This and That

April 16, 2009 – I took April 15th off from blogging so I could do my taxes. Not really, I filed an extension last month. Should be an interesting couple of years for taxes for us, with the long stretch of not having any income. Hopefully the stretch won’t last real long once we get back to the states. Of course Joyce was wise enough to line up a job for herself shortly after we get back.

I went to get cash out of an ATM yesterday and it didn’t work. The receipt said that the amount would be credited back to my account which is a little reassuring. I’ll check our account in a couple days and see if it all worked. If not, I guess I go to the bank and see if they can push it through. I’ve heard a horror story about the run around when something like this happens. It is Barclay’s so at least it’s not a Podunk local bank.

Haven’t been able to get to the internet as much as I expected the last week or so, so I have a few blogs to post all at once.

We painted individual blackboards for the pre-school today. Dick cut up some boards and Joyce and I sanded and painted 80 little blackboards for the kids to use. I hope it works, I’ve never used blackboard paint before. They do it all the time here in the classrooms, right onto the plastered wall. My main concern is that the surface is smooth enough. We’ve also been asked to but lines on the board for the kids to write on. I can’t see doing that very easily with white enamel paint and a small paint brush.

Have I mentioned how bad the paint is here.

At this time in 7 days, just one week, we should all be on the ground in Nairobi getting ready to get to the airport for our 10pm flight. Time flies. We hope to have one last dinner with Steve and Judi and kids as they have offered to pick us up in Nairobi and drop us off at the airport. They sure have been generous in doing things for us. They have 3 of our bigger bags we are to check at the airport so we haven’t had to worry about hauling them through Kisumu with us.

Cont’g April 18th, 2009 – Have I mentioned how bad the paint is here. Maybe I’m not use to using enamel paint, but the stuff just does not cover.

Here are Dick and Sandy’s the power has been pretty flaky of late. May have seen why yesterday as we walked up to catch a bota bota. We came upon a repair main at one of the main power poles. The one with multiple transformer on it and a bunch of other wiring boxes all in a jumble. The repair man was standing atop his pickup, or more precisely, the canopy of his pickup bed. He had a 20 foot pole in hand that had a small hook on one end. He was reaching up to the top of the poles to some connections and ‘jingling’ the wires. Whatever was moving occasionally hit something and let off a small shower of sparks. I’m a little surprised we have power as often as we do.

Yesterday we were painting (have I mentioned how bad the paint is here?) and needed a few more supplies. I think it took 6 or 7 trips to the hardware store to get what we needed. Not all because we forgot something, but because they needed to get it from a ‘supplier’ because it was not in stock. If you don’t want cream or white paint you are probably out of luck of it being in stock. Morgan finally got back after one of the trips with the signal red paint we needed. We are going through much more paint than expected, some from the old wood soaking it up and also because it does not cover well. It was a different brand then the other paints we were using. We opened the red to find it like water color paint. Using it made the panel appear like we were looking at it through rose colored glasses. So off Morgan was again to exchange it for the brand we had before, which she had to make another trip for since they had to go find it.

Dick raises chickens and turkeys. The area around them smells terrible, putrid, I need to gag bad.

If you are ever in Kisumu on a Friday night check out the Simba Club. It has a terrific Indian buffet for only 500 kshs. Good food, includes dessert that includes ice cream. Careful on the drinks, they as spendy – Joyce’s double tot of Armarula was as much as the dinner. Located on the main road between the stage area and Tusky’s.

Thursday night we went to a Rotary Dinner at Club 0, a new place in town. One of the members, a retired Indian engineer alcoholic, made some good curry chicken. We, being Americans, showed up on time, maybe a little early. The next person was 30 minutes late I think. Just over a dozen showed up. Four whites, two blacks and the rest Indian. Supposedly the club has been going down hill since they have let nationals in. They are just looking for handouts or ways of scrounging (scamming) money from it. The cook, Konie, started throwing brain teasers at me, so that kept me occupied for the 1 or more hours between the time others showed up and dinner was finally ready. Only one I did not get was the 5x5 square of dots that could all be gone through with just 8 straight lines. Another fun one was how to add one line to the equation 5 + 5 + 5 = 550 to make it correct. Good food, the rest of the side dishes were not much to write about.

There are movie theaters here, showing second run US movies and Indian films. Currently the one close by is showing The International, Revolutionary Road and an Indian film. The theater is even mildly air conditioned. I think the popcorn and other concessions are a little over priced for this area, but not as bad as the US concession stands. The Tuesday special is admission, soda, popcorn and a hotdog for just 280/=. Just 80/= more than regular admission. No economy hours here. The seats are like US ones and both theaters in Kisumu have stadium seating. Still looking forward to going to a few movies once we are back home.

Dinner time, got to run. Mashed potatoes and local grown turkey.

Gobble gobble,
Paul