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.
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