Fire! Fire!

A normal part of life in Nairobi is smoke. This may be huge quantities of diesel, belching from any number of vehicles -- or in this case, burning branches and leaves. I prefer the latter!

It’s a lot cheaper to burn that stuff than pay for someone to haul it off.

And yes, this was on my walk home from work, yesterday. Once again, it’s odd that there are just those two ladies in the shot. (Maybe everyone gets shy when I whip out the camera.)

Deep Space Mary

The Don Bosco Church is just up the hill from where we live. Every morning as I walk to work, I see Mary, holding Baby Jesus, at the pinnacle.

Barb, a friend here, called the church “Deep Space Mary” when it was being built about 12 years ago. So that stuck with me! (The name came from the church’s spaceship-like architecture.)

Apparently, it’s a vibrant alive church. Annemieke, another local friend, has attended several times. Some day we must visit.

On Sunday mornings, the very European church bells contrast with the call to prayer from the local mosque, in another direction – or a yelling evangelist from the national stadium, in yet another direction.

Java House

A favorite hangout for expats in Nairobi is the Java House Restaurant. It's a chain, but we have only been at one. They offer great coffee drinks and sort-of Mexican food. It's a pleasant place to hang out and enjoy food and friends.

Rachel loves the play area. (In the pic, she is running around the play sculpture. Alas, the light was fading as I took the shot.)

I must say that the cup of decaf Heather and I enjoyed last night was the best I have ever had.

What a strange world we live in

Last night I had some peanut-flavored cheetos from Isreal. It’s totally random what stuff is available at stores here in Nairobi. (They were a little too sweet. Maybe they are just right to someone in Jerusalem.)

And then there’s the “west” – Amazon advertises a Braun shaver that features: “20 different hair-capturing opportunities compared with just 1 from a regular foil.”

The Walk to Work

These ditches were made about 40 years ago, during the British colonial era. I hate to think of the incredibly hard labor it took just to chisel out those stones.

The white stones were more recently placed. (The white paint came a few days ago. They were taxicab-orange before that.)

In the foreground, you can see a few exotic tropical flowers. It seems that flowers are on every plant. The flowers are on the grounds of The Tamarind, a Kenyan restaurant company that offices on that corner. The only thing that is unusual is that there are so few people in the shot; pedestrians are part of every road in Nairobi, whether there is a sidewalk or not. When there is none, a makeshift sidewalk usually gets carved out of the grass or undergrowth by thousands of feet walking to work and back home.

Mac User Caught in an XP World

Yes, with this new Nairobi life comes an XP desktop. I must say that my love of Macs has gone ever deeper. Yes, you have all heard a million times about the human aspects of the Mac interface. They are real. And the BMW vs Chevrolet quality issues.

Until you have fully lived on both sides, it’s hard to understand how deeply your love of one can be. (And I am not suggesting a “Switch” for Mac people to live in a Windows environment for a while.)

And so we start!

Yes, this is the very first entry in this blog. I don't plan to change the world with this blog... but maybe it will give you a small glimpse into life here in Nairobi, Kenya, East Africa.

Seen today, on the side of a truck: “Bio – Leaders in Functional Dairy Food”. (Bio is a company name. They make yogurt.)