Ah, Coldplay should be banned when you have one of the following symptoms: PMS, a man, a couple of beers in your system, at the beginning, middle and most definitely the end of a relationship, before and after "relations" (you tend not to hear during) and many other situations, i.e., Life. What is it about the lyrics in each and every damn song that touches everything you live, breathe and sleep? Urghh. I’m listening to A Message from the Album X&Y right now and have finished sobbing to Fix You.
I’m fine, totally stoked that me sister (the one with a Mercedes and room for a pony) is coming to visit me in the Third World in a couple of months and she’s bringing the Parents! Whom I miss like it hurts… or they could simply fulfill my wishes and send the pride and joy of my heart that is Chloe. (If you have a Boston Terrier or have had the pleasure of being near one, you’ll understand my sentiments.) That’s another thing Kenyan I have to get used to. You’ll rarely find a fellow dog lover around here and when you do, stick to them as they are a kindred and knowledgeable spirit as to the power of that canine connection. People in my office all have pictures of their children, significant others (real and those they long to be real) on their Desktops and screensavers. Moi? I have my babies: the dogs. Oh, and Kenyans really don’t like it if you say you love dogs more than people (which I do most days) and take offense especially when I call state very clearly that they are the only children I intend to have. There’s a lady in my office who threatened to beat me up because I changed her desktop pic of her baby to that of my baby. LOL, she thinks I’m mad for that actually. How can you not love dogs!!! Silliness I tell you.
I just realized I’ve been in my office for 13 hours now. I’m a workaholic that’s for sure but my paycheck sure don’t recognize it. Still apartment hunting and it’s quite the trip. A lot of the apartments that are being advertised for singletons are converted servants quarters – yes, that name still exists. And the one apartment I did see featured what a close friend of the family (seven years old) a Long Drop Choo. (choo means toilet). In this case, it’s a pit latrine hence the "long drop" I fired that realtor promptly. I may get lucky tomorrow but I’ve stopped holding my breath.
Ok, it’s Friday night, time for a little party and then off to bed early tonight. Long day tomorrow – the tourism fair is on and I’m going to check out some packages for when the family is here. I’m stuck between http://www.leopardbeachhotel.com and Serena Beach Hotel www.serenahotels.com.
Oh, my lovely sister spoiled me rotten with a three-day weekend stay at the Hilton in Nairobi. Hilton is the reason why I want to be in this business. I had an absolutely amazing time and got the rest and relaxation I so desperately craved. I will continuously berate them for dragging their feet and not owning a Mombasa property. Wake UP HILTON! You need a hotel at the Coast! Ok, I’m off now.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Life
I've been eating pure crap lately. Take for example my meals today. For breakfast I had a sausage roll, then at about 11 I had a samosa, for lunch I had a chicken pie and I've just finished scoffing a plate of fries for dinner. Urghh, all the starch, the flour - my skirt is beginning to protest at the incredibly pressure it's under from the increasingly widening wasitline that is the testament of my recent gorgings. I've been stressed, that's for sure and I think it's being reflected in my diet which is sad. There is a solution to all of this but as is with resources, I'm going to have to get a whole lot more creative.
Sort of sorted out what put me in the dumps two weeks ago but it's taking a weird turn. I hate that point in any relationship when you come to a fork in the road and you have to choose and that choice will change the landscape of what you believe and what you actually feel about yourself. Could I get any more cryptic? Certainly! But I'm knackered and there's a lovely GNT calling my name.
Laters.
Oh, it's HOT HOT HOT in Nairobi. It rains in the morning and sometimes all through the night but around noon, you're peeling your shirt off your back and fanning yourself with anything and that heat lasts until about bedtime. The skeeters have been having a feast on my body so I had to use a mosquito net for the first time in ages. It's a pity I'm not in Mombasa though. Soon though.
Have I mentioned that I have the world's best sister who deserves nothing but love and worship for what she did for me. I'm sooooo lucky! I love you Little Fluff!
Sort of sorted out what put me in the dumps two weeks ago but it's taking a weird turn. I hate that point in any relationship when you come to a fork in the road and you have to choose and that choice will change the landscape of what you believe and what you actually feel about yourself. Could I get any more cryptic? Certainly! But I'm knackered and there's a lovely GNT calling my name.
Laters.
Oh, it's HOT HOT HOT in Nairobi. It rains in the morning and sometimes all through the night but around noon, you're peeling your shirt off your back and fanning yourself with anything and that heat lasts until about bedtime. The skeeters have been having a feast on my body so I had to use a mosquito net for the first time in ages. It's a pity I'm not in Mombasa though. Soon though.
Have I mentioned that I have the world's best sister who deserves nothing but love and worship for what she did for me. I'm sooooo lucky! I love you Little Fluff!
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Blues
In a much better place today. I got a thank you e-mail from someone whom I did something for which I'd totally forgotten about and it made me feel that I'm not a completely selfless idiot some of the time. So it's squared shoulders and chin up, try not to screw up anymore.
It's been an incredibly horrendous week but I've kept busier than usual and that's helping. I'm planning something huge for next week but as is with things that I would love to do, I'd better fulfill it or have concrete plans before I gush about it.
It's been an incredibly horrendous week but I've kept busier than usual and that's helping. I'm planning something huge for next week but as is with things that I would love to do, I'd better fulfill it or have concrete plans before I gush about it.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Movie Madness: Constant Gardener & Syriana
The rainy season is upon us quite suddenly and very off the mark. They normally start in late March but it has been raining insanely for about a week now. I've been incredibly busy at work and apartment hunting and while the former has been productive, the latter is lacking in success. I'm getting desperate now and my budget is going up (my salary certainly ain't) but not at that stage where I'm looking for a flat share. To be a single lass in Nairobi looking for a one bedroom is harsh!
Anyway, this weekend started out with a torrential downpour on Friday. I was in town with some mates and we couldn't leave until about 11 that night because traffic was going nowhere. While I wouldn't recommend it, a friend told us that he pulled into a gas station at some point and bought some booze and got right back into traffic because it was moving that slowly and he wanted to pass the time. Too much fun this weekend and the best part was going to the movies. I went to Junction to watch Syriana. Absolutely brilliant movie. I loved Traffic so I knew that I was going to like this movie and it was amazing. Poignant, rich and just plain smart. Alexander Siddig was amazing, amazing, amazing. He's English - Pakistani and was born in Sudan! Actually, there wasn't a cast member that didn't fit their roles, it was played out beautifully. Leaving the theatre, I heard some interesting comments from two young Kenyan girls. "You know, it's true about the Americans and how unfair they are to the Arabs. They don't care about whom they hurt as long as they get their oil." I would have loved to sit down with them and pick their brains about their train of thought but I had to rush all the way across the city to Village Market to go watch Constant Gardener with a mate. That was an interesting ride. I had to get a bus back to town and then go and get a matatu to go to Village Market. That ride was harrowing as their are long open fast stretches and the driver just about killed us a couple of times. I got their much faster than anticipated but with a pounding heart.
Now Village Market is unreal. It's not Kenya. I actually waited for my mate at a restaurant called The Camelot which tried to be medieval. I should be grateful that the staff weren't wearing paper crowns. If you want to escape the reality of poverty, corruption and Kenya, that's the place to go. You can go bowling for an incredibly exorbitant rate, even the movies are more expensive: Ksh. 400($5.75) while at Junction they were Ksh. 280 ($4). But, the kids love it so, let it be.
Constant Gardener has a bit of history in Kenya. John Le Carre wrote the book in 2001 (I think) and it was promptly banned by then President Moi. He believed that it potrayed Kenyans in a bad light because it was about pharmaceutical companies being given allowance to use Kenyans as guineapigs implying they are disposable. I think the main problem with the book was that it showed Kenyan officials as being incredibly corrupt (THEY ARE!!!!) and hence the book was banned. The movie shows the exact opposite. In fact, it actually made the Kenyan people look good in their indefatigable spirit in the face of adversity while making the British Foreign Office look callous, selfish and supercilious, and the Kenyan politicians were potrayed exactly as they are....corrupt a*holes.
The movie theatre was packed because believe it or not, this was the only place this movie was being shown in Kenya and it was opening this weekend for the first time. Forget that it was actually shot in Kibera. I don't know why the theatres were afraid to release it before this weekend. It's was absolutely moving. I was choked up most of the time, feeling incredibly guilty. I know it's fiction but more than that was seeing those faces, seeing their lives, seeing it everyday and yet I walk around, my mp3 plugged in, my face staring ahead and not looking around me and seeing. At the end of that movie, there was an audible sigh like everyone in there had a gut check moment. I know I did. Mine was the little Sudanese girl Abouka. Fundamentally changed something.
I'm glad Rachel Weisz won best supporting actress and George Clooney did so deserve his Oscar as well. Crash was brilliant so I'm stoked about that. I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain yet, though I do have a confession. I promised myself that I would never by those bootleg copies you can get for Ksh. 400 that have five movies in one but I (shame) bought a dvd with six movies because it had Brokeback Mountain and Tristan & Isolde. Bootleg images and I'm sorry!
Ok, back to apartment hunting. I'm just glad I started the week with an excited mind. Laters.
Anyway, this weekend started out with a torrential downpour on Friday. I was in town with some mates and we couldn't leave until about 11 that night because traffic was going nowhere. While I wouldn't recommend it, a friend told us that he pulled into a gas station at some point and bought some booze and got right back into traffic because it was moving that slowly and he wanted to pass the time. Too much fun this weekend and the best part was going to the movies. I went to Junction to watch Syriana. Absolutely brilliant movie. I loved Traffic so I knew that I was going to like this movie and it was amazing. Poignant, rich and just plain smart. Alexander Siddig was amazing, amazing, amazing. He's English - Pakistani and was born in Sudan! Actually, there wasn't a cast member that didn't fit their roles, it was played out beautifully. Leaving the theatre, I heard some interesting comments from two young Kenyan girls. "You know, it's true about the Americans and how unfair they are to the Arabs. They don't care about whom they hurt as long as they get their oil." I would have loved to sit down with them and pick their brains about their train of thought but I had to rush all the way across the city to Village Market to go watch Constant Gardener with a mate. That was an interesting ride. I had to get a bus back to town and then go and get a matatu to go to Village Market. That ride was harrowing as their are long open fast stretches and the driver just about killed us a couple of times. I got their much faster than anticipated but with a pounding heart.
Now Village Market is unreal. It's not Kenya. I actually waited for my mate at a restaurant called The Camelot which tried to be medieval. I should be grateful that the staff weren't wearing paper crowns. If you want to escape the reality of poverty, corruption and Kenya, that's the place to go. You can go bowling for an incredibly exorbitant rate, even the movies are more expensive: Ksh. 400($5.75) while at Junction they were Ksh. 280 ($4). But, the kids love it so, let it be.
Constant Gardener has a bit of history in Kenya. John Le Carre wrote the book in 2001 (I think) and it was promptly banned by then President Moi. He believed that it potrayed Kenyans in a bad light because it was about pharmaceutical companies being given allowance to use Kenyans as guineapigs implying they are disposable. I think the main problem with the book was that it showed Kenyan officials as being incredibly corrupt (THEY ARE!!!!) and hence the book was banned. The movie shows the exact opposite. In fact, it actually made the Kenyan people look good in their indefatigable spirit in the face of adversity while making the British Foreign Office look callous, selfish and supercilious, and the Kenyan politicians were potrayed exactly as they are....corrupt a*holes.
The movie theatre was packed because believe it or not, this was the only place this movie was being shown in Kenya and it was opening this weekend for the first time. Forget that it was actually shot in Kibera. I don't know why the theatres were afraid to release it before this weekend. It's was absolutely moving. I was choked up most of the time, feeling incredibly guilty. I know it's fiction but more than that was seeing those faces, seeing their lives, seeing it everyday and yet I walk around, my mp3 plugged in, my face staring ahead and not looking around me and seeing. At the end of that movie, there was an audible sigh like everyone in there had a gut check moment. I know I did. Mine was the little Sudanese girl Abouka. Fundamentally changed something.
I'm glad Rachel Weisz won best supporting actress and George Clooney did so deserve his Oscar as well. Crash was brilliant so I'm stoked about that. I haven't seen Brokeback Mountain yet, though I do have a confession. I promised myself that I would never by those bootleg copies you can get for Ksh. 400 that have five movies in one but I (shame) bought a dvd with six movies because it had Brokeback Mountain and Tristan & Isolde. Bootleg images and I'm sorry!
Ok, back to apartment hunting. I'm just glad I started the week with an excited mind. Laters.
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