The One Where We Say Goodbye

On July 2nd 2013, Kerry, Aliza, and I officially left our posting in Kenya and returned home to Virginia.  It was a hectic few days prior to leaving as we had last minute items to pack and ship, friends to say goodbye to, and various administrative items to take care of.  The journey back home was long and somewhat stressful thanks to incompetent airline employees and traveling with a one-year-old, but we were warmly greeted outside the gate by our families and immediately taken to our new home in Alexandria--that we have not lived in and that Kerry and Aliza had never seen--to restart our life back in the States.

We have a busy summer planned--getting the house together and preparing for the arrival of another baby--and our life in Kenya already seems like a dream.  When things settle down we will be able to reflect back on our life and adventure in East Africa, but until then, our little blog must come to a close. Kerry and I left a couple and returned home a family and I pray for a long and bright future ahead for us.  Hopefully we do something in the future that is worthy documenting, but until then, we appreciate the few of you that took interest in our lives over there and read what we had to say.  

See you down the road. Kwaheri.

The One Where We Go to Watamu Beach

We had basically one free weekend left between our pack-out and when we flew out and we decided that one last view of the Indian Ocean is what we needed. We had aspirations of going up to Lamu--a once forbidden destination at the beginning of our tour due to a spat of kidnappings by al-Shabaab militia men and pirates--but given that it is currently the low season for tourism, the place we'd hoped to stay was closed, so we decided to skip it for a more tried and true destination.  

I'd noticed a place called Hemmingway's in Malindi, a beach town further South from Lamu, on Watamu Beach.  We didn't know anyone that had stayed there before, but it is managed by a company we know well and seemed to be exactly what we are looking for; our travel agent also had a great deal going, so it was hard to pass up.

We took Friday off, flying out from JKIA to Malindi airport, which is basically a hot, stuffy waiting room, found our driver, and headed to the resort.  

Everything was perfect, minus the beach itself, which was covered as far as we could see with approximately one to two feet of seaweed.  

 (the brown is the seaweed; the white is sand)

We found out that the low season in Watamu is tied not only to the air temperature but also the tides, which bring the seaweed onto the beach during the winter months.  While I would have been livid had we traveled across the world to come here to play in seaweed, given that we still are residents and have a one year old, looking out at the water from the patio was more important than physically being on the beach.  We went to the pool, enjoyed a nice happy hour, then enjoyed dinner out on our patio after putting Aliza down. 

The following day we took a little adventure.  Before dinner the previous night we spoke with the activities director to see if we could find some kind of ocean activity that would be suitable for a baby.  After hearing the options, we settled on a boat ride across an inlet to an Island owned by the hotel where we would eat lunch and come back.  Total trip time would be a little over an hour with only about 20 minutes on the water; completely doable.  However, there was a slight miscommunication between Kerry and the director at the end of the conversation that led to a small extension to the boat ride: an hour-and-a-half!  Armed with that knowledge and sitting inside a boat that appeared less than seaworthy and gliding across choppy seas, the boat ride ended up being anything but a pleasure cruise as the pictures will show.

 

Upon arriving at the Island and getting one fussy baby on dry land, we had just begun our lunch, when several young fisherman made their way across the channel to the Island and hovered around our lunch area.  Needless to say this didn't add the experience.  One of the crew members came and kept them away form us, but we ate quick and got out of there.  Luckily, the return ride was just across the narrow channel to a car that was waiting to take us back to the hotel.  On the way we got a coconut for the three of us to share. 

(I appreciated this one)

When we got back to the hotel, the hotel staff chopped up the meat of the coconut--half regular and half they fried in oil and salt--and we enjoyed our little treat by the pool.

That evening we went to happy hour at the bar where Aliza made a friend and we enjoyed some drinks before putting her down and enjoying another evening on the patio for a delicious seafood dinner.

The following day, and the excitement of the previous day still fresh in our minds, we decided to take it easy until checkout.  Still craving more fresh seafood, I did a little research and found what TripAdvisor claimed was the "best seafood restaurant in Malidi," called The Old Man and the Sea, an homage to the Hemingway novel.  We decided to eat around noon before heading to the airport for our flight and even though we knew the place would have no customers during this time of year, we made reservations anyway.  

The town of Malindi is about a 30 minute drive from the resort.  The restaurant was by the water and was an old Swahili-style building.  As expected, we were the only customers.  We ordered grilled prawns, two Indian Ocean lobsters cooked two different ways, and a large plate of fries.  The food was fantastic, just what we wanted.  We finished up and headed for the airport.

We'd been warned by some friend of ours that the wait in the Malindi airport is awful, and our experience certainly proved that true.  It was hot, stuffy, and the plane was delayed for no reason.  I finally had to go back to security to complain to the manager to get things moving, which he finally did, thankfully.  Once we finally boarded and got some cool air on us, Aliza and Kerry fell asleep and we sailed back to begin our final few weeks in Nairobi.

The One Where We Pack Out

With our departure from Kenya only a few weeks away, we decided to pack up our house a little early--but within the allotted 30-day timeframe--in hopes that our household effects would arrive in Virginia as soon as possible to ensure a smooth transition for Aliza, Mosby, and ourselves.  We clearly have accumulated a few more things in the two years we've lived here, including another person and a dog, and despite the fact that we'd sold many things back in April at the yard sale, there was still a large amount to cull through and decide what should stay and what should go.  Both of us find the mental and physical aspects of packing up exhausting and we do not envy those that have to go through this exercise every few years.

There will be many things I will miss about this house and living here in Kenya, but several that I will not, to include: the protracted war we have been fighting against ants since first arriving; the bathroom shower that sprays the majority of water on the bathroom floor rather than on you; an invisible yet omnipresent mold problem, exacerbated in the cold and damp weather of winter, that makes all of us (primarily Kerry) sick; interior lights that take several seconds to fire up; and mud in the back yard so rich and sticky that it tattoos everything it comes in contact with.  

Still, the house feels warmer than it did when we first arrived and before we had any of our stuff.  It may be that the walls are painted, the garden is flourishing, we have friends, we understand the inconveniences of Africa, and we have carpets (finally).  But more than that, it's been our home during a time of incredible and joyous change in our lives and challenges we didn't expect to face; a place we learned to be parents and where our first child learned to walk; a place that kept us safe during times of high crime and terrorism;  a place I hope we remember fondly.

But we have a new home to go to and a return to a more normal life.  This is someone else's home now. 

The One Where Aliza Turns 1 (Andy)

As you can tell by the date of this posting, we have been rather delinquent in our writing.  No excuses, other than our impending move back to the states has occupied more time than  we imagined.  But, that hasn't stopped life from happening or us from going along with it.  

On May 4, our little girl celebrated her first birthday!  In the days leading up to it, Kerry and I spent most of the time reminiscing about what we had been doing at the same time back in 2012.  As you may recall, Kerry left Kenya to go back to America six weeks ahead of the baby's due date, leaving Mosby and I to live the bachelor life in Kenya, which consisted primarily of long work days for me and burning through all five seasons of the "Wire," at night.  We also reminisced about those first few weeks of parenting, the lack of sleep, the first months in Kenya, and just generally how much has changed--or more accurately what we've accomplished--since getting married almost three years ago.  It was a very happy look back.

Birthday's among the kids here in Nairobi are a big deal; they are great social events for both parents and kids, especially during times of heightened security when the claustrophobia of living in the third world can set in.   

As with most first birthday's, the audience is more for the older kids and parents than the actually birthday boy/girl.  Their primary role is to be dressed up in a cute outfit and be paraded about, then to do something adorable when it comes time to take their first bite of cake.  Therefore, Kerry planned an excellent party that showcased Aliza, catered to the guests, and made excellent use of our small yard for all the kids.  We had an arts and crafts station, toys, and a bouncy castle, all of which were hits. For food, we had mainly American summertime fare: fried chicken, pizza, deviled eggs, potato salad (which I made and was a major failure), sodas, and a couple of adult beverages. 

Even Mosby got in on some of the arts and crafts action

In lieu of cake, Kerry made cupcakes, which actually worked a lot better for the number of people and the setting.  Every child seems to have a different reaction to their first birthday cake, and Aliza displayed more subdued grace in picking at her cupcake than pictures of other children I've seen.  

I believe the best thing we did for the party was schedule it for the late morning with a hard cut-off time right before Aliza's nap time.  Also, having our house help was a god-send in this scenario because both Kerry and I were exhausted by the end and needed a nap.  Our place was spotless when we woke up! (Thanks Phoebe and Grace!).

We slowly opened presents over the next few days, with Aliza being most appreciative of the wrapping paper and all the birthday cards she was able to chew on.  Most of all, it was just hard to believe we've been parents for over a year and that our little girl is growing up.

The One Where We Go to Crescent Island (Andy)

We are under the 90 day mark now until we leave Kenya for good.  Over December and January, we had succumb to the bitterness of living in a country that isn't your own and wishing to be done with the tour right then and there, an ailment common to many foreign service families nearing the end of their tour.  Where we were very much, "I can't wait till we leave this place," three months ago, we have switched gears, and are now very much in them "we might not ever come back to this place," panic.  This means that we are now busily looking through the calendar at our remaining weeks to plan fun activities in between the stressful chores, work, and packing out.

Since having a child has only lessened our ability to be spontaneous, not our desire for adventure, we have a list of activities that we can do that involve little planning or packing and are easily traveled and executed  around nap schedules.  One such place fitting that criteria is Crescent Island on Lake Naivasha.  As you may remember, Kerry and I last year hiked around the Island with my aunt and uncle when they were here to visit along with my mom and dad, and had always wanted to come back with the baby because we'd had such a good time there.  So, we decided this would be a fun and easy day trip for us to make.  We invited our friend Cassie along, too, who we hadn't hung out with for a while and were eager to catch up.

Saturday was a beautiful day to be outside and Aliza slept well the entire ride to the Naivasha, waking just before we arrived.  We walked to the main house, where we were greeted by the owner, who was extremely polite and welcoming, despite chasing around a sick calf.  We chatted for a bit--she noted that she's had hippos from the lake grazing on her front porch--before setting off for a walk around the Island.

Aliza was super happy to be out and about and held a conversation with herself for about half the hike.  She also enjoyed the many spots we plopped her down along the way to pose with the animals.  

We hiked around for about and hour-and-a-half before calling it a day.  We hung out at the car for a lite lunch that Kerry had packed for us and I walked Aliza around a little more to see some young giraffes that were near by.  

After lunch we started back and managed to leave just in time before the rain started. Perfect day.