic is solid, you can navigate thruogh it all (and be grateful you are not trying to drive).
My apartment is very similar size to my flat in Chisiwck (see photos). It's two double bedrooms. It's on the main road, so the noise is constant from the road which was driving me mad but I am now getting used to it - and it goes on all night. The problem is not just the number of vehicles, but that they are not well kept so make a real racket and in the rain the sound seems to be amplified and it has rained every evening and most of the night.
Last weekend I moved in on Sunday. On Saturday, my boss Michael picked me up and took me for lunch. We then came to the apartment and pulled a list together of what still was needed. The apartment had been an office in for FLO and they still had the lease, so they decided it was more effective to furnish it as a guesthouse for Fairtrade Africa visitors and volunteers. But I am the first! So when I arrived on Saturday, they had already bought a lovely circular wooden table and basic sofa and chairs (not the most comfortable to lounge on but fine for sitting). The beds also wooden, are fine (bought from the side of the road, as was the rest of the wooden furniture), and we bought two mattresses from Nakumatt (the hypermarket here). We also bought a two ring cooker, toaster, kettle and microwave. They also bought a new fridge (which unforutnately is not working so needs to be sent back) and a bit of pain as I can never cook just enough for me, so am having to leave it out overnight to eat the next day. Not good for the microbiologist in me. However a lot out here is ambient stable including the margarine which fortunately is pretty tasteless so allows my staple of either marmite (bought out with me), peanut butter and marmalade on toast is keeping me going.
I am also having to get used to no hot water from the tap (there is an electric shower) and no washing machine. Fine for my clothes but not looking forward to sheets and towels. Also having to dry inside due to the rain, so my travel washing line is being well used permenently.
It feels quite safe here, ground floor but bars at all the windows and every door has a lock so I tend to lock myself in at night (maybe over the top?). There are two security guards here all the time, and gates at the driveway are always padlocked. So if I want to go out or when I get back from work, I have to shout for one of the guards to open up. Took me a good 5 mins the first day I came back from work as I think a bit of a shock for them as they have not had people stay here before. Next door on thr ground floor is an office - an engineering comapny. And upsatairs, the land lady lives- a Kenyan woman in her 50s who drives everywhere and who very kindly buoght me an avocado as a house warming present.
When I arrived on Sunday, I set to cleaning (after popping to the supermarket fortunately just up the road to buy cleaning stuff).The place has recently been decorated and new bathroom put in and has a nice parquet floor, but there was thick thick dust everywhere. One of the security guards also helped and mopped all the floors. She approached me today to see iif I wanted this done every week, so although pat of me doesn't as cleaning will fill up my weekends, if I get her to mop all the floors and wash the towels and sheets for a small amount of money, that should be fine.
Justin took me for a late lunch on Sunday, he picked me up so he now knows where I am, and then we went back to Karen to one of my favourite restaurants last time I was here and still a favourite - Talisman. So a packed weekend after all.
The evenings and mornings after and before work seem quite long! I get home usually between 6 and 6.30pm. So with no TV, I tend to read for an hour, make dinner, watch one or two episodes of something and then off to bed for more reading. Also do some handwashing, as I can't do it in one batch due to lack of drying space. I have been sleeping ok but waking up in the early hours - I need a clock radio to get be back to sleep (or listen to my podcasts but that seems a lof effort for some reason at 2 in the morning).
Annie is brinigng speakers and a radio out with her so I will be able to listen to music and the radio. which will fill up the echoey flat. I am listening to radio 4 over the internet but it does cut out frequently. The flat is a bit sparse of personality, it needs a rug and pictures etc but I am sure these will happen in time.
In the mornings, the team tend to get in anywhere between 8 and 10, I seem to get in at 8.30, no matter what time I get up. I have three times done a 20 mins exercise dvd before work as I have time - so hope to keep that up and make up for the fact that I don't have to leave here before 8.
Today (Saturday), I had a bit of lay in and then made brekkie and opened up the vertial blinds that are a bit grubby and don't work, so I keep them closed all week as they take too long to open. Opened the windows too to air the place. I then headed to the local veg market. A bit daunting. A complete smelly slippery mud bath, but then that is the rainy season for you - so if this becomes my sat morning routine - no showering before the market. Very cheap and mixted quality so we will see how it tastes.
I am off this afternoon to meet someone who used to work at the Fairtrade Foundation in the UK and is now freelancing here. I proactively contacted her to see if she wanted to meet up. She suggested one of the newer shopping malls. I could get a taxi there but am going to try and walk and see how long it takes - I think about 45 mins but it gives me a chance to explore another part of town and then i will get a taxi back.
I still feel a bit panicy when I don't have anything planned at the weekends, or as sprung on me yesterday, Tuesday is a public holiday! But I have to remember it is only week 2 and usually things turn up. I need to get some garden chairs to be able to sit outside and enjoy a bit of sun when it decides to come out (although a bit wierd as the guards just hang out and sit on a broken chair in the garden) but I am sure we will get used to each other.
The good news is the second bedroom will soon be used. A new starter who is British is joinig the team in a couple of weeks and will stay here for 2 - 4 weeks until she finds somewhere more permenent. Then there is another volunteer, a German lady, joining in June for a couple of months. So it will be great to have some company.