Reaching for the clouds

December 4, 2011

With no offense to anyone – especially you, Charlotte - it is kind of nice to have a night to myself.

As Francis was out of the office on Friday, we opted to stay home and try to get some work done on that paper we’re due to hand in come late January. Enthusiasm did not exactly reign, so we did not get that much done. Friday night we introduced the family to kalenderlys(calendar candles) and making paper stars and the boys played along with the making of the stars for surprisingly long despite multiple distractions.

Colin and Ivan make attempts at star-making

Ivan pays close attention to Charlottes directions

Star-making is a family effort - from left to right is Colin, Charlotte, Ivan, Margaret and Elve

Saturday sort of disappeared for me. We went to town to get my internet fixed – again. Hopefully we’ve now learned how to do it so we don’t have to stand in 20 minute lines anymore – ‘cause that’s getting kinda old. We work with “mobilt bredbånd”(internet on a stick), which has a multitude of solutions for paying, all of which are prepaid and means that you have to go to a store to buy a card with a code when you need to top-off. We’ve now opted for what seems like the cheapest solution which is prepaid for a month. Unfortunately the speed is not as fast as with the ones based on how much you use, but we soon learned that we both use quite a lot, so it would end up being ridiculously expensive if we were to top-off every three days.
Anyway. Saturday dwindled by. We had learned that Francis would be going to Isiolo for a meeting on Monday(leaving Sunday) and we asked if it would be at all possible for us to tag along. He promised to get back to us on Saturday(and seemed quite positive about the possibility), but when we didn’t hear from him there seemed to be two reasons: 1. We couldn’t go. 2. African time.

He had said that if we were to go, we would leave Nanyuki around 2pm, so when we hadn’t heard from him at 1, we tried to get in touch – unsuccessfully. Around 2.30 he called and said that he was still trying to get in touch with his own boss as well as Teresia was trying to get in touch with Denmark(I’m sure he meant MS, not the country in general) to see if it would be ok for us to go. I’m not sure whether or not she actually did, it is Sunday after all. But Francis called us back half an hour later and said to be ready at 5, we had been permitted to go.

So he picked us up promptly at 5.45(just on time according to African time) and we headed for Isiolo. Nanyuki is situated at the foot of Mount Kenya and as we drove north, we constantly had the cloud-shrouded mountain to the right of us(we have yet to actually see the top of it). The popping in my ears told me that the elevation changed a couple of times. If it hadn’t been for the hills, we almost could have been in Denmark as wheat and maize fields and green houses surrounded us. Majs(sweet corn) as we know it in Denmark is unusual here and when they crow it, they use it more for export than for eating. Instead they use the maize for practically everything from porridge to bread to ugali, the national dish. I suspect that maize is what we know as fodermajs.

The low-hanging clouds seemed close enough to touch as darkness fell upon us. Francis is, thankfully, a very careful driver as there are no street lamps and it can be hard to see what is tarmac and what is not. When Isiolo appeared in the darkness it was around 7:30pm and we checked in to the very nice hotel. As I opened the door to my room I thought they had forgotten to put in a bed.

Until I turned the corner and the actual room was there. Weird setup, but one of the biggest hotel rooms I’ve ever stayed in.

We drove across the road for dinner and had to ask why we took the car the 100 m to the restaurant. Just a precaution was the answer. Had he been himself, Francis would have walked.
We had a really good talk over dinner and my apprehensions about making conversation are already fading.

The bed is really comfortable, does not feel like it is going to break every time I turn(if I didn’t feel heavy before, I sure as heck do when sleeping in the Kenyan beds) and the pillows are REAL pillows! 

Yes, that is a toilet on a piedestal