Tuesday, August 31, 2010

H'wwwwwat? yyeeeaaaas

I miss a lot about the US. but the thing that drives me up the wall is the fact that I am missing out on the new season of Mad Men. ugh. Did Betty and Don really separate? did she marry that smarmy politician dude? what of my beloved Joan, is she still running thing? I need to figure out how to get my fix.

other than that Nairobi is wonderfully chilly this week. work is work and my lovely mother in law is visiting so there's even more yummy food and good conversation at home. can't complain at all.

except the belly is expanding a little more rapidly than I remember last time. Nobody knew anything was askew until well into the 4th month. now we are inching on getting to three months and i already see a bump. sigh. there'll be a lot of 'splainin to do at work. or i could just buy flowy tops...yea, i think that's it.

happy tuesday

Saturday, August 28, 2010

Lights out

there are 55 lights out at our house. Isn't that insane? and they are those recessed lights that happen to be a bit pricey. So the cheap ones (that will probably go out in a few months) are 450 shillings a pop ~$5.70 or the LED ones that will supposedly last a lifetime are $15. Now do I spend ~$300 or ~$825....which i find is a bit too much for bulbs either way. sigh. Note to self: choose next house with this in mind. have had a manageable number of lights

Monday, August 16, 2010

Go back to your country!

seriously. Our driver cut off some dude this morning. The dude looks back at our driver who doesn't look kenyan and yells "go back to your country!" I'm not sure if it was directed at just the driver or included me. hmm. I chuckled and let it go. but seriously?

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Tuna melt with no tuna

I don't know how or why but I still find myself eating out at lunch. Now my surprise doesn't stem from the fact that I eat lunch, because, seriously, me and food..like ziz. tight. Anyway that surprise is that we have an awesome cook at home and she packs lunches for us. But these days, I open the packed lunch she leaves on the kitchen counter and want to, uhm, how do i say this delicately, well, hurl. Now without getting into too much detail, because it is entirely too early to announce it to the world, yes, all one of you who reads this here blog thingy, I might have , you know, kinda sorta gotten myself a little knocked up. sooooo. since I can't tell the cook that (well, i have no problem telling whoever wonders in here though - yay logic) I just pretend that I forgot the lunch and go out to hunt for grub that is not hurl inducing during lunch time.
I went to grab a sandwich at Java House today (that, is the Nairobi equivalent of, say, if Starbucks and your neighborhood diner had a lovechild) and from the menu the only thing that looked good to me was the tuna melt on a toasted baguette. when my food showed up , dude, i wish i took a picture - it was a baguette lined on both sides with slices of tomato and i could see little slices of avocado underneath and then some sprinkling of melted shredded cheeses on that. so i call the waitress back and say, is this the tuna sandwich? yes madam. where's the tuna? under the avocado madam. so while she's standing there i flip over a tomato slice and the avocado to check. And there, my friends, is where said tuna is painted on. I can see the nooks and crannies (ah, i miss english muffins) sorry, where was I? yes, one can see the bread through the painted on tuna layer. sigh. Is tuna expensive here or something? I was too hungry so I ate it in a huff but now i can add TUNA MELT SANDWICH - with two huge scoops of tuna salad to my list of shit I can't get downtown.

boy, these hormones are really getting out the potty mouth in me. Happy Tuesday.

Monday, August 9, 2010

dude, where's my stuff?

We packed up our stuff in New York a few months ago and handed it to shippers who were going to provide door-to-door service to Nairobi. Now after a lot of delays I demanded they track my things and guess what? Our container is in Haifa, Israel. What? Is there a way that one can spell Mombasa that could in any way be read as Haifa? Anyway, I can't be too mad. I wish I was in Haifa. It's a beautiful place. But my house here is empty really save for some essentials and the whole waiting thing is getting very old. How many times I've put off buying something because I know I've got 3 of them in the container, which is chilling in Israel. Anyway, it is supposedly now on its way on a Chinese ship and will be here on sept 4th. That is barring another detour to, I donno, timbuktu?! And by arriving here i mean the port of Mombasa, and who knows how long it will take to get it past customs and make its way to Nairobi. sigh. I've tried relaxing and thinking positive but I'm grumpy. I want my shit, that's all. sorry. *fans herself* yes, too early in the week to be spouting such salty language. Have a happy week.

Friday, August 6, 2010

you don't see this everyday

I was having a late lunch at the Thorn Tree cafe and this Somali couple walk in and are waiting to be seated. They caught my attention because the guy is dressed in a suit and the woman is covered from head to toe in black but for a small slit that shows her eyes. I know it is not very tolerant of me but every time I see a woman dressed like that, it annoys the hell out of me. Especially in Africa. Because it has *nothing* to do with African culture or Islam which has been practiced here for ages. This drenching ones' self in black fabric is another symptom of new import from Arabian tradition that has been the cause of so much strife...ohh..let me stop. I think I'll need another post for that some other time

anyway, so I am looking at them and the waitress seats them right next to me. As soon as girlfriend sits down she puts her bag down and start taking her face covering off. Then the headscarf. Then she shakes out cascading long hair. She's wearing full makeup and beautiful chandelier earrings. She looked around the room and caught me looking with my mouth open. She giggled. It was so freakin awesome. I don't know why but it totally made my day.