Friday morning, I finally moved into my new house. At around 9:30, Mandy, Christy, Vicki, Jay, and I loaded up the car with all my paraphernalia and headed for my new home. We took a quick tour then headed for Nakamatt to get all the things I'd need to set up house. Vicki and Jay were leaving for the airport at noon, so we didn't have a lot of time. It's not very far from Louis' to my new house, but with the road conditions, it takes about 30 mins. one way. We headed off in different directions and got my groceries and household items. Mandy and Christy also got their groceries. They dropped me off at my house with my goodies around 11:15. I haven't heard if Vicki and Jay got home before their taxi or not. I hope so! I was very grateful for all the help!
Samuel, the gardener/night guard, and his wife, Grace, helped me go through everything in the whole house to see what was working, how to use certain things, and what wasn't working. We spent most of the afternoon! Kenneth came over after work around 7:00, and we went back to Nakamatt to buy a water cooler for me and a few other things I didn't get earlier. By the time we got home, I warmed up a calzone from dinner the night before, put a few more things away, and dropped into bed around 11:00 quite exhausted.
So, here's the bottom line on the house... Really lousy lighting in most of the house, but great lighting in the kitchen. NO hot water! (Of course, I didn't discover that until Saturday morning when I tried to shower in the two 1/2" streams of water that came out of the shower head.) It took us about 45 mins. to try to get the stove/oven working. First, the switch on the wall wouldn't stay on. Once we got it on (it's still very undependable), the 2 electric burners worked, but the 4 gas burners didn't. We finally realized that the propane gas was turned off (DUH!). We still haven't figured out how to make the oven work, although the owner, who is presently in Germany, said she doesn't know if it ever worked. She only comes here occasionally and doesn't usually cook much while she's here. She's never tried to use the oven. With no oven and no microwave, I may have to get VERY creative on my cooking. Maybe I'll just eat "Raw" and call it good (smile).
There's no stopper in the kitchen sink, so I think I'll try to buy one or a dishpan to wash my dishes in. As I was attempting to make some sort of dinner after church today, I thought, "This reminds me of Girls' Camp - no hot water, nothing to wash dishes in, showering in a trickle of cool tap water, picking ants out of my cereal bowl, and swishing flies away when I took the lid off my frying pan." Oh yes, and stepping on a cockroach while preparing dinner. It was quickly hauled off by an army of tiny little ants - actually quite interesting to watch how they worked together to figure out which way to go and how many it would take to lift it all the way to the back door and under the door to the outside.
The first night, I couldn't get the locks off the back door to put my garbage outside so insects wouldn't invade my kitchen (any more than they already do). The guard had to come and unlock the locks on the front door grate and take it out for me. This place truly is like a fortress - that's the good news AND the bad news. There's a lock on the big gate to let cars in, a lock on the little door in the front gate to let people in. All three exterior doors have metal grates with 2 huge padlocks each, a key lock on the handle of the door, and then 2 or 3 metal bars that go across the inside of the doors! Saturday morning, I couldn't unlock any of the padlocks, so Samuel came over and "rescued" me from my house. I said that if there was a fire, I'd be toast before I could ever get out of the house! We moved some of the locks around and practiced unlocking all the doors. I'm getting better at it, and it now only takes me about 5 mins. to get out of a locked door.
It's really a nice house by Kenyan standards, I think. I even have a mosquito net over my bed - yeah! (Of course I couldn't figure out how to get out of it in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom - another learning curve thing - smile. The brain doesn't think real clearly when you're half asleep, in the dark, and in a new environment.) I took pictures of the inside on Saturday, but I couldn't open the door to get pictures of the outside. I'll post some later. Here is what it looks like. I think you'll agree it's very nice.
It has a third bedroom that's locked for the owner when she comes back from Germany where she lives most of the time. I think I forgot to take a picture of the kitchen and the bathroom. Anyway, it's a good size. I wish the lighting was better in the living room. I can only be in there until about 5:30, then it gets too dark to see anything even with the light on. Tonight, in fact, the electricity went out just after dusk for about 1 1/2 hrs. Luckily, I bought a tiny little solar flashlight that I was able to use. Flashlight and batteries for a small lantern that's here are now on my shopping list for this week. Samuel brought me 2 small candles over, but by the time he got here from the store, the lights were back on. I'm sure they will get used, however. The electricity has gone out probably 5 times since I've been in Kenya, but this is the first time after dark.
I've been sleeping with a fan blowing right over my head the past two nights, and this morning I woke up with pink eye (I think). I had to teach Relief Society this morning, so I had to go to church, but if it looks like this tomorrow, I won't go to school. If it is pink eye, it's extremely contagious. I wouldn't want to give this to any of the kids. All the windows have screens on them, which is a real boon since we had to close all the windows at dusk at Louis' home so all the mosquitos, etc., wouldn't come in. Now, I can leave all my windows open all day and night. Hopefully, it will be cool enough to sleep without the fan on. The weather is starting to warm up more, so I don't know how long that will work.
Yesterday, Samuel and I walked down to Ukunda, and he showed me all the little outdoor vendors, a Maasai wood carving factory, and other things. He gave me pointers along the way of where to catch a matatu, get a motorcycle ride, how to stay safe, etc. We were gone for nearly 2 hours. It was really fun to see everything up closely. I've only driven by before. I didn't know we were going clear down there, so I didn't take any money with me. I'll go back another day and do some shopping. I really enjoyed the walk.
I've got more news, but I think this is enough for you to digest in one sitting.
Until next time,
Kadi
(P.S. In case you haven't noticed, I messed up on Sept. 13th's entry. I said it was Thursday, but it was only Tuesday. I have NO CLUE what day or date it is anymore!)
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