Gratitude Lately

For coffee to-go. I'm not yet tired of this first world solution to my slow mornings.

For constantly working air conditioning. Every part of me, from my eyeballs to my little toe is thankful for keeping me cool.

For love and true friendships; from running with me and pounding the streets, to messages and comforting phone calls and to hugs and kisses. I feel blessed.

For  the knowledge that every experience makes us grow.

For Mac's Vegas Volt lipstick that brightens my mood.

For reminders that every day can be an adventure.

Some words are easier

 

My words seem to be locked in at the moment. My throat is too tight for them to be spoken and time doesn't allow me to write them down just now. They are packed away in boxes, just like my belongings. They'll come out eventually. It is a slow process, just like the move itself. The physical process of moving and making a shiny new apartment homely is tiring. But I am using it as a bit of an excuse too. Cooking properly?...I have no oven yet...going swimming?...I can't find my costume...a short run so the legs don't forget?...I have unpacking to do. It is draining.

The school term is coming to an end this week. Another milestone for the year will pass. I'm not wanting to wish the days away though, happy for the clocks to stop a while. But I am looking forward to some time away, for the holidays to breathe energy back into my body. Time on a beach with the sun warming my skin, with sand in between my toes, with a new book in one hand and a cocktail in the other...then the words will come and a journal will be filled with stories of adventures had and memories made.

Do what you love and do it often

Beautiful and inspiring.


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Life is simple...it is easy to forget that one.

Thank you friend!

This week

I know things are bad when my Dad (my biggest cheerleader) says  my posts haven't been that great recently on my blog. Hmmmm.

Well-this one isn't going to be much better...I warn you now...!

I came back from this past weekend in Dubai with booze blues. (Good thing I live in Kuwait...totally ready for a wee detox!)

It was great seeing my dad and catching up with a friend. (I am now making more of an effort to find new places (for me) in Dubai when I visit.)

My friend Sam and I went to an ice bar. Sounds so cool doesn't it! Well, it wasn't. Not really. I went, so you don't have to my friends. But, it does make for some fun photos! (I would rather sit outside with girly drink with bubbles in them!)

So...

It took me a couple of runs and a good few Christmas songs and whole lot of coffee to get my spring back.

My highlight this week was  getting caught in the massive storm when I was out for a run with my buddy. There was thunder, lightening and enough water to swim in. It was bloody fantastic! (That pair of trainers will take another 3 days to dry though!)

Oh yeah-and eating my first mince pie of the season.

Happy happy days!

This weekend marks the start of Christmas bazaars. Bring it!

Next week, when reports and assessments are out of the way, and thoughts of Africa don't take over my every waking moment, I will work on that  post...the decent, heartfelt, descriptive one about life in the sandpit...it might be a short one!

Lately

Last weekend I visited  Diamond Plaza, (known as‘Little India’) for the first time since I arrived in Nairobi. It reminded me of Fahaheel in Kuwait. More of a souq than a ‘mall’. Shiny plastic statues of Ganesha, ‘cheap-cheap’ DVDs and sparkly synthetic dresses that would stick to you as soon as you walked outside. Places to get your Kindle fixed and to buy an ‘almost real’ Blackberry. I liked it. 

I was there hunting for 'cheap cheap' make-up for my production. It made a change from writing reports and marking test papers. As that is all I seem to do lately, that, or rehearsing with Witchy Girls and Hunks or running, trying to rack up the last few kilometres, before the ‘Toughest Marathon (Half!) in the World’! (Not the best selling point of the run in my eyes!) Other people seem to have more time; time to send me e-mails. (12 days and they still want to spend the time writing emails!) 

12 days!

So friends. I am sorry if you have not heard from me in a while. I’ll see you on the other side!

This is the year to...

I have been thinking of some things I want to achieve this year. Not really resolutions,but a kind of 'to'do list for the year; things to look forward to. Some a short term goals...as in this week/month and some longer.

• Finish unpacking my boxes from Uganda! (This is obviously a short term goal!) By the end of the week month, I want to have emptied my last three boxes. If I didn't miss it I will throw it out or donate it.(I have already done one this week...two more to go!)
• Find hooks an hang up paintings and photos (seriously, along with 'get a scart lead' this has been on my 'to-do list' since I arrived...it is not as easy at it sounds!)
• Start pottery classes - I have a feeling I will enjoy the process, even though the end product will probably be quite crap! I have got so far as to find out when/where I can take them-next step would be to attend one!
• Take some Swahili lessons - On occasions I open my mouth and Arabic or Lugandan or gibberish comes out. At the moment I keep wanting to say "amasegunallo" (Thank you, in Amharic")-a bit more Swahili would be nice, if only to convince KWT that I only need to pay residents rates!
• Hash- Even if I only go twice this year, I want to Hash again and meet some other slow runners!
• Try new recipes more - I'm not going to make life more challenging by putting a time frame on this, like one a week/month- but  I want to be a bit more experimental in my kitchen (if you can call it that!). So, earlier this week I thought I would try a gluten-free chocolate chocolate cheesecake that I saw on this blog, then my friend at 3Limes tried it and said it was yummy. So, no excuses. But, I couldn't find all the ingredients it called for (...like sugar or graham crackers...no sugar, but found sour cream...(!) so I used icing sugar and found  diet-free digestive biscuits, so I thought I would use those! Note to self-just because they are expensive and has the word 'Gullon' on the box, does not mean they are gluten-free! Sorry dinner guest!
 

Hmmm-tasted SO much better than it looked!

 

There is one BIG goal that I have been thinking about for a while. But if I tell people I am doing it, then I don't do it, I've failed. Where as, if I don't tell anyone, I just didn't do it...right?

OK-here goes. A marathon would be great-NYC for my 30th would be even better. But, as it is so expensive, that is not on my lists-as it might not be achievable. So, I have been thinking about trying to do 12 in 12. 12 half marathons in 12 months. As I am so incredibly unfit, and can only run 8km at the moment a bit behind schedule,  I will have to try and do more than one half in some months later in the year. Haaaaaaa-who am I kidding!!! I'm not even drunk writing this! I think this is achievable!

I am really looking forward to what lies ahead this year. My Kenyan tour company (!) will be starting properly this year...I'm just waiting for the first customers to book-up! 

Notes from Nairobi

This might be hard to believe-but this week I feel my life has been too boring to blog about.

The 'w' thing is the 'w' thing no matter where you are. OK, there are differences here and there- but you get used to them so quickly that it becomes your norm: I made clay cartouches in the dark the other day-we had just cut and rolled the clay and the thought of packing it up was too much to bare, just because of a power-cut...so the class didn't blink and eye and I am very impressed with their in-the-dark-clay skills!!

The drive to and from work is now part of my routine- it is a bit of a drive, I have to admit, but I enjoy listening to the radio whilst dodging (!) those that are walking or cycling to and from their 'w' thing on the valleys.

I've hardly gone out this week-I had too many mojitos celebrating a friend's birthday (I forgot it was his birthday and not mine!) at the start of the week-that I have laid low for a couple of days.

And well that's it really- I'm sure my duties strolling around the field in the warm sun will also becoming boring after a while...but not yet! Do you hate me?

Well don't-due to our little inspection, I will probably be doing the 'w' thing all weekend.

Wisdom

I know I haven't blogged in ages, (then two posts in one night) but I haven't been sure where to go with my blog and what to share.

At the moment I feel like my body is porous, open and sensitive to the world around me. The news today of the death of the Kenyan runner and that the Air France black box has data on it that is still intact (Can you believe it!!!???), has left me all out of sorts, shaking my head and wiping tears away. My running buddy shared sad news of his and I received a wedding invitation from my best friend Jo (happy and excited tears, but a pang of desire to be with her) made me blue. I think it has just been building up.

I know I should give myself a kick, but heartache is the worst. Comparable to tooth ache I think. This throbbing pain that comes in waves that can't be seen. You forget how painful it is, until it is time to visit the dentist.

Words of wisdom comes from all different directions, (the Oprah magazine is a good source!). Running helps... and change is good. But today I missed my run as I was busy on 'project dining hall' (a future post) and I am tired. So today, I am sad.

I had figured it all out last night with a friend, but I had forgotten it by this morning, damn that white wine...!

Behind the Times

The other day, my running buddy and I were talking about a recent comment I made on my blog, about ‘jogging’; that nobody ‘jogs’ anymore, now that we are in 2010,we are expected to run. We laughed at this because we had just recently saw an advertisement for a new ‘jogging track’ in Kampala. Uganda is also hitting the world-wide headlines because skateboarding has found its way here…apparently, in the rest of the world, the sport hit its peak in popularity in 1963! This, along with the shell-suits, headbands and ring-pulled Mountain Dew cans, is truly another sign that I am living in a time-warp! Play-list in bars here, usually only consist of Abba ‘The Gold Collection’, Michael Jackson and Kenny Rodgers! Even Elvis hasn’t yet made it onto the scene!!

There is this pressure in the Western World to wear the right clothes, listen to the right music and here it is so nice to not worry about such things…sometimes! Ok, I suddenly care when I’m home on holiday and already am panicking about my summer packing…but only a little. I don’t want to be introduced as, “This is Robyn, she lives in Uganda’ and having sympathetic nods as a reply…like that is explaining me! I thought I stayed comparatively ‘up-to-date’ in Kuwait, but when teachers that have just come out from UK start talking, I feel that I have been away a lot longer than 5 years! Who are these people they talk of…does it matter..do I care!!?? When mum was stocking up on magazines for me, I had to ask her to stop buying me ‘celebrity’ magazines as I just don’t have a clue! My life is no poorer for it!

I am happy driving my Prada (o), circa 1980 and wearing the same clothes all year round, no matter what the fashion is. When people, however, start going on about TV shows on Facebook, I suddenly feel very left out! I recently found out that Flash Forward is not a magazine! Then… all this hype about Glee!! Well-I just had to go out and buy a pirate copy on DVD! Oh, but I do know that K’naan has made it to #3 in the African music charts….I love that song! So, when I head back to see you, be it on holiday or to live, all I ask from you is …go easy on me!!