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Muddy day in Nairobi, August 22nd, 2008 |
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August 22nd, 2008
Today I was awakened by the sound of Dr. Simon getting some things from the garage. Turns out it was automatic garage door openers which, as it turned out, I could not install yet as they did not have the garage door springs and hardware installed. Trying to get the garage door openers to open doors without any assistance would destroy the openers in short order. I am staying in a room built for a house keeper but they currently don’t have one so it is an impromptu guest room. The temps have been just right with things cool enough to just need a light blanket. Very comfortable. I also heard the sounds of rain which means the roads are going to be plenty muddy.
Dr. Simon is taking Dorothy to the airport for sure today so I got up to see them off. Joyce made sausages and I had tea, sausages and bread for breakfast while emailing Lori and getting things around to ferry Joyce, Allie and Samwell to the CBS program at the church. As expected the roads were quite muddy but at the church there was a lot of freshly dug dirt we had to walk through to get the things inside the church building so the mud built up so heavy on my flip-flops that I had to scrape them several times, literally every 4 or 5 steps. What a mess!! I was glad some children were there to help. After dropping them off I went back to the house to get a shower before heading off to town. I need to run a couple errands and meet with my attorney to sign some papers.
I got showered and changed and left to meet a friend named Henry who I called earlier to see how he was feeling. He has had a head cold and it had him in bed yesterday. He was feeling better and wanted to go to town so I was meeting him at his house around 10:30AM. I left the house and proceeded to Henry’s. When I got there he was dressed and ready to go. I stayed and visited a bit with his family and his wife Jane mentioned that she wanted to go along. That was fine with me and besides she had a couple stops I would be happy to help out with. As we were driving into town Jane asked if I had gotten the sewing machine I wanted. I told her no as they were too expensive and I thought I could get a treadle machine in the states cheaper. She suggested we go back to Sew Tech where I was a couple days ago and let her talk to them. She does a good bit of business with them and thinks she can secure a better deal. I am wanting a locally available sewing machine to work with back in the states to do trials on making some items I think may be good for income generation (one of which is camping hammocks). We arrived at Sew Tech just in time for a parking space to open up which was much better than the other day. I got parked and Henry and I waited in the van while Jane made the deal. She emerged from the shop a few minutes later to find out if 5800 shillings would work for me and I agreed. The best price I got anywhere was over 10,000 shillings (about $140.00US). The technicians tested the machine and began disassembling the table and treadle assembly to pack up to take back to the states. They wanted me there to see it come apart so I could reassemble it stateside. That took a while and Henry stayed in the van to keep watch for a parking attendant. Parking attendants wear yellow lab coats and roam the streets looking for vehicles that have not purchased a permit from them so they can put a tire lock on to get a larger fine. There are no parking meters in Nairobi so you have to park and wait for someone to show up to buy a permit from. If you’re not there you get locked down. Once you buy a permit it is good for the whole day anywhere in Nairobi. Henry said the first lady to come by asked for some of the peanuts I had in a bag on the dash and took some and just passed. Seems she could be bought off with a few peanuts, too funny. As we were loading the van though we purchased a permit and were on our way.
We left there to find a place to park and meet with my attorney to sign a document allowing her to pick up my title deed when it comes available. Getting the title deed officially issued for the land in Mbita will totally shut down Henry Okatch legally and will be a welcome development for sure. In fact I will be the first person to actually have a title deed on that property which will not sit well with Mr. Okatch I’m sure. Jane had some errands to run as did Henry so I waited at Simmers for Proscovia. She texted me that she was going to be a bit late and showed up about 45 minutes after our allotted time. Not bad for Kenya as nothing really goes to plan around here. One has to be flexible here. Proscovia showed up and we talked about the whole situation and got the papers signed as Henry and Jane showed up together. After we left there Henry, Jane and I went to Java house for lunch.
Java house is owned by Americans living in Nairobi and has a very American menu which is nice to have once in a while. They make a really good bleu cheese burger which I really enjoy. Henry had a roast beef sandwich and Jane had fish and chips. I don’t think she had ever had batter fried fish before but she really enjoyed it. I will have to email her some recipes for doing that at home. We talked over lunch of the differences between America and Kenya culture and the need for both to line up more with the teachings of Christ. Both our countries have a need for a true revival which I believe will occur more on a grass roots level than with big national movements.
After lunch we left Java House and made our way back to the van. Along the way there was a man trying to get a very heavy load on a dolly up over the curb to make his delivery. He was struggling so I gave Henry my water bottle and stepped aside to help the fellow. I motioned that I would take one handle if he would get the other and together we both got the load on the sidewalk. It was very heavy and there was no way he could have done it by himself. Henry and Jane both were surprised that I would help the guy. I told them we should never be in too big a hurry to help out someone in need and that since I had at least one good leg (Jane had asked why I was limping and I had to tell her about it being injured) I could at least help the man. They said he will talk about the day a Mazungu helped him for a very long time. We made it back to the van and left but not before giving a man a few shillings for “watching” the van. Seems these guys set themselves up around a parked vehicle (especially if the person is white) claiming they are keeping an eye on it so nothing gets stolen. It is kind of a scam but since the fellow was there and nothing was missing it was worth a few shillings to me. They also run back and forth and “guide” you out of your parking space as an added bonus to the “service” they provide. It is much better than what happened to a friend on mine in Togo where a street shoe repair man would break your shoe upon inspection of it and charge you to fix it. No matter where you are there is a game being played of some sort.
We left to get Jane to an appointment on the way to village center where I was to purchase some salad spoons for gifts and meet with a friends brother-in-law to get some items to bring back to the states. Jane got her business taken care of and we were then off to the Village Market.
The Village Market is as close to an American style mall as you are going to get here. It is located where all the foreign embassy’s are so it is right in the middle of the high rent district. They have a movie theatre, bowling ally and lot’s of swanky shops and such. On Friday however it is also the location of the Massai Market.
The Massai market is kind of a traveling market with an dynamic much like the carnies (traveling carnival people) in America insomuch as it travels from place to place around Nairobi and all the locals know where it is depending on the day of the week. Henry and I made some deals on salad spoon sets and I purchased a couple bracelets for Lori. I met Michael Ndege as agreed and picked up the things for Elizabeth Malware back in the states. Form there it back to the house with a stop at Henry and Jane’s to let them out.
It was now almost 7:00PM so by the time I got back to the house Joyce almost had dinner finished. She was concerned I would not make it back in time as it is customary if you are staying with someone you eat dinner there. I got to try a new thing which I really enjoyed. It is Amaranth. I had read about it and have some seed at home I need to plant. I told them they could pop the seeds like popcorn and they were surprised. The greens, however, tasted very much like spinach back home so I am really interested in growing some. It is very nutritious and tasty to boot, a good combination. After dinner Dr. Simon and I talked about tomorrows plans as we are going to try to get the garage door springs installed. It was then off to bed.
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