A whole two months have passed since the last blog which is unacceptable. There's no doubt how long it has been: just look at the size of the bunnies which are now definitely rabbits. It really is time to work out what the gender is of the two rabbits...
Since the last blog we had our annual team building and awards dinner event, though it was somewhat disrupted my the rain. In fact the rainy season came early and the rain is still coming down hard two months later... and there's possibly two more months to go of the "long rains". It is filling up the reservoirs, but causing havoc in rural areas. Actually the drainage on the newer roads in Nairobi is fairly good, but not as good on the older roads or the more densely populated areas. It tends to mostly rain overnight, but it does rain a fair bit during the daytime as well; or at least it is this year. The roads themselves, unfortunately, can't handle the rain as well as the drainage ditches alongside and underneath them (there are a lot of rivers around Nairobi). As they degrade, and the stop-gap stones dumped in holes get washed out again, at least it saves on building speed bumps!
I was in Malaysia for a few days for the World Urban Forum (In Malaysia it rains every day around 5pm for a couple of hours, and it is fairly regular) which was fairly interesting. I went to visit Kenya's main e-waste center, which is doing its best, but mostly just sorts and exports for actual disposal elsewhere. It's also been non-stop conferences in Kenya, since the cabinet was confirmed (and the opposition has come to an uneasy truce with the ruling party), business has not just gone back to normal, but has tried to catch up on a lost year. And this means lots of conferences, speaking or attending which are part of my job. Few are that useful, but some are necessary. Some are less necessary and I'm fast learning which are which. I'v sent interns to some, and just got hold of the notes/presentations of others. In the meanwhile there's plenty of nice food and lots of tea breaks (the Kenyans love their tea and cakes during conferences).
Meanwhile during a couple weeks of Easter I gained way too much weight across Manchester, Birmingham, London and Germany. Going to Cadbury's World during Easter was never going to be a healthy encounter; any time near my mum's house is time spent eating (fantastic food). There was occasional exercise, chasing kids in museums, Go Apeing, or trying to run in flooded fields. We managed a few short walks in the Cotswords and Parks of the Midlands during short trips with my family which showed the kids can walk a long way when accompanied by family, pets or ice cream! The weather was warmer in Germany, but the highlight of the two weeks was Hannah getting the confidence to abandon her swimming bands and actually her the swimming skills she has had for almost two years.
The girls and I are doing quite well managing when Andrea travels for her PhD: they tend to survive on simple food interspersed with leftovers from restaurants. Today Hannah enjoyed her first tennis lesson and second viewing of Peter Rabbit. I suppose that is one way to try to get some English culture when rarely actually living in England or having many English friends. At least she gets all the fairy tales from the stories. She's made great progress with her simple maths, and is beginning to make progress on at least writing and recognizing letters which should soon lead to actual reading, hopefully by the end of the year, and then we can start her on reading some classic English books.
It's an ongoing consideration, as parents, to resist the demand for TV and encourage more indoor play, outdoor play, art or homework. In fact the kids enjoy TV the least of all the options, but it still seems to be a regular request that needs to be side-stepped or avoided (or when it is granted, is in Chinese only). I think we are doing fairly well with this so far, and that we're lucky that our two daughters are so happy playing together so much of the time. A shame they don't seem to care too much for those rabbits now they are so big...
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