There's somthing I need to tell you...

I'm leaving Africa.

For lots of reasons. (I've hinted at things previously, I just wasn't ready to write about it.) I feel positive that going is the right move for me at the moment, but I will still find it hard to leave.

I am in denial about it really. There are a few people  that I haven't told yet. Some I thought I had, but my mind was full of other things and I have just forgotten. Some, I just can't, yet. One person I found really hard to tell was my yoga teacher. (If I say it out loud, then it is really happening, isn't it?)

My yoga teacher, Oriane, is a teacher in every sense of the word. She challenges me in such a caring way and is passionate about sharing her knowledge with others (she also is good at making me feel bad if I don't do my homework...!) As I run, every yoga session leaves me breathless, telling my knees to just 'relax'. But these sessions have been one of my favourite things about living in Nairobi and I will truely miss them. Not just becuase of the yoga, but because of the friends I have met through the classes. If you are looking for a teacher in Nairobi, she it the best! (Her website).

Oriane-taken at our last weekend retreat

I have been so blessed to meet such amazing people during my adventures here in Africa.

More about my 'Feel Good' weekend

I'm still thinking back to my amazing weekend 'away' here in Nairobi, with the Ngong hills just poking out in the distance.

I love getting in my car and driving for 45 minutes and feeling like I have escaped!

The weekend was full of good food and laughing out loud with new and even newer friends.(Agathe did a great job of capturing the weekend on photos...only a couple of shots are mine.)

Oh yeah, we did some yoga too! When we weren't around  table, I spent my time trying to find the little damn holes in my pelvis (!) and trying to get on my head without someone standing behind me (I am such a scaredy cat!).By the second day I found it tricky enough to just stand.

 

 (That would be me in the black trying to get up...it must have been when I was having a rest from watching everyone!!)

I left (as always!) determined to keep up  start my home practice or at least wash my yoga mat between lessons!

(PS- my friend and I received a voucher for a free night at the lovely Ngong House, where the yoga retreat was held, so I will tell you more about it after my next time!)

My weekend

I am sore all over from my weekend of yoga. The bath in a canoe, in a tree house, helped though! So did the 2 hour nap (can that still count as a nap!?) on Sunday evening!

A zen safari

 I recently had a weekend full of yoga.

It was a great start to the year. We detoxed and worked on the mat. Had a few cooking lessons, leisurely meals (yes, we did eat...a little) and...a bit of safari.

We stayed in a tented camp, nestled into the bush of Nairobi National Park (can you spot the tents below?), fell asleep to the shrieking alarms of the hyraxes and woke to the loudest ever lion's roar. A peaceful change to that of security dogs barking  throughout the night.

It feels like I haven't been on my mat or exercised for ages. This week I have been feeling poorly, so am looking forward to feeling like 'me' again. Hopefully I'll be better by Friday, when my Mum arrives for a mini adventure. Yeahhhhhh!

This is what yoga does to you...

I spent nearly 9 hours on the mat this past weekend. Apparently I was glowing on Monday...but I was walking like a cripple. (I played tennis that afternoon and couldn't pick up the ball...this helped my game apparently, as I won, by-the-by!)

I am trying to be more mindful in my actions, to be in moment. To listen to my body, but not use that as an excuse to be lazy. To take my time when I eat and to only eat when I am hungry and to make my choices count.

So, last night I tried reeeeaalllly hard to make my two red-grape martinis last! (Haaaa!)

Switiching off the white noise-the story behind the retreat

It is lovely to put up photos of the beautiful scenery that I get to enjoy in Kenya, the big sky of Africa and the animals that live here. It is lovely to hear comments about how lucky I am. But it is not always the life I get to enjoy; real life gets in the way sometimes. 

Last week I could have been in Barry or Beillericay (thanks Tania for the box set!!) as it is that time of year again...report writing.

I was feeling rather low, but that was not the only reason for it: I have lost my running legs and fear they will be hard to find again. I haven’t had time to enjoy the white shiny cafes and bars that I was looking forward to so much when I was in Uganda and I miss my friends that know me. My mind was busy with pretty negative thoughts and it was hard to swtich off the white noise.

Something I haven't admitted to you is how hard it was arriving at Jomo Kenyatta airport knowing that the African Adventurer was not meeting me. It. was. tough. I am not as tough as I think I am, sometimes. 

It has been hard to meet friends outside of school...as I seem to spend most of my time there this should not be surprising! I was a bit over excited when I drove someone I met at yoga home the other night...!Saddooo!

So...as a little pick-me-up; to help my body and soul get back into shape, I went off on a yoga retreat on the weekend. 

It was  held in a little lodge a few hours north of the city. I spent the weekend in the bush, beding my legs into Lotus, sweating in downward dog and attempting to lift my entire body on my little pinky. (Well not quite!!-but I do suddenly have muscles where I never had them before!) We talked in hushed whispers, preserving the peace and quite.  Spent hours gazing into the yellow moon and burning it into our memories - thinking only about our breathing.  But when my mind did drift, I thought about my friends and family around the world and thought about how lucky I am.

Oh dear-those photos of skies again!

PS- I met some lovely new friends! And I am off to yoga tonight to see them! Hooray!

walking in silence

 I'm back from my first weekend yoga retreat and all my secret hob nobs are still in the box!

Photos are from our walking meditation near Lake Elementaita. 

I'll tell you more about it another day.

Hope you are having a lovely weekend. xx

The grass is always greener, the air is always cleaner

I have not quite settled into my Kampala routine yet. I think I am trying hard to fight it. In the staffroom at school we joke that we have been so busy with; assessments, meet the in-laws night (I mean parents!) and teaching, that we have not had time to have our usual pedicures that make us function in the developing world a little bit more easily! I have not even managed to squeeze in a tennis lesson and only once have I been doing the down-ward dog (in yoga!) on a Saturday morning! It must have been a tough few weeks!

Although I enjoy all of these things once in a while, I think I got my fill of the 'good life' in Kuwait. Not the Tom and Barbara tomato growing, chicken farming 'good life', more like Margot's life;  manicures, flashy cars and lunches.

So now, I would rather get out of the city. I am busy booking accommodation for both my October and December safaris and I haveLacam Lodge  on speed-dial on my phone...just in case we get a long weekend for Eid!

Yoga Zen

Wednesday is my hump-day. By Wednesday I have lost patience with my class, I have started to raise my voice and usually forget to smile! Thankfully, I have yoga on a Wednesday evening, this somehow transforms me into a better person...for 2 hours or so…and I am left refreshed to finish the week smiling…it usually lasts till Friday night when it is time to open the wine!

I choose to battle against potholes (craters better explain their size!) and traffic every Wednesday, making my way across the other end of town, but after each session I am thankful I made the journey! My yoga class is amazing; the teachers are very special and the space is beautiful…on a hill over-looking the city. We yogis are made to work hard and we sweat buckets, but as soon as the words, ‘aannd, prepare for Shavasana’ are said- my body (which is usual still shaking from hard-work) happily takes on the ‘corpse pose’ and I make a contented sigh! Our reward for making it through the week, traffic, yoga session; is a little rest with eye cushions on…where I either fall asleep or start dreaming about my dinner…!On a very good day we get a foot massage!

This Wednesday was no different. My friends and I left the class counting our blessings. We were happily munching on our delicious post-yoga workout meal…yummy Indian food and discussing our new book club novel, ‘Shantaram’, when…"ops I left my wallet in my big beast of a 4x4 locked car. Oh no, I can’t find it! Oh phew, I’ve got it. Oh no-the wallet is absolutely empty and my phone is missing!” And then the realisation of what had happened! Dang and blast!

Ah-the thieving buggers ruined my Wednesday night zen! My class were more upset than me when I arrived in school on Thursday…!