Living in a zoo

Living in Africa is sometimes like living in a zoo, and we have not even visited the national game parks like Maasai Mara or done a safari on some of the smaller game parks yet.

While unpacking groceries one day, Taru found a gekko in the pantry. It is quite a small lizard, pale and if for example against a window you can see through it. Nevertheless it managed to startle Taru.

On Sunday morning we found a relatively big spider in our living room. We suspect it was a Tarantula, but it certainly was smaller than some of the bigger species you see on TV. Big in this case was the size of thumbnail, with longish hairy legs. Quite disgusting, we hope not to see any more spiders like that.

On a back yard we have amazing yellow birds living in basket like nets that look like they were weaved. We've also seen big birds that eat bones and have acid poop that can melt paint off your car hood. Outside Jaakko's science lab a North African great horned owl just had chicks, and they look so cute. The owl is sitting on the same branch every day and can be observed from quite close. We also have passion fruit wine on our back yard, and we think also a papaya tree. Next door they have big banana trees and you can see big bunches of bananas growing on them.

At our country club, while walking along the golf course you can see tens and tens of monkeys. The younger ones are full of energy and constantly play with one another. You can also see Dikdik's, a small animal that's a relative to antilope but only up to 40cm high. It really looks almost like a big rabbit that has mini horse legs.

I'll add some pictures later on, but it is quite amazing to see all those different kinds of animals in the wild. And in large quantities too, it is really like living in a zoo.

Things we take for granted

Some of the things we take for granted, such as power, postal service, internet etc. are pretty important and contribute quite significantly in the quality of life. We just expect them to be there and you may not pay much thought to them, but when they are missing or unreliable you start to realize the importance of those things.

Electricity

Blackouts are fairly common in Nairobi as the city battles an electricity shortage, some days we've seen 5-6 outages that luckily typically are quite short (minutes or tens of minutes, not hours). Electricity supplies are prone to periodic blackouts, particularly during and after heavy rains. No rain, on the other hand, can also result in power rationing.When power is reconnected, there is often a sudden voltage surge, which can damage sensitive electrical equipment such as stereo systems and computers. Consequently, we've purchased a large amount of voltage regulators or ‘spike protectors’ to protect our electronics and appliences. For computer and internet I've also bought UPS's, or power back-up systems that will keep the equipment running during power outages.

Most houses have a generator or an inverter. The inverter, or battery back-up system protects all electric outlets in the house and provides power during power outages. Of course the drawback with inverters is that during long outages the batteries will eventually run dry and then your out of power. You should also avoid using heavily loading equipment such as washing mashine or dryers while on battery power. The other alternative is a generator, which of course can provide power as long as it keeps on running. The generator switchover is automated so that you don't really even notice when the generator kicks in. The drawback here is that it runs on diesel and you have to keep on filling it up during long breaks. Also, it does not protect the house from power spikes.

Our house does not yet have a generator, but the landlord is working on it. For now we've accepted the daily power outages, and thankfully we have not had long ones or outages after dark.

Postal Service

I like receiving mail, it's like a mini xmas or birthday everyday checking out what's in the mailbox and not knowing what the mail man brought. No mail delivery in Nairobi, bummer.

There's no postal delivery service to private homes or other physical addresses in Kenya. In order to receive mail, you have to rent a lockable P.O box in one of the post offices from which you can collect your mail.

The problem with this arrangement is that there are no available P.O boxes, and the waiting time to get one is extremely long especially if you want it near your home and not in some of the less nice parts of town. I heard a story that someone waited for years and only got the box after returning back to his home country.

Having said that, I'm going to use the company P.O box (like everyone else) and get my mail delivered to the office.

Internet

I think we got spoiled with the lightning fast internet service in the U.S. If I remember right we got 18Mbps, and everything downloaded in a snap. Here you have to have patience as the experience is not quite the same.

As there's practically no fixed infrastructure, most internet services are provided wirelessly into your home. WiMAX is the predominant technology for this, especially if you'd like a montly unlimited internet service with guaranteed speeds. I get up to 128kbps during the day, and in the evenings and weekends up to a whopping 1Mbps. Of course as most of the content is coming elsewhere, the actual speeds are less than the maximums. It is not cheap either, for my service I pay 6000 Kenya shillings per month (roughly 70$ or 50€).

3G is actually pretty good. The 2nd 3G network was launched yesterday, and they support 21Mbps. Unfortunately since the houses are made out of stone and concrete, indoor penetration is not that great. Data is cheaper over 3G though, you can get 2GB that's valid for 3 months for a few thousand shillings. I have a 3G modem, and I'm planning on using it as alternative for the fixed WiMAX service. And who knows, if I can find a good signal inside the house maybe I'll make it my primary internet service.As 3G becomes more available I'm sure it'll drive the cost down and improve the performance, so I'm eagerly looking forward to that.

I'm glad it is 2011 though. The first under sea cable was laid a few years back and prior to that internet was available over satellite. Compared to that I think this is a big improvement.

Payment of bills

I'm not yet quite sure how this works in practice. However in some cases, like electricity, I believe you can only pay with cash in person at some shopping malls or power company offices. Easy pay or direct debit does not appear to be available, and sending cheques due to unreliable mail (although it seems to be not better than it apparently used to be) may not be ideal either.


Well, another thing to figure out I guess. I'll have to update my experience with bills when I'm more experienced with it.

Recycling and garbage collection

We are so used to recycle everything, that not having apparent recycling system is a big shock. It feel so bad to throw everything away, so there's a great business opportunity for someone here. On a positive note everything, even garbage, seems to be of value to someone. The stuff we are used to throwing away is like new to some people here, and the garbage collectors go through the waste to see if there's something worth taking.

I have not found out how garbage collection works either. It is included in our service charge so I don't have to set it up, but I believe we just leave the garbage on the curb and magically it gets collected on Mondays. I've been told that the garbage collection services provided by Nairobi City Council have dwindled in recent years to an unreliable weekly service covering only a handful of residential areas. There are private garbage collection companies, and the vast majority of residents subscribe to one of these.

I have no clue what happens to all the garbage, and don't even want to think about what it can mean to the environment. I hope though it is managed properly, but you never know.

It is important to appreciate things we take for granted. I've certainly noted that already, so this is all good.

Moving fun

Today our container was delivered into our new house, all 40 feet and 333 items/boxes. The container arrived in Mombasa alraedy end of July, but due to customs clearing it was ready for release last week. However our house was not ready, although the rental agreement started beginning of August.

The house went through quite an extensive remodeling in 4 weeks, most of it on the outside though. For example the landlord added 4000 liter underground water tanks that will be great during periods of water outages, and fixed the roof and paving around the house. Inside the master bedroom bathroom was upgraded, walls painted and floors varnished. typical rental agreement stipulates that everything must be painted before moving out. As the work was ongoing, this was left as last item and even this morning the painters were still adding paint to walls and security grilles while we were carrying in boxes. The outside is still pretty much a construction zone, but we really had to move in this weekend so there was no choice. Being an optimist I think another week and the work is completed, and we can start to enjoy the house which is really really nice.

Anyhow, back to moving. We've moved quite a few times, and it is always a bit of a hassle. Last time the moving company  just brought in the boxes and left us to do all the work. This time the crew consisted of 10-11 men and the container was emptied in about 4 hours. The compound is build on a steep bank which complicated things a bit. They couldn't drive the truck inside the compound but luckily they had a small truck and they loaded the content of the container in it and then drove it to the house. We thought that was it, but the men started to empty the boxes and I think we got through about two thirds before we had to say the rest needs to be left for a later date since we don't yet know where to put the content.

Having bedrooms livable (is that even a word?), kitchen almost done, TV and playstation working makes the house almost feel like home. Quite an accomplishment in one day!

I guess having cheaper labor has its benefits, large crews can really move mountains in no time. The work they've done at the house in no time, as well as how efficient the moving company was is something. Not bad, not bad at all...

Culture shock with a capital C

Our first week in Nairobi is behind us, and it has been a bit of a culture shock. For some of us more so than to others, but what would moving to new exotic places be like without one?

The following have been the main contributors to the shock. Traffic, differences in daily life, school, and moving to our house.

It is amazing how traffic, or how bad it is, can vary from day to day. Typically Monday’s and Friday’s are worse than mid-week. Also beginning of the month is worse than end of the month as everyone gets paid at the end of month, and can afford to fill up the gas tanks unlike towards the end of the month when money starts to run out.

Of course we arrived on Monday morning early August, and the traffic from airport was quite an experience. Our temporary accommodation is less than 20km from the airport, but the trip can take up to two hours or sometimes even more. The highway is packed with cars and Matatu’s that the public transportation largely relies on. A Matatu is a minivan, hiace or similar car, that can take up to 14 passengers. The drivers are notoriously reckless and the cars badly serviced and old. Almost every day you can read about Matatu accidents with lots of casualities. Needless to say, you have to be careful around them. We’ve seen about three Matatu accidents. We got to the house safely about 75 minutes later, but at that point Taru was already ready to judge Nairobi.

On a positive note, our driver Paul came to pick us up in our new car. The car, Pajero/Montero, has a huge trunk and was able to digest all 12 pieces of luggage we had with us. Paul is an excellent driver, and the boys like him a lot. I can drive over the weekends, but for now I think it is best to leave rush hour driving for him.

Nairobi is truly a big city, not necessarily area wise but definitely in terms of population. You will always see large amounts of people walking along the roads, regardless of the time of day or night. You can also see a lot of small shops and enterprises, from old ladies selling corn on the cob to carpenters, iron workers etc. Some roads are also littered with beggars and peddlers and hawkers selling anything from puppies and bunny rabbits to flowers, news papers, bananas, roasted peanuts etc. Seeing a guy carrying a bloody carcass of a goat towards a local city market that looked more like a slum was a real eye opener.

When we came here, we were supposed to be a few days from boys starting school and us moving into our new house. The school started on Wednesday the 10th, but late Tuesday evening we learned that they can not admit Lauri into the school. This was a big shock to us, and it had never crossed our minds that this could happen. Of course we panicked, but luckily there’s another school that follows the American syllabus reasonably close to International School of Kenya. On Monday we learned they accepted Lauri as a student, and he started at Rosslyn Academy on Tuesday and only missed the first 4 days of school.

Our container got stuck in customs for longer than expected, but in the end that was not a bad thing as our house is still a construction zone. The landlord kindly promised to do all kinds of upgrades in the house, and in a true African style the project has taken a bit longer than expected. If all goes well, we should be able to move into our new home this coming weekend.

The boys have been really brave, and see all the positive sides of Nairobi. Taru has been a bit more shocked, and I think it’ll take a while before she starts to appreciate the good things and can harden herself against all the not so nice things. Regardless of the culture shock, we’ve seen some really nice things too but I’ll write about those the next time.