T.I.A & B.M.T

I'm in Nairobi. Been here since Friday. Haven't done anything I was supposed to do yet. Time just flies. Yesterday Caroline left for Mombasa with the family of her friend Lillian. Lillian worked as Carros translator while she was interviewing people in the slums of Nakuru. While they are on vacation in Mombasa, Lilly let me stay in her apartment in a suburb to Nrb. So nice of her and of course it's good for my wallet :)

However, Lillian told one of her friend to take care of me while she's gone. That is of course very nice of her, but yesterday I was looking forward to a relaxing day by myself in front of the tv. Haven't watched tv since I got here and I have a cold that needs taking care of. Anyways, Che (her friend) suggested we could go and have lunch at a place with her friends. Since I'm a guest I said yes, guessing I would be back at the apartment around four at the latest. The restaurant was situated in Masailand and the setting and the view was amazing. We ate nyama choma- sweet meat carved at the table. Very tasty meat.

It took more than an hour to reach the restaurant and on the way we stopped several times to drop/pick people of/up. Of course we didn't leave the place until it was getting dark so I was back at the apartment at 21.30. So much for my relaxing day. Well, the good thing is that I'm really getting acquanted with the abbreviations TIA and BMT; This Is Africa and Black Mans Time (no Black Women Time here..) The negative thing is that I'm not getting things done. I was supposed to head back to Nakuru today but I haven't even visit Gabby yet. So I decided to stay until Carro gets back on Friday and tomorrow I will go to Juja where Gabby is at.

Last Saturday we were invited to Lillians sister for dinner. We met the father and some friends. This was a new experience for me. At Phyllis all children help the grown ups with everything doing laundry, digging in the shamba, getting water and so on. Here the children were spoiled. Especially the 2-3 year old child. She got everything she wanted and did her pretended-cry if she didn't. She really got on my nervs. Another six year old was chubby looking more than a ten-year-old. So hello upper middle class.

Another irritating thing during the evening at the sister was the obvious difference between men and women. The father sat on his as the entire evening not lifting a finger once. Literally everything was served for him. I was surprised he could lift the fork by himself. The same thing with Esther's (lillys sister) husband. In some ways just like some Swedish families.

Anyways, I'm glad to get the chance to visit genuine homes of Kenyans in different economical levels.