Part 14 - Family, friends and new beginnings!!

 

As promised I have tried not to leave it too long between blogs! It’s amazing I am actually even more super organised than normal this term yet still find little time to write a blog, possibly something to do with motivation.(hmm I clearly started writing this blog a long time ago ;s)

My final thought from my previous blog stated that I may have an exciting prospect – well that paid off and I have finally found a hobby on the coast which is sustainable, challenging, stimulating and motivating …. I have started dance classes It started with my desire to learn tap dancing, I love the sound and decided you are never too old to learn. Luckily there is a wonderful lady in Mombasa who teaches dance and who would allow me to join one of her classes, I was so excited which was then topped off by her saying “you can stay for the ballet class straight after if you wish.” it has been approximately 15 years since I last ‘pas de bourree’d’ into a ballet lesson, but I absolutely love it. Must admit I am pretty useless at tap, still trying to figure out where to put my weight and when but I have 100% fallen back in love with Ballet, it is just a shame when I was a child I didn’t have a teacher as wonderful as Jean. You'll be pleased to hear that since writing this part of the blog i have received some new tap shoes and the tapping is coming along :). I have my first dance show in a few weeks!! Ha I am the oldest by about 13 years!

When I was about 20 I started a formal bucket list, I have always said there are certain things I would like to do before I die but never really kept a record. So I created a list and ever since then I have been constantly updating the list, unfortunately more get added than get ticked off, however in the last 5 months I have managed to tick 3 off; learn to scuba dive, try a cigar and get a tattoo. There are certain points on my list that I never imagined I would ever be able to achieve. The main one being to climb Mount Kilimanjaro – I looked into it a few years ago and the amount of money you have to pay plus the amount of money you have to raise in sponsorship just seemed unattainable. I am aware that teaching has certain perks, finishing school before 5pm, long frequent holidays, rewarding children… but now after many years of missed skiing trip opportunities I can finally add school trips to the perks. I am getting to achieve my dream and climb Mount Kilimanjaro with a school groupJ I cannot wait, we will climb in October.

So I have officially signed up to stay for another year at Braeburn. I love Mombasa but as a teacher it is well known that it is not a great place to stay in terms of pay, I would earn more stacking shelves in Aldi! It’s easy to say “yes, but the lifestyle is awesome” and for 1 year living by that mantra is fine, however it soon becomes apparent you need to make more money or move on L. Unfortunately many of my closest teaching friends will all be moving on this summer and for me to stay this extra year I knew I needed to earn more money. I moved here to see more of the world but just can’t afford to do so, what little money I save throughout the year funds my holiday in the UK. So I plucked up the courage to finally ask the school if I could run a gymnastics club on a weekend, to my delight they said yes and have even allowed me to run it using the school premises. The club has been running for 2 weeks and I am thoroughly enjoying getting back into coaching and the numbers have increased each week. So excited about the prospect of displays and in-house competitions. There’s a long way to go but as they say ‘Rome wasn’t built in a day’.

One of my excuses for taking so long to write this blog is that quite simply I was so busy over the Easter holidays, largely due to the fact that I had back to back visitors!! Yey was so awesome to have people visit, always nice to put things into perspective. First I had my 2 friends Jen and Allan visiting from Hong Kong, they very kindly hosted me in 2009 so it was fantastic to be able to return the favour. They were staying for 8 days which meant we had a lot to squeeze in, not helped by the fact that I had been having a terrible time with our housing situation. However we made the most of it, the 2 highlights have got to be diving with sharks (even though I was sea sick and absolutely freezing between dives) and seeing a cheetah with her 3 cubs on safari!! The cheetah paraded right next to the car it was amazing!! Makes me realise how lucky I am to have all this on my doorstep. It’s amazing that although Jen, Al and I only really met in 2007/8 and soon after meeting they jetted off to Hong Kong,  that we have been able to stay such good friends, conversation never dries up, I love their life philosophies and time spent with them is generally easy, entertaining and heart-warming! Really hoping we can coordinate a future holiday and meet somewhere in the middle.

Immediately following Jen and Al’s departure saw the arrival of my Mum, sister and nephew! Was so good to see them; Skype, Whatsapp and phone calls are all good and well but there’s nothing quite like receiving a proper hug off your loved ones. Kimberley has always wanted to visit Africa and go on safari so this holiday had a lot to live up too. I think there were times of sheer amazement but also of brutal reality of life. It was fantastic to be able to go on safari, seeing a ridiculous amount of animals including another cheetah, we camped under the stars and waded through some very slippery mud, but it all added to the adventure. We had days on the beach, by the pool in a luxury hotel, at the water park, feeding the giraffes at Haller Park, go karting and shopping for souvenirs so I felt it was also important to show them the other side of Kenya, especially my 8 year old nephew who luckily has had limited exposure to poverty. To be able to show them where people live on rubbish dumps, walking through mud and faeces with no shoes on and where children work from the crack of dawn until the sunsets, can be quite an awakening experience.

Another of those experiences that I felt was necessary was to take them to Kongowea market, I did my usual spiel before we left ‘take off jewellery, don’t take any valuables, hide you money somewhere, don’t wear a bag, and try not to look so much like tourists!’ Hmm easily said, as I looked around and saw these 3 very pale white people covered in mosquito bites, sunburn and my nephew wearing a full man united kit!! I think not looking like tourists was a cry to far!! So off we went, knowing that my family would not be purchasing any second hand clothes, but would hopefully learn something from the experience, and that we did ….and that something was to probably not listen to me, as it was I that found myself being barged front and back and felt a sneaky hand creeping into my pocket trying to grab my money!! The cheek of some people! My natural reaction was to defend my ridiculously small amount of money, but still it was the principle. I grabbed the man’s hand and firmly (and not so politely) informed him to get off my money, before pushing him and herding my family into the nearest duka to rearrange my personal belongings!! Laughable now but I’m just glad it was me and not one of my family!! A bit like when we went to Haller Park and Alex had been informing everyone how a mongoose may look cute, but they can also be very nasty! He then proceeded to edge closer to said mongoose to take a picture, I’m sure you can all guess what happened next! Yes the mongoose bit him on the toe!! Again very glad it was Alex who then had to go for rabies injections and not my family. It was so amazing to see my family and although it was another emotional goodbye it was nice to know that it’s only a couple of months until I’ll see them again. Woohoo I can’t wait until July!!

As I mentioned earlier we had been having a few housing issues. On a positive note Alex moved back to Mombasa!!!! On a not so good note the dream house we fell in love with fell through (the landlord was a disorganised plonker) which meant after wasting a day in tears I had about a week to find a new home. I looked at 10 houses in the space of 2 days before my guests arrived and nothing met Alex’s high expectations. The agent of my current property (also a plonker – there’s a reoccurring theme) was ready to kick us out (perhaps because I had refused to pay my last month’s rent as I felt it was the only way we would get our deposit back!) anyway I found a house but it had tenants (not the dream house but it ticked all the boxes) it was now a race against time to find out if we could move in before we would get kicked out.  Luckily the owner of my current property had finally been contacted to inform her of how useless and corrupt the agent she employed was. He had been lying to her about how much rent we were pay and taking the community fee for himself. The landlady couldn’t apologise enough and allowed us to stay as long as we needed. Happy days ….. so as of last Wednesday we officially moved house and Alex and I get to start the future. Still need to make the house homely but it’s certainly getting there.

So all in all life is very good at the minute, really disappointed that many of my colleagues and friends will be jetting off to pastures new in the summer, but just means I have a great excuse to fit in some further travelling and go and visit them all. Lots to look forward to in the coming months including turning our house into a home, flying home for the summer, meeting more of Alex’s family(Alex will be coming for 2 weeks too), 2 wonderful weddings, and some great family and friends to catch up with. I will not make false promises that my next blog will be more entertaining or at least posted sooner, as unfortunately I know all too well how little time I get to sit and reflect formally on my experiences.

Final thought – I read this quote on a teachers wall last week and it stuck with me … “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”     Albert Einstein

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx  Steph xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx