Monday 14 January 2013

Where am I? What have I done?

Oh yes, I'm in Kenya, having the time of my life... the HOTTEST time of my life in the literal sense, it's around 32 degrees here most of the time, which is pretty hot. Almost hot enough to cook something that doesn't take long to cook - you get my point, it's quite hot here and that takes some getting used to. Office life feels like a lifetime ago that's for sure...



Just so you're up to speed, I'm living in a residential estate called Vescon in the Bamburi area of Mombasa. I'm here for the next few months and since I arrived last week I've spent most of the time lying in front of the fan in my apartment.

I've also:
* Got myself an internet dongle thing
* Queued for 1.5 hours to get a Kenyan phone
* Dined on a floating restaurant
* I've eaten watermelon and enjoyed it for the first time
* Almost welded my leg to a hot leather seat in the sun - farrrrrrk
* Been bitten by evil mozzies - no signs of Malaria yet!
* Ridden as a passenger on 3 motorbike taxis
* Lost count of the Tusker beers I've drank

On average I'm sleeping soundly for 1.5 hours per night, I generally haven't been to bed before midnight as there's too much to do here and I quite like being noctural in such a hot place when the sun goes down.

My apartment is on the top floor of the apartment block, so I get the music blaring from the bar over the road through my window until 5am, at which point the call to mosque rings out and when that finishes, the roosters start. So it's pretty hectic, but I'm running on adrenaline!

It's taking time to slip into the routine and realise that I'm not just here for a week, so there's no need to rush and do everything RIGHT NOW. I've never had this experience before and so far... no regrets - life is too short right? Sure it was scary and leaving was HARD - no one wanted to sit next to the crazy crying lady on the bus journey after my goodbyes :)  but now I'm here and doing it, I know I did the right thing.

In conclusion - follow your gut and follow your path and don't get a tattoo just because everyone else is :)